A Masonic Perspective

[Tamrin]

A MASONIC PERSPECTIVE

By Philip Carter, (updated 8 March 2006)

First Published in Theosophy in Australia, March 1994
Intended as Part of a Series Entitled ‘Visions of God’
Republished here with the kind permission of the Editor


Let a man’s religion or mode of worship be what it may,
he is not excluded from the order,
provided he believe in the glorious architect of heaven and earth,
and practice the sacred duties of morality
(From the First of The Charges of a Freemason)

‘White Man Got No Dreaming'! As this book title exclaims[1], many people raised in West­ern trad­itions have little sense of struc­ture, direction and meaning in their lives, when com­pared with the rich heritage of the original Aust­ral­ians. This heritage is are contained within and derived from their Dream­ing, a system which reach­es be­yond the limits of con­ven­tional religions or phil­os­oph­ies in providing profound in­sights into the human condition. The form, context and sig­nif­ic­ance of the signs, symbols and allegories of many long and faith­fully perpetuated rituals, (such as those of some Aust­ralian aborigines), appears to bear sig­nificant similarities with the Mysteries of the earliest civil­iz­ations and with those of Free­masonry[2].

While these similarities may be fanciful, exaggerated or coin­cid­ental[3], we need to entertain a notion of their signific­ance as an abstraction towards explaining why there have been fewer people for whom the anachron­is­tic customs of medieval stonemasons had immed­iate, pro­fess­­ional rel­e­vance than there have been people in­ter­est­ed in practicing them for other reasons. Their reasons will help us to under­stand the spirit, rele­vance and impetus of modern Free­masonry.

Sim­ilarities between Freemasonry and the Ancient Mysteries may indicate ancient, common origins or they may be due to sep­ar­ate develop­ments, attempt­­ing to address uni­ver­sal phe­nom­ena and con­dit­ions and, in doing so, appeal­­ing to a deep and funda­mental need. As a way of meeting that uni­ver­sal need the kind of Free­masonry most familiar to us may part­ic­u­larly appeal to people with a west­ern heritage. However, it is not restricted to them and is, or ought to be, open to all worthy people. Indeed, variations of Free­masonry have been adapted to appeal to many cultures, demon­strat­ing its great flexibility, scope and appli­cation.

In trying to share with you something of my masonic perspective I must stress that no Masons have the authority to impose on others their inter­pretation of Masonry's teachings and, because each Masonic career is unique and each begins from a differ­ent perspective, the vision I describe can­not go beyond my personal interpretation.

Another point that may need clarification is that of Masonic secrets. Secrecy is a Masonic virtue which helps to develop the dis­ciplines of discretion and discernment. However, des­pite common mis­conceptions there are few Masonic secrets. These secrets, which Masons only discuss among them­selves, are of such a nature that, were I to attempt to sat­isfy the curious, they would be dis­appointed, (as indeed are those who read of those secrets in various exposés). These secrets are either to do with means of ident­ification or to do with elements within our rituals that have most impact when they are least expected. Of far greater interest are the essential principles of Free­masonry. These can and should be dis­cuss­ed. Indeed, themes in recent years have been, 'Free­masonry Is Good - Let's Talk About It'[4] and 'Communicate Freemasonry - Share Your Craft'[5].

These principles are not restricted to Free­masonry. Rather, it teaches what many other schools of thought espouse. However, for many people, Free­masonry's dramatic rituals, which personalise its teachings by focusing attention on each indiv­idual, communicate or reinforce these teachings more effectively than do other means.

Freemasonry is essentially an expression of Bro­ther­hood. It proclaims that, beneath our super­ficial dif­fer­­ences, we are, ‘... all sprung from the same stock, are par­takers of the same Nature and sharers of the same hope’. Free­masonry, serves to unite people who would other­wise avoid each other because of distinc­tions of race, class or creed (mainstream Freemasonry has yet to encompass distinctions of sex). Follow­ing on from this ideal, one of the tests to determine if a policy is Masonic or not, is to determine if, overall, its tendency is to unite or to divide.

Freemasonry is religious in a tolerant and inclusive sense and does not restrict itself to any peculiar theology. Even so, (and as the following seven aspects will indic­ate), Freemasonry lends itself more read­ily to some theologies than it does to others.

First: Freemasonry stresses that we are each an emanation of the Deity. Thus, we have divine origins and that which is essen­tial within each of us is divine. Emanationist theology was most clear­­ly espoused by the NeoPlatonists who held that, after exper­iencing the rigours of physical man­i­fest­­at­ion, during which we dev­elop self-consciousness, self-control and self-sacrifice, we re­turn to our source, enriched and better able to participate in the un­folding of consciousness and in the ongoing pro­cess of creation.

Pop­ular emanationist stories include the parable of the prodigal son; The Magic Flute, by Mozart (a mason); The Jungle Books, by Rudyard Kipling (another mason); and The Wizard of Oz, by Frank Baum (a theosophist). The same theme was central to many of the Ancient Myths and was depicted in the Ancient Mysteries.

Second: Freemasonry teaches the antiquity of its teachings, allud­ing to ‘... the pure relig­ion of Adam, that spiritual doctrine lost to mankind through the dissensions of religious fact­ions’[6]. Thus, at one level, it strives, not to be a religion, but to refer to religion itself.

In many sacred texts, (including the Holy Bible), we can trace two conflict­ing strands of theology. One strand, which, at first sight, appears to be favored by the writers, namely a religion motivated by fear, which reveres the power to punish, destroy and to take life; ruled by a fierce and jealous God who, like a master from a slave, de­mands sub­mis­s­ion to His will. Then there is a more ancient strand, which a closer read­ing shows to hold a deeper truth, name­ly a relig­ion motivated by love, which reveres the power to build, create and to give life; support­ed and sus­tain­ed by the per­petual self-sacri­fice of a compass­ion­ate God who, like a mother to her child, encour­ages growth. Free­masonry derives from and supports this more ancient tradition.

Third: there is the number three. Three rule a Lodge, namely the Master and two Wardens. At one level they represent the three essen­tial, eternal and universal elements which form the single vital centre, source and consciousness shining through all that it. Because of this Mystic Tie we are all more than brothers and sisters - WE ARE ONE, (thus, the Charity which ougght to distinguish a Mason is not cold, distant or con­descending but lov­ingly and spontaneously flows from the recog­nit­ion of this unity).

The elements of this trinity may be termed know­ledge or wis­dom, will or strength and inclination or con­science. Activity will generate wherever these qual­ities are present in any system, be it a Lodge, an atom, an individual, a society or the Universe. Man­ifesting from such activity will be other aspects which, in a Lodge, are represented by the four Assist­ant Officers.

Fourth: ... Masonry is free, and requires a perfect freedom of inclin­ation and action from every Can­didate for its mysteries. Rather than lending itself to the pursuit of every whim and idle pleas­ure, this freedom carries with it the responsibility for how we exer­cise it. Each Mason is reminded that for each choice there are consequences for which they are accountable.

Masons are encouraged to be ... steadfast in the pursuit of truth ... and to prepare for the future by participating in building a better life and a better society. At this level Free­masonry is seen to be a philosophy of work. Indeed, an essential characteristic of any Masonic concept of God is that of a creative God whose continuing work produces, transforms and sustains the Universe.

Fifth: Freemasonry is a universal science. Masonic forms and princ­iples are practiced throughout the world; and, according to the broadest interpretation, are present through­out the universe in the on­going process of creation.

The skills of Operative Freemasons were universal in the sense that, in building places of worship (which was their character­istic work), they had to bear in mind both the secular and sacred impli­cations of their work. Their buildings had to be built accord­ing both to the sound principles of general stonemasonry and in harmony with the principles of sacred architecture. These secular and sacred traditions and skills had been inherited from and developed from their pre­decessors who, along various lines, can be traced back to the builders of the pyramids and ziggurats.

Moreover, the practical imperatives of Operative Masonry overcame super­ficial distinctions of religion and culture to promote the continuing exchange of ideas and fraternal goodwill with Masons in other lands. Thus, in a world of division, Freemasonry has ever encouraged and practiced unity, peace and develop­ment.

Sixth: there is the aspect of evolution. Modern, Speculative Free­masonry began as an evo­lution­ary move­ment. It stimulated ideas that have influenced our concepts of natural justice and human rights. For example, the aspirations of, Liberty, Equality, Frat­ern­ity, while shared by var­ious schools of thought, are particularly charac­teristic of Freemasonry.

This aspect partly explains its pop­ularity and rapid growth after several scholars interested in the Ancient Mysteries were init­iated into Freemasonry and became excited by the correspond­ences they saw between the Ancient Mysteries and those of Free­masonry. The timeless principles they deduced from the rudi­men­t­ary forms preserved by the Operative Brethren contributed to the ideals of the rev­o­l­u­t­ionary Age of En­light­en­ment. Even so, where these ideals spurred in­div­iduals to action, Free­masonry was often a vehicle by which the excesses of rev­olutions were moderated.

Seventh: (and finally), there is the number of perfection - seven. According to the Ancient Wisdom each number has a special signif­ic­ance. Odd numbers in general and prime num­bers, (such as three, five, seven or more), in particular were held to be im­por­t­ant, even sacred. In most of the Mystery Schools the number seven was, (with the possible exception of the number three), the most esteemed of all numbers.

Seven is associaated with the emanationist character of Free­masonry (see first one). For each theme or series, there were thought to be seven basic rays, variations or essential eman­at­ions which had character­is­tics and assoc­iat­ions peculiar to each. These series traditionally included seven liberal arts and sciences, planets, seas, virtues, sins, colours, weekdays and the Wonders of the Ancient World, which testified to the skill of the artificers of antiquity.

In summary: From my masonic perspective, I behold a creative, evolv­­ing and sustaining System, of which everything is an emanation and expression and in which every­­thing is united in Brotherhood. While this vision extends beyond our comprehension, its life, love and light shines through all that is good in ourselves and others. Indeed, we are all better, greater and more noble than we think, because our essence is divine.

Endnotes:

• [1] Stanner, W.E.H., 1979, White Man Got No Dreaming, Australian National University Press, Canberra.
  
• [2] a) McDonough, F.C., 1921, ‘The Signs & Symbols Associated with the Original Australians’; in Henderson, K., (editor) Insights into Masonry, The Transactions of the Lodge of Research No. 218 [Vic.], for the year of 1987; pp. 66/73.
  b) Ward, J.S.M., 1921, Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd., London, pp. 111/4 & 352/4.
  
• [3] One school of thought seeks to limit Masonic research to the authentic history of Freemasonry.
  
• [4] M.W. Bro. H.G. Coates' theme in his term as Grand Master (U.G.L. N.S.W. 1980/85).
  
• [5] M.W. Bro. N.F. Dunn's theme for his term as Grand Master (U.G.L. - N.S.W. 1992/96).
  
• [6] Written about another system by HALL, M.P., 1975, in The Secret Teachings of All Ages, (20th edition), H.S. Crocker, San Fran­cisco, p. CLXXXIX.