Reflections On This Easter Sunday
This most important Christian holiday brings many things to mind
According to Albert Mackey, “Sublime Knights Elect of the Twelve of the eleventh Degree are called ‘Princes Emeth,’ which mean simply men of exalted character who are devoted to truth.”
With that devotion to truth in mind, on this most Holy of Christian days, I offer the following words from Albert Pike, as offered in his Tenth Degree (Illustrious Elect of the Fifteen) Degree Lecture. Given the rapidly increasing division within our society, I find his words of toleration to be of vital importance.
“This Degree is chiefly devoted to Toleration; and it inculcates in the strongest manner that great leading idea of the Ancient Art, that a belief in the one True God, and a moral and virtuous life, constitute the only religious requisites needed to enable a man to be a Mason.
Masonry has ever the most vivid remembrance of the terrible and artificial torments that were used to put down new forms of religion or extinguish the old. It sees with the eye of memory the ruthless extermination of all the people of all the sexes and ages, because it was their misfortune not to know the God of the Hebrews, or to worship Him under the wrong name, by the savage troops of Moses and Joshua. It sees the thumbscrews and the racks, the whip, the gallows, and the stake, the victims of Diocletian and Alva, the miserable Covenanters, the Non-Conformists, Servetus burned, and the unoffending Quaker hung. It sees Cranmer hold his arm, now no longer erring, in the flame until the hand drops off in the consuming heat. It sees the persecutions of Peter and Paul, the martyrdom of Stephen, the trials of Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, and Irenaeus; and then in turn the sufferings of the wretched Pagans under the Christian Emperors, as of the Papists in Ireland and under Elizabeth and the bloated Henry. The Roman Virgin naked before the hungry lions; young Margaret Graham tied to a stake at low water mark, and there left to drown, singing hymns to God until the savage waters broke over her head; and all that in ages have suffered by hunger and nakedness, peril and prison, the rack, the stake, and the sword - it sees them all, and shudders at the long roll of human atrocities. And it sees also the oppression still practiced in the name of religion - men shot in a Christian jail in Christian Italy for reading the Christian Bible; in almost every Christian State, laws forbidding freedom of speech on matters relating to Christianity; and the gallows reaching its arm over the pulpit.
The fires of Moloch in Syria, the harsh mutilations in the name of Astarte, Cybele, Jehovah; the barbarities of imperial Pagan Torturers; the still grosser torments which Roman-Gothic Christians in Italy and Spain heaped on their brother-men; the fiendish cruelties to which Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland, America, have been witnesses, are none too powerful to warn man of the unspeakable evils which follow from mistakes and errors in the matter of religion, and especially from investing the God of Love with the cruel and vindictive passions of erring humanity, and making blood to have a sweet savor in his nostrils, and groans of agony to be delicious to his ears.
Man never had the right to usurp the unexercised prerogative of God, and condemn and punish another for his belief. Born in a Protestant land, we are of that faith. If we had opened our eyes to the light under the shadows of St. Peter’s at Rome, we should have been devout Catholics; born in the Jewish quarter of Aleppo, we should have contemned Christ as an imposter; in Constantinople, we should have cried ‘Allah il Allah,’God is great and Mahomet is his prophet!’ Birth, place, and education give us our faith. Few believe in any religion because they have examined the evidences of its authenticity, and made up a formal judgement, upon weighing the testimony. Not one man in ten thousand knows anything about the proofs of his faith. We believe what we are taught; and those are most fanatical who know least of the evidences on which their creed is based. Facts and testimony are not, except in very rare instances, the groundwork of faith. It is an imperative law of God’s Economy, unyielding and inflexible as Himself; that man shall accept without question the belief of those among whom he is born and reared; the faith so made a part of his nature resists all evidence to the contrary; and he will disbelieve even the evidence of his own senses, rather than yield up the religious belief which has grown up in him, flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone.
What is truth to me is not truth to another. The same arguments and evidences that convince one mind make no impression on another. This difference is in men at their birth. No man is entitled positively to assert that he is right, where other men, equally intelligent and equally well-informed, hold directly the opposite opinion. Each thinks it impossible for the other to be sincere, and each, as to that is equally in error. ‘What is truth?’ Was a profound question, the most suggestive one ever put to man. Many beliefs of former and present times seem incomprehensible. They startle us with a new glimpse into the human soul, that mysterious thing, more mysterious the more we note its workings. Here is a man superior to myself in intellect and learning; and yet he sincerely believes that which seems to me too absurd to merit confutation; and I cannot conceive, and sincerely do not believe, that he is both sane and honest. And yet he is both. His reason is as perfect as mine, and he is as honest as I.
The fancies of a lunatic are realities, to him. Our dreams are realities while they last, and, in the Past, no more unreal than what we have acted in our waking hours. No man can say that he hath as sure possession of the truth as of a chattel. When men entertain opinions diametrically opposed to each other, and each is honest, who shall decide which hath the Truth; and how can either say with certainty that he hath it? We know not what is the truth. That we ourselves believe and feel absolutely certain that our own belief is true, is in reality not the slightest proof of the fact, seem it never so certain and incapable of doubt to us. No man is responsible for the rightness of his faith; but only for the uprightness of it.
Therefore no man hath or ever had a right to persecute another for his belief; for there cannot be two antagonistic rights; and if one can persecute another, because he himself is satisfied that the belief of that other is erroneous, the other has, for the same reason, equally as certain a right to persecute him.
The truth comes to us tinged and colored with our prejudices and our preconceptions, which are as old as ourselves, and strong with a divine force. It comes to us as the image of a rod comes to us through the water, bent and distorted. An argument sinks into and convinces the mind of one man, while from that of another it rebounds like a ball of ivory dropped on marble. It is no merit in a man to have a particular faith, excellent and sound and philosophic as it may be, when he imbibed it with his mother’s milk. It is no more a merit than his prejudices and his passions.
The sincere Moslem has as much right to persecute us, as we to persecute him; and therefore Masonry wisely requires no more than a belief in One Great All-Powerful Deity, the Father and Preserver of the Universe. Therefore it is she teaches her votaries that toleration is one of the chief duties of every good Mason, a component part of that charity without which we are mere hollow images of true Masons, mere sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.
No evil hath so afflicted the world as intolerance of religious opinion. The human beings it has slain in various ways, if once and together brought to life, would make a nation of people; left to live and increase, would have doubled the population of the civilized portion of the globe; among which civilized portion it chiefly is that religious wars are waged. The treasure and the human labor thus lost would have made the earth a garden, in which, but for his evil passions, man might now be as happy as in Eden.
No man truly obeys the Masonic law who merely tolerates those whose religious opinions are opposed to his own. Every man’s opinions are his own private property, and the rights of all men to maintain each his own are perfectly equal. Merely to tolerate, to bear with an opposing opinion, is to assume it to be heretical; and assert the right to persecute, if we would; and claim our toleration of it as a merit. The Mason’s creed goes further than that. No man, it holds, has any right in any way to interfere with the religious belief of another. It holds that each man is absolutely sovereign as to his own belief, and that belief is a matter absolutely foreign to all who do not entertain the same belief; and that, if there were any right of persecution at all, it would in all cases be a mutual right; because one party has the same right as the other to sit as judge in his own case; and God is the only magistrate that can rightfully decide between them. To that great Judge, Masonry refers the matter; and opening wide its portals, it invites to enter there and live in peace and harmony, the Protestant, the Catholic, the Jew, the Moslem; every man who will lead a truly virtuous and moral life, love his brethren, minister to the sick and distressed, and believe in the One, All-Powerful, All-Wise, everywhere-present God, Architect, Creator, and Preserver of all things, by whose universal law of Harmony ever rolls on this universe, the great, vast, infinite circle of successive Death and Life: - to whose Ineffable Name let all true Masons pay profoundest homage! for whose thousand blessings poured upon us, let us feel the sincerest gratitude, now, henceforth, and forever!”
In the passage above Brother Pike calls upon our intellect in order to try and convince us of the importance of tolerance, within Masonry, and within our society as a whole.
As we all know though, Freemasonry is not only an intellectual pursuit. Freemasonry is labor. It calls upon us to not only improve ourselves, but to work to improve the world around us.
Towards that end, I offer the following for your consideration. It seems especially appropriate on this Easter Sunday.
My wife and I have often discussed the fact that people need to be a part of a group of some sort, when they are young, so that they have people in their lives when they are old. It can’t be doubted that the older we get, the more difficult it is to build friendships.
This used to be the case in the United States. Everyone was a part of something it seemed. The Freemasons, the Odd Fellows, the Lions, Rotary, Eagles, Elks, Moose, or the VFW.
Now that isn’t the case. All of these organizations have lost tremendous levels of membership over the preceding decades. Freemasonry is better off in this respect than all the others, but even we have seen membership levels collapse.
This is brought home to me because of the very recent passing of my wife’s grandmother. She was always surrounded by a large extended family, and always active in the local VFW. She also though had a buddy. A neighbor fellow who would stop by every day, so that they could visit over coffee and treats.
His situation was different. His wife died long ago. His children moved to California long ago. His life revolved around work and home, so he never became involved with an outside group.
He and I have talked a few times since my wife’s grandmother’s passing. Those conversations have been hard because in them he is lamenting the fact that my wife’s grandmother was the only living friend he still had and that when she passed he was suddenly completely alone. This is the danger of living a long and healthy life, having never connected with an organization from which fellowship and support can be drawn.
I’m quite fond of him, have always been, and of course always make time to talk with him. But it is not the same. He’s in his upper 90’s, we have very little in common.
Today he talked with my daughter, and as with my recent conversations with him he spoke of loss and loneliness. She says that he teared up a couple of times.
Here is what concerns me, we have tens of millions of people in this country between the ages of 20 and 50, refusing to join any sort of social organizations, fraternities, even churches. How do they not see that this choice will make their lives hard in their 70’s, almost impossible in their 90’s?
We will do our best to be there with our time for my wife’s grandmother’s old friend, but it is not the same. He needs friends of his own age, with shared interests to be happy. The time to do that, for him, was decades ago.
This, I think, points to a dual mission that we have as Masons.
We need to ensure that our Lodges are thriving. That they are filled with Light and Life, so that they will be attractive to the good people in our community. We can, as Masons, fulfill our divine mission to improve the world around us simply by ensuring that our Lodges serve as places of vibrant community for the people in our area.
For every good man that we can attract into our Lodge when he is 20 or 30 or 40 or 50, well that is one less good man living out a life of quiet despair when he turns 70 or 80 or 90. To save a single good man from a decade or more of intense loneliness and sorrow makes any effort to improve our Lodge worthwhile.
The second part of this mission is to just make ourselves available to those we might know to be suffering through loneliness and despair. To just be with them and talk with them.
As Freemasons each of us is called upon to be charitable. Freemasonry, as an institution has responded to this call with our industrial sized charities. The Shriner’s Hospitals for Children, the Scottish Rite Speech and Language Program, Washington Masonic Charities. All of these organizations, and many more like them, do tremendous work to improve the lives of countless people around the world. We do, and we should support this great work.
None of those efforts are however reflective of the individual charity that we are called upon to perform as Masons.
At our very first entrance into a Lodge of Masons, we are taught the importance of Charity as we circumambulate the Lodge room. Charity, in that context though does not only mean writing a check once a month to an organized Masonic Charity. It means Love.
In fact, the Bible verse from whence this bit of Masonic ritual is drawn does not contain the word ‘charity’ in the version of the Bible that I grew up with. In that version it is written Faith, Hope, Love.
If we know of a good person who is living a life of quiet despair and loneliness it is incumbent upon us to make some effort to ameliorate that condition. Doing so is certainly the charity that we, as Masons, are called upon to perform.
Let’s Zoom Away!
Tonight at 7:30 PM I’ll open Zoom for our weekly gathering. I recognize that this is a very significant holiday, so if no one joins me I won’t feel bad. I’ll just toast myself! Our gathering will end, one way or the other, by 8:10PM. I think that is a very good thing. We all suffer from Zoom burnout given how prevalent it is in our lives at this time, so I think that by keeping these gatherings tightly focused and short they are better for everyone. Likely we will want to make them a bit longer once the pandemic has passed.
Login information for the gathering will be emailed to everyone with a paid subscription to Emeth at 5:00 PM, so if you want to participate but need to upgrade your subscription to do so, please do it before then.
As always, have a Masonic Cannon (or other suitable glass) and your favorite beverage, for we will be toasting!
Discussion Recap
In Let’s Discuss Mortality And Its Images Franklyn recounted a personal story from his Masonic journey that ties in perfectly to my thoughts on this Easter Sunday. I found it moving when he first posted it, and I still find it moving today. He writes, in part:
“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..,”
“I made it a point to see that he got to as many Lodge meetings as possible and he thoroughly enjoyed that time…”
“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’”
In Let’s Discuss Masonic Aprons I think that we all agreed that the Grand Lodge of Washington’s prohibitions on Apron designs are absurd. Just please don’t mention that to the large majority of Masons in this Jurisdiction who for some reason believe that there is something vitally important about making sure that no one wears an apron that might be the wrong size, or have the wrong style. Golly, they might run us out of Masonry on a rail!
I also found arguments put forth by some Brothers that properly the white lambskin should be stained from the work of Masonry to be extremely thought provoking. Although I’d not shared it in the past, I think that there is much worth contemplating in that point of view.
The fires intentionally set at three Masonic Temples in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia this week necessitated some conversation, and on Emeth that took place in Let’s Discuss Lodge Security. We all agreed on its importance given the current state of our society, and both Glenn and Clayton provided stories of people just sort of moving into our Masonic buildings. Locking the exterior doors during meetings seems to be a common and accepted practice now, and Sopheak explained how with a video doorbell it can be done, without risk of accidentally turning away late arriving visitors.
Of great interest to me is that the same conversation took place on my personal Facebook page. Here the discussion was rational and helpful. On Facebook it got weird as conversations there often do. This proves to me, once again, that this is a solid platform for quality Masonic discussion, while social media platforms like Facebook are not.
In Let’s Discuss Side Degrees we were very lucky in that the discussion was started out by Glenn, who’s Lodge successfully pulls off their very popular Pirate Degree. He reminded us all about just how much work creating, and performing a quality Degree is. Not to be dissuaded, there was chat about a Spam Degree. I’ve no idea where such a notion could come from of course.
We closed the week here on Emeth with Let’s Discuss The Knights Templar. Very specifically that organization’s religious test, which is a great deal more restrictive than that of Freemasonry itself. This is something that I think Freemasonry needs to much more broadly discuss, and I am very thankful that ‘Walks Around,’ Franklyn, Glenn, Bob, and Clayton were willing to give their thoughts about it.
Perhaps Brother Pike’s Lecture, quoted so extensively above speaks to that as well.
As always, all of these discussions remain open, so please feel free to visit them and add your own thoughts to the conversation!
Thoughts And Prayers For Our Brethren
I hope that everyone reading this will join me in holding our Brothers of both the Grand Lodge of British Columbia & the Yukon, and the Grand Lodge of South Carolina in our thoughts and prayers.
As you no doubt know, our Brothers in Vancouver B.C. suffered horrible losses this past week. I won’t recount what has happened here. Hopefully they will be able to rebuild even stronger than before.
In South Carolina things have gone completely off the rails. A PGM has been expelled for seemingly nonsensical reasons, the current GM refused to fulfil his responsibilities at the annual Conference of Grand Masters of North America, and now what is apparently that Jurisdiction’s oldest Lodge has filed Masonic Charges against their DDGM, the DGM, and the GM, all while apparently declaring their WM to be the Jurisdiction’s rightful GM. The whole thing is a mess. Hopefully they can elect quality leadership and begin functioning as Masons once again. In the meantime, recognizing Prince Hall Masonry as legitimate and Regular would certainly be a great first step.
Our Brothers in both of these Jurisdictions are suffering through no fault of their own. Please join me in keeping them in our thoughts.
Thank You!
First of all, I would like to Thank all of you who are new to receiving Emeth by email. The size of the mailing list grew tremendously over the course of this week. We are thrilled to have you here with us, and hope that you will participate in the conversations as the mood strikes and you are able.
Next, I would like to Thank everyone who takes the time to read Emeth. I spend a rather tremendous amount of time putting it together and managing it each week, but knowing that it is being read, and enjoyed by so many makes all of that effort worth it. I hope that it always serves as a source of Masonic connection for you.
I want to express my sincere appreciation to everyone who participates in our discussions. Thank You. I read every comment, and I find that I really enjoy reading every comment. By sharing our knowledge and experience we educate each other and that makes us all better Masons, and gives us the information that we need to improve our Lodges and Freemasonry as a whole. So Thank You.
As mentioned above, we experienced great growth this week. That is largely the result of each of you who shared Emeth on your social media accounts, or in other ways got it in front of your friends. Thank You. Every single share helps to make Emeth stronger, and I truly appreciate your efforts to share the posts.
Lastly, but certainly not least, to all of you who have purchased a paid subscription to Emeth, let me say, Thank You. It truly would not be possible without you and the resources your subscriptions provide. I believe that we are creating an important online Masonic space here, away from all the negative pressures of social media and the attention economy. Your subscriptions make that effort possible, and will result in success long term. Truly, Thank You!
Just in case you missed it:
Just in case you don’t want to read about money, and finances as related to our Ancient Craft, I’ll point out that the Money issue actually contained two essays. I didn’t just write about money, I also wrote about Booze. So get on in there and get to the Booze!
I was a dutiful Catholic in My youth..
an altar boy. Sang in the choir.. volunteered for various activities.. I abandoned belief in the organized Catholic faith I was raised in at the age of twelve when I experienced a power move by a church leader and it became clear that he chose church leadership as a profession not because of great faith but for power. My mother forced me to keep attending church for three more years but I stopped participating in anything. I didn't even bother cycling through the kneeling, standing, communion etc. I just sat quietly and read passages from the books. It was during this period that I developed an opinion that it's odd that catholic churches don't have bibles in the pews.
At 15 I was physically big enough to rebel more completely and refused to attend at all. For the next 9 years I considered myself an Atheist. I attended a few other churches with friends just to see but most protestant preachers seemed even worse than catholic priests.. More like used car salesmen, conmen, and sleazy womanizers than good men.
At 18 i went to college and Atheism was accepted as a valid spiritual choice. My faith based studies were academic.. I read all the major books.. Bible, Koran, bhagavadgita, Torah, Tao te ching, confuscian philosophy,, wisdom of the Buddha, and several lesser known. I was unaware of allegorical meanings hidden in texts at the time and nobody had ever bothered to teach me,, and my study of literal interpretation combined with a rigorous empirical scientific education led me to conclude that the 3 big western religions (Christianity, Islam, and judaism) were nothing but fanciful fiction designed for the pursuit of power.. Hinduism is just a mess.. Confucianism isn't a religion in the western sense at all. Taoism is more a practice than a faith. Buddhism stood alone in the world as a morally, spiritually and philosophically complete system without fanciful dogma from a literal interpretation.
To pay off college I joined the Army, and being an Atheist was actively persecuted. Believers got extra time off in basic training for prayer while atheists were assigned cafeteria cleaning duty during the same period. Mental health counseling in the military is strictly the province of the Chaplain corps which as you might imagine isn't friendly to Atheists.
When I submitted my application for officer candidate school, my battalion commander refused to sign it because of my status as an Atheist. I threatened a lawsuit on discrimination to get past that roadblock. It worked.
As time went on, I realized that I wasn't an Atheist because I didn't believe in something greater than myself, just that I thought all the current religions were small and petty.
My Dad told me once that if God were as great as the universe, he wouldn't fit into the pettiness of any earthly faith. He would be as vast as the universe and incorporate any number of cultures on this planet and who knows how many more on planets circling distant stars.
These days, my concept of God is not anthropomorphic at all. If you take the Force from star wars, and combine it with elements from Greek and Chinese moral philosophy, and elements of Buddhist spiritualism you will come close to my current concept of God. God to me is a universal cosmic force that arranges Chaos into order.. Neither good nor evil. Like Time, Gravity, and Magnetism. It just exists. Each of us is imbued with a piece of that cosmic energy. When we die that energy is released. Could it settle into a new body and be reincarnated? Certainly. Could it be absorbed into the more diffuse energy of the universal average? Yes. Is that Nirvana/heaven, to mingle with the universal constant? Could a spirit get stuck at a location unable to be reabsorbed. Does that explain ghosts? Is being stuck at your place of death hell? I don't know.
Regardless, I don't really care what someone else believes. As Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adam's once... "what matter is it to me if a man believe in many gods, one God, or no gods, it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket." The point being that morality has nothing to do with religion. It stems from how we treat others. Respect for others' Life liberty and property are the universal goods. Battery, enslavement, and theft are the universal evils.
I'm not sure God has anything to do with morality at all but it is nice to think that there is an eternal reward for leading a humble and moral life, when here on earth the greatest rewards often go to the least moral people. The liars cheats thieves murderers politicians royals and human traffickers live lavish lifestyles at the expense of other's lives, liberty, and property.
The word of God is what religion is centered around. So what is the "Truth?"
The Koine Greek word (Λόγος) "Logos" refers to The Word of Gof. It is a title for Jesus (Yahshuah) and also used in western philosophy.
The name Yahshuah or Logos, has been used as a verbal derivative from “to rescue” or “deliver". An example of this is found at the end of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:13), “Deliver us from evil.” The earlier translators have Jesus teaching his disciples to set their hearts and mind on protection against evil, regardless of its origin. Translators of the older English versions rendered this Greek phrase "apo tou ponērou", as “from the toilsome” or “from bad.” Its usage from Strong’s Concordance is evil, bad, wicked, malicious, and slothful. When your heart (emotions) and mind (nous) are in alignment with virtue you speak and express your truth (Logos).