To Create, To Preserve, To Uphold
The motto of the Order
The three verbs of the Order’s motto summarise the duties it asks of those who share its purpose.
To create is to encourage and partake in art, imagination, craftsmanship, literature, music, inquiry and every other work by which something new enters the world, or the world is given meaning. It asks not only that creation be admired, but that it be practised. Creation reaches far beyond the fine arts. A well-built house, a myth retold, a faithful translation, a garden or a game may each be a genuine work of the creative faculty.
To preserve is to care for the inheritance of human making: its art and writings, its buildings and objects, its myths, customs and languages. Much of what the Order values survives only because someone copied a manuscript, protected a library or buried a codex in a jar. See the Nag Hammadi codices and the Serapeum.
To uphold is to sustain meaningful traditions through sincere participation, and to protect the conscious lives, and the freedom of thought, without which neither creation nor meaning is possible. It is also a manner of living: to meet life with reverence, the world with wonder, and all living things with kindness. The fate of Giordano Bruno is remembered in this connection.
These duties belong to everyone, the unknown as much as the celebrated. A person who never paints a picture or writes a book may keep a tradition alive, teach a child to read, or care for someone whose life would otherwise go unrecorded. The Knights Apotheon undertake to serve the motto personally.