This is an initiation into the tone, structure, and mentality of Egyptian knowledge, the basis of all Western theology and science. It is a redefinition of those concepts which are basic to the pharaonic transmission--the glory of ancient Egypt. The author explores the "process of becoming" as related to consciousness and revealed in nature; the kinship between man and the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms; the stages of awareness leading to "Cosmic Consciousness"; and the mystery of the formation of substance into matter.

Symbolism is the intuitive means of overcoming the limitations of reason.? Here Schwaller explains how true progress in human thought can be made only if we call upon the "symbolizing" faculty of intelligence, developed and refined in the temple culture of ancient Egypt and reflected in its hieroglyphs.

The first part of the book, written in a single, uninterrupted flow of inspiration, takes the form of answers from the word of nature to questions posed by the rational mind. The second part of the book consists of philosophical reflections on the first and proposes the practice of imagination as a way of evolutionary development. Many traditions have spoken of a "higher consciousness," but Schwaller de Lubicz's attempt to formulate in modern terms an alchemical science of qualities, functions, analogies and signatures is unique.