![]() Too, the Phoenix tends to symbolize rebirth or a renewal of life. Certainly sacred and ridiculous in a way a game of mirrors. Sex, I think, is the best contender for the answer. We are left to ponder the answer to this riddle. He simply wonders that we have not forgotten it, and suggests that it may be instinctive to humanity. In the end, Borges does not bother to communicate what the Secret is. “The secret is sacred” he says “but it is also somewhat ridiculous.” Orbis terrarum est speculum Ludi is an apocryphal reference to the secret, which translates to something like ‘the world is a game of mirrors’ – a strong continuation of the theme of labyrinthine reflections maintained throughout this collection. So what is the Secret that that Sect of the Phoenix guards? Borges is coy, but we get the sense that it is something absurd. There is something in being the outgroup that breeds solidarity, passion, and honed resistance. The comparison to the Jews is drawn, though rejected in part I think it is in a way a valid one. There are no temples specially dedicated to the celebration of this cult a ruin, a cellar, an entrance way are considered propitious sites.” This lowliness, we understand, is a necessary element for the continuation of the cult. The necessary materials are cork, wax, or gum arabic. Borges says “In itself the act is trivial, momentary, and does not require description. ![]() A child can indoctrinate another child.” This transmission of the secret through abasement or lowered status recalls the secret of Judas – abasement is required for the truest knowledge of the world. Borges’ fictional idea diverges from Freemasonry, however, and reconverges with the themes of Judas in that the members of the Sect of the Phoenix are not advantaged men, great men, wealthy mean, but rather “A slave, a leper, a beggar plays the role of mystagogue. This of course calls to mind Freemasonry, which engages in a practice not dissimilar from this. Phoenix tells the story of a hidden sect, a brotherhood dispersed among all peoples of the world, who transmit some cosmic spiritual secret, one to another, through a hidden rite. The Sect of the Phoenix carries over some key themes from The Three Versions of Judas.
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