ALBERT PIKE--THE MAN NOT THE MYTH
Editor's Note: On October 17 this article was given by Dr. Rex R. Hutchens as an address to
the 1989 Biennial Session of The
Supreme Council 33ø Southern Jurisdiction, USA., meeting
in Washington, DC
Like a few equally illustrious predecessors,
such as Leonardo Da Vinci or Francis Bacon,
Grand Commander Albert Pike led not a single
life, but many. He was an explorer, so he knew
privation; a journalist, so he knew the excesses
of the press; a lawyer, so he knew the constant
threat of despotism that the law entails; a teacher,
so he knew the importance of education; a
general, so he knew the horrors of war; a poet,
so he knew the soul of man.
His contributions to so many fields vividly
demonstrate the productivity possible from the
wise use of time. If he knew the exaltation of success, he also knew the meaning of misfortune.
The civil war estranged him from his northern
roots, so he knew despair; he was a father who
outlived eight of his ten children, so he knew
sorrow; he once possessed great wealth but died
a virtual ward of the Scottish Rite. Yet he was
a Mason, so he also knew the unrivaled power
of the human will.
His life exemplified the teachings of the Craft,
and all of us might envy his steady dedication
to those principles. Few, if any, of us have lived
so completely. He came to the Craft relatively late
in life, at the age of forty, so Freemasonry can
take little credit for his character. What it did provide, however, was an outlet for his energy and
a vehicle for his creativity.
Though a man of many talents, no aspect of
his life received such enduring concentration as
his work for the Scottish Rite. He found it in
ruins and left it a stately temple to the dignity
and rights of man.
Above all else our illustrious Brother Pike
taught us the meaning of leadership. No fair-weather friend of the Craft, he
assumed the mantle at its lowest ebb: its membership nil, its ritual
in chaos, it charities nonexistent.
Albert Pike assumed the intellectual leadership
of the Scottish Rite even before he was elected
as Sovereign Grand Commander. To him was entrusted the rewriting of the Rituals of the Degrees
which either never existed in any coherent form
or which had suffered degradation at the hands
of the unlearned.
Albert Pike had a subtle motive in his rewriting
of the Rituals, seeking to do more than simply
improve the presentations of the lessons of the
Degrees. He wished to establish the Scottish Rite
as an agent for the intellectual development of
the Craft. This goal was furthered by the preparation of a foundational literature for the Rite
embodied in the new Ritual and a series of lectures entitled Readings, Legends,
Liturgies and Morals and Dogma. These were further supplemented by The Book of Words and the
1st and
2nd Lectures on Masonic Symbolism.
By the exercise of the proper tenor of leadership, he built upon the strength of Scottish Rite
teachings, expunged the Ritual of its adversely
political and sectarian character and set the Rite
upon a course of growth and development that
clearly had as its intent to make the Southern
Jurisdiction the single most influential body of
Freemasonry in the world.
He sought this goal by a steady application of strength and determination,
mitigated by patience and self-control. He never forgot that ours
is a volunteer organization, utterly dependent
upon the good will and commitment of the
membership who give to it time which deprives
their employment, family, church and community of a portion of their talents. But he as well
understood how that commitment of time and
talent bore fruit in the character of the man,
making him a better employee or employer, a
better father or husband, a better churchman or
citizen.
Brother Pike set forth certain precepts to guide
the Mason in the conduct of his life. These may
be found in Morals and Dogma in the Entered
Apprentice Lecture as the ten commandments of
Masonry and in the Prince of Mercy Lecture as
the nine great truths of Masonry. But as Martin
Luther noted, ''Precepts show us what we ought
to do, but do not impart to us the power to do it.'' Pike's unique
contribution was to impart to us also that power--the power of just government, the power of collective action, the power
of truth.
This power is manifested in our actions. He
reminded us that reward accorded to merit is a
debt; without merit, it is an alms or a theft. From
him we learned to make change without creating
destruction; to practice charity without fostering
dependence; to lead without tyranny; to counsel
without criticism.
It is difficult to reflect upon the man without
wondering what he would think of our present
edifice, the foundation of which he laid. It is certain that he would find no fault with the extensive system of charities that has evolved over the
years. He probably would have tolerated the
changes in emphasis responsible for the rapid
growth of the Scottish Rite in this century. After
all, great charities require a broad membership
base to support them. He did not hold the rules
he devised for the government of the Rite to be
inviolate; he changed them often himself.
Equally evident would have been his deep
disappointment in the numerous versions of the
Ritual in use within the Rite today.
In contravention of the edicts of The Supreme
Council, our Ritual has been continually reworked and elaborated or simplified by sincere,
hardworking, dedicated Brethren who all too
often have had only the vaguest notion of the
intent of the original Ritual. The result has been
the corruption of Scottish Rite teachings. The
sublime lessons portrayed in our original Ritual
have become so simplified or, more accurately,
diluted, that the experience of receiving the
Degrees has become, for many, a numbing rather
than an uplifting experience.
Brother Pike knew that this eventuality was
possible, even inevitable, if the sanctity of the
Ritual was not preserved from additions by the
unlearned. Thus, the authority for the changes
in the Ritual was confined to The Supreme Council itself through its Committee on Ritual and
Ceremonial Forms, instead of the dozens of
Orients, hundreds of Valleys or the now 600,000
plus members of the Rite in his Jurisdiction.
The lack of enforcement of his formally instituted controls over the Ritual of the Rite has
resulted in just the changes Brother Pike feared
and just the consequences he anticipated.
He would also have been disappointed in the waning of his goal that the
Scottish Rite become the agent for the intellectual leadership of the Craft. It
is in the area of Masonic research that this trend is clearly seen. There is an
almost total absence of Scottish Rite research to be found in the literature.
Those few research papers and books which are found usually treat of minor
historical matters rather than any analysis of the symbols and teachings of the
Scottish Rite. Until this shortcoming is corrected, we shall never
attain that influence in the intellectual life of
Freemasonry that he sought.
The spirit of Brother Pike bids us to protect
from corruption those lessons from ancient
history which he gave to us and to reassert his
goal of contributing to the intellectual leadership
of the Craft. His wise counsel pervades the
literature of the Scottish Rite, even in those
jurisdictions where his Rituals are not used.
It is often said today that no one reads Pike's
writings anymore. This is, of course, an exaggeration. But it is true that his intellectual influence
is less today than it has been in the past. That
this is unfortunate stems, not from the need to
read what Pike wrote, but to learn what he
taught.
It is certain that the Scottish Rite possesses the
talent to preserve those lessons of the past and
once again contribute to the intellectual leadership of the craft, always keeping in mind the example of Brother Pike. Quoting from Pope's
Essay on Man, we may say of him that he was:
Slave of no sect, who takes no private
road,
But looks through Nature up to Nature's
God;
Pursues that chain which links the
immense design,
Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and
divine;
Sees, that no being any bliss can know,
But touches some above, and some
below;
Learns from this union of the rising
whole,
The first, last purpose of the human
soul;
And knows where faith, law, morals, all
began,
All end, in Love of God, and Love of
Man.
Pike was a great man because he lived greatly.
Although few will ever attain such stature in
history and probably none of us will ever decide
to begin learning Sanskrit at the age of sixty-five,
Albert Pike is a worthy model. For us, he is a
reminder that perseverance in the face of adversity and hope in the future are the most excellent
qualities we can possess.
back to top | 
