Freemasonry is filled with images of mortality. From the more esoteric Chambers of Reflection, to the allegory that all Master Masons are intimately familiar with.
I am not one of the romantic Masonic historians that believe Freemasonry to have existed in the ancient world. I do however think it obvious that this particular symbolism has been transmitted to Freemasonry from the ancient Mysteries. The specific details may change from age to age and culture to culture, but the symbolism and the allegory have remained constant.
Why is that?
What makes it so powerful to us that it has remained such an important experience for so many men from ancient times till today?
The allegory is something that all Master Masons have been confronted with. With that in mind, did it change you? Cause you to make changes within yourself?
Is this symbolism and allegory something that can continue to be utilized by us, as a way of exploring deeply within ourselves, in order to better understand the meanings behind our existence? To help us learn to improve ourselves in Masonry?
This is perhaps a difficult topic to discuss, but I think it is a topic vital to us. If it were not, then I think that Masonry wouldn’t speak to us. I hope that we can open up and discuss this topic here.
I’d like to give a big thank you to everyone who has been sharing Emeth in their social media feeds, and other places. I know that we were sent down to a Lodge in California late last week, and our reading list was featured in the District 10 newsletter yesterday. The more Masons who can learn about what we are building here, the better Emeth will be.
The book I recommended for new mm, stellar theology and masonic astronomy goes into great detail about the astrological meaning of the MM allegory and its roots in the ancient mysteries of solar prediction. Ancient priests throughout the world in every culture held power over kings and peasants alike with the ability to predict astronomical events. And guide the people on the right time to hunt certain animals or plant and harvest certain crops. The Greek philosophers were the first culture we know of to share this knowledge with anyone interested to learn that the stories of the gods aren't literal but allegorical devices to help memorize the movement of the sun moon and stars. For stealing power from the priests in this way, Socrates was sentenced to death.
Much of the ritual is borrowed from those ancient Greek roots, and I recommended Plato's Timaeus for the entered apprentice because it not only explains the astronomical meaning of the point within a circle, but also shares, almost word for word, a line from the EA ritual that will instantly jump out to the masonic reader familiar with the ceremony.
Plato's academy was destroyed and razed by the Roman catholic church about the same time as catholicism was burning heretics at the stake and actively going to war with pagan cultures to reestablish the power of the priesthood under a new mantle, but the same allegory. Many of the survivors fled to an island off the northwest coast to escape persecution.
A few hundred years later another group discovered some secrets of the priesthood in excavations and similarly fled to the same island. I believe that masonry is a merger of three groups. The native druids, the platonic academicians, and the knights templar.
That is why the catholic church has such animosity towards masonry and also why protestantism took hold in England more than any other place in Europe.
The simple answer is that the astronomical allegory of three rebukes, three days of death and a resurrection, whether Egyptian Osiris, Greek Hercules, sumerian gilgamesh, Christian Jesus, grandmaster H.A., etc is an allegory of the annual solar cycle from autumnal to vernal equinox. It is probably the simplest and easiest of the allegories for the profane to learn. The mortality is winter which is death. Winter kills. Not just the sun but the creatures dependent on light heat and growth. More people, even in this petroleum-based economy, die in winter than any other season.
The practical fact of winter's fatality combined with the spiritual connection to resurrection and rebirth to immortality makes for powerful lessons on morality and the human condition. The idea that our rebirth unlike the sun/son is conditional upon how we lived.
Mortality is, in my humble opinion, at the very core of freemasonry. I believe it can be summed up in the four words from the memorial scroll - "Live respected, die regretted". Those four little words encapsulates perfectly the ideals we strive for. They mean so much to me, I have them tattooed on my right arm.
From the apron lecture to the working tools, and the 3rd degree drama, death and mortality are key parts throughout our lessons. Why? To remind us that it is the part of the human condition, that we should live a righteous and honorable life, and when we die, our legacy will be remembered and cherished.
As I had mentioned before, having a COR was bad enough, but to have a skull in it was to some too much. Parents of the youth groups were upset. Some members of the lodge saw it as devil worship and the occult. All of them miss the point entirely, and for my brother masons, some perhaps didn't quite grasp the lessons being taught to them. A skull is simply a symbol of mortality, Memento Mori. On my left arm, I have the square and compasses with Memento Mori in the middle. Was my first tattoo and I got it after being raised..
Those same brothers also belong to OES, and must be blind to the emblem of that order, the upside down pentagram, which is obviously (sarcasm) a satanic symbol. As an aside, it's hilarious that the so called church of satan borrowed (stole) it's symbolism from us. They combined the upside down pentagram (OES) and an image of Baphomet (Knights Templar) as their symbology. The discussion of any connection of Knights Templar and Freemasonry is a completely different topic. I just find it funny.
The care of the body after death of a family member, up to the civil war, was mainly the responsibility of the family. They washed and clothed the body, and usually the body was laid out in their living rooms for viewing before burial in a family plot. Some argue that because the civil war brought so much death to families, the business of undertaking came about to handle the massive flow of the dead from battlefields to back home. After the war, the job stuck around.
This resulted in the topic of death to leave everyday life, and as families were further and further removed from the task, the more it became a dirty subject. Today, no one wants to think about it. When I've discussed things with my daughter about what to do with my mortal remains, she doesn't like talking about it. When you're young, death is the furthest thing from your mind, and an uncomfortable subject. You are indestructible and immortal. That is why, when someone has a real near death experience, it changes their outlook on life dramatically. They usually will stop taking each day for granted, and make efforts to get the most out of life while they still can.
So, as Masons, we need to confront the topic, not from fear, but of inevitability. It should be up front and open, to remind brothers that you better make the best of your life, because it will all end some day. The old proverb applies: Every hour wounds, the last kills.
I think what has made the deepest impression on me is spending time with Brothers who are well aware that they are quickly coming to the end of life's toilsome journey. Their reflection they shared of the journey they have taken and the peaceful anticipation of the transformation that was at hand.
Their satisfaction on the legacy that they will be leaving behind and the value they have on each minute they have left of this probationary state speaks volumes.
One Brother whom I MADE time to spend with further helped me come to terms with my own eventual demise. I would visit him for lunch at his skilled care center and we got to talk a lot. He laughed when those at the table who didn't know would ask, "Manley is this your son?" His whole body shook when he laughed at that notion. After a few seconds I would reply, "No. we're Brothers" We looked nothing alike and there was a huge age difference.
I made it a point to see that he got to as many Lodge meetings as possible and he thoroughly enjoyed that time. I got pretty good at disassembling and assembling his wheel chair to fit in my car. I almost became a nurse with being able to help him with nature's call.
I remember the last time I saw him in the hospital and because I had made him as comfortable as I could during his last months he gave me the most important lesson. Because I had been there when he needed someone the most he said, "Franklyn, you are my best Friend"
When I am honest with myself, I am going to say that being confronted with our allegory did help bring about significant change within myself. Certainly it reminded me, in a very strong way that our time here is extremely limited, and that if we hope to accomplish in our lives, we must begin at this moment, not off in some nebulous future.
I think actually, that this may well be the reason Masonic office terms are so (or are designed to be) limited. To remind us that time is forever short.
More importantly though, I think it reminded me of what is truly important in life. What will we be remembered for? Will we be remembered at all? These are I think vital questions, and Masonry helps us to remember to ask them of ourselves.
As Glenn says above, "To Live Respected, and Die Regretted." This is I think an extremely powerful driver towards actually living the lessons of Freemasonry.
I'd also like to say that the Degrees of the Scottish Rite SJ also present us with this symbolism, and that presentation made a strong impact on me as well.
I think that properly, a COR shouldn't only be utilized for candidates for the Degrees, but should be available to all the members of the Lodge so that it may be used as a meditation, reflection space by all who feel called to do so.
Ranging further afield, in my view the cultures of Latin America seem to have a better relationship with death than most of us in the United States do. For example, my family and I find the traditions surrounding day of the dead to be extremely moving, and a powerful way for us to build connection while remembering those who have passed. It is something that has turned into a regular tradition for us. Likewise, folk practices around Santa Muerte have great parallels to our own Masonic symbolism.
The book I recommended for new mm, stellar theology and masonic astronomy goes into great detail about the astrological meaning of the MM allegory and its roots in the ancient mysteries of solar prediction. Ancient priests throughout the world in every culture held power over kings and peasants alike with the ability to predict astronomical events. And guide the people on the right time to hunt certain animals or plant and harvest certain crops. The Greek philosophers were the first culture we know of to share this knowledge with anyone interested to learn that the stories of the gods aren't literal but allegorical devices to help memorize the movement of the sun moon and stars. For stealing power from the priests in this way, Socrates was sentenced to death.
Much of the ritual is borrowed from those ancient Greek roots, and I recommended Plato's Timaeus for the entered apprentice because it not only explains the astronomical meaning of the point within a circle, but also shares, almost word for word, a line from the EA ritual that will instantly jump out to the masonic reader familiar with the ceremony.
Plato's academy was destroyed and razed by the Roman catholic church about the same time as catholicism was burning heretics at the stake and actively going to war with pagan cultures to reestablish the power of the priesthood under a new mantle, but the same allegory. Many of the survivors fled to an island off the northwest coast to escape persecution.
A few hundred years later another group discovered some secrets of the priesthood in excavations and similarly fled to the same island. I believe that masonry is a merger of three groups. The native druids, the platonic academicians, and the knights templar.
That is why the catholic church has such animosity towards masonry and also why protestantism took hold in England more than any other place in Europe.
How does this relate to mortality?
The simple answer is that the astronomical allegory of three rebukes, three days of death and a resurrection, whether Egyptian Osiris, Greek Hercules, sumerian gilgamesh, Christian Jesus, grandmaster H.A., etc is an allegory of the annual solar cycle from autumnal to vernal equinox. It is probably the simplest and easiest of the allegories for the profane to learn. The mortality is winter which is death. Winter kills. Not just the sun but the creatures dependent on light heat and growth. More people, even in this petroleum-based economy, die in winter than any other season.
The practical fact of winter's fatality combined with the spiritual connection to resurrection and rebirth to immortality makes for powerful lessons on morality and the human condition. The idea that our rebirth unlike the sun/son is conditional upon how we lived.
Mortality is, in my humble opinion, at the very core of freemasonry. I believe it can be summed up in the four words from the memorial scroll - "Live respected, die regretted". Those four little words encapsulates perfectly the ideals we strive for. They mean so much to me, I have them tattooed on my right arm.
From the apron lecture to the working tools, and the 3rd degree drama, death and mortality are key parts throughout our lessons. Why? To remind us that it is the part of the human condition, that we should live a righteous and honorable life, and when we die, our legacy will be remembered and cherished.
As I had mentioned before, having a COR was bad enough, but to have a skull in it was to some too much. Parents of the youth groups were upset. Some members of the lodge saw it as devil worship and the occult. All of them miss the point entirely, and for my brother masons, some perhaps didn't quite grasp the lessons being taught to them. A skull is simply a symbol of mortality, Memento Mori. On my left arm, I have the square and compasses with Memento Mori in the middle. Was my first tattoo and I got it after being raised..
Those same brothers also belong to OES, and must be blind to the emblem of that order, the upside down pentagram, which is obviously (sarcasm) a satanic symbol. As an aside, it's hilarious that the so called church of satan borrowed (stole) it's symbolism from us. They combined the upside down pentagram (OES) and an image of Baphomet (Knights Templar) as their symbology. The discussion of any connection of Knights Templar and Freemasonry is a completely different topic. I just find it funny.
The care of the body after death of a family member, up to the civil war, was mainly the responsibility of the family. They washed and clothed the body, and usually the body was laid out in their living rooms for viewing before burial in a family plot. Some argue that because the civil war brought so much death to families, the business of undertaking came about to handle the massive flow of the dead from battlefields to back home. After the war, the job stuck around.
This resulted in the topic of death to leave everyday life, and as families were further and further removed from the task, the more it became a dirty subject. Today, no one wants to think about it. When I've discussed things with my daughter about what to do with my mortal remains, she doesn't like talking about it. When you're young, death is the furthest thing from your mind, and an uncomfortable subject. You are indestructible and immortal. That is why, when someone has a real near death experience, it changes their outlook on life dramatically. They usually will stop taking each day for granted, and make efforts to get the most out of life while they still can.
So, as Masons, we need to confront the topic, not from fear, but of inevitability. It should be up front and open, to remind brothers that you better make the best of your life, because it will all end some day. The old proverb applies: Every hour wounds, the last kills.
I think what has made the deepest impression on me is spending time with Brothers who are well aware that they are quickly coming to the end of life's toilsome journey. Their reflection they shared of the journey they have taken and the peaceful anticipation of the transformation that was at hand.
Their satisfaction on the legacy that they will be leaving behind and the value they have on each minute they have left of this probationary state speaks volumes.
One Brother whom I MADE time to spend with further helped me come to terms with my own eventual demise. I would visit him for lunch at his skilled care center and we got to talk a lot. He laughed when those at the table who didn't know would ask, "Manley is this your son?" His whole body shook when he laughed at that notion. After a few seconds I would reply, "No. we're Brothers" We looked nothing alike and there was a huge age difference.
I made it a point to see that he got to as many Lodge meetings as possible and he thoroughly enjoyed that time. I got pretty good at disassembling and assembling his wheel chair to fit in my car. I almost became a nurse with being able to help him with nature's call.
I remember the last time I saw him in the hospital and because I had made him as comfortable as I could during his last months he gave me the most important lesson. Because I had been there when he needed someone the most he said, "Franklyn, you are my best Friend"
When I am honest with myself, I am going to say that being confronted with our allegory did help bring about significant change within myself. Certainly it reminded me, in a very strong way that our time here is extremely limited, and that if we hope to accomplish in our lives, we must begin at this moment, not off in some nebulous future.
I think actually, that this may well be the reason Masonic office terms are so (or are designed to be) limited. To remind us that time is forever short.
More importantly though, I think it reminded me of what is truly important in life. What will we be remembered for? Will we be remembered at all? These are I think vital questions, and Masonry helps us to remember to ask them of ourselves.
As Glenn says above, "To Live Respected, and Die Regretted." This is I think an extremely powerful driver towards actually living the lessons of Freemasonry.
I'd also like to say that the Degrees of the Scottish Rite SJ also present us with this symbolism, and that presentation made a strong impact on me as well.
I think that properly, a COR shouldn't only be utilized for candidates for the Degrees, but should be available to all the members of the Lodge so that it may be used as a meditation, reflection space by all who feel called to do so.
Ranging further afield, in my view the cultures of Latin America seem to have a better relationship with death than most of us in the United States do. For example, my family and I find the traditions surrounding day of the dead to be extremely moving, and a powerful way for us to build connection while remembering those who have passed. It is something that has turned into a regular tradition for us. Likewise, folk practices around Santa Muerte have great parallels to our own Masonic symbolism.