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Posted at: 11:50 am I sent-out a challenge in the post below, and Greg won. The quote is Higgins, from the introduction to Hermetic Masonry. The next question is this…have we improved our Craft since he wrote this so many decades ago? |
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January 8, 2008
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Given the time in which this was written, I would speculate and say yes the craft improved tremendously from when this material was created (1911-1923 I believe), but I think what happened was that most of the “esoteric” or speculative aspects felt similarly as today that mainstream American Masonry just does not have the toleration for this sort of “occult” ideology, and what happens is that those interested split away. In Higgins era look at the schools of thought that opened, BOTA, PRS, AMORC, etc. All of these were not necessarily bourn out of Freemasonry, but each in some aspects built on the zeitgeist of interest both institutionally and societal. This is still in the era of Pike, when his interpretations were wild and fantastic, when looked at comparatively with what mainstream doctrine preached.
Have these esoteric sciences persisted? In small measure, yes, but I would suggest that they have retreated to the far corners of the fraternity. MSCRIF is one example, as would perhaps AMD, but from what I’ve seen, they too seem to be flagging, at least as interest goes.
So to your question, yes, we have improved since it was written, but the improvements are swiftly in declination as their use is in declination. As a fairly junior mason (nearly 11 years) I cannot say what a full blooded Masonic education would have been like. I can, as I piece it together now for my lodge, only speculate and try to assemble the pieces that I rediscover. I think perhaps more importantly to Higgins is that his ideas have permeated out into society, as society today in many areas seems to be more enlightened and inquisitive, which may just be the after glow of the knowledge moving from the internal to the external, from member to family and friends.
Comment by Greg — January 8, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
Greg writes:
“we have improved since it was written, but the improvements are swiftly in declination as their use is in declination. ”
…and this is exactly the point of getting back to the ideas that Higgins points out.
We are in a time when the old learning has become so much of a thing of the past, that young Masons like me (13 years) and Greg (11 years) must struggle to “assemble the pieces” of our Masonic education. The struggle is a result, not of a loss of knowledge…but from a loss of teachers.
Fight-on brother. We’ll get there soon enough!
Comment by AEdifico — January 8, 2008 @ 6:11 pm