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[ Chapters 4 and 5 of The Lost Keys of Freemasonry
are posted in this Article. The remaining portions will be posted in the next
article.]
The Fellow Craft
Chapter-4.
Life manifests not only through action on the physical
plane, but through human emotions and sentiment. This is the type of energy
taken up by the student, when he starts his labors in the Fellow Craft. From
youth with its smiling face, he passes on to the greater responsibilities of
manhood.
On the second step of the temple stands a soldier dressed
in shining armor, but his sword is sheathed and a book is in his hand. He is
symbolic of strength, the energy of Mars and the wonderful step in spiritual
enfoldment, which we know as Fellow Craft. Through each one of us course the
fiery rays of human emotion, a great seething cauldron of power behind each
expression of human energy. Like spirited horses chafing at the bit, like hounds
eager for the chase, the emotional powers cannot be held in check, but break the
walls of restraint and pour forth as fiery expressions of dynamic energy. This
great principle of emotion we know as the second murderer of Hiram. Through the
perversion of human emotions there comes into the world untold sorrow, which
through reaction, manifests in the mental and physical bodies.
It is strange how divine powers may become perverted
until each expression and urge becomes a ruffian and a murderer. The
divine compassion of the gods manifests in this world of form very differently
than in the realms of light. Divine compassion is energized by the same influxes
as mortal passions and the lusts of earth. The spiritual light rays of Cosmos,
the Fire Princes of the Dawn, which seethe and surge through the unregenerate
man, are the impulses, which he perverts to murder and hate. The ceaseless
power of Chaos, the seething pinwheel spirals of perpetual motion, whose
majestic cadences are the music of the spheres, are energized by the same great
power, that man uses to destroy the highest and best. The same mystic power
that keeps the planets in their orbits around the solar body, the same energy
that keeps each electron spinning and whirling, the same energy that is building
the temple of God, is now a merciless slave driver which, unmastered and
uncurbed, strikes the Compassionate One and sends him reeling backward into the
darkness of his prison. Man does not listen to that little voice which speaks to
him in ever loving, ever sorrowful tones. This voice speaks of the peace
accompanying the constructive application of energy, which he must chain, if he
would master the powers of creation. How long will it take King Hiram of Tyre,
the warrior on the second step, symbolic of the Fellow Craft of the Cosmic
Lodge, to teach mankind the lessons of self-mastery? The teacher can do it
only as he daily depicts the miseries, which are the result of uncurbed
appetites. The strength of man was not given to be used destructively, but
that he might build a temple worthy to be the dwelling place of the Great
Architect of the universe. God is glorifying himself through the
individualized portions of himself, and is slowly teaching these individualized
portions to understand and glorify the whole.
The day has come when Fellow Craftsmen must know and apply
their knowledge. The lost key to their grade is the mastery of emotion, which
places the energy of the universe at their disposal. Man can only expect to
be entrusted with great power by proving his ability to use it constructively
and selflessly. When the Mason learns that the key to the warrior on the block
is the proper application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the
mystery of his Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands and
before he may step onward and upward, he must prove his ability to properly
apply energy. He must follow in the footsteps of his forefather, Tubalcain,
who with the mighty strength of the war god hammered his sword into a plowshare.
Incessant vigilance over thought, action, and desire is indispensable to those
who wish to make progress in the unfolding of their own being, and the Fellow
Craft's degree is the degree of transmutation. The hand that slays must lift the
fallen, while the lips given to cursing must be taught to pray. The heart that
hates must learn the mystery of compassion, as the result of a deeper and more
perfect understanding of man's relation to his brother. The firm, kind hand of
spirit must curb the flaming powers of emotion with an iron grip. In the
realization and application of these principles lies the key of the Fellow
Craft.
In this degree, the two points of the compass (one higher
than the other), symbolize the heart and mind and with the expression of the
higher emotions the heart point of the compass is liberated from the square,
which is an instrument used to measure the block of matter and therefore
symbolizes form.
A large percentage of the people of the world at the
present time are passing through, spiritually, the degree of the Fellow Craft,
with its five senses. The sense perceptions come under the control of the
emotional energies, therefore the development of the senses is necessary to the
constructive expression of the Fellow Craft power. Man must realize that all
the powers, which his many years of need have earned for him have come in order
that through them he may liberate more fully the prisoner within his own being.
As the Fellow Craft degree is the middle of the three, the spiritual duty of
each member is to reach the point of poise or balance, which is always secured
between extremes. The mastery of expression is also to be found in this
degree. The keywords of the Fellow Craft may be briefly defined as compassion,
poise, and transmutation.
In the Fellow Craft degree is concealed the dynamo of human
life. The Fellow Craft is the worker with elemental fire, which it is his
duty to transmute into spiritual light. The heart is the center of his
activity and it is while in this degree that the human side of the nature with
its constructive emotions should be brought out and emphasized. But all of these
expressions of the human heart must become transmuted into the emotionless
compassion of the gods, who despite the suffering of the moment, gaze down upon
mankind and see that it is good.
When the candidate feels that he has reached a point
where he is able to manifest every energizing current and fire flame in a
constructive, balanced manner and has spiritually lifted the heart sentiments of
the mystic out of the cube of matter, he may then expect that the degree of
Master Mason is not far off, and so may look forward eagerly to the time of his
spiritual ordination into the higher degree. He should now study himself and
realize that he cannot receive promotion into the spiritual lodge until his
heart is attuned to a superior, spiritual influx from the causal planes of
consciousness.
The following requirements are necessary before the
student can spiritually say that he is a member of the ancient and accepted rite
of the Fellow Craft:
- The mastery of emotional outbreaks of all kinds,
poise under trying conditions, kindness in the face of unkindness, and
simplicity with its accompanying power. These points show that the seeker is
worthy of being taught by a Fellow Craftsman.
- The mastery of the animal energies, the curbing of
passion and desire, and the control of the lower nature mark the faithful
attempts on the part of the student to be worthy of the Fellow Craft.
- The understanding and mastery of the creative
forces, the consecration of them to the unfolding of the spiritual nature and
a proper understanding of their physical application, are necessary steps at
this stage of the student's growth.
- The transmutation of personal affection into
impersonal compassion shows that the Fellow Craftsman truly understands his
duties and is living in a manner worthy of his order. Personalities cannot
bind the true second degree member, for having raised one point of the
compasses he now realizes that all personal manifestations are governed by
impersonal principles.
- At this point the candidate consecrates the five
senses to the study of human problems with the unfolding of sense centers as
the motive; for he realizes that the five senses are keys, the proper
application of which will give him material for spiritual transmutation, if he
will apply to them the common divisor of analogy. The Entered Apprentice may
be termed a materialistic degree.
The Fellow Craft is religious and mystical, while the
Master Mason is occult or philosophical. Each of these is a degree in the
unfoldment of a connected life and intelligence, revealing in ever fuller
expression the gradual liberation of the Master from the triangular cell of
threefold negation, which marks the early stage of individualization.
The Master Mason
Chapter-5.
On the upper steps of spiritual unfoldment stands the
Master Mason, who spiritually represents the graduate from the school of
esoteric learning. In the ancient symbols he is represented as an old man
leaning upon a staff, his long white beard upon his chest and his deep, piercing
eyes sheltered by the brows of a philosopher. He is in truth old, not in years,
but in wisdom and understanding, which are the only true measurement of age.
Through years and lives of labor he has found the staff of life and truth upon
which he leans. He no longer depends upon the words of others but upon the still
voice that speaks from the heart of his own being. There is no more glorious
position that a man may hold than that of a Master Builder, who has risen by
labor through the degrees of human consciousness. Time is the differentiation of
eternity devised by man to measure the passage of human events. On the spiritual
planes of Nature it is the space or distance between the stages of spiritual
growth and hence is not measurable by material means. Many a child comes into
this world a Grand Master of the Masonic School, while many a revered and
honored brother passes silently to rest without having gained admittance to its
gate. The Master Mason is one whose life is full, pressed down and brimming
over with the experience, he has gained in his slow pilgrimage up the winding
stairs.
The Master Mason embodies the power of the human mind, that
connecting link which binds heaven and earth together in an endless chain.
His spiritual light is greater because he has evolved a higher vehicle for its
expression. Above even constructive action and emotion soars the power of
thought, which swiftly flies on wings to the source of Light. The mind is
the highest form of his human expression and he passes into the great darkness
of the inner room illuminated only by the fruits of reason. The glorious
privileges of a Master Mason are in keeping with his greater knowledge and
wisdom. From the student he has blossomed forth as the teacher, from the kingdom
of those, who follow he has joined that little group, who must always lead the
way. For him the Heavens have opened and the Great Light has bathed him in its
radiance. The Prodigal Son, so long a wanderer in the regions of darkness,
has returned again to his Father's house. The voice speaks from the Heavens, its
power thrilling the Master until his own being seems filled with its divinity,
saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The ancients taught
that the sun was not a source of light, life, or power, but a medium through
which life and light were reflected into physical substance. The Master Mason
is in truth a sun, a great reflector of light, who radiates through his
organism, purified by ages of preparation, the glorious power, which is the
light of the Lodge. He, in truth, has become the spokesman of the Most High. He
stands between the glowing fire, light and the world. Through him passes Hydra,
the great snake and from its month there pours to man the light of God. His
symbol is the rising sun, for in him the globe of day has indeed risen in all
its splendor from the darkness of the night, illuminating the immortal East with
the first promise of approaching day.
With a sigh the Master lays aside his tools. For him the
temple is nearing completion, the last stones are being placed and he slakes his
lime with a vague regret as he sees dome and minaret rise through the power of
his handiwork. The true Master does not long for rest and as he sees the days of
his labor close, a sadness weighs upon his heart. Slowly the brothers of his
Craft leave him, each going his respective way and climbing step by step, the
Master stands alone on the pinnacle of the temple. One stone must yet be
placed, but this he cannot find. Somewhere it lies concealed. In prayer he
kneels, asking the powers that be to aid him in his search. The light of the sun
shines upon him and bathes him in a splendor celestial. Suddenly a voice speaks
from the Heavens, saying, "The temple is finished and in my faithful Master
is found the missing stone."
Both points of the compasses are now lifted from under
the square. The divine is liberated from its cube, heart and mind alike are
liberated from the symbol of mortality, and as emotion and thought they unite
for the glorification of the greatest and the highest. Then the Sun and Moon are
united and the Hermetic Degree is consummated.
The Master Mason is afforded opportunities far beyond the
reach of ordinary man, but he must not fail to realize that with every
opportunity comes a cosmic responsibility. It is worse by far to know and not to
do than never to have known at all. He realizes that the choice of avoiding
responsibility is no longer his and that for him all problems must be met and
solved. The only joy in the heart of the Master is the joy of seeing the
fruits of his handiwork. It can be truly said of the Master that through
suffering he has learned to be glad, through weeping he has learned to smile and
through dying he has learned to live. The purification and probationship of
his previous degrees have so spiritualized his being that he is in truth a
glorious example of God's Plan for His children. The greatest sermon he can
preach, the greatest lesson he can teach, is that of standing forth a living
proof of the Eternal Plan. The Master Mason is not ordained. He is the
natural product of cause and effect and none, but those who live the cause can
produce the effect. The Master Mason, if he be truly a Master, is in
communication with the unseen powers that move the destinies of life. As the
Eldest Brother of the lodge, he is the spokesman for the spiritual hierarchies
of his Craft. He no longer follows the direction of others, but on his own
tracing board he lays out the plans, which his brothers are to follow. He
realizes this and so lives that every line and plan, which he gives out is
inspired by the divine with in himself. His glorious opportunity to be a factor
in the growth of others comes before all else. At the seat of mercy he kneels,
a faithful servant of the Highest within himself and worthy to be given control
over the lives of others by having first controlled himself.
Much is said concerning the loss of the Master's Word and
how the seekers go out to find it, but bring back only substitutes. The true
Master knows that those who go out can never find the secret trust. He
alone can find it, who goes within. The true Master Builder has never
lost the Word, but has cherished it in the spiritual locket of his own being.
From those who have the eyes to see, nothing is concealed. To those who have the
right to know, all things are open books. The true Word of the three Grand
Masters has never been concealed from those, who have the right to know it, nor
has it ever been revealed to those who have not prepared a worthy shrine to
contain it. The Master knows, for he is a Temple Builder. Within the setting of
his own bodies, the Philosopher's Stone is placed, for in truth, it is the
heart of the Phoenix, that strange bird which rises with renewed youth from the
ashes of its burned body. When the Master's heart is as pure and white as the
diamond that he wears, he will then become a living stone, the crown jewel in
the diadem of his Craft.
The Word is found when the Master himself is ordained by
the living hand of God, cleansed by living water, baptized by living fire, a
Priest King after the Order of Melchizedek, who is above the law.
The great work of the Master Mason can be called the art
of balance. To him is given the work of balancing the triangle that it may blaze
forth with the glory of the Divine Degree. The triple energies of thought,
desire, and action must be united in a harmonious blending of expression. He
holds in his hands the triple keys. He wears the triple crown of the ancient
Magus, for he is in truth the King of heaven, earth, and hell. Salt, sulphur,
and mercury are the elements of his work and with the philosophical mercury he
seeks to blend all powers to the glorifying of one end.
Behind the degree of Master Mason, there is another not
known to earth. Far above him stretch other steps concealed by the blue veil,
which divides the seen from the unseen. The true Brother knows this.
Therefore he works with an end in view far above the concept of mortal mind. He
seeks to be worthy to pass behind that veil and join that band who, unhonored
and unsung, carry the responsibilities of human growth. His eyes are fixed
forever on the Seven Stars which shine down from somewhere above the upper rung
of the ladder. With Hope, Faith, and Charity, he climbs the steps and
whispering the Master's Word to the Keeper of the Gates, passes on behind the
veil. It is then and then only, that a true Mason is born. Only behind
this veil does the mystic student come into his own. The things, which we
see around us are but forms, promises of a thing unnamed, symbols of a truth
unknown. It is in the spiritual temple built without the voice of workmen or
the sound of hammer, that the true initiation is given and there, robed in the
simple lambskin of a purified body, the student becomes a Master Mason, chosen
out of the world to be an active worker in the name of the Great Architect. It
is there alone, unseen by mortal eyes, that the Greater Degrees are given and
there the soul radiating the light of Spirit becomes a living; star in the blue
canopy of the Masonic lodge.
Transmutation
Masonry is eternal truth, personified, idealized, and
yet made simple. Eternal truth alone can serve it. Virtue is its priest,
patience its warden, illumination its master. The world cannot know this,
however, save when Masons in their daily life prove that it is so. Its truth
is divine, and is not to be desecrated or defamed by the thoughtlessness of its
keepers. Its temple is a holy place, to be entered in reverence. Material
thoughts and material dissensions must be left without its gate. They may not
enter. Only the pure of heart, regenerated and transmuted, may pass the sanctity
of its veil. The schemer has no place in its ranks, nor the materialist
in its shrine, for Masons walk on hallowed ground, sanctified by the veneration
of ages. Let the tongue be stilled, let the heart be stilled, let the mind be
stilled. In reverence and in the silence, stillness shall speak. The voice of
stillness is the voice of the Creator. Show your light and your power to
men, but before God what have you to offer, save in humility? Your robes,
your tinsel, and your jewels mean naught to Him, until your own body and soul,
gleaming with the radiance of perfection, become the living ornaments of your
Lodge.
The Presence Of The Master
The Mason believes in the Great Architect, the living
keystone of creation's plan, the Master of all Lodges, without whose spirit
there is no work. Let him never forget that the Master is near. Day and night
let him feel the presence of the Supreme or Overshadowing One. The All-Seeing
Eye is upon him. Day and night this great Orb measures his depths, seeing into
his innermost soul of souls, judging his life, reading his thoughts, measuring
his aspirations, and rewarding his sincerity. To this All Seeing One he is
accountable. To none other must he account. This Spirit passes with him out of
the Lodge and measures the Mason in the world. This Spirit is with him when he
buys and sells. It is with him in his home. By the light of day and by the
darkness of night it judges him. It hears each thoughtless word. It is the
silent witness to every transaction of life, the silent Partner of every man. By
the jury of his acts, each man is judged. Let every Mason know that his
obligations include not only those within the narrow Lodge, bordered by walls of
stone and brick, but those in the Great Lodge, walled only by the dome of
heaven. The Valley of Jehoshaphat waits for him, who is false to any creature,
as surely as it waited for the breakers of the Cosmic oath.
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