textfiles-politics/conspiracyTextFilesRegEx/lostkey.txt

<conspiracyFile>THE LOST KEYS OF FREEMASONRY or The Secret of Hiram Abiff by MANLY
P. HALL
PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD
The steady demand and increasing popularity of this volume, of
which eighteen thousand copies have been printed since it first
appeared a few years ago, have brought the present revised and
rearranged edition into being. The text can be read with profit by
both new and old Mason, for within its pages lies an interpretation
of Masonic symbolism which supplements the monitorial instruction
usually given in the lodges.
The leading Masonic scholars of all times have agreed that the
symbols of the Fraternity are susceptible of the most profound
interpretation and thus reveal to the truly initiated certain
secrets concerning the spiritual realities of life. Freemasonry is
therefore more than a mere social organization a few centuries old,
and can be regarded as a perpetuation of the philosophical
mysteries and initiations of the ancients. This is in keeping with
the inner tradition of the Craft, a heritage from pre-Revival days.
The present volume will appeal to the thoughtful Mason as an
inspiring work, for it satisfies the yearning for further light and
leads the initiate to that Sanctum Sanctorum where the mysteries
are revealed. The book is a contribution to Masonic idealism,
revealing the profounder aspects of our ancient and gentle
Fraternity - those unique and distinctive features which have
proved a constant inspiration through the centuries.
FOREWORD
By REYNOLD E. BLIGHT, 33 degree, K. T.
Reality forever eludes us. Infinity mocks our puny efforts to
imprison it in definition and dogma. Our most splendid
realizations are only adumbrations of the Light. In his endeavors,
man is but a mollusk seeking to encompass the ocean.
Yet man may not cease his struggle to find God. There is a
yearning in his soul that will not let him rest, an urge that
compels him to attempt the impossible, to attain the unattainable.
He lifts feeble hands to grasp the stars and despite a million
years of failure and millenniums of disappointment, the soul of man
springs heavenward with even greater avidity than when the race was
young.
He pursues, even though the flying ideal eternally slips from his
embrace. Even though he never clasps the goddess of his dreams, he
refuses to believe that she is a phantom. To him she is the only
reality. He reaches upward and will not be content until the sword
of Orion is in his hands, and glorious Arcturus glearns from his
breast.
Man is Parsifal searching for the Sacred Cup; Sir Launfal
adventuring for the Holy Grail. Life is a divine adventure, a
splendid quest
Language falls. Words are mere cyphers, and who can read the
riddle? These words we use, what are they but vain shadows of form
and sense? We strive to clothe our highest thought with verbal
trappings that our brother may see and understand; and when we
would describe a saint he sees a demon; and when we would present a
wise man he beholds a fool. "Fie upon you," he cries; "thou, too,
art a fool."
So wisdom drapes her truth with symbolism, and covers her insight
with allegory. Creeds, rituals, poems are parables and symbols.
The ignorant take them literally and build for themselves prison
houses of words and with bitter speech and bitterer taunt denounce
those who will not join them in the dungeon. Before the rapt
vision of the seer, dogma and ceremony, legend and trope dissolve
and fade, and he sees behind the fact the truth, behind the symbol
the Reality.
Through the shadow shines ever the Perfect Light.
What is a Mason? He is a man who in his heart has been duly and
truly prepared, has been found worthy and well qualified, has been
admitted to the fraternity of builders, been invested with certain
passwords and signs by which he may be enabled to work and receive
wages as a Master Mason, and travel in foreign lands in search of
that which was lost - The Word.
Down through the misty vistas of the ages rings a clarion
declaration and although the very heavens echo to the
reverberations, but few hear and fewer understand: "In the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was
God."
Here then is the eternal paradox. The Word is lost yet it is ever
with us. The light that illumines the distant horizon shines in
our hearts. "Thou wouldist not seek me hadst thou not found me." We
travel afar only to find that which we hunger for at home.
And as Victor Hugo says: "The thirst for the Infinite proves
infinity."
That which we seek lives in our souls.
This, the unspeakable truth, the unutterable perfection, the author
has set before us in these pages. Not a Mason himself, he has read
the deeper meaning of the ritual. Not having assumed the formal
obligations, he calls upon all mankind to enter into the holy of
holies. Not initiated into the physical craft, he declares the
secret doctrine that all may hear.
With vivid allegory and profound philosophical disquisition he
expounds the sublime teachings of Freemasonry, older than all
religions, as universal as human aspiration.
It is well. Blessed are the eyes that see, and the ears that hear,
and the heart that understands.
INTRODUCTION
Freemasonry, though not a religion, is essentially religious. Most
of its legends and allegories are of a sacred nature; much of it is
woven into the structure of Christianity. We have learned to
consider our own religion as the only inspired one, and this
probably accounts for much of the misunderstanding in the world
today concerning the place occupied by Freemasonry in the spiritual
ethics of our race. A religion is a divinely inspired code of
morals. A religious person is one inspired to nobler livi ng by
this code. He is identified by the code which is his source of
illumination. Thus we may say that a Christian is one who receives
his spiritual ideals of right and wrong from the message of the
Christ, while a Buddhist is one who molds his life into the
archetype of morality given by the great Gautama, or one of the
other Buddhas. All doctrines which seek to unfold and preserve
that invisible spark in man named Spirit, are said to be spirit
ual. Those which ignore this invisible element and concent rate
entirely upon the visible are said to be material. There is in
religion a wonderful point of balance, where the materialist and
spiritist meet on the plane of logic and reason. Science and
theology are two ends of a single truth, but the world will never
receive the full benefit of their investigations until they have
made peace with each other, and labor hand in hand for the
accomplishment of the great work - the liberation of spirit and in
telligence from the three-dimensional prison-house of ignora nce,
superstition, and fear. That which gives man a knowledge of himself
can be inspired only by the Self - and God is the Self in all
things. In truth, He is the inspiration and the thing inspired. It
has been stated in Scripture that God was the Word and that the
Word was made flesh. Man's task now is to make flesh reflect the
glory of that Word, which is within the soul of himself. It is
this task which has created the need of religion - not one faith
alone but many creeds, each searching in its own way, e ach meeting
the needs of individual people, each emphasizing one point above
all the others.
Twelve Fellow Craftsmen are exploring the four points of the
compass. Are not these twelve the twelve great world religions,
each seeking in its own way for that which was lost in the ages
past, and the quest of which is the birthright of man? Is not the
quest for Reality in a world of illusions the task for which each
comes into the world? We are here to gain balance in a sphere of
unbalance; to find rest in a restless thing; to unveil illusion;
and to slay the dragon of our own animal natures. As David, King
of Israel, gave to the hands of his son Solomon the task he could
not accomplish, so each generation gives to the next the work of
building the temple, or rather, rebuilding the dwelling of the
Lord, which is on Mount Moriah.
Truth is not lost, yet it must be sought for and found. Reality is
ever-present - dimensionless yet all-prevailing. Man - creature of
attitudes and desires, and servant of impressions and opinions -
cannot, with the wavering unbalance of an untutored mind, learn to
know that which he himself does not possess. As man attains a
quality, he discovers that quality, and recognizes about him the
thing newborn within himself. Man is born with eyes, yet only
after long years of sorrow does he learn to see clearl y and in
harmony with the Plan. He is born with senses, but only after long
experience and fruitless strivings does he bring these senses to
the temple and lays them as offerings upon the altar of the great
Father, who alone does all things well and with understanding. Man
is, in truth, born in the sin of ignorance, but with a capacity for
understanding. He has a mind capable of wisdom, a heart capable of
feeling, and a hand strong for the great work in life - truing the
rough ashlar into the perfect sto ne.
What more can any creature ask than the opportunity to prove the
thing he is, the dream that inspires him, the vision that leads him
on? We have no right to ask for wisdom. In whose name do we beg
for understanding? By what authority do we demand happiness? None
of these things is the birthright of any creature; yet all may have
them, if they will cultivate within themselves the thing that they
desire. There is no need of asking, nor does any Deity bow down to
give man these things that he desires. Man i s given by Nature, a
gift, and that gift is the privilege of labor. Through labor he
learns all things.
Religions are groups of people, gathered together in the labor of
learning. The world is a school. We are here to learn, and our
presence here proves our need of instruction. Every living
creature is struggling to break the strangling bonds of limitation
- that pressing narrowness which inhabits vision and leaves the
life without an ideal. Every soul is engaged in a great work - the
labor of personal liberation from the state of ignorance. The
world is a great prison; its bars are the Unknown. And eac h is a
prisoner until, at last, he earns the right to tear these bars from
their moldering sockets, and pass, illuminated and inspired, into
the darkness, which becomes lighted by that presence. All peoples
seek the temple where God dwells, where the spirit of the great
Truth illuminates the shadows of human ignorance, but they know not
which way to turn nor where this temple is. The mist of dogma
surrounds them. Ages of thoughtlessness bind them in. Limitation
weakens them and retards their footsteps. They wander in darkness
seeking light, failing to realize that the Eght is in the heart of
the darkness.
To the few who have found Him, God is revealed. These, in turn,
reveal Him to man, striving to tell ignorance the message of
wisdom. But seldom does man understand the mystery that has been
unveiled. He tries weakly to follow in the steps of those who have
attained, but all too often finds the path more difficult than he
even dreamed. So he kneels in prayer before the mountain he cannot
climb, from whose top gleams the light which he is neither strong
enough to reach nor wise enough to comprehend. He l ives the law
as he knows it, always fearing in his heart that he has not read
aright the flaming letters in the sky, and that in living the
letter of the Law he has murdered the spirit. Man bows humbly to
the Unknown, peopling the shadows of his own ignorance with saints
and saviors, ghosts and spectres, gods and demons. Ignorance fears
all things, falling, terror-stricken before the passing wind.
Superstition stands as the monument to ignorance, and b efore it
kneel all who realize their own weakness; wh o see in all things
the strength they do not possess; who give to sticks and stones the
power to bruise them; who change the beauties of Nature into the
dwelling place of ghouls and ogres. Wisdom fears no thing, but
still bows humbly to its own Source. While superstition hates all
things, wisdom, with its deeper understanding, loves all things;
for it has seen the beauty, the tenderness, and the sweetness which
underlie Life's mystery.
Life is the span of time appointed for accomplishment. Every
fleeting moment is an opportunity, and those who are great are the
ones who have recognized life as the opportunity for all things.
Arts, sciences, and religions are monuments standing for what
humanity has already accomplished. They stand as memorials to the
unfolding mind of man, and through them man acquires more efficient
and more intelligent methods of attaining prescribed results.
Blessed are those who can profit by the experiences of ot hers;
who, adding to that which has already been built, can make their
inspiration real, their dreams practical. Those who give man the
things he needs, while seldom appreciated in their own age, are
later recognized as the Saviors of the human race.
Masonry is a structure built upon experience. Each stone is a
sequential step in the unfolding of intelligence. The shrines of
Masonry are ornamented by the jewels of a thousand ages; its
rituals ring with the words of enlightened seers and illuminated
sages. A hundred religions have brought their gifts of wisdom to
its altar. Arts and sciences unnumbered have contributed to its
symbolism. It is more than a faith; it is a path of certainty. It
is more than a belief; it is a fact. Masonry is a univers ity,
teaching the liberal arts and sciences of the soul to all who will
attend to its words. It is a shadow of the great Atlantean Mystery
School, which stood with all its splendor in the ancient City of
the Golden Gates, where now the turbulent Atlantic rolls in
unbroken sweep. Its chairs are seats of learning; its pillars
uphold the arch of universal education, not only in material
things, but also in those qualities which are of the spirit. Up on
its trestleboards are inscribed the sacred truths of all nations
and of all peoples, and upon those who understand its sacred depths
has dawned the great Reality. Masonry is, in truth, that long-lost
thing which all peoples have sought in all ages. Masonry is the
common denominator as well as the common devisor of human
aspiration.
Most of the religions of the world are like processions: one leads,
and the many follow. In the footsteps of the demigods, man follows
in his search for truth and illumination. The Christian follows
the gentle Nazarene up the winding slopes of Calvary. The Buddhist
follows his great emancipator through his wanderings in the
wilderness. The Mohammedan makes his pilgrimage across the desert
sands to the black tent at Mecca. Truth leads, and ignorance
follows in his train. Spirit blazes the trail, and ma tter follows
behind. In the world today ideals live but a moment in their
purity, before the gathering hosts of darkness snuff out the
gleaming spark. The Mystery School, however, remains unmoved. It
does not bring its light to man; man must bring his light to it.
Ideals, coming into the world, become idols within a few short
hours, but man, entering the gates of the sanctuary, changes the
idol back to an ideal.
Man is climbing an endless flight of steps, with his eyes fixed
upon the goal at the top. Many cannot see the goal, and only one
or two steps are visible before them. He has learned, however, one
great lesson - namely, that as he builds his own character he is
given strength to climb the steps. Hence a Mason is a builder of
the temple of character. He is the architect of a sublime mystery
- the gleaming, glowing temple of his own soul. He realizes that
he best serves God when he joins with the Great Ar chitect in
building more noble structures in the universe below. All who are
attempting to attain mastery through constructive efforts are
Masons at heart, regardless of religious sect or belief. A Mason
is not necessarily a member of a lodge. In a broad sense, he is
any person who daily tries to live the Masonic life, and to serve
intelligently the needs of the Great Architect. The Masonic
brother pledges himself to assist all other temple-builders in
whatever extremity of life; and in so doing he pled ges himself to
every living thing, for they are all temple-builders, building more
noble structures to the glory of the universal God.
The true Masonic Lodge is a Mystery School, a place where
candidates are taken out of the follies and foibles of the world
and instructed in the mysteries of life, relationships, and the
identity of that germ of spiritual essence within, which is, in
truth, the Son of God, beloved of His Father. The Mason views life
seriously, realizing that every wasted moment is a lost
opportunity, and that Omnipotence is gained only through
earnestness and endeavor. Above all other relationships he
recognizes the unive rsal brotherhood of every living thing. The
symbol of the clasped hands, explained in the Lodge, reflects his
attitude towards all the world, for he is the comrade of all
created things. He realizes also that his spirit is a glowing,
gleaming jewel which he must enshrine within a holy temple built by
the labor of his hands, the meditation of his heart, and the
aspiration of his soul.
Freemasonry is a philosophy which is essentially creedless. It is
the truer for it. Its brothers bow to truth regardless of the
bearer; they serve light, instead of wrangling over the one who
brings it. In this way they prove that they are seeking to know
better the will and the dictates of the Invincible One. No truer
religion exists than that of world comradeship and brotherhood, for
the purpose of glorifying one God and building for Him a temple of
constructive attitude and noble character.
PROLOGUE
IN THE FIELDS OF CHAOS
The first flush of awakening Life pierced the impenetrable expanse
of Cosmic Night, turning the darkness of negation into the dim
twilight of unfolding being. Silhouetted against the shadowy
gateways of Eternity, the lonely figure of a mystic stranger stood
upon the nebulous banks of swirling substance. Robed in a shimmery
blue mantle of mystery and his head encircled by a golden crown of
dazzling light, the darkness of Chaos fled before the rays that
poured like streams of living fire from his form divin e.
From some Cosmos greater far than ours this mystic visitor came,
answering the call of Divinity. From star to star he strode and
from world to universe he was known, yet forever concealed by the
filmy garments of chaotic night. Suddenly the clouds broke and a
wondrous light descended from somewhere among the seething waves of
force; it bathed this lonely form in a radiance celestial, each
sparkling crystal of mist gleaming like a diamond bathed in the
living fire of the Divine.
In the gleaming flame of cosmic light bordered by the dark clouds
of not-being two great forms appeared and a mighty Voice thrilled
eternity, each sparkling atom pulsating with the power of the
Creator's Word* while the great blue-robed figure bowed in awe
before the foot-stool of His Maker as a hand reached down from
heaven, its fingers extended the benediction.
"Of all creation I have chosen you and upon you my seal is placed.
You are the chosen instrument of my hand and I appoint you to be
the Builder of my Temple. You shall raise its pillars and tile its
floor; you shall ornament it with metals and with jewels and you
shall be the master of my workmen. In your hands I place the plans
and here on the tracing board of livig substance I have impressed
the plan you are to follow, tracing its every letter and angle in
the fiery lines of my moving finger. Hiram Ab iff, chosen builder
of your Father's house, up and to your work. Yonder are the fleecy
clouds, the
* The Creative Fiat, or rate of vibration through which all things
are created.
gray mists of dawn, the gleams of heavenly light, and the darkness
of the sleep of creation. From these shall you build, without the
sound of hammer or the voice of workmen, the temple of your God,
eternal in the heavens. The swirling, ceaseless motion of negation
you shall chain to grind your stones. Among these spirits of
not-being shall you slack your lime and lay your footings; for I
have watched you through the years of your youth; I have guided you
through the days of your manhood. I have weighed y ou in the
balance and you have not been found wanting. Therefore, to you
give I the glory of work, and here ordain you as the Builder of my
House. Unto you I give the word of the Master Builder; unto you I
give the tools of the craft; unto you I give the power that has
been vested in me. Be faithful unto these things. Bring them back
when you have finished, and I will give you the name known to God
alone. So mote it be."
The great light died out of the heavens, the streaming fingers of
living light vanished in the misty, lonely twilight, and again
covered not-being with its sable mantle. Hiram Abiff again stood
alone, gazing out into the endless ocean of oblivion - nothing but
swirling, seething matter as far as eye could see. Then he
straightened his shoulders and, taking the trestleboard in his
hands and clasping to his heart the glowing Word of the Master,
walked slowly away and was swallowed up in the mists of primord ial
dawn.
How may man measure timeless eternity? Ages passed, and the lonely
Builder labored with his plan with only love and humility in his
heart, his hand molding the darkness which he blessed while his
eyes were raised above where the Great Light had shone down from
heaven. In the divine solitude he labored, with no voice to cheer,
no spirit to condemn - alone in the boundless all with the great
chill of the morning mist upon his brow, but his heart still warm
with the light of the Master's Word. It seemed a ho peless task.
No single pair of hands could mold that darkness; no single heart,
no matter how true, could be great enough to project pulsing cosmic
love into the cold mist of oblivion. Though the darkness settled
ever closer about him and the misty fingers of negation twined
round his being, still with divine trust the Builder labored; with
divine hope he laid his footings, and from the boundless clay he
made the molds to cast his sacred ornaments. Slowl y the building
grew and dim forms molded by the Maste r's hand took shape about
him. Three huge, soulless creatures had the Master fashioned, great
beings which loomed like grim spectres in the semi-darkness. They
were three builders he had blessed and now in stately file they
passed before him, and Hiram held out his arms to his creation,
saying, "Brothers, I have built you for your works. I have formed
you to labor with me in the building of the Master's house. You
are the children of my being; I have labored with yo u, now labor
with me for the glory of o ur God."
But the spectres laughed. Turning upon their maker and striking him
with his own tools given him by God out of heaven, they left their
Grand Master dying in the midst of his labors, broken and crushed
by the threefold powers of cosmic night. As he lay bleeding at the
feet of his handiwork the martyred Builder raised his eyes to the
seething clouds, and his face was sweet with divine love and cosmic
understanding as he prayed unto the Master who had sent him forth:
"O Master of Workmen, Great Architect of the universe, my labors
are not finished. Why must they always remain undone? I have not
completed the thing for which Thou hast sent me unto being, for my
very creations have turned against me and the tools Thou gavest me
have destroyed me. The children that I formed in love, in their
ignorance have murdered me. Here, Father, is the Word Thou gavest
me now red with my own blood. O Master, I return it to Thee for I
have kept it sacred in my heart. Here are the too ls, the tracing
board, and the vessels I have wrought. Around me stand the ruins
of my temple which I must leave. Unto Thee, O God, the divine
Knower of all things, I return them all, realizing that in Thy good
time lies the fulfillment of all things. Thou, O God, knowest our
down-sitting and our uprising and Thou understandest our thoughts
afar off. In Thy name, Father, I have labored and in Thy cause I
die, a faithful builder."
The Master fell back, his upturned face sweet in the last repose of
death, and the light rays no longer pouring from him. The gray
clouds gathered closer as though to form a winding sheet around the
body of their murdered Master.
Suddenly the heavens opened again and a shaft of light bathed the
form of Hiram in a glory celestial. Again the Voice spoke from the
heavens where the Great King sat upon the clouds of creation: "He
is not dead; he is asleep. Who will awaken him? His labors are not
done, and in death he guards the sacred relics more closely than
ever, for the Word and the tracing board are his - I have given
them to him. But he must remain asleep until these three who have
slain him shall bring him back to life, for ever y wrong must be
righted, and the slayers of my house, the destroyers of my temple,
must labor in the place of their Builder until they raise their
Master from the dead."
The three murderers fell on their knees and raised their hands to
heaven as though to ward off the light which had disclosed their
crime: "O God, great is our sin, for we have slain our Grand
Master, Hiram Abiff! Just is Thy punishment and as we have slain
him we now dedicate our lives to his resurrection. The first was
our human weakness, the second our sacred duty."
"Be it so," answered the Voice from Heaven. The great Light
vanished and the clouds of darkness and mist concealed the body of
the murdered Master. It was swallowed up in the swirling darkness
which left no mark, no gravestone to mark the place where the
Builder had lain.
"O God!" cried the three murderers, "where shall we find our Master
now?"
A hand reached down again from the Great Unseen and a tiny lamp was
handed them, whose oil flame burned silently and clearly in the
darkness. "By this light shall ye seek him whom ye have slain."
The three forms surrounded the light and bowed in prayer and
thanksgiving for this solitary gleam which was to light the
darkness of their way. From somewhere above in the regions of
not-being the great Voice spoke, a thundering Voice that filled
Chaos with its sound: "He cometh forth as a flower and is cut down;
he teeth also as a shadow and continueth not; as the waters fail
from the sea and the flood decayeth and drieth up, so man lieth
down and riseth not again. Yet have I compassion upon the children
of my creation; I administer unto them in time of trouble and save
them with an everlasting salvation. Seek ye where the broken twig
lies and the dead stick molds away, where the clouds float together
and the stones rest by the hillside, for all these mark the grave
of Hiram who has carried my Will with him to the tomb. This
eternal quest is yours until ye have found your Builder, until the
cup giveth up its secret, until the grave givet h up its ghosts.
No more shall I speak until ye have found and rais ed my beloved
Son, and have listened to the words of my Messenger and with Him as
your guide have finished the temple which I shall then inhabit.
Amen."
The gray dawn still lay asleep in the arms of darkness. Out
through the great mystery of not-being all was silence, unknowable.
Through the misty dawn, like strange phantoms of a dream, three
figures wandered over the great Unknown carrying in their hands a
tiny light, the lamp given to them by their Builder's Father. Over
stick and stone and cloud and star they wandered, eternally in
search of a silent grave, stopping again and again to explore the
depths of some mystic recess, praying for liberation fr om their
endless search; yet bound by their vows to raise the Builder they
had slain, whose grave was marked by the broken twig, and whose
body was laid away in the white winding sheet of death somewhere
over the brow of the eternal hill.
TEMPLE BUILDERS
You are the temple builders of the future. With your hands must be
raised the domes and spires of a coming civilization. Upon the
foundation you have laid, tomorrow shall build a far more noble
edifice. Builders of the temple of character wherein should dwell
an enlightened spirit; truers of the rock of relationship; molders
of those vessels created to contain the oil of life: up, and to the
task appointed! Never before in the history of men have you had the
opportunity that now confronts you. The world waits - waits for the
illuminated one who shall come from between the pillars of the
portico. Humility, hoodwinked and bound, seeks entrance to the
temple of wisdom. Fling wide the gate, and let the worthy enter.
Fling wide the gate, and let the light that is the life of men
shine forth. Hasten to complete the dwelling of the Lord, that the
Spirit of God may come and dwell among His people, sanctified and
ordained according to His law.
CHAPTER I
THE ETERNAL QUEST
The average Mason, as well as the modern student of Masonic ideals,
little realizes the cosmic obligation he takes upon himself when he
begins his search for the sacred truths of Nature as they are
concealed in the ancient and modern rituals. He must not lightly
regard his vows, and if he would not bring upon himself years and
ages of suffering he must cease to consider Freemasonry solely as a
social order only a few centuries old. He must realize that the
ancient mystic teachings as perpetuated in the mo dern rites are
sacred, and that powers unseen and unrecognized mold the destiny of
those who consciously and of their own free will take upon
themselves the obligations of the Fraternity.
Freemasonry is not a material thing: it is a science of the soul;
it is not a creed or doctrine but a universal expression of the
Divine Wisdom.* The coming together of medieval guilds or even the
building of Solomon's temple as it is understood today has little,
if anything, to do with the true origin of Freemasonry, for Masonry
does not deal with personalities. In its highest sense, it is
neither historical nor archaeological, but is a divine symbolic
language perpetuating under certain concrete symbols the sacred
mysteries of the ancients. Only those who see in it a cosmic
study, a life work, a divine inspiration to better thinking, better
feeling, and better living, with the spiritual attainment of
enlightenment as the end, and with the daily life of the true Mason
as the means, have gained even the slightest insight into the true
mysteries of the ancient rites.
The age of the Masonic school is not to be calculated by hundreds
or even thousands of years, for it never had any origin in the
worlds of form. The world as we see it is merely an experimental
laboratory in which man is laboring to build and express greater
and more perfect vehicles. Into this laboratory pour myriads
*This term is used as synonymous with a very secret and sacred
philosophy that has existed for all time, and has been the
inspiration of the great saints and sages of all ages, i. e., the
perfect wisdom of God, revealing itself through a secret hierarchy
of illumined minds.
of rays descending from the cosmic hierarchies.* These mighty
globes and orbs which focus their energies upon mankind and mold
its destiny do so in an orderly manner, each in its own way and
place, and it is the working of these mystic hierarchies in the
universe which forms the pattern around which the Masonic school
has been built, for the true lodge of the Mason is the universe.
Freed of limitations of creed and sect, he stands a master of all
faiths, and those who take up the study of Freemasonry witho ut
realizing the depth, the beauty, and the spiritual power of its
philosophy can never gain anything of permanence from their
studies. The age of the Mystery Schools can be traced by the
student back to the dawn of time, ages and aeons ago, when the
temple of the Solar Man was in the making. That was the first
Temple of the King, and therein were given and laid down the true
mysteries of the ancient lodge, and it was the gods of creation and
th e spirits of the dawn who first tiled the Master's lodge.
The initiated brother realizes that his so called symbols and
rituals are merely blinds
*The groups of celestial intelligences governing the creative
processes in cosmos.
fabricated by the wise to perpetuate ideas incomprehensible to the
average individual. He also realizes that few Masons of today know
or appreciate the mystic meaning concealed within these rituals.
With religious faith we perpetuate the form, worshiping it instead
of the life, but those who have not recognized the truth in the
crystallized ritual, those who have not liberated the spiritual
germ from the shell of empty words, are not Masons, regardless of
their physical degrees and outward honors.
In the work we are taking up it is not the intention to dwell upon
the modern concepts of the Craft but to consider Freemasonry as it
really is to those who know, a great cosmic organism whose true
brothers and children are tied together not by spoken oaths but by
lives so lived that they are capable of seeing through the blank
wall and opening the window which is now concealed by the rubbish
of materiality. When this is done and the mysteries of the
universe unfold before the aspiring candidate, then in t ruth he
discovers what Freemasonry really is. Its material aspects
interest him no longer for he has unmasked the Mystery School which
he is capable of recognizing only when he himself has spiritually
become a member of it.
Those who have examined and studied its ancient lore have no doubt
that Freemasonry, like the universe itself, which is the greatest
of all schools, deals with the unfolding of a three-fold principle;
for all the universe is governed by the same three kings who are
called the builders of the Masonic temple. They are not
personalities but principles, great intelligent energies and powers
which in God, man, and the universe have charge of the molding of
cosmic substance into the habitation of the living king , the
temple built through the ages first of unconscious and then
conscious effort on the part of every individual who is expressing
in his daily life the creative principles of these three kings.
The true brodaer of the ancient Craft realized that the completion
of the temple he was building to the King of the Universe was a
duty or rather a privilege which he owed to his God, to his
brother, and to himself. He knew that certain steps must be taken
and that his temple must be built according to the plan. Today it
seems that the plan is lost, however, for in the majority of cases
Freemasonry is no longer an operative art but is merely a
speculative idea until each brother, reading the mystery of hi s
symbols and pondering over the beautiful allegories unfolded in his
ritual, realizes that he himself contains the keys and the plans so
long lost to his Craft and that if he would ever learn Freemasonry
he must unlock its doors with the key wrought from the base metals
of his own being.
True Freemasonry is esoteric; it is not a thing of this world. All
that we have here is a link, a doorway, through which the student
may pass into the unknown. Freemasonry has nothing to do with
things of form save that it realizes form is molded by and
manifests the life it contains. Consequently the student is
seeking so to mold his life that the form will glorify the God
whose temple he is slowly building as he awakens one by one the
workmen within himself and directs them to carry out the plan that
h as been given him out of heaven.
So far as it is possible to discover, ancient Freemasonry and the
beautiful cosmic allegories that it teaches, perpetuated through
hundreds of lodges and ancient mysteries, forms the oldest of the
Mystery Schools;* and its preser-
* This is a term used by the ancients to designate the esoteric
side of their religious ceremonials. The candidate passing through
these mysteries was initiated into the mysteries of Nature and the
arcane side of natural law.
vation through the ages has not depended upon itself as an exoteric
body of partly evolved individuals but upon a concealed
brotherhood, the exoteric side of Freemasonry. All the great
mystery, Schools have hierarchies upon the spiritual planes of
Nature which are expressing themselves in this world through creeds
and organizations. The true student seeks to lift himself from the
exoteric body upward spiritually until he joins the esoteric group
which, without a lodge on the physical plane of Nature, is fa r
greater than all the lodges of which it is the central fire. The
spiritual instructors of humanity are forced to labor in the
concrete world with things comprehensible to the concrete mind, and
there man begins to comprehend the meaning of the allegories and
symbols which surround his exoteric work as soon as he prepares
himself to receive them. The true Mason realizes that the work of
the Mystery Schools in the world is of an inclusive rathe r than an
exclusive nature, and that the only lodge which is b road enough to
express his ideals is one whose dome is the heavens, whose pillars
are the corners of creation, whose checker-board floor is composed
of the crossing currents of human emotion and whose altar is the
human heart. Creeds cannot bind the true seeker for truth.
Realizing the unity of all truth, the Mason also realizes that the
hierarchies laboring with him have given him in his varying degrees
the mystic spiritual rituals of all the Mystery S chools in the
world, and if he would fill his place i n the plan he must not
enter this sacred study for what he can get out of it but that he
may learn how to serve.
In Freemasonry is concealed the mystery of creation, the answer to
the problem of existence, and the path the student must tread in
order to join those who are really the living powers behind the
thrones of modern national and international affairs. The true
student realizes most of all that the taking of degrees does not
make a man a Mason. A Mason is not appointed; he is evolved and he
must realize that the position he holds in the exoteric lodge means
nothing compared to his position in the spiritual l odge of life.
He must forever discard the idea that he can be told or instructed
in the sacred Mysteries or that his being a member of an
organization improves him in any way. He must realize that his
duty is to build and evolve the sacred teachings in his own being:
that nothing but his own purified being can unlock the door to the
sealed libraries of human consciousness, and that his Masonic rites
must eternally be speculative until he makes them opera tive by
living the life of the mystic Mason. His ka rmic responsibilities
increase with his opportunities. Those who are surrounded with
knowledge and opportunity for self-improvement and make nothing of
these opportunities are the lazy workmen who will be spiritually,
if not physically, cast out of the temple of the king.
The Masonic order is not a mere social organization, but is
composed of all those who have banded themselves together to learn
and apply the principles of mysticism and the occult rites. They
are (or should be) philosophers, sages and sober-minded individuals
who have dedicated thernselves upon the Masonic altar and vowed by
all they hold dear that the world shall be better, wiser, and
happier because they have lived. Those who enter these mystic
rites and pass between the pillars seeking either prestige or
commercial advantage are blasphemers, and while in this world we
may count them as successful, they are the cosmic failures who have
barred themselves out from the true rite whose keynote is
unselfishness and whose workers have renounced the things of earth.
In ancient times many years of preparation were required before the
neophyte was permitted to enter the temple of the Mysteries. In
this way the shallow, the curious, the faint of heart, and those
unable to withstand the temptations of life were automatically
eliminated by their inability to meet the requirements for
admission. The successful candidate wbo did pass between the
pillars entered the temple, keenly realizing his sublime
opportunity, his divine obligation, and the mystic privilege which
he had earned for himself through years of special preparation.
Only those are truly Masons who enter their temple in reverence,
who seek not the ephemeral things of life but the treasures which
are eternal, whose sole desire is to know the true mystery of the
Craft that they may join as honest workmen those who have gone
before as builders of the Universal Temple. The Masonic ritual is
not a ceremony, but a life to be lived. Those alone are truly
Masons who, dedicating their lives and their fortunes upo n the a
ltar of the living flame, undertake the construction of the one
universal building of which they are the workmen and their God the
living Architect. When we have Masons like this the Craft will
again be operative, the flaming triangle will shine forth with
greater lustre, the dead builder will rise from his tomb, and the
Lost Word so long concealed from the profane will blaze forth again
with the power that makes all things new.
In the pages that follow have been set down a number of thoughts
for the study and consideration of temple builders, craftsmen and
artisans alike. They are the keys which, if only read, will leave
the student still in ignorance but, if lived, will change the
speculative Masonry of today into the operative Masonry of
tomorrow, when each builder, realizing his own place, will see
things which he never saw before, not because they were not there
but because he was blind. And there are none so blind as those who
will not see.
THOUGHTLESSNESS
The noblest tool of the Mason is his mind, but its value is
measured by the use made of it. Thoughtful in all things, the
aspiring candidate to divine wisdom attains reality in sincere
desire, in meditation, and in silence. Let the keynote of the
Craft, and of the Ritual, be written in blazing letters: THINK OF
ME. What is the meaning of this mystic maze of symbols, rites and
rituals? THINK! What does life mean, with the criss-crossings of
human relationship, the endless pageantry of qualities masqueradin
g in a carnival of fools? THINK! What is the plan behind it all,
and who the planner? Where dwells the Great Architect, and what is
the tracing board upon which he designs? THINK! What is the human
soul, and why the endless yearning to ends unknown, along pathways
where each must wander unaccompanied? Why mind, why soul, why
spirit, and in truth, why anything? THINK! Is there an answer? If
so, where will the truth be found? Think, Brothers o f the Craft,
think deeply; for if truth exists, you have it, and if truth be
within the reach of living creature, what other goal is worth the
struggle?
CHAPTERII
THE CANDIDATE
There comes a time in the growth of every living individual thing
when it realizes with dawning consciousness that it is a prisoner.
While apparently free to move and have its being, the struggling
life cognizes through ever greater vehicles its own limitations.
It is at this point that man cries out with greater insistence to
be liberated from the binding ties which, though invisible to
mortal eyes, still chain him with bonds far more terrible than
those of any physical prison.
Many have read the story of the prisoner of Chillon who paced back
and forth in the narrow confines of his prison cell, while the blue
waters rolled ceaselessly above his head and the only sound that
broke the stillness of his eternal night was the constant swishing
and lapping of the waves. We pity the prisoner in his physical
tomb and we are sad at heart, for we know how life loves liberty.
But there is one prisoner whose plight is far worse than those of
earth. He has not even the narrow confines of a prison cell around
Him; He cannot pace ceaselessly to and fro and wear ruts in the
cobblestones of His dungeon floor. That eternal Prisoner is Life
incarnate within the dark stone walls of matter, with not a single
ray to brighten the blackness of His fate. He fights eternally,
praying in the dark confines of gloomy walls for light and
opportunity. This is the eternal Prisoner who, through the
ceaseless ages of cosmic unfoldment, through forms unnumbered an d
species now unknown, strives eternally to libe rate Himself and
gain self conscious expression, the birthright of every created
thing. He awaits the day when, standing upon the rocks that now
form His shapeless tomb, He may raise His arms to heaven, bathed in
the sunlight of spiritual freedom, free to join the sparkling atoms
and dancing light-beings released from the bonds of prison wall and
tomb.
Around Life - that wondrous germ in the heart of every living
thing, that sacred Prisoner in His gloomy cell, that Master Builder
laid away in the grave of matter - has been built the wondrous
legend of the Holy Sepulchre. Under allegories unnumbered, the
mystic philosophers of the ages, have perpetuated this wonderful
story, and among the Craft Masons it forms the mystic ritual of
Hiram, the Master Builder, murdered in his temple by the very
builders who should have served him as he labored to perfect the
dwelling place of his God.
Matter is the tomb. It is the dead wall of substance not yet
awakened into the pulsating energies of Spirit. It exists in many
degrees and forms, not only in the chemical elements which form the
solids of our universe but in finer and more subtle substances.
These, though expressing through emotion and thought, are still
beings of the world of form. These substances form the great cross
of matter which opposes the growth of all things and by opposition
makes all growth possible. It is the great cross o f hydrogen,
nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon upon which even the life germ in
protoplasm is crucified and suspended in agony. These substances
are incapable of giving it adequate expression. The Spirit within
cries out for freedom: freedom to be, to express, to manifest its
true place in the Great Plan of cosmic unfoldment.
It is this great yearning within the heart of man which sends him
slowly onward toward the gate of the Temple; it is this inner urge
for greater understanding and greater light which brought into
being through the law of necessity the great cosmic Masonic Lodge
dedicated to those seeking union with the Powers of Light that
their prison walls might be removed. This shell cannot be
discarded: it must be raised into union with the Life; each dead,
crystallized atom in the human body tnust be set vibrating and
spinning to a higher rate of consciousness. Through purification,
through knowledge, and through service to his fellow man the
candidate sequentially unfolds these mystic properties, building
better and more perfect bodies through which his higher life
secures even greater manifestation. The expression of man through
constructive thought, emotion, and action liberates the higher
nature from bodies which in their crystallized states are incapa
ble of giving him his natural opportunities.
In Freemasonry this crystallized substance of matter is called the
grave and represents the Holy Sepulchre. This is the grave within
which the lost Builder lies and with Him are the plans of the
Temple and the Master's Word, and it is this builder, our Grand
Master, whom we must seek and raise from the dead. This noble Son
of Light cries out to us in every expression of matter. Every
stick and stone marks His resting place, and the sprig of acacia
promises that through the long winter of spiritual darkne ss when
the sun does not shine for man, this Light still awaits the day of
liberation when each one of us shall raise Him by the grip of the
Grand Master, the true grip of a Master Mason. We cannot hear this
Voice that calls eternally, but we feel its inner urge. A great
unknown something pulls at our heartstrings. As the ages roll by,
the deep desire to be greater, to live better, and to think God's
thoughts, builds within ourselves the qualifica tions of a
candidate who, when asked why he takes the path , would truly
answer if he knew mentally the things he feels: "I hear a voice
that cries out to me from flora and fauna, from the stones, from
the clouds, from the very heaven itself. Each fiery atom spinning
and twisting in Cosmos cries out to me with the voice of my Master.
I can hear Hiram Abiff, my Grand Master, crying out in his agony,
the agony of life hidden within the darkness of its prison walls,
seeking for the expression which I have denied it, lab oring, to
bring closer the day of its liberation , and I have learned to know
that I am responsible for those walls. My daily actions are the
things which as ruffians and traitors are murdering my God."
There are many legends of the Holy Sepulchre which for so many
centuries had been in the hands of the infidel and which the
Christian worlds sought to retake in the days of the Crusades. Few
Masons realize that this Holy Sepulchre, or tomb, is in reality
negation and crystallization - matter that has sealed within itself
the Spirit of Life which must remain in darkness until the growth
of each individual being gives it walls of glowing gold and changes
its stones into windows. As we develop better and bet ter vehicles
of expression, these walls slowly expand until at last Spirit rises
triumphant from its tomb and, blessing the very walls that confined
it, raises them to union with itself.
We may first consider the murderers of Hiram. These three
ruffians, who, when the Builder seeks to leave his temple, strike
him with the tools of his own Craft until finally they slay him and
bring the temple down in destruction upon their own heads,
symbolize the three expressions of our own lower natures which are
in truth the murderers of the good within ourselves. These three
may be called thought, desire, and action. When purified and
transmuted they are three glorious avenues through which may mani
fest the great life power of the three kings, the glowing builders
of the Cosmic Lodge manifesting in this world as spiritual thought,
constructive emotion, and useful daily labor in the various places
and positions where we find ourselves while carrying on the
Master's work. These three form the Flaming Triangle which
glorifies every living Mason, but when crystallized and perverted
they form a triangular prison through which the light cann ot shine
and the Life is forced to languish in the dim darkness of despair,
until man himself through his higher understanding liberates the
energies and powers which are indeed the builders and glorifiers of
his Father's House.
Now let us consider how these three fiery kings of the dawn became,
through perversion of their manifestation by man, the ruffians who
murdered Hiram - the energizing powers of cosmos which course
through the blood of every living being, seeking to beautify and
perfect the temple they would build according to the plan laid down
on the tracing board by the Master Architect of the universe.
First in the mind is one of the three kings, or rather we shall say
a channel through which he manifests; for King Solo mon is the
power of mind which, perverted, becomes a destroyer who tears down
with the very powers which nourish and build. The right
application of thought, when seeking the answer to the cosmic
problem of destiny, liberates man's spirit which soars above the
concrete through that wonderful power of mind, with its dreams and
its ideals.
When man's thoughts rise upon the wings of aspiration, when he
pushes back the darkness with the strength of reason and logic,
then indeed the builder is liberated from his dungeon and the light
pours in, bathing him with life and power. This light enables us
to seek more clearly the mystery of creation and to find with
greater certainty our place in the Great Plan, for as man unfolds
his bodies he gains talents with which he can explore the mysteries
of Nature and search for the hidden workings of the Div ine.
Through these powers the Builder is liberated and his consciousness
goes forth conquering and to conquer. These higher ideals, these
spiritual concepts, these altruistic, philanthropic, educative
applications of thought power glorify the Builder; for they give
the power of expression and those who can express themselves are
free. When man can mold his thoughts, his emotions, and his actions
into faithful expressions of his highest ideals then li berty is
his, for ignorance is the darkness of Chaos and knowledge is the
light of Cosmos.
In spite of the fact that many of us live apparently to gratify the
desires of the body and as servants of the lower nature, still
there is within each of us a power which may remain latent for a
great length of time. This power lives eternities perhaps, and yet
at some time during our growth there comes a great yearning for
freedom, when, having discovered that the pleasures of sense
gratification are eternally elusive and unsatisfying, we make an
examination of ourselves and begin to realize that there a re
greater reasons for our being. It is sometimes reason, sometimes
suffering, sometimes a great desire to be helpful, that brings out
the first latent powers which show that one long wandering in the
darkness is about to take the path that leads to Light. Having
lived life in all its experiences, he has learned to realize that
all the manifestations of being, all the various experiences
through which he passes, are steps leading in one direction; that,
consciously or unconsciously, all souls are being le d to the
portico of the temple where for the first time they see and realize
the glory of Divinity. It is then that they understand the age-old
allegory of the martyred Builder and feel his power within
themselves crying out from the prison of materiality. Nothing else
seems worth while; and, regardless of cost, suffering, or the
taunts of the world, the candidate slowly ascends the steps that
lead to the temple eternal. The reason that governs Cosmos he does
not know, the laws which mold his being he do es not realize, but
he does know that somewhere behind the veil of human ignorance
there is an eternal light toward which step by step he must labor.
With his eyes fixed on the heavens above and his hands clasped in
prayer he passes slowly as a candidate up the steps. In fear and
trembling, yet with a divine realization of good, he raps on the
door and awaits in silence the answer from within.
CHAPTER III
THE ENTERED APPRENTICE There are three grand steps in the
unfoldment of the human soul before it completes the dwelling place
of the spirit. These have been caged respectively youth, manhood,
and old age; or, as the Mason would say, the Entered Apprentice,
the Fellow Craft, and the Master Builder. All life passes through
these three grand stages of human consciousness. They can be
listed as the man on the outside looking in, the man going in, and
the man inside. The path of human life is governed as all things
are by the laws of analogy, and as at birth we start our
pilgrimmage through youth, manhood, and old age, so the spiritual
consciousness of man in his cosmic path of unfoldment passes from
unconsciousness to perfect consciousness in the Grand Lodge of the
universe. Before the initiation of the Entered Apprentice degree
can be properly understood and appreciated, certain requirements
must be considered, not merely those of the physical world but also
those of the spiritual world.
The Mason must realize that his true initiation is a spiritual and
not a physical ritual, and that his initiation into the living
temple of the spiritual hierarchy regulating Freemasonry may not
occur until years after he has taken the physical degree, or
spiritually he may be a Grand Master before he comes into the
world. There are probably few instances in the history of
Freemasonry where the spiritual ordination of the aspiring seeker
took place at the same time as the physical initiation, because the
t rue initiation depends upon the cultivation of certain soul
qualities - an individual and personal matter which is left
entirely to the volition of the mystic Mason and which he must
carry out in silence and alone.
The court of the tabernacle of the ancient Jews was divided into
three parts: the outer court, the holy place, and the most Holy of
Holies. These three divisions represent the three grand divisions
of human consciousness. The degree of Entered Apprentice is
acquired when the student signifies his intention to take the rough
ashlar which he cuts from the quarry and prepares for the truing of
the Fellow Craft.
In other words, the first degree is really one of preparation; it
is a material step dealing with material things, for all spiritual
life must be raised upon a material foundation.
Seven is the number of the Entered Apprentice as it relates to the
seven liberal arts and sciences, and these are the powers with
which the Entered Apprentice must labor before he is worthy to go
onward into the more elevated and advanced degrees. They are much
mistaken who believe that they can reach the spiritual planes of
Nature without first passing through and molding matter into the
expression of spiritual power; for the first stage in the growth of
a Master Mason is mastery of the concrete condition s of life and
the developments of sense centers which will later become channels
for the expression of spiritual truths.
All growth is a gradual procedure carried on in an orderly,
masterly way, as exemplified by the opening and closing of a lodge.
The universe is divided into planes and these planes are divided
from each other by the rates of vibration which pass through them.
As the spiritual consciousness progresses through the chain, the
lower lose connection with it when it has raised itself above their
level, until finally only the Grand Masters are capable of
remaining in session, and unknown even to the Master Mason it
finally passes back again to the spiritual hierarchy from which it
came.
Action is the keynote of the Entered Apprentice lodge. All growth
is the result of exercise and the intensifying of vibratory rates.
It is through exercise that the muscles of the human body are
strengthened; it is through the seven liberal arts and sciences
that the human mind receives certain impulses which, in turn,
stimulate internal centers of consciousness. These centers of
consciousness, through still greater development, will later give
fuller expression to these inner powers; but the Entered Appr
entice has for his first duty the awakening of these powers, and,
like the youth of whom he is a symbol, his ideals and labors must
be tied closely to concrete things. For him both points of the
compasses are under the square; for him the reasons which manifest
through the heart and mind - the two polarities of expression are
darkened and concealed beneath the square which measures the block
of bodies. He knows not the reason why; his work is t o follow the
directions of those whose knowledge is greater th an his own; but
as the result of the application of energies, through action and
reaction he slowly builds and evolves the powers of discrimination
and the strength of character which mark the Fellow Craft degree.
It is obvious that the rough ashlar symbolizes the body. It also
represents cosmic root substance which is taken out of the quarry
of the universe by the first expressions of intelligence and molded
by them into ever finer and more perfect lines until finally it
becomes the perfect stone for the Builder's temple.
How can emotion manifest save through form? How can mind manifest
until the intricately evolved brain cells of matter have raised
their organic quality to form the ground-work upon which other
things may be based? All students of human mature realize that
every expression of man depends upon organic quality; that in every
living thing this differs; and that the fineness of this matter is
the certain indication of growth - mental, physical or spiritual.
True to the doctrines of his Craft, the Entered Apprentice must
beautify his temple. He must build within himself by his actions,
by the power of his hand and the tools of his Craft, certain
qualities which make possible his initiation into the higher
degrees of the spiritual lodge.
We know that the cube block is symbolic of the tomb. It is also
well known that the Entered Apprentice is incapable of rolling away
the stone or of transmuting it into a greater or higher thing; but
it is his privilege to purify and glorify that stone and begin the
great work of preparing it for the temple of his King.
Few realize that since the universe is made up of individuals in
various stages of development, responsibility is consequently
individual, and everything which man wishes to gain he must himself
build and maintain. If he is to use his finer bodies for the
purpose for which they were intended, he must treat them well, that
they may be good and faithful servants in the great work he is
preparing for.
The quarries represent the limitless powers of natural resources.
They are symbolic of the practically endless field of human
opportunity; they symbolize the cosmic substances from which man
must gather the stones for his temple. At this stage in his
growth, the Entered Apprentice is privileged to gather the stones
which he wishes to true during his progress through the lodge, for
at this point he symbolizes the youth who is choosing his life
work. He represents the human ego who in the dawn of time gath
ered many blocks and cubes and broken stones from the Great Quarry.
These rough and broken stones that as yet will not fit into
anything are the partially evolved powers and senses with which he
labors. In the first state he must gather these materials, and
those who have not gathered them can never true them. During the
involuntary period of human consciousness, the Entered Apprentice
in the Great Lodge was man, who labored with these rough blocks,
seeking the tools and the power with which to true them . As he
evolves down through the ages, he gains the tools and cosmically
passes on to the degree of Fellow Craft where he trues his ashlar
in harmony with the plans upon the Master's tracing board. This
rough, uncut ashlar has three dimensions, representative of the
three ruffians who at this stage are destroyers of the fourth
dimensional life concealed within the ugly, ill-shaped stone.
The lost key of the Entered Apprentice is service. Why, he may not
ask; when, he does not know. His work is to do, to act, to express
himself in some way - constructively if possible, but destructively
rather than not at all. Without action, he loses his great work;
without tools, which symbolize the body, he cannot act in an
organized manner. Consequently, it is necessary to master the arts
and sciences which place in his hands intelligent tools for the
expression of energy. Beauty is the keynote to h is ideal. With
his concrete ideals he must beautify all with which he comes in
contact, so that the works of his hand may be acceptable in the
eyes of the Great Architect of the Universe.
His daily life, in home, business, and society, together with the
realization of the fundamental unity of each with all, form the
base upon which the aspiring candidate may raise a greater
superstructure. In truth he must live the life, the result of
which is the purification of his body, so that the more attenuated
forces of the higher degrees may express themselves through the
finer sensitivity of the receiving pole within himself. When he
reaches this stage in his growth, he is spiritually worthy to co
nsider advancement into a higher degree. This advancement is not
the result of election or ballot, but is an automatic process in
which, having sensitized his consciousness by his life, he thereby
attunes himself to the next succeeding plane of expression. All
initiation is the result of adjustments of the evolving life to the
physical, emotional, and mental planes of consciousness through
which it passes.
We may now consider the spiritual requirements of one who feels
that he would mystically correlate himself with that great
spiritual fraternity which, concealed behind the exoteric rite,
forms the living power of the Entered Apprentice lodge:
1. It is essential that the Entered Apprentice should have studied
sufficiently the subject of anatomy to have at least a general idea
of the physical body, for the entire degree is based upon the
mystery of form. The human body is the highest manifestation of
form which he is capable of analyzing. Consequently, he must
devote himself to the study of his own being and its mysteries and
complexities.
2. The Entered Apprentice must realize that his body is the living
temple of the living God and treat it accordingly; for when he
abuses or mistreats it he breaks the sacred obligations which he
must assume before he can ever hope to understand the true
mysteries of the Craft. The breaking of his pact with the higher
Life evolving within himself unfailingly invokes the retributive
agencies of Nature.
3. He must study the problem of the maintenance of bodies through
food, clothing, breathing, and other necessities, as all of these
are important steps in the Entered Apprentice lodge. Those who eat
immoderately, dress improperly, and use only about one-third of
their lung capacity can never have the physical efficiency
necessary for the fullest expression of the higher Life.
4. He must grow physically and in the expression of concrete
things. Human relationships must be idealized at this time, and he
must seek to unfold all unselfish qualities which are necessary for
the harmonious working of the Mason and his fellow men on the
physical plane of Nature.
5. He must seek to round off all inequalities. He can best do this
by balancing his mental and physical organisms through the
application and study of the seven liberal arts and sciences.
Until he is relatively master of these principles on the highest
plane within his own being, he cannot hope spiritually to attract
to himself, through the qualities of his own character, the
life-giving ray of the Fellow Craft. When he reaches this point,
however, he is spiritually ready to hope for membership in a more
advanced degree.
The Mason must realize that his innermost motives are the index of
his real self, and those who allow social position, financial or
business considerations or selfish and materialistic ideals, to
lead them into the Masonic Brotherhood have thereby automatically
separated themselves from the Craft. They can never do any harm to
Freemasonry by joining because they cannot get in. Ensconced within
the lodge, they may feel that they have deceived the Grand Master
of the Universe, but when the spiritual lodge me ets to carry on
the true work of the Craft, they are disqualified and absent.
Watch fobs, lapel badges, and other insignia do not make Masons;
neither does the ritual ordain them. Masons are evolved through
the self-conscious effort to live up to the highest ideals within
themselves; their lives are the sole insignia of their rank,
greater by far than any visible, tangible credential.
Bearingy this in mind, it is possible for the unselfish, aspiring
soul to become spiritually and liberally vouched for by the centers
of consciousness as an Entered Apprentice. It means he has taken
the first grand step on the path of personal liberation. He is now
symbolized as the child with the smiling face, for with the
simplicity of a child he places himself under the protection of his
great spiritual Father, willing and glad to obey each of His
commands. Having reached this point and having done th e best it
was possible for him to do, he is in position to hope that the
powers that be, moving in their mysterious manner, may find him
worthy to undertake the second great step in spiritual liberation.
CHAPTER IV THE FELLOW CRAFT
Life manifests not only through action on the physical plane, but
through human emotion and sentiment. This is the type of energy
taken up by the student when he starts his labors in the Fellow
Craft. From youth with its smiling face, he passes on to the
greater responsibilities of manhood.
On the second step of the temple stands a soldier dressed in
shining armor, but his sword is sheathed and a book is in his hand.
He is symbolic of strength, the energy of Mars, and the wonderful
step in spiritual unfoldment which we know as Fellow Craft.
Through each one of us course the fiery rays of human emotion, a
great seething cauldron of power behind each expression of human
energy. Like spirited horses chafing at the bit, like hounds eager
for the chase, the emotional powers cannot be held in che ck, but
break the walls of restraint and pour forth as fiery expressions of
dynamic energy. This great principle of emotion we know as the
second murderer of Hiram. Through the perversion of human emotions
there comes into the world untold sorrow, which through reaction,
manifests in the mental and physical bodies.
It is strange how divine powers may become perverted until each
expression and urge becomes a ruffian and a murderer. The divine
compassion of the gods manifests in this world of form very
differently than in the realms of light. Divine compassion is
emergized by the same influxes as mortal passions and the lusts of
earth. The spiritual light rays of Cosmos - the Fire Princes of
the Dawn - which seethe and surge through the unregenerate man, are
the impulses which he perverts to murder and hate. The cea seless
power of Chaos, the seething pinwheel spiralds of perpetual motion,
whose majestic cadences are the music of the spheres, are energized
by the same great power that man uses to destroy the highest and
best. The same mystic power that keeps the planets in their orbits
around the solar body, the same energy that keeps each electron
spinning and whirling, the same energy that is building the temple
of God, is now a merciless slave-driver which , unmastered and
uncurbed, strikes the Compassionate One and sends him reeling
backward into the darkness of his prison. Man does not listen to
that little voice which speaks to him in ever loving, ever
sorrowful tones. This voice speaks of the peace accompanying the
constructive application of energy which he must chain if he would
master the powers of creation. How long will it take King Hiram of
Tyre, the warrior on the second step, symbolic of the Fellow Craft
of the Cosmic Lodge, to teach mankind the lessons of sel f-mastery?
The teacher can do it only as he daily depicts the miseries which
are the resilt of uncurbed appetites. The strength of man was not
given to be used destructively but that he might build a temple
worthy to be the dwelling place of the Great Architect of the
universe. God is glorifying himself through the individualized
portions of himself, and is slowly teaching these individualized
portions to understand and glorify the whole.
The day has come when Fellow Craftsmen must know and apply their
knowledge. The lost key to their grade is the mastery of emotion,
which places the energy of the universe at their disposal. Man can
only expect to be entrusted with great power by proving his ability
to use it constructively and selflessly. When the Mason learns
that the key to the warrior on the block is the proper application
of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his
Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands and
before he may step onward and upward, he must prove his ability to
properly apply energy. He must follow in the footsteps of his
forefather, Tubal-Cain, who with the mighty strength of the war god
hammered his sword into a plowshare. Incessant vigilance over
thought, action, and desire is indispensable to those who wish to
make progress in the unfolding of their own being, and the Fellow
Craft's degree is the degree of transmutation. The hand that slays
must lift the fallen, while the lips given to cursing must be
taught to pray. The heart that hates must learn the mystery of
compassion, as the result of a deeper and more perfect
understanding of man's relation to his brother. The firm, kind
hand of spirit must curb the flaming powers of emotion with an iron
grip. In the realization and application of these principles lies
the key of the Fellow Craft.
In this degree, the two points of the compass (one higher than the
other), symbolize the heart and mind, and with the expression of
the higher emotions the heart point of the compass is liberated
from the square, which is an instrument used to measure the block
of matter and therefore symbolizes form.
A large percentage of the people of the world at the present time
are passing through, spiritually, the degree of the Fellow Craft,
with its five senses. The sense perceptions come under the control
of the emotional energies, therefore the development of the senses
is necessary to the constructive expression of the Fellow Craft
power. Man must realize that all the powers which his many years
of need have earned for him have come in order that through them he
may liberate more fully the prisoner within his own being. As the
Fellow Craft degree is the middle of the three, the spiritual duty
of each member is to reach the point of poise or balance, which is
always secured between extremes. The mastery of expression is also
to be found in this degree. The keywords of the Fellow Craft may
be briefly defined as compassion, poise, and transmutation.
In the Fellow Craft degree is concealed the dynamo of human life.
The Fellow Craft is the worker with elemental fire, which it is his
duty to transmute into spiritual light. The heart is the center of
his activity and it is while in this degree that the human side of
the nature with its constructive emotions should be brought out and
emphasized. But all of these expressions of the human heart must
become transmuted into the emotionless compassion of the gods, who
despite the suffering of the moment, gaze down upon mankind and see
that it is good.
When the candidate feels that he has reached a point where he is
able to manifest every energizing current and fire-flame in a
constructive, balanced manner and has spiritually lifted the heart
sentiments of the mystic out of the cube of matter, he may then
expect that the degree of Master Mason is not far off, and so may
look forward eagerly to the time of his spiritual ordination into
the higher degree. He should now study himself and realize that he
cannot receive promotion into the spiritual lodge unti l his heart
is attuned to a superior, spiritual influx from the causal planes
of consciousness.
The following requirements are necessary before the student can
spiritually say that he is a member of the ancient and accepted
rite of the Fellow Craft:
1. The mastery of emotional outbreaks of all kinds, poise under
trying conditions, kindness in the face of unkindness, and
simplicity with its accompanying power. These points show that the
seeker is worthy of being taught by a Fellow Craftsman.
2. The mastery of the animal energies, the curbing of passion and
desire, and the control of the lower nature mark the faithful
attempts on the part of the student to be worthy of the Fellow
Craft.
3. The understanding and mastery of the creative forces, the
consecration of them to the unfolding of the spiritual nature, and
a proper understanding of their physical application, are necessary
steps at this stage of the student's growth.
4. The transmutation of personal affection into impersonal
compassion shows that the Fellow Craftsman truly understands his
duties and is living in a manner worthy of his order.
Personalities cannot bind the true second degree member, for having
raised one point of the compasses he now realizes that all personal
manifestations are governed by impersonal principles.
5. At this point the candidate consecrates the five senses to the
study of human problems with the unfolding of sense centers as the
motive; for he realizes that the five senses are keys, the proper
application of which will give him material for spiritual
transmutation if he will apply to them the common divisor of
analogy.
The Entered Apprentice may be termed a materialistic degree. The
Fellow Craft is religious and mystical, while the Master Mason is
occult or philosophical. Each of these is a degree in the
unfoldment of a connected life and intelligence, revealing in ever
fuller expression the gradual liberation of the Master from the
trianglar cell of threefold negation which marks the early stage of
individualization.
CHAPTER V THE MASTER MASON
On the upper steps of spiritual unfoldment stands the Master Mason,
who spiritually represents the graduate from the school of esoteric
learning. In the ancient symbols he is represented as an old man
leaning upon a staff, his long white beard upon his chest, and his
deep, piercing eyes sheltered by the brows of a philosopher. He is
in truth old, not in years, but in wisdom and understanding, which
are the only true measurement of age. Through years and lives of
labor he has found the staff of life and tr uth upon which he
leans. He no longer depends upon the words of others but upon the
still voice that speaks from the heart of his own being. There is
no more glorious position that a man may hold than that of a Master
Builder, who has risen by labor through the degrees of human
consciousness. Time is the differentiation of eternity devised by
man to measure the passage of human events. On the spiritual
planes of Nature it is the space or distance between the s tages of
spiritual growth and hence is not m easurable by material means.
Many a child comes into this world a Grand Master of the Masonic
School, while many a revered and honored brother passes silently to
rest without having gained admittance to its gate. The Master
Mason is one whose life is full, pressed down and brimming over
with the experience he has gained in his slow pilgrimage up the
winding stairs.
The Master Mason embodies the power of the human mind, that
connecting link which binds heaven and earth together in an endless
chain. His spiritual light is greater because he has evolved a
higher vehicle for its expression. Above even constructive action
and emotion soars the power of thought which swiftly flies on wings
to the source of Light. The mind is the highest form of his human
expression and he passes into the great darkness of the inner room
illuminated only by the fruits of reason. The glor ious privileges
of a Master Mason are in keeping with his greater knowledge and
wisdom. From the student he has blossomed forth as the teacher;
from the kingdom of those who follow he has joined that little
group who must always lead the way. For him the Heavens have
opened and the Great Light has bathed him in its radiance. The
Prodigal Son, so long a wanderer in the regions of darkness, has
returned again to his Father's house. The voice speaks from the
Heavens, its power thrilling the Master until hi s own being seems
filled with its divinity, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased." The ancients taught that the sun was not a
source of light, life, or power, but a medium through which life
and light were reflected into physical substance. The Master Mason
is in truth a sun, a great reflector of light, who radiates through
his organism, purified by ages of preparation, the glorious power
which is the light of the Lodge. He, in truth, has become the
spokesman of the Most High. He st ands between the glowing fire
light and the world. Through him passes Hydra, the great snake,
and from its month there pours to man the light of God. His symbol
is the rising sun, for in him the globe of day has indeed risen in
all its splendor from the darkness of the night, illuminating the
immortal East with the first promise of approaching day.
With a sigh the Master lays aside his tools. For him the temple is
nearing completion, the last stones are being placed, and he slakes
his lime with a vague regret as he sees dome and minaret rise
through the power of his handiwork. The true Master does not long
for rest, and as he sees the days of his labor close, a sadness
weighs upon his heart. Slowly the brothers of his Craft leave him,
each going his respective way; and, climbing step by step, the
Master stands alone on the pinnacle of the temple. One stone must
yet be placed, but this he cannot find. Somewhere it lies
concealed. In prayer he kneels, asking the powers that be to aid
him in his search. The light of the sun shines upon him and bathes
him in a splendor celestial. Suddenly a voice speaks from the
Heavens, saying, "The temple is finished and in my faithful Master
is found the missing stone."
Both points of the compasses are now lifted from under the square.
The divine is liberated from its cube; heart and mind alike are
liberated from the symbol of mortality, and as emotion and thought
they unite for the glorification of the greatest and the highest.
Then the Sun and Moon are united and the Hermetic Degree is
consummated.
The Master Mason is afforded opportunities far beyond the reach of
ordinary man, but he must not fail to realize that with every
opportunity comes a cosmic responsibility. It is worse by far to
know and not to do than never to have known at all. He realizes
that the choice of avoiding responsibility is no longer his and
that for him all problems must be met and solved. The only joy in
the heart of the Master is the joy of seeing the fruits of his
handiwork. It can be truly said of the Master that throug h
suffering he has learned to be glad, through weeping he has learned
to smile, and through dying he has learned to live. The
purification and probationship of his previous degrees have so
spiritualized his being that he is in truth a glorious example of
God's Plan for His children. The greatest sermon he can preach,
the greatest lesson he can teach, is that of standing forth a
living proof of the Eternal Plan. The Master Mason is not
ordained: h e is the natural product of cause and effect, and none
but those who live the cause can produce the effect. The Master
Mason, if he be truly a Master, is in communication with the unseen
powers that move the destinies of life. As the Eldest Brother of
the lodge, he is the spokesman for the spiritual hierarchies of his
Craft. He no longer follows the direction of others, but on his
own tracing board he lays out the plans which his brothers are to
follow. He realizes this, and so lives that every line and plan
which he gives out is inspired by the divine with in h imself. His
glorious opportunity to be a factor in the growth of others comes
before all else. At the seat of mercy he kneels, a faithful
servant of the Highest within himself and worthy to be given
control over the lives of others by having first controlled
himself.
Much is said concerning the loss of the Master's Word and how the
seekers go out to find it but bring back only substitutes. The
true Master knows that those who go out can never find the secret
trust. He alone can find it who goes within. The true Master
Builder has never lost the Word but has cherished it in the
spiritual locket of his own being. From those who have the eyes to
see, nothing is concealed; to those who have the right to know, all
things are open books. The true Word of the three Grand Masters
has never been concealed from those who have the right to know it
nor has it ever been revealed to those who have not prepared a
worthy shrine to contain it. The Master knows, for he is a Temple
Builder. Within the setting of his own bodies, the Philosopher's
Stone is placed; for in truth it is the heart of the Phoenix, that
strange bird which rises with renewed youth from the ashes of its
burned body. When the Master's heart is as pure and white as the
diamond that he wears, he will then become a living stone-the crown
jewel in the diadem of his Craft.
The Word is found when the Master himself is ordained by the living
hand of God, cleansed by living water, baptized by living fire, a
Priest-King after the Order of Melchizedek, who is above the law.
The geat work of the Master Mason can be called the art of balance.
To him is given the work of balancing the triangle that it may
blaze forth with the glory of the Divine Degree. The triple
energies of thought, desire, and action must be united in a
harmonious blending of expression. He holds in his hands the
triple keys; he wears the triple crown of the ancient Magus, for he
is in truth the King of heaven, earth, and hell. Salt, sulphur,
and mercury are the elements of his work and with the philosophi
cal mercury he seeks to blend all powers to the glorifying of one
end.
Behind the degree of Master Mason, there is another not known to
earth. Far above him stretch other steps concealed by the blue
veil which divides the seen from the unseen. The true Brother
knows this, therefore he works with an end in view far above the
concept of mortal mind. He seeks to be worthy to pass behind that
veil and join that band who, unhonored and unsung, carry the
responsibilities of human growth. His eyes are fixed forever on
the Seven Stars which shine down from somewhere above the uppe r
rung of the ladder. With hope, faith, and charity he climbs the
steps, and whispering the Master's Word to the Keeper of the Gates,
passes on behind the veil. It is then, and then only, that a true
Mason is born. Only behind this veil does the mystic student come
into his own. The things which we see around us are but
forms-promises of a thing unnamed, symbols of a truth unknown. It
is in the spiritual temple built without the voice of wo rkmen or
the sound of hammer that the true initiation is given, and there,
robed in the simple lambskin of a purified body, the student
becomes a Master Mason, chosen out of the world to be an active
worker in the name of the Great Architect. It is there alone,
unseen by mortal eyes, that the Greater Degrees are given and there
the soul radiating the light of Spirit becomes a living; star in
the blue canopy of the Masonic lodge.
TRANSMUTATION
Masonry is eternal truth, personified, idealized, and yet made
simple. Eternal truth alone can serve it. Virtue is its priest,
patience its warden, illumination its master. The world cannot know
this, however, save when Masons in their daily life prove that it
is so. Its truth is divine, and is not to be desecrated or defamed
by the thoughtlessness of its keepers. Its temple is a holy place,
to be entered in reverence. Material thoughts and material
dissensions must be left without its gate. They may not enter.
Only the pure of heart, regenerated and transmuted, may pass the
sanctity of its veil. The schemer has no place in its ranks, nor
the materialist in its shrine; for Masons walk on hallowed ground,
sanctified by the veneration of ages. Let the tongue be stilled,
let the heart be stilled, let the mind be stilled. In reverence
and in the silence, stillness shall speak: the voice of stillness
is the voice of the Creator. Show your light and yo ur power to
men, but before God what have you to offe r, save in humility? Your
robes, your tinsel, and your jewels mean naught to Him, until your
own body and soul, gleaming with the radiance of perfection, become
the living ornaments of your Lodge.
THE PRESENCE OF THE MASTER
The Mason believes in the Great Architect, the living keystone of
creation's plan, the Master of all Lodges, without whose spirit
there is no work. Let him never forget that the Master is near.
Day and night let him feet the presence of the Supreme or
Overshadowing One. The All-Seeing Eye is upon him. Day and night
this great Orb measures his depths, seeing into his innermost soul
of souls, judging his life, reading his thoughts, measuring his
aspirations, and rewarding his sincerity. To this All-Seein g One
he is accountable; to none other must he account. This Spirit
passes with him out of the Lodge and measures the Mason in the
world. This Spirit is with him when he buys and sells. It is with
him in his home. By the light of day and by the darkness of night
it judges him. It hears each thoughtless word. It is the silent
witness to every transaction of life, the silent Partner of every
man. By the jury of his acts, each man is judged. Let e very Mason
know that his obligations include not only those w ithin the narrow
Lodge, bordered by walls of stone and brick, but those in the Great
Lodge, walled only by the dome of heaven. The Valley of
Jehoshaphat waits for him who is false to any creature, as surely
as it waited for the breakers of the Cosmic oath.
CHAPTER VI
THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A TRUE MASON
Every true Mason has come into the realization that there is but
one Lodge - that is, the Universe - and but one Brotherhood,
composed of everything that moves or exists in any of the planes of
Nature. He realizes that the Temple of Solomon is really the
Temple of the Solar Man -Sol-Om-On - the King of the Universe
manifesting through his three primordial builders. He realizes
that his vow of brotherhood and fraternity is universal, and that
mineral, plant, animal, and man are all included in the true Mas
onic Craft. His duty as an elder brother to all the kingdoms of
Nature beneath him is well understood by the true Craftsman, who
would rather die than fail in this, his great obligation. He has
dedicated his life upon the altar of his God and is willing and
glad to serve the lesser through the powers he has gained from the
greater. The mystic Mason, in building the eyes that see behind the
apparent ritual, recognizes the oneness of life manif esting
through the diversity of form.
The true disciple of ancient Masonry has given up forever the
worship of personalities. With his greater insight, he realizes
that all forms and their position in material affairs are of no
importance to him compared to the life which is evolving within.
Those who allow appearances or worldly expressions to deter them
from their self-appointed tasks are failures in Masonry, for
Masonry is an abstract science of spiritual unfoldment. Material
prosperity is not the measure of soul growth. The true Mason r
ealizes that behind these diverse forms there is one connected Life
Principle, the spark of God in all living things. It is this Life
which he considers when measuring the worth of a brother. It is to
this Life that he appeals for a recognition of spiritual Unity. He
realizes that it is the discovery of this spark of Unity which
makes him a conscious member of the Cosmic Lodge. Most of all, he
must learn to understand that this divine spark shines out as
brightly from the body of a foe as it does from t he dearest
friend. The true Mason has learned to be divinely impersonal in
thought, action, and desire.
The true Mason is not creed-bound. He realizes with the divine
illumination of his lodge that as Mason his religion must be
universal: Christ, Buddha or Mohammed, the name means little, for
he recognizes only the light and not the bearer. He worships at
every shrine, bows before every altar, whether in temple, mosque or
cathedral, realizing with his truer understanding the oneness of
all spiritual truth. All true Masons know that they only are
heathen who, having great ideals, do not live up to them. Th ey
know that all religions are but one story told in divers ways for
peoples whose ideals differ but whose great purpose is in harmony
with Masonic ideals. North, east, south and west stretch the
diversities of human thought, and while the ideals of man
apparently differ, when all is said and the crystallization of form
with its false concepts is swept away, one basic truth remains: all
existing things are Temple Builders, laboring for a single end. No
true Mason can be narrow, for his Lodge is the divine expression of
all broadness. There is no place for little minds in a great work.
The true Mason must develop the powers of observation. He must
seek eternally in all the manifestations of Nature for the things
which he has lost because he failed to work for them. He must
become a student of human nature and see in those around him the
unfolding and varying expressions of one connected spiritual
Intelligence. The great spiritual ritual of his lodge is enacted
before him in every action of his fellow man. The entire Masonic
initiation is an open secret, for anyone can see it played ou t on
the city street corners as well as in the untracked wilderness.
The Mason has sworn that every day he will extract from life its
message for him and build it into the temple of his God. He seeks
to learn the things which will make him of greater service in the
Divine Plan, a better instrument in the hands of the Great
Architect, who is laboring eternally to unfold life through the
medium of living things. The Mason realizes, moreover, tha t his
vows, taken of his own free will and accord, give him th e divine
opportunity of being a living tool in the hands of a Master
Workman.
The true Master Mason enters his lodge with one thought uppermost
in his mind: "How can I, as an individual, be of greater use in the
Universal Plan? What can I do to be worthy to comprehend the
mysteries which are unfolded here? How can I build the eyes to see
the things which are concealed from those who lack spiritual
understanding?" The true Mason is supremely unselfish in every
expression and application of the powers that have been entrusted
to him. No true Brother seeks anything for himself, but uns
elfishly labors for the good of all. No person who assumes a
spiritual obligation for what he can get out of it is worthy of
applying for the position even of water-carrier. The true Light
can come only to those who, asking nothing, gladly give all to it.
The true brother of the Craft, while constantly striving to improve
himself, mentally, physically, and spiritually through the days of
his life, never makes his own desires the goal for his works. He
has a duty and that duty is to fit into the plans of another. He
must be ready at any hour of the day or night to drop his own
ideals at the call of the Builder. The work must be done and he
has dedicated his life to the service of those who know the bonds
of neither time nor space. He must be ready at any moment's notice
and his life should be turned into preparing himself for that call
which may come when he least expects it. The Master Mason knows
that those most useful to the Plan are those who have gained the
most from the practical experiences of life. It is not what goes
on within the tiled lodge which is the basis of his greatness, but
rather the way in which he meets the problems of daily life. The
true Masonic student is known by his brotherly a ctions and common
sense.
Every Mason knows that a broken vow brings with it a terrible
penalty. Let him also realize that failure to live mentally,
spiritually, and morally up to one's highest ideals constitutes the
greatest of all broken oaths. When a Mason swears that he will
devote his life to the building of his Father's house and then
defiles his living temple through the perversion of mental power,
emotional force, and active energy, he is breaking a vow which
imposes not hours but ages of misery. If he is worthy to be a M
ason, he must be great enough to restrain the lower side of his own
nature which is daily murdering his Grand Master. He must realize
that a misdirected life is a broken vow and that daily service,
purification, and the constructive application of energy is a
living invocation which builds within and draws to him the power of
the Creator. His life is the only prayer acceptable in the eyes of
the Most High. An impure life is a broken trust; a destructive
action is a living curse; a narrow mind is a strang le-cord around
the throat of God.
All true Masons know that their work is not secret, but they
realize that it must remain unknown to all who do not live the true
Masonic life. Yet if the so-called secrets of Freemasonry were
shouted from the housetops, the Fraternity would be absolutely
safe; for certain spiritual qualities are necessary before the real
Masonic secrets can be understood by the brethren themselves. Hence
it is that the alleged "exposures" of Freemasonry, printed by the
thousands and tens of thousands since 1730 down to the present
hour, cannot injure the Fraternity. They reveal merely the outward
forms and ceremonies of Freemasonry. Only those who have been
weighed in the balance and found to be true, upright, and square
have prepared themselves by their own growth to appreciate the
inner meanings of their Craft. To the rest of their brethren
within or without the lodge their sacred rituals must remain, as
Shakespeare might have said, "Words, words, words." Within the
Mason's own being is concealed the Power, which, blazi ng forth
from his purified being, constitutes the Builder's Word. His life
is the sole password which admits him to the true Masonic Lodge.
His spiritual urge is the sprig of acacia which, through the
darkness of ignorance, still proves that the spiritual fire is
alight. Within himself he must build those qualities which will
make possible his true understanding of the Craft. He can show the
world only forms which mean nothing; the life within is fo rever
concealed until the eye of Spirit reveals it.
The Master Mason realizes charity to be one of the greatest traits
which the Elder Brothers have unfolded, which means not only
properly regulated charity of the purse but charity in thought and
action. He realizes that all the workmen are not on the same step,
but wherever each may be, he is doing the best he can according to
his light. Each is laboring with the tools that he has, and he, as
a Master Mason, does not spend his time in criticizing but in
helping them to improve their tools. Instead of bla ming poor
tools, let us always blame ourselves for having them. The Master
Mason does not find fault; he does not criticize nor does he
complain, but with malice towards none and charity towards all he
seeks to be worthy of his Father's trust. In silence he labors,
with compassion he suffers, and if the builders strike him as he
seeks to work with them, his last word will be a prayer for them.
The greater the Mason, the more advanced in his Craft, the more
fatherly he grows, the walls of his Lodge broade ning out until all
living things are sheltered and guarded within the blue folds of
his cape. From laboring with the few he seeks to assist all,
realizing with his broader understanding the weaknesses of others
but the strength of right.
A Mason is not proud of his position. He is not puffed up by his
honor, but with a sinking heart is eternally ashamed of his own
place, realizing that it is far below the standard of his Craft.
The farther he goes, the more he realizes that he is standing on
slippery places and if he allows himself for one moment to lose his
simplicity and humility, a fall is inevitable. A true Mason never
feels himself worthy of his Craft. A student may stand on the top
of Fool's Mountain self-satisfied in his position , but the true
Brother is always noted for his simplicity.
A Mason cannot be ordained or elected by ballot. He is evolved
through ages of self-purification and spiritual transmutation.
There are thousands of Masons who are brethren in name only, for
their failure to exemplify the ideals of their Craft makes them
unresponsive to the teachings and purpose of Freemasonry. The
Masonic life forms the first key of the Temple and without this
key, none of the doors can be opened. When this fact is better
realized and lived, Freemasonry will awake, and speak the Word s o
long withheld. The speculative Craft will then become operative,
and the Ancient Wisdom so long concealed will rise from the ruins
of its temple as the greatest spiritual truth yet revealed to man.
The true Master Mason recognizes the value of seeking for truth
wherever he can find it. It makes no difference if it be in the
enemy's camp; if it be truth, he will go there gladly to secure it.
The Masonic Lodge is universal; therefore all true Masons will seek
through the extremities of creation for their Light. The true
brother of the Craft knows and applies one great paradox. He must
search for the high things in lowly places and find the lowly
things in high places. The Mason who feels holier than his fellow
man has raised a barrier around himself through which no light can
pass, for the one who in truth is the greatest is the servant of
all. Many brethren make a great mistake in building a wall around
their secrets, for they succeed only in shutting out their own
light. Their divine opportunity is at hand. The time has come when
the world needs the Ancient Wisdom as never before. Let the Mason
stand forth and by living the doctrines which he preaches show to
his brother man the glory of his work. He holds the keys to truth;
let him unlock the door, and with his life and not his words preach
the doctrine which he has so long professed.
The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man were united in the
completion of the Eternal Temple, the Great Work, for which all
things came into being and through which all shall glorify their
Creator.
MASONS, AWAKE!
Your creed and your Craft demand the best that is in you. They
demand the sanctifying of your life, the regeneration of your body,
the purification of your soul, and the ordination of your spirit.
Yours is the glorious opportunity; yours is the divine
responsibility. Accept your task and follow in the footsteps of
the Master Masons of the past, who with the flaming spirit of the
Craft have illumined the world. You have a great privilege - the
privilege of illumined labor. You may know the ends to which you
work, while others must struggle in darkness. Your labors are not
to be confined to the tiled Lodge alone, for a Mason must radiate
the qualities of his Craft. Its light must shine in his home and
in his business, glorifying his association with his fellow men.
In the Lodge and out of the Lodge, the Mason must represent the
highest fruitage of sincere endeavor.
EPILOGUE THE PRIEST OF RA
What words are there in modern language to describe the great
temple of Ammon Ra? It now stands amidst the sands of Egypt a pile
of broken ruins, but in the heyday of its glory it rose a forest of
plumed pillars holding up roofs of solid sandstone, carved by hands
long laid to rest into friezes of lotus blossoms and papyrus and
colored lifelike by pigments the secrets of which were lost with
the civilization that discovered them.
A checkerboard floor of black and white blocks stretched out until
it was lost among the wilderness of pillars. From the massive
walls the impassive faces of gods unnamed looked down upon the
silent files of priests who kept alight the altar fires, whose
feeble glow alone alighted the massive chambeors throughout the
darkness of an Egyptian night. It was a weird, impressive scene,
and the flickering lights sent strange, ghostly forms scurrying
among the piles of granite which rose like mighty altars from the
darkness below to be lost in the shadows above.
Suddenly a figure emerged from the shadows, carrying in his hand a
small oil lamp which pierced the darkness like some distant star,
bringing into strange relief the figure of him who bore it. He
appeared to be old, for his long beard and braided hair were quite
gray, but his large black eyes shone with a fire seldom seen even
in youth. He was robed from head to foot in blue and gold, and
around his forehead was coiled a snake of precious metal, set with
jewelled eyes that gave out flashes of light. Neve r had the light
of Ra's chamber shone on a grander head or a form more powerful
than that of the high priest of the temple. He was the mouthpiece
of the gods and the sacred wisdom of ancient Egypt was impressed in
fiery letters upon his soul. As he crossed the great room - in one
hand the sceptre of the priestcraft, in the other the tiny lamp -
he was more like a spirit visitor from beyond the environs of death
than a physical being, for his jewelled san dals made no sound and
the sheen from his robes form ed a halo of light around his stately
form.
Down through the silent passageways, lined with their massive
pillars, passed the phantom figure - down steps lined with kneeling
sphinxes and through avenues of crouching lions the priest picked
his way until at last he reached a vaulted chamber whose marble
floor bore strange designs traced in some language long forgotten.
Each angle of the many-sided and dimly-lighted room was filled by a
seated figure carved in stone, so massive that its head and
shoulders were lost in shadows no eye could pierce.
In the center of this mystic chamber stood a great chest of some
black stone carved with serpents and strange winged dragons. The
lid was a solid slab, weighing hundreds of pounds, without handle
of any kind and the chest apparently had no means of being opened
without the aid of some herculean power.
The high priest leaned over and from the lamp he carried lighted
the fire upon an altar that stood near, sending the shadows of that
weird chamber scurrying into the most distant corners. As the
flame rose, it was reflected from the great stone faces above,
which seemed to stare at the black coffer in the center of the room
with their strange, sightless eyes.
Raising his serpent-wound staff and facing the chest of sombre
marble, the priest called out in a voice that echoed and re-echoed
from every nook and cranny of the ancient temple:
"Aradamas, come forth!"
Then a strange thing happened. The heavy slab that formed the
cover of the great coffer slowly raised as though lifted by unseen
hands and there emerged from its dark recesses a slim, white-clad
figure with his forearms crossed on his breast-the figure of a man
perhaps thirty years old, his long, black hair hanging down upon
his white-robed shoulders in strange contrast to the seamless
garment that he wore. His face, devoid of emotion, was as handsome
and serene as the great face of Ammon Ra himself that gazed down
upon the scene. Silently Aradamas stepped from the ancient tomb
and advanced slowly toward the high priest. When about ten paces
from the earthly representative of the gods, he paused, unfolded
his arms, and extended them across his chest in salutation. In one
hand he carried a cross with a ring as the upper arm and this he
proffered to the priest. Aradamas stood in silence as the high
priest, raising his sceptre to one of the great stone figures,
addressed an invocation to the Sun-God of the universe. This
finished, he then addressed the youthful figure as follows:
"Aradamas, you seek to know the mystery of creation, you ask that
the divine illumination of the Thrice-Greatest and the wisdom that
for ages has been the one gift the gods would shower upon mankind,
be entrusted to you. Little you understand of the thing you ask,
but those who know have said that he who proves worthy may receive
the truth. Therefore, stand you here today to prove your divine
birthright to the teaching that you ask."
The priest pronounced these words slowly and solemnly and then
pointed with his sceptre to a great dim archway surmounted by a
winged globe of gleaming gold.
"Before thee, up those steps and through those passageways, lies
the path that leads to the eye of judgment and the feet of Ammon
Ra. Go, and if thy heart be pure, as pure as the garment that thou
wearest, and if thy motive be unselfish, thy feet shall not stumble
and thy being shall be filled with light. But remember that Typhon
and his hosts of death lurk in every shadow and that death is the
result of failure."
Aradamas turned and again folded his arms over his breast in the
sign of the cross. As he walked slowly through the somber arch, the
shadows of the great Unknown closed over him who had dedicated his
life to the search for the Eternal. The priest watched him until
he was lost to sight among the massive pillars beyond the shent
span that divided the living from the dead. Then slowly falling on
his knees before the gigantic statue of Ra and raising his eyes to
the shadows that through the long night conceal ed the face of the
Sun-God, he prayed that the youth might pass from the darkness of
the temple pillars to the light he sought.
It seemed that for a second a glow played around the face of the
enormous statue and a strange hush of peace filled the ancient
temple. The high priest sensed this, for rising, he relighted his
lamp and walked slowly away. His beacon of light shone fainter and
fainter in the distance, and finally was lost to view among the
papyrus blooms of the temple pillars. All that remained were the
dying flames on the altar, which sent strange flickering glows over
the great stone coffer and the twelve judges of the Egyptian dead.
In the meantime, Aradamas, his hands still crossed on his breast,
walked slowly onward and upward until the last ray from the burning
altar fire was lost to view among the shadows far behind. Through
years of purification he had prepared himself for the great ordeal,
and with a purified body and a balanced mind, he wended his way in
and out amoung the pillars that loomed about him. As he walked
along, there seemed to radiate from his being a faint golden glow
which illuminated the pillars as he passed the m. He seemed a
ghostly form amid a grove of ancient trees.
Suddenly the pillars widened out to form another vaulted room,
dimly lit by a reddish haze. As Aradamas proceeded, there appeared
around him swirling wisps of this scarlet light. First they
appeared as swiftly moving clouds, but slowly they took form, and
strange misty figures in flowing draperies hovered in the air and
held out long swaying arms to stay his progress. Wraiths of ruddy
mist hovered about him and whispered soft words into his ears,
while weird music, like the voice of the storm and the cri es of
night birds, resounded through the lofty halls. Still Aradamas
walked on calm and masterful, his fine, spiritual face outlined by
his raven locks in strange contrast to the sinuous forms that
gathered around and tried to lure him from his purpose. Unmindful
of strange forms that beckoned from ghostly archways and the
pleading of soft voices, he passed steadily on his way with but one
thought in his mind:
"Fiat Lux!" (Let there be light.)
The ghastly music grew louder and louder, terminating at last in a
mighty roar. The very walls shook; the dancing forms swayed like
flickering candle shadows and, still pleading and beckoning,
vanished among the pillars of the temple.
As the temple walls tottered, Aradamas paused; then with slow
measured step he resumed his search for some ray of light, finding
always darkness deeper than before. Suddenly before him loomed
another doorway, flanked on either side by an obelisk of carved
marble, one black and the other white. Through the doorway glowed
a dim light, concealed by a gossamer veil of blue silk.
As Aradamas slowly climbed the flight of steps leading to the
doorway, there materialized upon the ground at his feet a swirl of
lurid mist. In the faint glow that it cast, it twisted like some
oily gas, filling the entire chamber with a loathsome miasma. Then
out of this cloud issued a gigantic form - half human, half
reptile. In its bloodshot eyes burned ruddy pods of demon fire,
while great claw-like hands reached out to enfold and crush the
slender figure that confronted it. Aradamas wavered for a s ingle
instant as the horrible apparition lunged forward, its size doubly
magnified in the iridescent fog. Then the white-robed neophyte
again slowly advanced, his arms still crossed on his breast. He
raised his fine face, illumined by a divine light, and courageously
faced the hideous specter. As he confronted the menacing form, for
an instant it loomed over him like a towering demon. Suddenly
Aradamas raised the cross he carried and held it u p before the
monster. As he did so, the Crux Ansata gleamed with a wondrous
golden light, which, striking the oily, scaly monster, seemed to
dissolve its every particle into golden sparks. As the last of the
demon guardians vanished before the rays of the cross, a bolt of
lightning flashed through the ancient hallways and, striking the
veil that hung between the obelisks, rent it down the center and
disclosed a vaulted chamber with a circular dome, dimly lighted by
invisible lamps.
Bearing his now flaming cross, Aradamas entered the room and
instinctively gazed upward to the lofty dome. There, floating in
space, far above his head, he saw a great closed eye surrounded by
fleecy clouds and rainbow colors. Long Aradamas gazed upon the
wonderful sight, for he knew that it was the Eye of Horus, the
All-Seeing Eye of the gods.
As he stood there, he prayed that the will of the gods might be
made known unto him and that in some way he might be found worthy
to open that closed eye in the temple of the living God.
As he stood there gazing upward, the eyelid flickered. As the
great orb slowly opened, the chamber was filled with a dazzling,
blinding light that seemed to consume the very stones with fire.
Aradamas staggered. It seemed as if every atom of his being was
scorched by the effulgence of that glow. He instinctively closed
his eyes and now he feared to open them, for in that terrific blaze
of splendor it seemed that only blindness would follow his action.
Little by little, a strange feeling of peace and ca lm descended
upon him and at length he dared to open his eyes to find that the
glare was gone, the entire chamber was bathed in a soft, wondrous
glow from the mighty Eye in the ceiling. The white robe he had
worn had also given place to one of living fire which blazed as
though with the reflection of thousands of lesser eyes from the
divine orb above. As his eyes became accustomed to the glow, he
saw that he was no longer alone. He was surrounded by twe lve
white-robed figures who, bowing before him, held up strange
insignia wrought from living gold.
As Aradamas looked, all the figures pointed, and as he followed the
direction of their hands, he saw a staircase of living light that
led far up into the dome and passed the Eye in the ceiling.
With one voice, the twelve said: "Yonder lies the way of
liberation."
Without a moment's hesitation, Aradamas mounted the staircase, and
with feet that seemed to barely touch the steps, climbed upward
into the dawn of a great unknown. At last, after climbing many
steps, he reached a doorway that opened as he neared it. The
breath of morning air fanned his cheek and a golden ray of sunshine
played among the waves of his dark hair. He stood on the top of a
mighty pyramid, before him a blazing altar. In the distance, far
over the horizon, the rolling sands of the Egyptian de sert
reflected the first rays of the morning sun which, like a globe of
golden fire, rose again out of the eternal East. As Aradamus stood
there, a voice that seemed to issue from the very heavens chanted a
strange song, and a hand, reaching out as it were from the globe of
day itself, placed a serpent wrought of gyld upon the brow of the
new initiate.
"Behold Khepera, the rising sun! For as he brings the mighty globe
of day out of the darkness of night, between his claws, so for thee
the Sun of Spirit has risen from the darkness of night and in the
name of the living God, we hail thee Priest of Ra."
SO MOTE IT BE
ADDENDA THE ROBE OF BLUE AND GOLD
Hidden in the depths of the unknown, three silent beings weave the
endless thread of human fate. They are called the Sisters, known
to mythology as the Norns or Fates who incessantly twist between
their fingers a tiny cord, which one day is to be woven into a
living garment - the coronation robe of the priest-king.
To the mystics and philosophers of the world this garment is known
under many names. To some it is the simple yellow robe of
Buddahood. By the ancient Jews it was symbolized as the robe of
the high priest, the Garment of Glory unto the Lord. To the
Masonic brethren, it is the robe of Blue and Gold - the Star of
Bethlehem - the Wedding Garment of the Spirit.
Three Fates weave the threads of this living garment, and man
himself is the creator of his Fates. The triple thread of thought,
action, and desire binds him when he enters the sacred place or
seeks admittance into the tiled lodge, but later this same cord is
woven into a splendid garment whose purified folds clothe the
sacred spark of his being.
We all like to be well dressed. Robes of velvet and ermine stand
for symbols of rank and glory; but too many ermine capes have
covered empty hearts, too many crowns have rested on the brows of
tyrants. These are symbols of earthly things and in the world of
matter are too often misplaced. The true coronation robe - the
garment molded after the pattern of heaven, the robe of glory of
the Master Mason - is not of the earth; for it tells of his
spiritual growth, his deeper understanding, and his consecrated
life. The garments of the high priest of the tabernacle were but
symbols of his own body, which, purified and transfigured,
glorified the life within. The notes of the tiny silver bells that
tinkled with never-ending music from the fringe of his vestments
told of a life harmonious, while the breastplate which rested amid
the folds of the ephod reflected the gleams of heavenly truth from
the facets of its gems.
There is another garment without a seam which we are told was often
worn by the ancient brethren in the days of the Essenes, when the
monastery of the lowly Nazarenes rose in silent grandeur from the
steep sides of Mt. Tabor, to be reflected in the inscrutable waters
of the Dead Sea. This one-piece garment is the spiral thread of
human life which, when purified by right motive and right living,
becomes a tiny thread of golden light, eternally weaving the
purified garment of regenerated bodies. Like the wh ite of the
lambskin apron, it stands for the simple, the pure, and the
harmless. These are the requirements of the Master Mason, who must
renounce forever this world's pomp and vanity and seek to weave
that simple one-piece robe of the soul which marks the Master,
consecrated and consummated.
With the eye of the mind we still can see the lowly Nazarene in his
spotless robe of white - a garment no king's ransom could buy.
This robe is woven out of the actions of our daily lives, each deed
weaving into the endless pattern a thread, black or white,
according to the motives which inspired our actions. As the Master
Mason labors in accordance with his vows, he slowly weaves this
spotless robe out of the transmuted energy of his efforts. It is
this white robe which must be worn under the vestments of state,
and whose spotless surface sanctifies him for the robes of glory,
which can be worn only over the stainless, seamless garment of his
purified life.
When this moment arrives and the candidate has completed his task -
when he comes purified and regenerated to the altar of wisdom, he
is truly baptized of the fire and its flame blazes up within
himself. From him pour forth streams of light, and a great aura of
multicolored fire bathes him with its radiance. The sacred flame
of the gods has found its resting place in him, and through him
renews its covenant with man. He is then truly a Freemason, a
child of light. This wonderful garment, of which all ea rthly
robes are but symbols, is built of the highest qualities of human
nature, the noblest of ideals, and the purest of aspirations. Its
coming is made possible only through the purification of body and
unselfish service to others in the name of the Creator.
When the Mason has built all these powers into himself, there
radiates from him a wonderful body of living fire, like that which
surrounded the Master Jesus, at the moment of His transfiguration.
This is the Robe of Glory, the garment of Blue and Gold which,
shining forth as a five-pointed star of light, heralds the birth of
the Christ within. Man is then indeed a son of God, pouring forth
from the depths of his own being the light rays which are the life
of man.
Striking hearts that have long been cold, this spiritual ray raises
them from the dead. It is the living light which illuminates those
still buried in the darkness of materiality. It is the power which
raises by the strong grip of the lion's paw. It is the Great Light
which, seeking forever the spark of itself within all living
things, reawakens dead ideals and smothered aspirations with the
power of the Master's Eternal Word. Then the Master Mason becomes
indeed the Sun in Leo; and, reaching downward i nto the tomb of
crystallization, raises the murdered Builder from the dead by the
grip of the Master Mason.
As the sun awakens the seedlings in the ground, so this Son of Man,
glowing with the light divine, radiates from his own purified being
the mystic shafts of redeeming light which awaken the seeds of hope
and truth and a nobler life. Discouragement and suffering too
often brings down the temple, burying under its debris the true
reason for being and the higher motives for living.
As the glorious robe of the sun - the symbol of all life - bathes
and warms creation with its glow, this same robe, enfolding all
things, warms them and preserves them with its light and life. Man
is a god in the making, and as in the mystic myths of Egypt, on the
potter's wheel he is being molded. When his light shines out to
lift and preserve all things, he receives the triple crown of
godhood, and joins that throng of Master Masons who, in their robes
of Blue and Gold, are seeking to dispel the darknes s of night with
the triple light of the Masonic Lodge.
Ceaselessly the Norns spin the thread of human fate. Age in and
age out, upon the looms of destiny are woven the living garments of
God. Some are rich in glorious colors and wondrous fabrics, while
others are broken and frayed before they leave the loom. All,
however, are woven by these three Sisters - thought, action, and
desire - with which the ignorant build walls of mud and bricks of
slime between themselves and truth; while the pure of heart weave
from these radiant threads garments of celestial bea uty.
Do what we will, we cannot stop those nimble fingers which twist
the threads, but we may change the quality of the thread they use.
We should give these three eternal weavers only the noble and the
true; then the work of their hands will be perfect. The thread
they twist may be red with the blood of others, or dark with the
uncertainties of life; but if we resolve to be true, we may restore
its purity and weave from it the seamless garment of a perfect
life. This is man's most acceptable gift upon the al tar of the
Most High, his supreme sacrifice to the Creator.
FRIENDSHIP
What nobler relationship than that of friend? What nobler
compliment can man bestow than friendship? The bonds and ties of
the life we know break easily, but through eternity one bond
remains - the bond of fellowship - the fellowship of atoms, of star
dust in its endless flight, of suns and worlds, of gods and men.
The clasped hands of comradeship unite in a bond eternal - the
fellowship of spirit. Who is more desolate than the friendless
one? Who is more honored than one whose virtues have given him a fr
iend? To have a friend is good, but to be a friend is better. The
noblest title ever given man, the highest title bestowed by the
gods, was when the great Jove gazed down upon Prometheus and said,
"Behold, a friend of man!" Who serves man, serves God. This is the
symbol of the fellowship of your Craft, for the plan of God is
upheld by the clasped hands of friends. The bonds of relationship
must pass, but the friend remains. Serve God by being a friend, -
a friend of the soul of man, serving his needs, li ghting his
steps, smoothing his way. Let the world of its own accord say of
the Mason, "Behold the friend of all." Let the world say of the
Lodge, "This is indeed a fraternity of brothers, comrades in spirit
and in truth."
THE EMERALD TABLET OF HERMES (TABULA SMARAGDINA)
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes, illustrated on the opposite page,
introduces us to Hiram, the hero of the Masonic legend. The name
Hiram is taken from the Chaldean Chiram. The first two words in
large print mean the secret work. The second line in large
letters--(CHIRAM TELAT MECHASOT - means Chiram, the Universal
Agent, one in Essence, but three in aspect. Translated, the body
of the Tablet reads as follows:
It is true and no lie, certain, and to be depended upon, that the
superior agrees with the inferior, and the inferior with the
superior, to effect that one truly wonderful work. As all things
owe their existence to the will of the Only One, so all things owe
their origin to One Only Thing, the most hidden, by the arrangement
of the Only God. The father of that One Only Thing is the Suit;
its mother is the Moon; the wind carries it in its wings; but its
nurse is a Spirituous Earth. That One Only Thing (af ter God) is
the father of all things in the universe. Its power is perfect,
after it has been united to a spirituous earth. Separate that
spirituous earth from the dense or crude earth by means of a gentle
heat, with much attention. In great measure it ascends from the
earth up to heaven, and descends again, new born, on the earth, and
the superior and inferior are increased in power. * * * By this
thou wilt partake of the honors of the whole world an d darkness
will fly from thee. This is the strength o f all powers; with this
thou wilt be able to overcome all things and to transmute all that
is fine and all that is coarse. In this manner the world was
created, but the arrangements to follow this road are hidden. For
this reason I am called CHIRAM TELAT MECHASOT, one in Essence, but
three in aspect. In this Trinity is hidden the wisdom of the whole
world. It is ended now, what I have said concerning the effects of
the Sun.
FINISH OF THE TABULA SMARAGDINA
In a rare, unpublished old manuscript dealing with early Masonic
and Hermetic mysteries, we find the following information
concerning the mysterious Universal Agent referred to as "Chiram"
(Hiram) :
The sense of this Emerald Tablet can sufficiently convince us that
the author was well acquainted with the secret operations of Nature
and with the secret work of the philosophers (alchemists and
Hermetists). He likewise well knew and believed in the true God.
It has been believed for several ages that Cham, one of the sons of
Noah, is the author of this monument of antiquity. A very ancient
author, whose name is not known, who lived several centuries before
Christ, mentions this tablet, and says that he had seen it in
Egypt, at the court; that it was a precious stone, an emerald,
whereon these characters were represented in bas-relief, not
engraved.
He states that it was in his time esteemed over two thousand years
old, and that the matter of this emerald had once been in a fluidic
state like melted glass, and had been cast in a mold, and that to
this flux the artist had given the hardness of a natural and
genuine emerald, by (alchemical) art.
The Canaanites were called the Phoenicians by the Greeks, who have
told us that they had Hermes for one of their kings. There is a
definite relation between Chiram and Hermes.
Chiram is a word composed of three words, denoting the Universal
Spirit, the essence whereof the whole creation does consist, and
the object of Chaldean, Egyptian, and genuine natural philosophy,
according to its inner principles or properties. The three Hebrew
words Chamah, Rusch, and Majim, mean respectively Fire, Air, and
Water, while their initial consonants, Ch, R, M, give us Chiram,
that invisible essence which is the father of earth, fire, air and
water; because, although immaterial in its own invis ible nature as
the unmoved and electrical fire, when moved it becomes light and
visible; and when collected and agitated, becomes heat and visible
and tangible fire; and when associated with humidity it becomes
material. The word Chiram has been metamorphosed into Hermes and
also into Herman, and the translators of the Bible have made Chiram
by changing Chet into He; both of these Hebrew word signs being
very similar.
In the word Hermaphrodite, (a word invented by the old
philosophers), we find Hermes changed to Herm, signifying Chiram,
or the Universal Agent, and Aphrodite, the passive principle of
humidity, who is also called Venus, and is said to have been
produced and generated by the sea.
We also read that Hiram (Chiram), or the Universal Agent, assisted
King Solomon to build the temple. No doubt as Solomon possessed
wisdom, he understood what to do with the corporealized Universal
Agent. The Talmud of the Jews says that King Solomon built the
temple by the assistance of Shamir. Now this word signifies the
sun, which is perpetually collecting the omnipresent, surrounding,
electrical fire, or Spiritus Mundi, and sending it to us in the
planets, in a visible manner called light.
This electrical flame, corporealized and regenerated into the Stone
of the Philosophers, enabled King Solomon to produce the immense
quantities of gold and silver used to build and decorate his
temple.
These paragraphs from an ancient philosopher may assist the Masonic
student of today to realize the tremendous and undreamed-of shire
of knowledge that lies behind the allegory which he often hears but
seldom analyzes. Hiram, the Universal Agent, might be translated
Vita the power eternally building and unfolding the bodies of man.
The use and abuse of energy is the keynote to the Masonic legend;
in fact, it is the key to all things in Nature. Hiram, as the
triple energy, one in source but three in aspec t, can almost be
called ether, that unknown hypothetical element which carries the
impulses of the gods through the macrocosmic nervous system of the
Infinite; for like Hermes, or Mercury, who was the messenger of the
gods, ether carries impulses upon its wings. The solving of the
mystery of ether - or, if you prefer to call it vibrant space - is
the great problem of Masonry. This ether, as a hypothetical
medium, brings energy to the three bodies of thought, emotion, and
action, in this manner Chiram, the one in essence, becoming three
in aspect - mental, emotional, and vital. The work which follows is
an effort to bring to light other forgotten and neglected elements
of the Masonic rites, and to emphasize the spirit of Hiram as the
Universal Agent.
Freemasonry is essentially mysterious, ritualistic, and ceremonial,
representing abstract truth in concrete form. Earth (or substance)
smothering energy (or vitality) is the mystery behind the murder of
the Builder.
MOTIVE
What motive leads the Masonic candidate out of the world and up the
winding stairway to the light? He alone can truly know, for in his
heart is hidden the motive of his works. Is he seeking the light
of the East? Is he seeking wisdom eternal? Does he bring his life
and offer it upon the altar of the Most high? Of all things, motive
is most important. Though we fail again and again, it our motive
be true, we are victorious. Though time after time we succeed, if
our motive be unworthy, we have failed. Ent er the temple in
reverence, for it is in truth the dwelling place of a Great Spirit,
the Spirit of Masonry. Masonry is an ordainer of kings. Its hand
has shaped the destinies of worlds, and the perfect fruitage of its
molding is an honest man. What nobler thing can be accomplished
than the illumination of ignorance? What greater task is there than
the joyous labor of service? And what nobler man can there be than
that Mason who serves his Lights, and is himsel f a light unto his
fellow men?</conspiracyFile>