Look Out!

This image represents perhaps the oldest, if not most powerful symbol in the world: the so-called 'All-Seeing Eye.' Whose eye, exactly, is this, and what is it they see? The most obvious and common assumption, of course, is that it sees all and therefore, presumably, it is the eye of God. But which God?

The earliest representations of this symbol were the seven manifestations of the Eye of Horus, in ancient Egypt. Sometimes depicted as a falcon, Horus could literally see all and was considered by his Rosicrucian and Masonic descendants as probably the original named God in the human panoply.

Later versions, adopting the pyramid, and later on a simple representational triangle, all have their historical basis in this original Eye. Christians converted this triangle as to represent the Trinity.

In 1782, the Eye of Providence was adopted as part of the symbolism on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. It was first suggested as an element of the Great Seal by the first of three design committees in 1776 and is thought to be the suggestion of the artistic consultant, Pierre Eugene du Simitiere. On the seal, the Eye is surrounded by the words Annuit Cœptis, meaning "He approves (or has approved) [our] undertakings", and Novus Ordo Seclorum, meaning "New Order of the Ages". (Does that sound a little like 'New World Order', anyone?) The Eye is positioned above an unfinished pyramid with thirteen steps, representing the original thirteen states and the future growth of the country. The lowest level of the pyramid shows the year 1776 in Roman numerals. The combined implication is that the Eye, or God, favors the prosperity of the United States.(Wikipedia). Note the irony there, that God has ordained America to be prosperous. At least some of us. Presumably favored over all others.

Most people today, perhaps thanks to Dan Brown, assume the All-Seeing Eye in the Pyramid, aka Eye of Horus, aka the Eye of Providence, as being associated with Freemasonry. And conspiracy theorists have long assumed that the Founding Fathers, being Freemasons, had purposefully incorporated that image into the Great Seal of the United States and onto the $1.00 banknote. The only problem with this theory is that du Simitiere designed that seal seventeen years before the Masons publicly claimed (or more accurately, denied) any credit for it. Of course conspiracists will have no problem with that. Was Simitiere not a Mason? (Not known). Or was he a Rosicrucian, who date back to the Schools of Mystery in Egypt and therefore predate the Masons by several millennia? In any case the Masonic iconography associates the Eye as that of God: the Great Architect of the Universe, Masons being the original trade union of stone workers since back in the Middle Ages.

Then there's the Illuminati, who allegedly embrace and include the elite from both Rosicrucian and Freemason ranks, as did the Founding Fathers. I myself especially enjoyed the mythology embedded in the 2004 Disney film National Treasure, being an ex-Hollywood type.

In any case, this eye is nothing to take for granted. It means something. The English language and lexicography are full of words and terms that set off all kinds of alarms: look out! Watch out! Big Brother is watching you! (Or is that God?). Beware of Sauron, whose Eye is all-powerful! (I'm sure Tolkien drew on this iconography heavily in his Ring trilogy).

Then there are more benign, shall we say far-seeing interpretations: that this symbol represents awareness, perception, or perhaps the visionary spirit. For myself, were I to be considered a visionary, I would want to identify with this image very closely. Even children get it. What game was it, we all used to play, that involved someone who is 'it,' whose task is to find the rest of us who lie hidden. Her triumph is expressed in loud and joyful terms: "I see you!" And at the end of the day, do we, or do we not, yearn to be seen?