“Every one is entirely free to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to be untrue or unsound. It is only required of him that he shall weigh what it taught, and give it a fair hearing and unprejudiced judgement.”
-Albert Pike, Morals And Dogma, Preface
When I was a brand spankin’ new, Entered Apprentice, baby Mason, perhaps a week or two in, I read the words above.
They spoke to me then. Profoundly.
They still do to this day.
I am a product of a religious institution that for most of its history gleefully tortured and murdered anyone who dared to dissent from the smallest shred of its teachings. Then I became a Mason, and one of the most famous of all Masons was teaching me that I could in good conscience reject everything in his massive body of work if I thought it was incorrect. Amazing.
I think that the words above are what truly wedded me to Freemasonry.
I think that in Pike’s open declaration that he could be wrong, I found a fundamental truth.
I hope that everyone who reads what I write here on Emeth judges my writings by that same standard set so long ago by Brother Pike. If you think I’m wrong, that’s OK, we can disagree and still enjoy the strongest bonds of Brotherhood.
Today, I would like to chat about Pike’s statement above. What do you think about it? What do you think it says about Freemasonry?
As with every Thursday, we will have a Live Open Thread today for those with a paid subscription to Emeth. The email opening the thread will go out at 8:00 AM Pacific Time, and I’ll remain on the thread until 6:00 PM. Please join the conversation there as well.
I think Pike, in this statement, was challenging us to use our critical thinking skills. To read something or be told something and not immediately accept it as true. That we should look at a piece of information from every angle to see if it holds up under scrutiny and if it doesn’t, then to discard it and seek the truth of the matter. As a society, I believe we are losing our ability to think critically in order to be able to discard those ideas or teachings that don’t make sense, or “fit” with what we see. In a time where it is becoming more difficult to believe what is being said and shown on the “news” or social network, we as Masons should be leading the way in seeking the truth of a matter.
Its ironic, i think, that so many people today rant about freedom, but so gleefully surrender thier autonomy to an idiology, a religon, even a fad. A Mason is by definition a free man, it is the core of our Craft, to be free and to take responsibility for the consequences of our actions, or inaction, as free men. No man can take an obligation if he is not free. No man who is not free can be trusted. Pike's statement above, in my opinion, is simply verbalizing these facts, as an instruction for new brothers. He states the obvious to a seasoned Mason, and subtly begins the training of a new brother. While the Divine Architect gave each of us free will, organized religons , through out history, have attempted to undercut that free will by making it contengent on obediance and that has led to abuse and corruption. The same is true of most governments and social organizations. To be fair, not all organized groups are guilty of this, but that is the exception not the rule. The power of our free will is the greatest power in the world and those who would dominate us fear that power more than anything. As a man i listen to everyone, and everything. Then i judge. That's right, i judge. I judge if what they are saying or doing is right in the moral and ethical sense, then i judge if its true for me. If i find it is not, i walk away. i don't need to convince anyone of anything. Thats freedom. Living this way isolates me to some extent, as many people judge me for not following the crowd. Thats the price of being free. For me the visual image of DeMolay, being burned at the stake, a man whose soul is free, as hundreds watch who are under the control of political and religious leaders is the inspiration and the warning. My final word on this is that, while Masonry states in its traditions and rituals that we are free to accept or reject any part of the teachings, one can not count on all Masons doing that or repsecting it. I have seen cliques of Masons aggressively pursue brethren for their uniqueness as men and consequently we must be on guard.
Being able to think through and work through different ideas and to constantly evolve your view of the world in a safe place is what drew me in to Masonry.
Brother Pike’s quote is a play on something attributed to Aristotle, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” It grew out of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, a treatise in ten books, originally found on scrolls that documented his lectures at the Lyceum around 340 BCE.
The quote means that you can hold a proposition in your mind without accepting it or rejecting it immediately, it means you will consider the information with an open mind, somewhat trustingly and somewhat skeptically. This is something critical in our day as culture wars muddy facts and fiction.
Aristotle had a strong influence on Pike and that influence seeps into various parts of Masonic Ritual. Our four cardinal virtues (fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice) and our Perfect Points of Entrance are from Nicomachean Ethics.
The wonderful nature of our craft is that it exposes us to other ideas and concepts that we would never learn outside of Masonry unless we attended seminary or were philosophy majors. The things we learn from Masonic thinkers like Pike, Mackey, Morris, deHoyas, and others give us context and intellectual richness to that which we already know.
The exercise of accepting a thought is a means to something else, something great, noble, and profound. And it makes all of us better-informed citizens in our community and in our world.
I think Pike, in this statement, was challenging us to use our critical thinking skills. To read something or be told something and not immediately accept it as true. That we should look at a piece of information from every angle to see if it holds up under scrutiny and if it doesn’t, then to discard it and seek the truth of the matter. As a society, I believe we are losing our ability to think critically in order to be able to discard those ideas or teachings that don’t make sense, or “fit” with what we see. In a time where it is becoming more difficult to believe what is being said and shown on the “news” or social network, we as Masons should be leading the way in seeking the truth of a matter.
Its ironic, i think, that so many people today rant about freedom, but so gleefully surrender thier autonomy to an idiology, a religon, even a fad. A Mason is by definition a free man, it is the core of our Craft, to be free and to take responsibility for the consequences of our actions, or inaction, as free men. No man can take an obligation if he is not free. No man who is not free can be trusted. Pike's statement above, in my opinion, is simply verbalizing these facts, as an instruction for new brothers. He states the obvious to a seasoned Mason, and subtly begins the training of a new brother. While the Divine Architect gave each of us free will, organized religons , through out history, have attempted to undercut that free will by making it contengent on obediance and that has led to abuse and corruption. The same is true of most governments and social organizations. To be fair, not all organized groups are guilty of this, but that is the exception not the rule. The power of our free will is the greatest power in the world and those who would dominate us fear that power more than anything. As a man i listen to everyone, and everything. Then i judge. That's right, i judge. I judge if what they are saying or doing is right in the moral and ethical sense, then i judge if its true for me. If i find it is not, i walk away. i don't need to convince anyone of anything. Thats freedom. Living this way isolates me to some extent, as many people judge me for not following the crowd. Thats the price of being free. For me the visual image of DeMolay, being burned at the stake, a man whose soul is free, as hundreds watch who are under the control of political and religious leaders is the inspiration and the warning. My final word on this is that, while Masonry states in its traditions and rituals that we are free to accept or reject any part of the teachings, one can not count on all Masons doing that or repsecting it. I have seen cliques of Masons aggressively pursue brethren for their uniqueness as men and consequently we must be on guard.
Being able to think through and work through different ideas and to constantly evolve your view of the world in a safe place is what drew me in to Masonry.
Brother Pike’s quote is a play on something attributed to Aristotle, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” It grew out of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, a treatise in ten books, originally found on scrolls that documented his lectures at the Lyceum around 340 BCE.
The quote means that you can hold a proposition in your mind without accepting it or rejecting it immediately, it means you will consider the information with an open mind, somewhat trustingly and somewhat skeptically. This is something critical in our day as culture wars muddy facts and fiction.
Aristotle had a strong influence on Pike and that influence seeps into various parts of Masonic Ritual. Our four cardinal virtues (fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice) and our Perfect Points of Entrance are from Nicomachean Ethics.
The wonderful nature of our craft is that it exposes us to other ideas and concepts that we would never learn outside of Masonry unless we attended seminary or were philosophy majors. The things we learn from Masonic thinkers like Pike, Mackey, Morris, deHoyas, and others give us context and intellectual richness to that which we already know.
The exercise of accepting a thought is a means to something else, something great, noble, and profound. And it makes all of us better-informed citizens in our community and in our world.
I haven't found much of Pike's writings that I disagree with including the quote that started this thread.