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Post by Tamrin on Jun 29, 2008 14:32:28 GMT 10
Freemasonry is a rational science, which was at the forefront of the Age of Enlightenment. Any R.A. Mason will recognise John Locke's metaphor where he, who was the father of English Empiricism, said that the philosopher ought to serve as an " underlabourer in clearing the ground a little and removing some of the rubbish that lies in the way of scientific knowledge" (Locke is also closely associated with the Craft's controversial Leland-Locke Manuscript). In my opinion, there is an esotericism which is appropriate in a Masonic context, but it is not one of giants, UFOs and unicorns, (which I regard as being among the rubbish to be removed), but rather one of spiritual development (indeed, in my Masonic career, I was charged to oppose superstition).
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Post by maximus on Jun 29, 2008 16:41:11 GMT 10
John Locke was one of the individuals that greatly infulenced the Founders of the U.S. It was the rational scientific and humanist philosophy coming from this time that gave us the best of what our societies, in the free West, enjoy today. Once govenment was divorced from religion, man's mind was free to expand, allowing us to take our righful place as the hiers of Prometheus, weilding fire without fear of retribution from an angry and vindictive Deity.
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