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[ Chapters 2 and 3 of The Lost Keys of Freemasonry are
posted here. The other Chapters will be posted in due course.]
The Candidate
Chapter-2.
There comes a time in the growth of every living
individual thing, when it realizes with dawning consciousness that it is a
prisoner. While apparently free to move
and have its being, the struggling life cognizes through ever greater vehicles
its own limitations. It is at this point that man cries out with greater
insistence to be liberated from the binding ties which, though invisible to
mortal eyes, still chain him with bonds far more terrible than those of any
physical prison.
Many have read the
story of the prisoner of Chillon, who paced back and forth in the narrow
confines of his prison cell, while the blue waters rolled ceaselessly above his
head and the only sound that broke the stillness of his eternal night was the
constant swishing and lapping of the waves. We pity the prisoner in his physical
tomb and we are sad at heart, for we know how life loves liberty. But
there is one prisoner whose plight is far worse than those of earth. He has not
even the narrow confines of a prison cell around Him. He cannot pace ceaselessly
to and fro and wear ruts in the cobblestones of His dungeon floor. That eternal
Prisoner is Life incarnate within the dark stone walls of matter, with not a
single ray to brighten the blackness of His fate. He fights eternally, praying
in the dark confines of gloomy walls for light and opportunity. This is the
eternal Prisoner who, through the ceaseless ages of cosmic unfoldment, through
forms unnumbered and species now unknown, strives eternally to liberate Himself
and gain self conscious expression, the birthright of every created thing. He
awaits the day when, standing upon the rocks that now form His shapeless tomb,
He may raise His arms to heaven, bathed in the sunlight of spiritual freedom,
free to join the sparkling atoms and dancing light beings released from the
bonds of prison wall and tomb.
Around Life that wondrous germ in the heart of every
living thing, that sacred Prisoner in His gloomy cell, that Master Builder laid
away in the grave of matter has been built the wondrous legend of the Holy
Sepulchre. Under allegories unnumbered, the mystic philosophers of the ages,
have perpetuated this wonderful story and among the Craft Masons it forms the
mystic ritual of Hiram, the Master Builder, murdered in his temple by the very
builders who should have served him as he labored to perfect the dwelling place
of his God.
Matter is the tomb.
It is the dead wall of substance not yet awakened into the
pulsating energies of Spirit. It exists in many degrees and forms, not only in
the chemical elements, which form the solids of our universe, but in finer and
more subtle substances. These, though expressing through emotion and thought,
are still beings of the world of form. These substances form the great cross of
matter which opposes the growth of all things and by opposition makes all growth
possible. It is the great cross of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon upon
which even the life germ in protoplasm is crucified and suspended in agony.
These substances are incapable of giving it adequate expression. The Spirit
within cries out for freedom, freedom to be, to express, to manifest its true
place in the Great Plan of cosmic unfoldment.
It is this great yearning within the heart of man which
sends him slowly onward toward the gate of the Temple. It is this inner urge for
greater understanding and greater light, which brought into being through the
law of necessity the great cosmic Masonic Lodge dedicated to those seeking union
with the Powers of Light that their prison walls might be removed. This shell
cannot be discarded. It must be raised into union with the Life. Each dead,
crystallized atom in the human body must be set vibrating and spinning to a
higher rate of consciousness. Through purification, through knowledge and
through service to his fellow man the candidate sequentially unfolds these
mystic properties, building better and more perfect bodies through which his
higher life secures even greater manifestation. The expression of man
through constructive thought, emotion and action liberates the higher nature
from bodies, which in their crystallized states are incapable of giving him his
natural opportunities.
In Freemasonry this crystallized substance of matter is
called the grave and represents the Holy Sepulchre. This is the grave within
which the lost Builder lies and with Him are the plans of the Temple and the
Master's Word and it is this builder, our Grand Master, whom we must seek and
raise from the dead. This noble Son of Light cries out to us in every
expression of matter. Every stick and stone marks His resting place and the
sprig of acacia promises, that through the long winter of spiritual darkness,
when the sun does not shine for man, this Light still awaits the day of
liberation, when each one of us shall raise Him, by the grip of the Grand
Master, the true grip of a Master Mason. We cannot hear this Voice that calls
eternally, but we feel its inner urge. A great unknown something pulls at our
heartstrings. As the ages roll by, the deep desire to be greater, to live
better and to think God's thoughts, builds within ourselves the qualifications
of a candidate who, when asked why he takes the path , would truly answer if he
knew mentally the things he feels, "I hear a voice that cries out to me from
flora and fauna, from the stones, from the clouds, from the very heaven itself.
Each fiery atom spinning and twisting in Cosmos cries out to me with the voice
of my Master. I can hear Hiram Abiff, my Grand Master, crying out in his agony,
the agony of life hidden within the darkness of its prison walls, seeking for
the expression which I have denied it, laboring, to bring closer the day of its
liberation and I have learned to know that I am responsible for those walls. My
daily actions are the things which as ruffians and traitors are murdering my
God."
There are many legends of the Holy Sepulchre which for so
many centuries had been in the hands of the infidel and which the Christian
worlds sought to retake in the days of the Crusades. Few Masons realize that
this Holy Sepulchre, or tomb, is in reality negation and crystallization, matter
that has sealed within itself the Spirit of Life, which must remain in darkness
until the growth of each individual being gives it walls of glowing gold and
changes its stones into windows. As we develop better and better vehicles of
expression, these walls slowly expand until at last Spirit rises triumphant from
its tomb and blessing the very walls that confined it, raises them to union with
itself.
We may first consider the murderers of Hiram. These
three ruffians, who, when the Builder seeks to leave his temple, strike him with
the tools of his own Craft until finally they slay him and bring the temple down
in destruction upon their own heads, symbolize the three expressions of our own
lower natures which are in truth the murderers of the good within ourselves.
These three may be called thought, desire, and action. When purified and
transmuted they are three glorious avenues through which may manifest the great
life power of the three kings, the glowing builders of the Cosmic Lodge
manifesting in this world as spiritual thought, constructive emotion and useful
daily labor in the various places and positions where we find ourselves while
carrying on the Master's work. These three form the Flaming Triangle which glorifies
every living Mason, but when crystallized and perverted they form a triangular
prison through which the light cannot shine and the Life is forced to languish
in the dim darkness of despair, until man himself through his higher
understanding liberates the energies and powers which are indeed the builders
and glorifiers of his Father's House.
Now let us consider how these three fiery kings of the dawn
became, through perversion of their manifestation by man, the ruffians who
murdered Hiram, the energizing powers of cosmos which course through the blood
of every living being, seeking to beautify and perfect the temple they would
build according to the plan laid down on the tracing board by the Master
Architect of the Universe. First in the mind is one of the three kings, or
rather we shall say a channel through which he manifests. For King Solomon is
the power of mind which, perverted, becomes a destroyer who tears down with the
very powers which nourish and build. The right application of thought, when
seeking the answer to the cosmic problem of destiny, liberates man's spirit,
which soars above the concrete through that wonderful power of mind, with its
dreams and its ideals.
When man's thoughts rise upon the wings of aspiration,
when he pushes back the darkness with the strength of reason and logic, then
indeed the builder is liberated from his dungeon and the light pours in, bathing
him with life and power. This light enables us to seek more clearly the mystery
of creation and to find with greater certainty our place in the Great Plan, for
as man unfolds his bodies he gains talents with which he can explore the
mysteries of Nature and search for the hidden workings of the Divine.
Through these powers the Builder is liberated and his consciousness goes forth
conquering and to conquer. These higher ideals, these spiritual concepts,
these altruistic, philanthropic, educative applications of thought power glorify
the Builder, for they give the power of expression and those who can express
themselves are free. When man can mold his thoughts, his emotions, and
his actions into faithful expressions of his highest ideals, then liberty is
his, for ignorance is the darkness of Chaos and knowledge is the light of
Cosmos.
In spite of the fact that many of us live apparently to
gratify the desires of the body and as servants of the lower nature, still there
is within each of us a power which may remain latent for a great length of time.
This power lives eternities perhaps and yet at some time during our growth there
comes a great yearning for freedom, when, having discovered that the pleasures
of sense gratification are eternally elusive and unsatisfying, we make an
examination of ourselves and begin to realize that there are greater reasons for
our being. It is sometimes reason, sometimes suffering, sometimes a great desire
to be helpful, that brings out the first latent powers, which show that one long
wandering in the darkness is about to take the path, that leads to Light. Having
lived life in all its experiences, he has learned to realize that all the
manifestations of being, all the various experiences through which he passes,
are steps leading in one direction; that, consciously or unconsciously, all
souls are being led to the portico of the temple, where for the first time they
see and realize the glory of Divinity. It is then that they understand the age
old allegory of the martyred Builder and feel his power within themselves crying
out from the prison of materiality. Nothing else seems worthwhile and
regardless of cost, suffering, or the taunts of the world, the candidate slowly
ascends the steps that lead to the temple eternal. The reason that governs
Cosmos, he does not know, the laws, which mold his being, he does not realize,
but he does know, that somewhere behind the veil of human ignorance, there is an
eternal light toward which step by step he must labor. With his eyes fixed on
the heavens above and his hands clasped in prayer he passes slowly as a
candidate up the steps. In fear and trembling, yet with a divine realization of
good, he raps on the door and awaits in silence the answer from within.
The Entered
Apprentice.
Chapter-3.
There are three grand steps in the unfoldment of the
human soul before it completes the dwelling place of the spirit. These have been
caged respectively youth, manhood, and old age or, as the Mason would say, the
Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Builder. All life passes
through these three grand stages of human consciousness. They can be listed as
the man on the outside looking in, the man going in and the man inside. The
path of human life is governed as all things are by the laws of analogy, and as
at birth we start our pilgrimage through youth, manhood, and old age, so the
spiritual consciousness of man in his cosmic path of unfoldment passes from
unconsciousness to perfect consciousness in the Grand Lodge of the universe.
Before the initiation of the Entered Apprentice degree can be properly
understood and appreciated, certain requirements must be considered, not merely
those of the physical world, but also those of the spiritual world.
The Mason must realize that his true initiation is a
spiritual and not a physical ritual and that his initiation into the living
temple of the spiritual hierarchy regulating Freemasonry may not occur until
years after he has taken the physical degree, or spiritually he may be a Grand
Master before he comes into the world. There are probably few instances in the
history of Freemasonry where the spiritual ordination of the aspiring seeker
took place at the same time as the physical initiation, because the true
initiation depends upon the cultivation of certain soul qualities, an individual
and personal matter, which is left entirely to the volition of the mystic Mason
and which he must carry out in silence and alone.
The court of the tabernacle of the ancient Jews was
divided into three parts, the outer court, the holy place and the most Holy of
Holies. These three divisions represent the three grand divisions of human
consciousness. The degree of Entered Apprentice is acquired when the
student signifies his intention to take the rough ashlar, which he cuts from the
quarry and prepares for the truing of the Fellow Craft.
In other words, the first degree is really one of
preparation; it is a material step dealing with material things, for all
spiritual life must be raised upon a material foundation.
Seven is the number of the Entered Apprentice as it relates
to the seven liberal arts and sciences and these are the powers with which the
Entered Apprentice must labor before he is worthy to go onward into the more
elevated and advanced degrees. They are much mistaken, who believe that they can
reach the spiritual planes of Nature without first passing through and molding
matter into the expression of spiritual power. For the first stage in the growth
of a Master Mason is mastery of the concrete conditions of life and the
developments of sense centers, which will later become channels for the
expression of spiritual truths.
All growth is a gradual procedure carried on in an orderly,
masterly way, as exemplified by the opening and closing of a lodge.
The universe is divided into planes and these planes are
divided from each other by the rates of vibration, which pass through them. As
the spiritual consciousness progresses through the chain, the lower lose
connection with it when it has raised itself above their level, until finally
only the Grand Masters are capable of remaining in session and unknown even to
the Master Mason it finally passes back again to the spiritual hierarchy from
which it came.
Action is the keynote of the Entered Apprentice lodge.
All growth is the result of exercise and the intensifying of vibratory rates. It
is through exercise that the muscles of the human body are strengthened. It is
through the seven liberal arts and sciences, that the human mind receives
certain impulses, which in turn, stimulate internal centers of consciousness.
These centers of consciousness, through still greater development, will later
give fuller expression to these inner powers. But the Entered Apprentice has for
his first duty the awakening of these powers and like the youth of whom he is a
symbol, his ideals and labors must be tied closely to concrete things. For him
both points of the compasses are under the square. For him the reasons which
manifest through the heart and mind, the two polarities of expression are
darkened and concealed beneath the square, which measures the block of bodies.
He knows not the reason why, his work is to follow the directions of those whose
knowledge is greater than his own; but as the result of the application of
energies, through action and reaction he slowly builds and evolves the powers of
discrimination and the strength of character, which mark the Fellow Craft
degree.
It is obvious that the rough ashlar symbolizes the body.
It also represents cosmic root substance, which is taken out of the quarry of
the universe by the first expressions of intelligence and molded by them into
ever finer and more perfect lines until finally it becomes the perfect stone for
the Builder's temple.
How can emotion manifest save through form? How can mind
manifest until the intricately evolved brain cells of matter have raised their
organic quality to form the ground work upon which other things may be based? All
students of human mature realize that every expression of man depends upon
organic quality, that in every living thing this differs and that the fineness
of this matter is the certain indication of growth, mental, physical or
spiritual.
True to the doctrines of his Craft, the Entered
Apprentice must beautify his temple. He must build within himself by his
actions, by the power of his hand and the tools of his Craft, certain qualities,
which make possible his initiation into the higher degrees of the spiritual
lodge.
We know that the cube block is symbolic of the tomb. It is
also well known that the Entered Apprentice is incapable of rolling away the
stone or of transmuting it into a greater or higher thing; but it is his
privilege to purify and glorify that stone and begin the great work of preparing
it for the temple of his King.
Few realize that since the universe is made up of
individuals in various stages of development, responsibility is consequently
individual, and everything which man wishes to gain he must himself build and
maintain. If he is to use his finer bodies for the purpose for which they were
intended, he must treat them well, that they may be good and faithful servants
in the great work he is preparing for.
The quarries represent the limitless powers of natural
resources. They are symbolic of the practically endless field of human
opportunity. They symbolize the cosmic substances from which man must gather the
stones for his temple. At this stage in his growth, the Entered Apprentice
is privileged to gather the stones, which he wishes to true during his progress
through the lodge, for at this point he symbolizes the youth, who is choosing
his life work. He represents the human ego who in the dawn of time gathered many
blocks and cubes and broken stones from the Great Quarry. These rough and broken
stones that as yet will not fit into anything, are the partially evolved powers
and senses with which he labors. In the first state he must gather these
materials and those who have not gathered them can never true them. During
the involuntary period of human consciousness, the Entered Apprentice in the
Great Lodge was man, who labored with these rough blocks, seeking the tools and
the power with which to true them. As he evolves down through the ages, he gains
the tools and cosmically passes on to the degree of Fellow Craft, where he trues
his ashlar in harmony with the plans upon the Master's tracing board. This
rough, uncut ashlar has three dimensions, representative of the three ruffians
who at this stage are destroyers of the fourth dimensional life concealed within
the ugly, ill-shaped stone.
The lost key of the Entered Apprentice is service.
Why, he may not ask, when, he does not know. His work is to do, to act, to
express himself in some way constructively, if possible, but destructively
rather than not at all. Without action, he loses his great work; without
tools, which symbolize the body, he cannot act in an organized manner.
Consequently, it is necessary to master the arts and sciences, which place in
his hands intelligent tools for the expression of energy. Beauty is the keynote
to his ideal. With his concrete ideals he must beautify all with which he comes
in contact, so that the works of his hand may be acceptable in the eyes of the
Great Architect of the Universe.
His daily life, in home, business, and society, together
with the realization of the fundamental unity of each with all, form the base
upon which the aspiring candidate may raise a greater superstructure. In
truth he must live the life, the result of which is the purification of his
body, so that the more attenuated forces of the higher degrees may express
themselves through the finer sensitivity of the receiving pole within himself.
When he reaches this stage in his growth, he is spiritually worthy to consider
advancement into a higher degree. This advancement is not the result of election
or ballot, but is an automatic process in which, having sensitized his
consciousness by his life, he thereby attunes himself to the next succeeding
plane of expression. All initiation is the result of adjustments of the evolving
life to the physical, emotional and mental planes of consciousness through which
it passes.
We may now consider the spiritual requirements of one who
feels that he would mystically correlate himself with that great spiritual
fraternity which, concealed behind the exoteric rite, forms the living power of
the Entered Apprentice lodge.
1. It is essential that the
Entered Apprentice should have studied sufficiently the subject of anatomy to
have at least a general idea of the physical body, for the entire degree is
based upon the mystery of form. The human body is the highest manifestation
of form which he is capable of analyzing. Consequently, he must devote himself
to the study of his own being and its mysteries and complexities.
2. The Entered Apprentice must realize that his body is
the living temple of the living God and treat it accordingly, for when he abuses
or mistreats it, he breaks the sacred obligations which he must assume before he
can ever hope to understand the true mysteries of the Craft. The breaking of his
pact with the higher Life evolving within himself unfailingly invokes the
retributive agencies of Nature.
3. He must study the problem of the maintenance of bodies
through food, clothing, breathing, and other necessities, as all of these are
important steps in the Entered Apprentice lodge. Those who eat immoderately,
dress improperly and use only about one-third of their lung capacity can never
have the physical efficiency necessary for the fullest expression of the higher
Life.
4. He must grow physically and in the expression of
concrete things. Human relationships must be idealized at this time, and he must
seek to unfold all unselfish qualities which are necessary for the harmonious
working of the Mason and his fellow men on the physical plane of Nature.
5. He must seek to round off all inequalities. He can best
do this by balancing his mental and physical organisms through the application
and study of the seven liberal arts and sciences.
Until he is relatively master of these principles on the
highest plane within his own being, he cannot hope spiritually to attract to
himself, through the qualities of his own character, the life-giving ray of the
Fellow Craft. When he reaches this point, however, he is spiritually ready to
hope for membership in a more advanced degree.
The Mason must realize that his innermost motives are
the index of his real self and those who allow social position, financial or
business considerations or selfish and materialistic ideals, to lead them into
the Masonic Brotherhood have thereby automatically separated themselves from the
Craft. They can never do any harm to Freemasonry by joining because they
cannot get in. Ensconced within the lodge, they may feel that they have deceived
the Grand Master of the Universe, but when the spiritual lodge meets to carry on
the true work of the Craft, they are disqualified and absent. Watch fobs,
lapel badges, and other insignia do not make Masons; neither does the ritual
ordain them. Masons are evolved through the self-conscious effort to live up to
the highest ideals within themselves; their lives are the sole insignia of their
rank, greater by far than any visible, tangible credential.
Bearing this in mind, it is possible for the unselfish,
aspiring soul to become spiritually and liberally vouched for by the centers of
consciousness as an Entered Apprentice. It means he has taken the first grand
step on the path of personal liberation. He is now symbolized as the child with
the smiling face, for with the simplicity of a child he places himself under the
protection of his great spiritual Father, willing and glad to obey each of His
commands. Having reached this point and having done the best it was possible for
him to do, he is in position to hope that the powers that be, moving in their
mysterious manner, may find him worthy to undertake the second great step in
spiritual liberation.
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