"As for the measurement of man, there is one proportion that can be considered as only slightly variable: ratio of the height to the arm span, or fathom (fathom implies cubit).
And the tradition of the fathom has come down to us.
It is the fathom that plays the greatest role in the measures of the Temple of Luxor, dedicated to the Incarnation of the Spirit, or the Creation of Man.
Just as there is little difference between the cubits (the small cubit of 24 digits) of men normally large or small, so the fathom varies little among men who work a lot with their arms. In practice, a sailor can, with little error, measure his ropes and cables according to the size of his arm span, which will always be close to the meridian fathom at 45° latitude. That is to say that the fathom is at once an average human measure and a measure of the earth's circumference. A thousand fathoms (the nautical mile) equal one minute of an arc, the meridian arc now being established conventionally at 45° latitude.
We see the fathom (or rather fathoms) used constantly in the architecture of the Temple of Luxor. Let us note that there also exists a sacred fathom.[1]
Here is an example in regard to the fathom: the strange rhomboidal distortion of the plans of the west pylon prompted us to measure them carefully several times, rectifying the gaps between the stones (which are sound in this location) - gaps caused by settling or other accidental causes.
The length of the pylon under the cornice, between tori gives, from the north side (along 12 fathoms), the meridian fathom at 90° (North Pole), and from the south side the meridian fathom at 0° (Equator); that is, respectively 1.86166 m and 1.8429 m (difference along 12 fathoms = 22.5 m).
This could be a coincidence, but these measurements recur at several important points; let us concede a repeating coincidence..." [R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, The Temple in Man, page 65-66]
[1] I use the epithet "sacred" to designate what, in the teaching of he temple, had key value.
See Also