freemasonry and the ancient wisdom
Members of Masonic Study groups are naturally keen students of
the origin and history of the Craft, and a number of serious minded
enquirers frankly admit that a perusal of the available literature
on the subject has left them confused and unconvinced. In this
paper, therefore, it is proposed to trace a rough outline of a
movement which is as old as humanity itself and the purpose and
doctrine of which are still faithfully if very rudimentarily
preserved in our Masonic system. By this means an endeavour wil l be
made to answer the main questions asked by many students who are
genuinely seeking for fuller enlightenment, such as; What was the
nature of the Ancient Mysteries which modern Freemasonry is claimed
to perpetuate? Can we justify the need for their perpetuation today?
For what purpose was Initiation instituted? Did it at any time serve
any real purpose or can it do so now? On a satisfactory solution of
these problems depends, to a great ext ent, a comprehension of the
aims and ideals of the Masonic Order .
Now one of the first things to impress itself upon any student of Masonic
literature and comparative religion is the remarkable-presence of common
factors, common beliefs, doctrines, practices and symbols, in the religions of
all races alike, whether ancient or modern, civilised or barbarian, Christian or
pagan. However separated from others by time or distance, however
intellectualised or primitive, and however wide-their differences in important
respects, each people is found to have employed and still t o be employing
certain ideas, symbols and practices in common with every other. A close
examination of Masonic literature confirms and amplifies this impression, for
the student will find that numerous authors connected with the Craft have
demonstrated that there isa close correspondence to be found in the various
apparently unrelated systems, and they have further emphasised how ancient and
universal are the ideas, symbols and practices which are embodied in our modern
system of Freemasonry. There is one thing, however, that the student invariably
has great difficulty in determining, and this is the reason for the antiquity
and universality so clearly in evidence according to the existing records. It is
unfortunate that the majority of those who have written treaties on Masonic
history and purpose have neglected to give an explanation on this point, and
since it furnishes us with the essential clue to the entire problem of the
genesis, the history, and the reason for the existence of Freemasonry, it is so
important to clear up the matter before proceeding with the general outline of
our subject.
If one perseveres with research and reflection, it will become apparent to
the student that the universality and uniformity noted by historians are due to
the fact that at one time, long back in the world's past, there was implanted in
the minds of the whole human family - which was then, doubtless, much more
concentrated than at present - a root- doctrine in regard to the nature and
destiny of the soul of man and its relation to the Deity. In all Scriptures and
cosmologies the tradition is universal of a " Golden Age", an age of comparative
innocence, wisdom and spirituality, in which racial unity and individual
happiness and enlightenment prevailed; in which there was that open vision for
want of which it is recorded that a people perisheth, but in virtue of which man
were once in conscious conversation with the unseen worlds and were shepherded,
taught and guided by the "gods" or discarnate superintendents of the infant
race, who imparted to them the sure principles upon which their spiritual
welfare and ev olution depended. The testimony concerning this "Golden Age" is
found to be recorded in all languages, and it is unanimously stated to be the
period of the early beginnings of the Human Race. In these early days we learn
that the psychic and physical intellect in man was dormant, and we are told that
it was on this account that infant humanity was guided and taught under the
direct superintendence of divine Teachers and Instructors. It is of particular
si gnificance to Freemasons to find that tradition affir ms that it was under
the guidance of these Instructors that humanity was taught its first notions of
all the arts and sciences, and that it was They who laid the foundation-stone of
those ancient civilizations which so sorely puzzle our modern generation of
scholars. This will account for the fact that no matter how far back into the
night of time archaeological or other investigations are extended, high stages
of civilisation are found, each having an elaborate numerical system; where,
according to modern scientific theories, only the most primitive conditions
might be expected. The presence of fully developed numerical systems in ancient
civilisations proves that the science of numbers was not slowly evolved by
primitive man learning to count on his fingers, as is popularly supposed, and
confirms the tradition of a fully elaborated system of computation which was
revealed to the priesthood of the early Races by the Spiritual Teachers of
mankind.
We of today pride ourselves upon being wiser and more advanced than primitive
humanity. We assume that our ancestors lived in moral benightedness out of which
we have since gradually emerged into comparative light. All the evidence,
however, negatives these suppositions. In fact it indicates that primitive man,
notwithstanding his intellectual undevelopment according to modern standards,
was spiritually conscious and psychically perceptive to a degree undreamed of in
our day. It is therefore ourselves who , for all our cleverness and intellectual
development in temporal mattes, are nevertheless plunged in darkness and
ignorance about our own nature, the invisible world around us, and the eternal
spiritual verities. We may, then, well enquire how it is that we have departed
so far from our original state, and once again tradition comes to our
assistance.
The tradition is also universal of the collective soul of the human race
having sustained a "fall" a moral declension from its true path of life and
evolution, which has had the effect of severing it almost entirely from its
creative source, and which, as the ages advanced, has involved its sinking more
and more deeply into physical conditions. This has resulted in its splitting up
from a unity employing a single language into a diversity of conflicting races
of different speeches and degrees of moral advan cement, and has been
accompanied by a progressive densification of the material body and a
corresponding atrophy of the spiritual consciousness. This tradition of our
extrusion of Fall, howsoever occasioned, from the more immediate precincts of
Deity is so catholic a one that it must have been a canon of the root-doctrine
or protoevangel which lies at the back of all the great religious systems of
history. Antiquity and universality constitute; of course, inadequate evidence
of its truth for modern rationalism, but for the genuine student testimony to it
can be adduced from another quarter. This will be found in the voluble
sacrementalism of Nature where it is perpetuated and registered in such a manner
as will be readily discerned by the seeing eye and understanding mind. In our
day, evolution, or the perpetual tendency of things upwards, has came to be
generally accepted as a cosmic process. But does not th e capacity for rising
imply necessarily an antecedent failing? The logical value of the evolutionary
hypothesis, as of every hypothesis can only be appraised by contrasting it with
its antithesis, and the laws of human logic, as Freemasons should well know, are
shadows of those of the LOGOS, the Divine Logician. The truth, then, of the
Fall, has been perpetuated in our phenomenal world by the fact that to fall is
the property of everything material Purified spirit alone is capable of
ascension, of counteract ing the law of gravitation, which, as shown in the
allegory of the flaming sword of the Cherubim guarding Eden, rigidly excludes
from ascending all that is unfit to inhabit a world more advanced than a
physical one. Thus the initial act in the earthly existence of every seed, and
germ, and egg, of every newborn animal and child, is to fall to the ground. At
the very outset of its career it therefore rehearses in its own form or person
the primal Fall of Cosmic Spirit into the plane of Nature, while its subsequent
function is to rise and grow physically or morally according to its kind.
So far as it affects humanity, the doctrine of the Fall, portrayed in the
Biblical legend of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from Eden, was not due, as
is popularly supposed, to the transgression of an individual, but was the result
of a defect in the collective or group-soul of the Adamic Race, and was a
process covering vast cycles of time. Such is the unanimous testimony of the
Ancient Wisdom-tradition and despite its rejection by many in our day, it is my
conviction that we cannot adequately apprehend the divine scheme unless we
realise that the Fall was an incident thereof that was ordained by, and that
existed primally in the prescience of, Deity; that the descent of spirit and its
incarnation in the material world was a process as gradual as has been, and is,
the rise, the emergence, of spiritual life from within its present physical
limitations. The incarceration of spirit, therefore, in material conditions,
involving, as it did and does still, the struggle for emancipation and the
knowledge of evil, was, and is, essential and necessary to enable the spirit of
man to become self-conscious of its own inherent perfection and divinity, by
undergoing an experience which is the antithesis of its own birthright in a
plane of existence which is the antipodes of its natural home. Hence it follows
that Redemption is the necessary complement of Creation, and accordingly we find
that tradition assert s that as a consequence of the Fall it was nec essary and
within the Divine Providence that humanity should be redeemed and restored to
its former high estate, the restoration in turn requiring vast time cycles for
its achievement. And it required something further; It required the application
of an orderly and scientific method under skilled direction, and we may
reasonably enquire; whence could come that skill and scientific knowledge if not
from the Divine and now invisible world, from those "god s" and guardians of the
erring race of whom all the an cient traditions and sacred writings tell? Would
not that skilled method be properly described if it were termed, as in our
modern Freemasonry it is termed, a "heavenly science" and a "noble science", and
would it not be welcomed in the words that Freemasons in fact use, "Hail, Royal
Art!" Those of our Brethren who here responsible for the inscription set out on
the Foundation Stone of the first Freemason's Hall, which was consecrated on the
1st, May, 1775, cl early recognised this fact, because in declaring the
authority under which the English Craft claims precedence and jurisdiction over
the "whole body of Brethren throughout the world", they re-affirmed the "Ancient
Landmark" concerning the origin of the Science in the significant words, "It
comes down from Heaven".
To the spiritual guardians of primitive man, then, we must attribute the
communication of that universal science of rebuilding the fallen temple of
humanity, and to this source we must credit the distribution, in every land and
among every people, of the same or equivalent symbols, practices and doctrines.
This was the one holy Catholic Religion "throughout all the world", and it laid
down the ancient and established "usages and customs" to be followed at all
times by everyone willing to accept its discipli ne. It was the "Sacred Law" for
the guidance of fallen humanity, a law valid from "time immemorial", or, in
other words, from the dawn of time till its sunset, and of which it is written,
"As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end".
This universal science is related to have originated in the East, for the
East, in every sense, geographically, astronomically, and spiritually, is ever
the source of light "Ex Oriente Lux" (Out of the East Light) - and as humanity
itself became diffused and distributed over the globe, to have gradually spread
towards the West. The record of this truth is retained in our modern Instruction
Lectures in the cryptic phrase, "Learning originated in the East and thence
spread its benign influence towards the West" (Fourth Section, First Lecture).
During the process of the distribution of humanity there came about that
progressive densificati on of the material body and consequent at rophy of
spiritual perception already mentioned, and on account of this the influence of
the Wisdom-teaching became correspondingly diminished, although its principles
remained as valid and effective. To follow the course of its progress in any
detail would require a long treatise, and is therefore outside the scope of the
present Paper, but it should be noted that despite human vagaries and
conceptions the Light, like that of a Master Mason, has never b een wholly
extinguished, however dark the age, and acc ording to tradition the present age
is spiritually the darkest of the dark ages. It is truly declared that "God has
never left himself without a living witness among men", and among the witnesses
to the Ancient Wisdom is the system we know as Freemasonry; a faint and feeble
flicker, perhaps, but nevertheless a true light and in the true line of
succession of the primitive doctrine.
The earliest teaching of the Mysteries traceable within historic time was in
the Orient and in the language known as Sanskrit - a name itself significant and
appropriate, for it means Holy Writ or "Sanctum Scriptum"; and for the very
great lights on the Ancient Wisdom one must still refer to the religious and
philosophical scriptures of India, which was in its spiritual and temporal prime
when modern Europe was frozen beneath an ice-cup. But races of men, like
individuals, have their infancy, manhood and old age; they are but units, upon a
larger scale than the individual, for furthering the general life-purpose. When
a given race has served or failed in that purpose, the stewardship of the
Mysteries passes on to other and more effectual hands. The next great
torch-bearer of the Light of the world was Egypt, which after man y centuries of
spiritual su premacy, in turn became the arid desert it now is both spiritually
and materially, leaving nevertheless a mass of structural and written relics
still testifying to its possession of the Doctrine in the days of its glory.
From Egypt, as civilisations developed in adjoining countries, minor centres for
impacting the knowledge were instituted in Chaldea, Persia, Greece and Asia
Minor, and a record of this diffusion is preserved in the V. of the S.L., for
the EXODUS is, in one of its many allusion s, a witness to the passing on of the
catholic mysteries from Egypt to new and virgin regions for their enlightenment.
Of these various translations those that concern us chiefly are two; the one
to Greece, the other to Palestine. We know from the V. of the S.L., that Moses
was an initiate of the Egyptian Mysteries and became learned in all its wisdom,
while the writings of the Alexandrian Philosopher Philo Judaeus, called Philo
the Jew, inform us that in Egypt Moses became "skilled in Music, Geometry,
Arithmetic, Hieroglyphics and the whole circle of the arts and sciences". In
other words he became in a real sense a Master Mason and as such, qualified
himself for his subsequent great task of leadership of the Hebrew people and the
formulating of their religious system and rule of life as laid down in the
Pentateuch. The Mosaic system continued, as we know, along the channel indicated
in the books of the Old Testament, and then after many centuries, effloresced in
the greatest of all expressions of the Mysteries, as disclosed in the Gospels of
the New Testament, or New Witness, involving the enfoldment, comprehension, and
in gathering of the religious past of the whole world, centralised under the
Supreme Grand Mastership of Him who is called the Light of the World, and
embodying all the characteristics, legends, and sy mbols hitherto appertaining
to the central figures of prece ding dispensations, proclaiming the unity of all
human aspiration, and formulating in one grand system the doctrines of both the
East and West.
Concurrently with the existence of the Hebrew Mysteries under the Mosaic
dispensation, the great Greek school was developing, which originating in the
Orphic religion, culminated and came to a focus at Delphi and generated the
philosophic wisdom associated with Athens and the Periclean age. Greece was the
spiritual descendant of both India and Egypt, and we know that the great
Initiate who is accorded the title of Pythagoras journeyed to India before being
received in Egypt to take his final initiation prior to founding the school at
Crotona associated with him. Plato also tells us that aspirants for initiation
visited Egypt before promoting spiritual advancement in Greece.
It will not be possible to deal adequately with all the Mystery-systems in
this Paper, although for purposes of illustration in regard to our present
subject a reference will be made to one of the most famous of them, the
Eleusinian, which existed in Greece for several centuries. The word "Eleusis"
means light, and therefore initiation into the Mysteries of Eleusis proclaimed
the quest of the aspirant for light, in precisely the same sense as the
Freemason today is made to declare that "Light" is the predominant wish" of his
heart. In alternative terms, the candidate sought to be endued with "a
competency of the Divi ne wisdom", and was prepared to voluntarily submit
himself to a process whereby he became transformed from the natural state into a
spiritual state. Initiation, therefore, meant the gearing of the consciousness
of the candidate to a new and higher principle, the making of a new man in the
sense of attaining a new method of life and a new outlook upon the universe.
Speaking of this process St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Ephesians. "And
be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new ma n, which
after God is created in righteousness and true holin ess". This process of
"putting on the new man" spoken of by St. Paul in the 4th Chapter of his Epistle
to the Ephesians (verses 23 and 24) involves our comprehension of the esoteric
or spiritual interpretation of an Immaculate Conception, or, in other words, the
bringing to birth of the Divine Principle to function within the organism of the
natural man. In Freemasonry this mystical birth is reproduced by the name
"Lewis", which is traditionally associated with the Craft. The word "Lewis" is
an excellent example of the crypt ic language deliberately employed by the
compilers of our Ritual, for on close examination it will be found to be a
corruption of Eleusis and other Greek and Latin names indicating Light. Hence it
is that in our Instruction Lectures "Lewis" is said to designate "the son of a
Freemason", but assuredly this has no reference to human parentage and sonship.
It refers to the mystical birth of the Divine Light, the Light of the World, in
oneself; as a familiar Scriptural text has it, "Unto us a child is born, unto us
a son is given", truly an exalted parentage. The Instruction Lectures furt her
describe a "Lewis" as something which "when dovetailed into a stone forms a
clamp and enables the Mason to raise great weights to certain heights, while
fixing them on their proper bases", all of which is a concealed way of
expressing the fact that, when the Light of Divine Wisdom is brought forward
from man's submerged depths and firmly grafted or dovetailed into his natural
organism, he then becomes able easily to grapple with difficulties, problems an
d "weights" of all kinds which to the ordinary man are insuper able.
In the time that the Eleusinian Mysteries flourished as a public institution
it was regarded as essential by the cultured to apply for initiation, on the
grounds that the training and instruction were religiously conducive to the
making of good men and good citizens, and it is worthy of mention that in our
day substantially the same message has been convoyed to the popular world
through the medium of the public press by the Aims and Relations Committee of
the United Grand Lodge of England. In former times, however, the principles of
the Initiation science were not communicated to candidates, merely by the
discharge of certain ceremonial formalities, and educated men applied to enter
the Mysteries in the same way that in our day students go into residence at a
University and are required to graduate. The future development and value of the
Masonic Order as a moral force in society will depend, therefore, upon a
revival, in a form adapted to modern conditions, of the ancient Wisdom-teaching
and also of the prac tice of those Mysteries which became prescribed fifteen
centuries ago, but of which modern Freemasonry is the direct and representative
descendant.
At the time when the Mysteries flourished, accepted candidates were graded
according to their moral efficiency and their intellectual or spiritual stature.
For a period of years they underwent disciplinary intellectual exercises and
bodily asceticism, during which they were subjected to periodical tests in order
to determine their fitness to proceed to the more solemn and serious processes
of actual initiation. Initiation was administered only to those who were duly
qualified, and the precise nature was of a secret and closely guarded character.
An echo of this progress by regular stages is found in our present day ritual,
in the information given to the candidate during the Ceremony of Initiation,
stipulating that "their are several degrees in Freemasonry with peculiar secrets
restricted to each" and the accompanying reminder that these are "not confe rred
upon candidates indiscriminately, but only according to merit and ability". The
education of aspirants for Initiation was directed solely to the cultivation of
the "four cardinal virtues", and this at once brings to mind the reference in
our own Lectures wherein it is affirmed that "tradition informs us" that they
"were constantly practised by the majority of our ancient Brethren". A further
qualification prerequisite to a participation in the higher order of life was
the study of the "seven liberal arts and sciences". The construction put upon
these virtues and sciences was, however, a much more advanced one than the
modern mind considers adequate; and it is interesting to note that although we
have not departed from the essential curriculum in theory in the Craft today, in
the matter of practice there is a wide difference. For instance, with our
Ancient Brethren the virtue of TEMPERANCE involved the complete control of the
passional nature; FORTITUDE, implied a courage which is undismayed by adversi ty,
and w hich permits of no deflection from the goal in view; PRUDENCE,
comprehended that deep insight leading to forward-seeing and producing the
prophetic faculty of seer-ship; JUSTICE, demanded unswerving righteousness of
thought, word and deed. The "arts and sciences" were also of a positive nature,
and they were termed "liberal" because the educational curriculum was expressly
designed to "liberate" the soul of the aspirant from the illusions incident to
the natural state. Thus GRAMMAR, LOGIC and RH ETORIC wer e treated as
disciplines of the moral nature, by means of which irrational tendencies were
eradicated and candidates trained to become living witnesses of the universal
Logos and effectively speaking with the "tongue of good report". GEOMETRY and
ARITHMETIC were sciences of transcendental space and numeration, the complete
comprehension of which provided the key to both the Universe and man himself,
for each expression of life was shown to have its number, rate of vibration or
wave length, its form and particular place in the Grand Plan of T.G.A.O.T.U. The
science of AS TRONOMY not only included the observation of the heavenly bodies,
but was primarily directed to the study of metaphysics and the correct
understanding of the distribution of the forces in, and determining the destiny
of, individuals, nations and the race. Finally, MUSIC, was not confined to the
study of vocal or instrumental works, but was concerned with the adjustment of
the personal life into harmony with the Centre of All Life, God, by the living
practice of philosophy.
The Eleusinian Mysteries, then, involved much more than a merely notional
philosophy; they required also a philosophic method of living, and this method
was divided into two main parts, which were known as the Lesser and the Greater
Mysteries. In the Lesser Mysteries the elementary instruction was imparted, but
the object of these was to enable candidates to proceed with the task of
purifying and adapting their lives to the truths which were disclosed to them.
The Greater Mysteries related to developments of consciousness within the soul
itself, and were connected with the new and intensified life which was the
direct result of fidelity to the prescribed disciplines. To draw a faint
analogy, the Lesser Mysteries stood in the same relationship to the Greater as
our present Craft degrees do to the Holy Royal Arch. Candidates who became
proficient and properly prepared in accordance with the curriculum of the Lesser
myste ries were eventually admitted to initiation in the Greater, while those
who failed to qualify were not permitted to proceed. The decree restraining
unqualified candidates from advancement to the Greater Mysteries was not
arbitrary, but was absolutely necessary in the interests of candidates
themselves because inward purity of heart and mind, coupled with the possession
of the four cardinal virtues, was essential to the ordeals of actual initiation,
which otherwise rendered the aspirant liable to insanity and obsessions. It was
for this reason that the number of qualified candidates amounted to only a small
percentage of those who entered the Mysteries, and this law remains valid in our
day for we find the same truth restated in the V. of the S.L., which is the text
book of our modern system, in the familiar words, "Many are called, but few are
chosen".
One qualification above all was demanded from those who applied to enter the
Mysteries, - humility, and it is for admission into important to note that the
candidate for admission into Freemasonry is still required to come "humbly
soliciting". The reason for this was, and still is today, that the wisdom into
which the Mysteries and initiation admit a man is foolishness to the worldly
minded. To attain it a candidate must therefore be prepared for a complete and
voluntary renunciation of worldly wisdom and this may involve his finding
negated everything he has previously held to be true, and which, furthermore,
those among whom he o rdinarily mingles will continue to be lieve, and insist,
to be true. Speaking of this manner of approach to the comprehension of things
spiritual, St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, declares, "Let no man
deceive himself, if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him
become a fool, that he may be wise" (1st. Corinthians; Chapter 3, verse 18). The
candidate for the Christian Mysteries was instructed that he was to be content
to "become a fool for the kingdom of heaven's sake", and was to be ready t o
suffer adversity a nd ridicule, should the necessity arise. This was one of the
prime reasons for secrecy and one - though not the only one - of the origins of
the Masonic injunction as to secrecy. In the public processions of the Lesser
Mysteries of Eleusis, the sacramental vessels and elements were carried upon the
back of an ass, to signify that for the reception of divine knowledge "humility
is an essential virtue", while in the V. of the S.L., the same thing is
symbolised by the Palm-Sunday ride into J erusalem of popular conception, of
which we read, "thy King cometh unto thee, just and having salvation; lowly and
riding upon an ass". Apuleius, in the "Golden Ass", provides the explanation
when he writes, "There is no creature so able to receive divinity as an ass;
into which if ye be not turned, ye shall in no wise be able to carry the divine
mysteries".
In addition to the practical instruction included in the curriculum of the
Mysteries, another and greatly educative means employed was the expression by
means of myths of truths of the Divine world and the entire spiritual history of
man. The Greek mythologists were adepts at expressing cosmic and philosophic
truths in the guise of fables which conveyed theosophic teaching to the
discerning and veiled it from the profane. Myth-making was a science, and not,
as many allege, an indulgence in irresponsible fi ction, and by their
presentation in dramatic form candidates were instructed in the fundamental
verities of life. One of the best known of the Greek myths is that of Demeter
and her daughter Persephone, which was performed annually with great ceremony at
the Eleusinia. It told how the maiden Persephone strayed away from Arcadia
(heaven) and from her mother Demeter, to pluck flowers in the fields of Enna,
and how the soil there opened and caused her to fall int o the lower dark world
of Hades ruled over by P luto. The despair of the mother at the loss of her
daughter reached Zeus, the chief of the Gods, with the result that he ordained
that providing that the girl had not eaten of the fruit of Hades, she should
forthwith be restored to her mother for ever, but that if she had so eaten she
must abide a third of each year with Pluto and return to Demeter for the other
two thirds. Enquiry proved that unfortunately Persephone had eaten a pomegranate
in the lower world, so that her restoration to her mother could n ot be
permanent, but only periodic. This myth is the story of the human soul and is of
precisely the same nature as the Mosaic myth of Adam and Eve and the apple, and,
as the parable of the Prodigal Son, neither of which have any physical
reference. Persephone denotes the human soul, generated out of that primordial
incorruptible mother-earth which the Greeks personified as Demeter, in the same
way as the Mosaic narrative speaks of God forming man out of the dust of the gr
ound. Her straying from her Arcad ian home and heavenly mother in quest of
flowers (flowers symbolising fresh experiences) in the fields of Enna,
corresponds with the same promptings of desire that led to Adam's disobedience
in the Garden of Eden and his fall thence to this outer world, The word "Enna"
signifies "darkness and bitterness", which is the result of unruly desires, and
a fuller explanation of the meaning will be found in the V. of the S.L., where
it is translated from the original as GEHENNA. Pluto, is designated the "god of
riches", meaning the riches of wisdom and experience, and it is into his kingdom
that Persephone fell. The "eating of fruit" alludes to the inferior pleasures of
this lower plane of existence, which, as the Pomegranate symbolises, is
many-seeded with illusions and vanities. Until these false tendencies are
eradicated until the desires of the heart are utterl y weaned from external
delights, there can be no permanent restoration of the soul to its source, but
merely the periodic respite and refreshment that physical death brings when it
withdraws the soul from Pluto's realm to the heaven-world, to be followed again
and again by periodic descents into material limitations and re-ascents into
discarnate, conditions, until it becomes fully perfected.
Freemasonry, as already indicated, being the lineal descendant of the ancient
Wisdom-teaching, follows the traditional method of imparting instruction by
means of myths, and its canon of teaching in the Craft degrees contains two such
myths. The first is that of the building of King Solomon's Temple, and the
second, the narrative of the death and burial of the Master Builder related in
the traditional history. To the literal-minded, the building of the Temple at
Jerusalem appears to be the history of an ac tual stone and mortar structure
which was erected by three Asiatic notables, one of whom conceived the idea,
another supplying the building material, whilst the third was the practical
architect and chief of works. The two former are said to have been kings of
adjacent small nations; the third was not a royalty, but was apparently a person
of no social dignity and a widow's son. For the good of Freemasonry in general,
let it be clearly stated in the wo rds of St. Paul, "Which things are an
allegory", for th e Masonic Temple of Solomon is not one of common brick and
stone. It is fashioned out of that "unhewn stone" or incorruptible raw material
out of which the Creator formed the human organism. The Jerusalem in which this
temple was built was obviously not the geographical one in Palestine, but refers
to the eternal "city of peace" in the heavens, or, in other words, "that House
not made with hands"; not, as St, Paul also affirms, "the Jerusalem which now
is", but "the Jerusalem which is above, which is the m other of us all" (Epistle
to the Galatians, Chapter 4, verse 26), and thus corresponding to the Greek
Demeter. Neither were the builders of the Temple three human personages
resident in the Levant, for their names are the personification of the Divine
energy considered in its three constituent principles, which are otherwise
spoken of in our Lectures as Wisdom, Strength and Beauty. These three principles
of "Pillars" as they are also termed in the Instruction Lectures, are
personified by S. K. of I., H.K. of T., and H.A., and an explanation of their
concealed significance is necessary in order to properly i nterpret the myth.
Solomon personifies the primordial Life-Essence or substantialised Divine Wisdom
which is the basis of our being; this is described as "King of Israel" because
Israel means "co-operating or ruling with God". To conjoin this transcendental
Life-Essence to a vehicle which should give it fixity and form required the
assistance of another "kingly" principle, personified as "King of Tyre", who
therefore may correctly be said to have supplied the "building material". In
Hebrew th e name "Tyre" signifies "rock" and refers to strength or durability,
and the conjunction of Solomon and Hiram of Tyre (Life-Essence and Mould or
Matrix) therefore represents the groundwork of the soul, which is made
functionally effective by the addition of the third principle described as the
"widow's son", and personifying the active intellectual principle or Logos. Thus
H. A. is the Christ-principle immanent in every soul; crucified, dead and buried
in all who are not alive to its presence, but nevertheless resident i n all as a
saving force. Again to quote St. Paul, "Christ in you, the hope of glory". The
description of this principle as "the widow's son reflects in our modern system
a beautiful piece of the Gnostic symbolism, and refers to the widowed nature of
the Divine Motherhood as the result of the defection from wisdom of her frail
children. The true Gnosis informs us that only those children who are striving
while in the flesh to rejoin their Mother are worthy to be known as "sons of the
widow", and as our cere monial rite clearly indicates, it is from these
labouring at the task that the traditional petition is addressed to all those
who have rejoined her, "Come to my help ye sons of the Widow, for I also am the
Widow's son".
The Temple of the human soul, primordially constituted of the three
principles exemplified in due balance and proportion and divinely pronounced to
be "very good", has owing to the certain untoward incident, which is the subject
of our central Masonic legend, been thrown down from its primitive eminence. Its
fall has been effected by the disproportioned, unbalanced, and therefore,
disorderly abuse of its inherent powers. Thus man is now, figuratively speaking,
a ruined temple, over which it is written, "Ic habod", - "the glory has
departed" for severed from conscious intercourse with his Vital and Immortal
Principle, man is a prisoner in captivity to himself and his temporal nature; it
remains for him to retrace his steps and rebuild his temple. Hence it is that
the Masonic candidate is counselled to continue no longer in bondage to his
self-made illusions and the attractions of "worldly possessions", but to become
a free man and a mason, engaged in the work of sh aping himself into a "living
stone" for the c osmic temple of a regenerate Humanity. In the Craft to be
installed in the "Chair of King Solomon" means, therefore, in the true sense;
the re-attainment of "that which is lost", and this is rightly represented to be
the aim of every Freemason. In fact if we do not re-attain the Divine Wisdom
during our sojourn in this world, we miss the opportunity, since it is
universally attested to that the after-death state is not one of labour, but of
refreshment and rest, where no real progress is possible. Initiation, therefore,
was instituted to impart the science of re-attainment, but we are reminded as
the Ancient Mysteries taught, that the soul that never even begins this work in
this world, will not be able to begin it in the hereafter, and will remain
suspended in the more tenuous planes of this planet, until such time as it is
again indrawn into the vortex of generation by the ever-turning wheel of life.
It is for this reason that the Masonic candidate is admonished, "be careful to
perform your allotted task while it is yet day", the implication being that
stated in the V, of the S.L., "Now is the time for salvation, for the night
cometh when no man can work". The Masonic conception of the "Grand Lodge Above"
is also in accord with the teaching contained in the V. of the S.L.concerning
the post-mortem levels of existence, for we read that, "In my Father's house are
many mansions", or, literally, resting places, a nd that they and their oc
cupants are graduated in Hierarchical order according to their degree of
spiritual eminence. "As Above, so Below", affirms the ancient axiom, but
unfortunately the modern world has lost all sense of the principle of hierarchy,
which, since it obtains in the higher world, ought to be reflected in this.
Freemasonry, however, preserves the witness to this graduation in the symbolic
distribution of its membership, for above the Craft Lodge there presides the
Provincial Grand Lodge, while beyo nd that rules the Grand Lodge of the nation.
Then theoretically higher than any of these is the Royal Arch Chapters with the
Provincial and Grand Chapters at the summit. Also in the symbolic clothing worn
by the members of each of these ranks, the observant student will perceive the
intention to give appropriate expression to the truth which is thereby
signified. Thus the pure white Masonic Apron is fringed with a pale blue in the
case of junior brethren, a pale shade of that blue which, even in physical
nature, is the colo ur of the heavens. In the case of the seniors of the
Provincial and Grand Lodges the pale blue of the craft is intensified to the
deepest degree, and the clothing is adorned with gold lace, thus emblematising
that which is referred to by the Psalmist, "The King's daughter (the soul) is
all glorious within, her clothing is wrought of gold". Proceeding to the Royal
Arch it will be observed that the devotional blue of the craft is now indented
with red, the colour of fire denoting spiritua l arbour, and the bl end of these
results in purple which in both earth and heaven is always the prerogative of
royalty. Thus it is, that by their clothing in the various grades, the members
of the Masonic Order are emblematic on earth of the angels, archangels and all
the company of Heaven.
And now, brethren, may I conclude this Paper, and close, as every Lodge is
closed, in peace and concord with all my Brethren, and with the ancient prayer
that the Order may be preserved of God, and its members cemented with every
virtue. If, in what I have written, Freemasonry has been given a conception
spiritualised beyond the measure of its common understanding, I have but
followed the example of our Ancient Brethren, who lifting their eyes to the
hills whence cometh strength, wrought their work upon the highest eminences of
the mind and discerned the Mysteries, not with eyes of flesh, but with the
vision and understanding of the spirit. It may be that few are prepared to
ascend to those high hills today, in this more than usually troubled and dark
age, but nevertheless some are ready and eager to do so despite the great trials
and tribulations which are incident to world in upheaval, and for them I have
especially compiled this record. At the mome nt, the World-spirit is dominant in
all institutions. Wisd om is little apparent; for want of vision the people
perish; and the quest for light has to be pursued under conditions of peculiar
adversity. But, we are reminded that there is a mystery of darkness no less than
one of Light; and, in the moulding hands of the Great Architect of the House of
Life, the darkness and the light are both alike and serve as twin pillars, that,
finally, will establish the House in strength. Those, then, who are not yet
prepared to mount the higher path of understanding the things of the Craft, are
nevertheless incorporated in our great Fraternity, for as we are reminded by the
words of a familiar Masonic Ode, we are charged and required to extend:-
"A welcome sweet to all we meet Within our sacred walls; May
God still grant that those we greet May haste when Duty calls."
Finally, it remains with the craft itself, whether it shall enter upon its
own heritage as a lineal successor of the Ancient Mysteries and Wisdom-teaching,
or whether by failing to do so, it will undergo the inevitable fate of
everything that is but form, from which the spirit has departed.
SO MOTE IT BE.
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