February, 1947
Contents
THE HOME INFLUENCE FRENCH MASONS ACTIVE IN ITALIAN CONCENTRATION CAMP
My Impression of Temparism THE ELEMENTS
THE PHILALETHES SOCIETY NEWS International Universities
MASONRY IN FOREIGN LANDS Unexplored Library
WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN Personality Check-up
By V. M. Burrows, M.P.S., Long Beach, Calif.
(continued)
According to Herndon, Lincoln once told him "all I am or hope ever to be, I got from my mother," meaning Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Lincoln was speaking of qualities and powers of mind which he believed that he inherited through her from her father, of unknown identity.
Which are more potent in shaping the man, inherited qualities or acquired tendencies? It is an old question, never settled.
"Abe was a good boy," runs the historic statement by Mrs. Sarah Lincoln, after his death, and I can say what scarcely one woman - a mother - can say in a thousand: "Abe never gave me a cross word or look, and never refused, in fact or appearance, to do anything I requested of him. I never gave him a cross word in all my life. His mind and mine - what little I had - seemed to run together. He was a dutiful son to me, always. I think he loved me truly. I had a son John, who was raised with Abe. Both were good boys; but I must say, both now being dead, that Abe was the best boy I ever saw or expect to see."
Sarah Bush Lincoln lived to be eighty-one years old, her life was spent in humble places. It was full of toil. She could not read or write, but she had character. Because she loved and cared for a motherless boy in untoward surroundings, and encouraged him to study, she is part of the supreme epic of America - that of Abraham Lincoln. The spirit and home influence of such mothers is vitally needed in America today.
There are some things that are timeless - some truths that are eternal. There are some fundamental principles, rooted in the past and imperilled in the present, that we must preserve for the future. The home influence is therefore very important.
A great question for the average American is how to be religious and at the same time to be practical. That the peaceful nations of the world should live under the suspended swords of the war-making ones is intolerable. We must therefore win our wars, so that the nations with a bloody philosophy out of the dark ages of mankind's past will never again be able to raise a traitorous hand against neighbors wanting only to live in peace and friendly good will. But the fundamental principles of religion must be preserved.
We question whether we can develop American boys into fighters who can win a war and afterward bring them home to peaceful pursuits in a land which desires to retain the virtues of our American forefathers. The evidence leads to a considerable opinion that we shall be enabled to do so.
Lieutenant James E. Swett, of Fan Mateo, California, shot down the first seven Japanese planes he ever saw. The twenty-two-year-old Marine Corps officer accomplished his feat in the record-breaking time of twenty minutes and in a single combat. Yet, this tall Californian is no killer. In fact, he doesn't like killing at all and admits that he was sleepless for two nights after his achievement. "I just didn't like the thought of all those people burning to death," he said. "My conscience hurt after it happened, and yet I know that the Japs don't deserve any sympathy."
Marine Captain Joe Foss, who returned to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with a record of 26 planes downed in the war against the Japs, made it clear that he was just a little fellow called Joe, and "happy at being home again."
The Germans took eight years to prepare for war. The Japs prepared, morally and in the industrial development, over a period of twenty-five years. American production built up to war requirements in the short time of two years. We had the reserve of industrial ability. It is the opinion of this writer that we also have a reserve of moral stamina, as the result of teachings handed down to us by our American forefathers. Tomorrow has two handles, faith and anxiety. Let us grasp the faith of our fathers and go forward in the task of developing better human beings in a better world.
In order to do that, we must give attention to personal religion. We need a belief and a conviction which we can tie to. The average American becomes weary of political beatitudes and eloquent generalities. Americans do not like high-sounding phrases, followed by short walks with the Devil. They want a religion which they can understand, and which they can observe in successful operation by precept and example. It cannot be attained in the spirit of fear or in an atmosphere of misunderstanding.
Modern education teaches that the heavens do not revolve around us, the earth was not prepared for us, any more than for our near cousins, the apes, or our distant cousins, the fleas. The better we understand the laws of nature, the more indifferent to our weal and woe do they appear. In the light of all this, there are many who feel that the assumptions of any sort of personal god with a human-like love for human animals is absurd, and the relic of primitive ignorance and fear. But it must not be so - the individual must be led to reason, and reasoning with common sense will bring faith and hope. The danger is that individual religion may have slow death from neglect. Nothing, however good or true, can endure as a Iiving force in an atmosphere of indifference.
An experienced minister of national reputation has said that the hardest man too reach, the most difficult man to convert to a real religious life, is not the prodigal, not the drunken; it is the respectable, self-righteous man, who expects from God some kind of a return for his investment. What church members should do is to go out and demonstrate to the world that their religion and their church-going make the human and lovable and kind and brave. Individual lives should demonstrate the effect of a true religion which is to them a vital force. It should make known its presence in their hearts; when they are in sorrow, as a comforter; when they are bewildered, as a light; when they are in terror, as a power; when they are in joy, as a glory!
(to be concluded)
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GOD'S ROSARY
God counts His beads throughout the firmament;
Each splendid star is His, He counts no loss;
Each sphere upon His chord of Love is blent,
And then He counts the burning earth - His cross.
- Milford E. Shields, M.P.S.
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FRENCH MASONS ACTIVE IN ITALIAN CONCENTRATION CAMP
A Story by Bro. Pierre Fraysse
Introduction. We offer to our readers a resume of the story which Bro. Pierre Fraysse, of La Seyne sur Mer (Var), told our Bro. Jean Roumilhac, M.P.S., of Marseilles, France. It is another illustration of how our French Brethren continued their Masonic activities in various concentration camps during the war. Our thanks to Bros. Fraysse and Roumilhac! - Leo Fischer, F.P.S.
Bro. Pierre Fraysse, a member of a Lodge under the Grand Orient of France, was arrested on July 26, 1943, accused by the Gestapo of gaullism and espionage. He sought contact with Brother Masons while still under investigation in Nice. He was taken from there by truck to a prison for common criminals at Imperia, Italy. There, while in the prison yard for exercise, he met various Brethren confined in other parts of the prison which had a large number of three-man cells. Before long the Masons in that prison all knew each other. A friendly (anti-fascist) warden gave them permission to meet, provided there were not more than twenty present, and the French prisoners made ample use of this privilege. Fraysse delivered five lectures on Masonic history and principles to such mixed audiences, and these lectures and the exemplary conduct of the Masons, Bro. Fraysse tells us, changed the opinion of Masonry of a good many non-Masonic prisoners.
Bro. Fraysse succeeded in obtaining better cells and treatment for various French Brethren who were taken seriously ill, and in ameliorating the lot of the prisoners in general. When any Masonic business had to be transacted, the Brethren met as a "triangle." This organization was later converted into a Lodge, of which Bro. Fraysse was Master, and which held three meetings. The Brethren fully realized that this body was clandestine; but they passed a resolution to the effect that upon the reorganization of Masonry in France they would make its activities known "in order that the remembrance thereof might be preserved as an example."
When the Italian armies were routed, Bro. Fraysse and the other French prisoners were transferred back to France. Finally he was "transferred, early in June 1944, to Rue Paradis where he saw with great emotion (which he concealed as well as he could, because there were spies in the cell), an inscription on the wall which had been placed there only a few days before by Bro. Samson, of the Lodge "Le Phare de l'Etang," at Berre, who bade farewell to his wife and daughter, that being the last message of that dear Brother as he was executed shortly after writing it."
Bro. Fraysse was liberated on June 13, 1944
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By Earl S. Bricked, M.P.S., Tacoma, Wash.
The ideals of a Knight Templar are to me like the Jewel of Great Price must have impressed the merchant who was gathering pearls and who, when he found this great pearl sold all he had and went and bought it. This merchant had no doubt traveled a great deal and had looked at many precious stones. He was very proud of his collection, the fruit of many years of search in various parts of the world then known. They were his own great treasure. Yet, when he beheld this one magnificent pearl he did not hesitate a moment but sold all he had and acquired that Pearl of Great Price.
This illustrates what the Commandery means to me. It is the crowning achievement that all York Rite Masons look forward to, and it comes to us not through giving up the admirable philosophy of the preceding degrees but as the crown or fulfilment of what we have looked forward to as our place in the scheme of the Universe.
I found it to be true, as I became a Knight Templar, that it was one of the greatest spiritual experiences I have ever known. And I know that living by its teachings will strengthen the character of any man.
The ideals of Christ have built the best part of the world. He was put to death because what he taught was high above the doctrines of those whom he was trying to help. Ours is the leading nation in the world because it was founded on the same teachings as the Commandery: on Christian principles.
Now, if I may quote J. Clifford Smith who, I believe, was Grand Commander of Knights Templar for the State of Michigan during 1945: "Shortly after taking the Consistory some one said to me: You have left out the best part of Masonry. I had kept away from the Commandery because I was not interested in drilling. However, I joined to see whether my friend was telling the truth. The fact that I have labored in the vineyard of Templary all these years is proof of what I found out when I received the Orders of Knighthood."
Yes, he had found the Jewel of Great Price and I feel that nowhere on earth do you meet a finer group of men dedicated to the Christian religion than in the Commanderies. The broad, deep purpose of Templarism would go far toward solving the great trouble of the world today if we could get more of it over at the peace table in Paris.
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By Lee E. Wells, M.P.S., Los Angeles, Cal.
A recent article in The Philalethes discussed certain passages in the monitorial work concerning the four elements. This excellent article by Bro. Percy P. Barbour, M.P.S., touched upon a point that has interested such Masonic scholars as Pike, Mackey, Haywood and Waite. This is the presence, within the ritual, of certain ideas, thoughts and symbols whose origin certainly cannot be traced in the history of the early guilds of the Cathedral Builders.
These ceremonies and symbols point to other origins, though, probably, we will never have direct proof of their sources. Mackey has found suggestions of a definite connection between Alchemy and the Craft. Brother H. L. Haywood in his book, Speculative Masonry, has also noted these non-operative and mysterious streams of thought. He writes: "Among these non-operative influences the Kabbala must be mentioned as one of the most important.... The framework of the Kabbala was a kind of Theosophy expressed by means of a system of symbolism which centered about King Solomon's Temple."
A few lines further in the volume he writes: "There were many other streams of occultism flowing in the same period and there is little doubt but that influences from many of them found their way into the speculations of the Masons of that time."
A. E. Waite goes even further. In his Secret Tradition in Freemasonry he postulates a definite connection with the Rosicrucians - denied by Mackey seventy years before - and occult thought of the time through Robert Fludd. If this be true, and we can neither affirm nor deny, then we must look elsewhere than to the stone masons for the source and significance of the four elements in the monitor.
It may be said that earth, air, fire and water compose all that it; they are the primal elements. This is one of the basic tenets of the Kabbalistic structure as it was that of the Alchemists, who made a correspondence between certain chemicals and the elements. These same four elements correspond to the four heads of the vision of Daniel, and so we touch on the astrological aspect of our problem. Traced down into the thought of the early Christian mystics and philosophers, we find these same factors in correlation to the apostles who wrote the Gospels.
To clarify, let us list these factors under their respective headings as follows:
ELEMENTS
Water, Fire, Earth, and Air.
ZODIAC
Aquarius, Leo, Taurus, and Scorpio.
KABBALA
Man, Lion, Bull, and Eagle.
ALCHEMY
Mercury, Sulphur, Salt, and Azoth.
CHRISTIAN
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
You will notice that the four aspects of Daniel's vision are listed above under Kabbala, since the book of Daniel is a highly symbolical presentation of the Kabbalistic theories. The listing was made by comparisons of diagrams and tables in Papus' Tarot of tale Bollemiens, Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine, and the diagram of Pike's found on page 791 of his Morals and Dogma.
Thus the correspondence of the elements to Hermetic, Kabbalistic and Christian mystical thought is made clear. Pike summarizes one aspect of the question briefly and concisely.
"The Air and Earth represent the male principle; and the Fire and Water belong to the female principle.
"To these four forms correspond the four following philosophical ideas:
"Spirit; Matter; Movement; Repose.
"Alchemy reduces these four things to three:
"The Absolute; the Fixed; the Volatile.
"'Reason; Necessity; Liberty are synonyms of these three words.
"As all the great Mysteries of God and the Universe are thus hidden in the Ternary, it everywhere appears in Masonry and in the Hermetic Philosophy under its mask of Alchemy. It even appears where Masons do not suspect it; to teach the doctrine of the equilibrium of Contraries and the resultant Harmony."
Let us digress for a moment to a consideration of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Brother Barbour in his article could see no connection between this symbol from the Holy Writ and that of the elements. Nor can I. The only thing in common between them is that they were of the number 4, though this might easily lead to an attempt to find a correspondence. Recently, I chanced upon an interesting discussion of these four horsemen that I pass along for what it's worth. Manly Palmer Hall interprets them as follows:
"The four horsemen of the Apocalypse may be interpreted to signify the four main divisions of human life. Birth is represented by the ride on the white horse who comes forth conquering and to conquer; the impetuosity of youth by the rider on the red horse who took peace from the earth; maturity by the rider on the black horse who weighs all things in the scales of reason; and death by the rider on the pale horse who was given power over a fourth part of the earth."
To return to the main discussion, the comparison of the four elements with the other factors gives us a curious time-sequence, from an historical viewpoint. We have listed some of the oldest symbols known to man in the Zodiacal signs and shown their correspondence to Kabbalistic symbols as given in the book of Daniel. The Royal Arch Mason will instantly recognize the banners of the captains. We have shown the progression of these signs to early Christian thought. The Alchemists were not only delvers into a material science, but they hid a deep mystical insight under a veil of formulae. They were the forerunners of, and contemporaneous to, the Rosicrucians. So we again come to Waite's theory of Fludd's influence on the Craft. This is all purely speculative, of course, but certainly of very great interest.
Pike had a great deal to say about the Zodiacal aspects of the Mysteries, as to the signs under which the various rites were performed, and I refer the reader to his Morals and Dogma on this score. But to traverse the four signs, symbolized by the Man, Lion, Bull and Eagle, was to attain all the knowledge of the ancient Mysteries. The late Morgan ,Pryse made this clear in his Restored New Testament. Through these signs, the ancients believed, man attained to all possible human knowledge of the Ineffable.
So, also, did the Alchemist summarize his efforts toward attainment in the three chemicals and the mysterious substance, Azoth. To traverse the four elements is to have progressed steadily from the grossly material to the finest substance. These, to the ancients, were the elements that God used to mold the universe and everything that is in it.
It is therefore easily understood why the candidate must meet and overcome these through certain symbolic trials. The other having an inner meaning, the candidate thus became the master of the elements, strong physically and spiritually, fit to receive that for which he sought.
Traversing the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we approach a spiritual knowledge of the Christ and so are prepared for that message which He gives each of us in the secret place of the heart. Passing the four banners of the veils, we arrive at the mysteries below the Royal Arch.
It is well that a vestige of the ancient ceremonies remain. When the seeker follows this single hint in the monitor, he discovers a great new world of light opening unto him.
I have only sketchily touched upon the more obvious aspect of the subject in this brief paper. As Brother Barbour aroused my interest, so I hope that others may give further investigation and thought to the subject.
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Masonry has always stood for freedom of thought. Each member knows that he is entitled to his own opinions, and that very fact is one of the strongest factors in endearing Masonry to its members. - John H. Cowles.
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True Tolerance
Civilization has produced nothing finer than a man or woman who thinks and practices true tolerance. Some one has said that most of us don't think. We just occasionally rearrange our prejudices. I suspect that even today, with all the progress we have made in liberal thought, the quality of true tolerance is as rare as the quality of mercy. That men of all creeds have fundamental common objectives is a fact one must learn by the process of education. How to work jointly toward these objectives must be learned by experience.
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By Harry W. Bundy, M.P.S., Denver, Colorado
The story of the Keystone reminds one of that of the ugly duckling of Andersen's Fairy Tales, which, scorned and rejected at first, because of mistaking its intended purpose in life, later became the beautiful swan, the center of all beauty and attraction.
If there is a lesson for Masons to be symbolized by this emblem of the Royal Arch, it is that of patience and understanding. Patience with those who differ in opinion, who advance ideas which seem to endeavor to improve on fundamentals as we see them, with those who honestly disagree with us. Appreciation of the misfits in the walls of our human temple of life, of such keystones in the building of civilization as Christ, Buddha, and Mohammed in religion; Galileo, Madam Curie or Columbus in the field of Science; the Wright Brothers and Santos Dumont in Aviation; Burbank, Edison and Einstein in the field of natural laws; Florence Nightingale, Jane Adams and Emily Griffith in social work - all stones irregular in their structure; apparent misfits in life and without the proper mark of accepted theories on them, but really the workmen who supply the keystones in the arches of our present civilization. These are the ones who bring the future into the present and whose good work on an unusual pattern is only appreciated when this future has become the past.
This is the lesson which The Keystone may have for all of us. Let us believe its purpose and practice its lessons in our lives today!
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The reading Freemason is the informed Freemason. May we suggest several books which should be on the "must" list for the newly-made Mason: "The Builders," (Joseph F. Newton); "Symbolism of the Third Degree," (Oliver Day Street); "Freemasonry Before the Existence of Grand Lodges," (Vibert); "Great Teachings of Masonry," (H. L. Haywood); "Introduction to Freemasonry," (Carl H. Claudy); "The Meaning of Masonry," (Albert Pike); "Masonry in the Thirteen Colonies," (J. Hugo Tatsch); "The Landmarks of Freemasonry*" (Silas H. Shepherd); "The Beginnings of Freemasonry in America," (Melvin M. Johnson), and "Foreign Countries," (Carl H. Claudy).
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It is a fine experience to sit down with another and analyze a perplexing situation. When we begin to reason one with another, we discover what is good and what is bad, and forthwith there dawns upon us the light of truth and understanding. The interchange of ideas restores confidence, creates a better understanding of the problems at hand. This is Masonry in action. - Lloyd Rime.
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The Masonic tree is known by its fruit. Let each of us so live, so act, so talk, that the world may say of each of us with approval, "Why, he's a Freemason!" Let that be an avouchment of his honesty, integrity, temperance and decency. - Oregon Mason.
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By Elbert Bede, F.P.S., Portland, Oregon
(Introductory Note. Editor and owner of the Oregon Mason and author of "3-5-7 Minute Talks on Freemasonry," just off the Macoy Press, as well as of chapters in several books of collected material by other authors, and of numerous magazine and feature newspaper stories, our new Fellow is a 33rd Degree Mason and past presiding officer of various Masonic Bodies, beginning with Cottage Grove Lodge No. 51, A. F. & A. M., of Cottage Grove, Oregon. The readers of The Philalethes have been enjoying the product of his prolific pen and will no doubt be delighted with his masterpiece," submitted upon passing from the ranks of the members to a chair among the Forty Fellows of the Philalethes Society. Brother Eede"s mail address is: 508 Woodlark Bldg., Portland 5, Oregon. - The Editor).
Many who become students of Freemasonry and have endeavored to inform and inspire others . . . those carrying the banner of 'Philalethes' . . . these and others who have, in many ways, given their utmost in the service of Freemasonry, have wondered whether their efforts have been worthwhile, whether what they have given has lived beyond the moment of its giving. I wish to indicate to such persons that at the worst they have lost nothing by their efforts. I wish to encourage them to believe they may have accomplished more than they know, and to urge them to further and greater efforts, as well as to encourage others to follow their example.
Many have heard that old maxim, "One candle may give equal fame to another without losing any of its brilliance," but how many of us have grasped the deep significance, the deep meaning, of the fact that one candle may give equal flame to another without losing any of its own brilliance? Can't we, from that fact, develop a symbolism which we may apply to those having information which they might pass along to their less-informed Brethren?
Yes, one candle may give equal flame to each of many candles and still burn as brightly as before. More than that, each candle of the circle lighted by the one candle may light another circle, and these circles in turn may light still other circles until, with the circles ever widening, if we could control the time element, all the candles in the world might be lighted by flame which originated with a single candle, and the original candle would continue to burn with undiminished flame. Can't we develop from this symbolism for those who wonder whether their efforts are worth while?
Of course, we cannot control the time element, but the candle-lighting may be continued around the world until completed, with the result that candles in the circles distant from the original candle would be lighted by flame that came to them from the original candle long after the original candle and candles in the nearer circles had burned their tallow and ceased to exist. Can't we develop a symbolism there that we may apply to those who wonder whether what they give will live beyond the moment of its giving?
In order to apply these lessons, in order to develop the symbolism, let the original candle symbolize a Brother informed in Freemasonry. This informed Brother would lose none of his own knowledge, none of his own brilliance, by giving equal knowledge to another . . . by giving equal flame to another's candle. In fact, he might add to his own brilliance through the effort required to put into words the knowledge that was his.
An informed Freemason might object, and might sincerely believe, that the little knowledge he could pass along would fail of accomplishment; that he might mildly impress the few who received knowledge or light from him, but they soon would forget. I hope to encourage such a Brother to believe he might be mistaken in his conclusions. We never know how far the spoken or printed word may travel, nor what candles it may light along the way.
In order to further apply the lessons and develop the symbolism, let the candles that have been lighted and have passed their flame along in ever-widening circles symbolize Brethren receiving light or knowledge from us, and we may And that our giving of what we have learned operates like the lighting of the candles which has been described. One of us passes intellectual light along to a few persons and these in turn pass it along to other groups, and these groups pass it along to other groups, until the light or knowledge started on its way by one person may be passed along in everwidening circles until it reaches so far from the original source of information or light . . . so far from the original candle . . . that those who receive it know not whence it came, and those who started it on its way know not how far it has traveled, nor what candles it has lighted along the way. That knowledge may be lighting candles in the outer circles long after the one who started it on its way has burned his candle to the end of the tallow and has ceased to exist. Isn't there encouragement for those who wonder whether what they give will live beyond the moment of its giving?
Much of the material appearing in Masonic books and magazines today was written many years ago by Brethren, most of whom lived to see some of the fruits of their efforts. Some of these burned out their candles centuries ago, but the intellectual flame that originated with them is still lighting candles for Freemasons over the world. We never can tell how far the written or spoken word may travel, not what candles it may light along the way. Isn't there symbolism there for those who wonder whether the service they give will live beyond the moment of performance?
Freemasonry is using a ritual which, in large part, was given us more than 200 years ago. Our Ancient Brethren are no longer here, but the candles they lighted gave flame that has been passed down to us of today. We never can tell how far the spoken or printed word may travel, nor what candles it may light along the way. Isn't there symbolism there for those who wonder whether the service they give will live beyond the moment of performance ?
On the Holy Altar of Freemasonry is the greatest of all Lights, the V.S.L.; inspiration of a hundred writers, or more; burning with the brilliance of a great collection of candles. Can't we vision the candle of Saint John the Evangelist, apostle of love, in exile at Patmos? Can't we vision the candle of the fiery Saint John the Baptist, sacrifice to the whim of a selfish, cruel woman? Can’t we vision the candles of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John giving us the Gospels? Can't we vision the candle of Amos, the plumb-line prophet, warning sinners of approaching destruction? Can't we vision the candle of the writer of Ecclesiastes, crying that all is vanity and warning us of approaching dissolution? Can’t we vision the candle of David slaying Goliath, becoming king of Jerusalem and writing the Psalms? Can't we vision the candle of Moses, leading the Children of Israel to the Promised Land and bringing the Tablets of Stones down from the mountain? Can't we vision the candle of Jesus the Christ giving us the Sermon on the Mount? Can't we vision all these candles, and a hundred others, passing their flame down through the centuries in the Great Book of Nature and Revelations which should be the rule and guide of our faith? Isn't there symbolism there for those who wonder whether the service they give will live beyond the moment of performance ?
All the candles in the world might be lighted by flame originating with a single candle. Candles are being lighted today by flame which originated with candles that have consumed their tallow and ceased to exist. No Freemason knows how many of his Brethren, many of them not even known to him; many not yet born; may have their lives made more complete and happier by some contribution he may make from his study and knowledge of Freemasonry.
Let us be ever ready to light another candle. Let us be ever ready to light the way for another. As a candle, from the time it is lighted until its tallow is consumed, burns with undiminished flame, so let us, in our devotion to Freemasonry, let our ardor burn with undiminished flame to the end.
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Every moment that inspired or was inspired by the Renaissance, philosophical, religious, ecclesiastical and political, influenced Freemasonry. Freemasonry, its rituals, its teachings, its symbolism and its allegories reaps the winnowed wisdom of all preceding religions and philosophies.
- Reynold E. Blight, F.P.S.
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With its fellowships established in every nation under heaven, its activity never ceasing night or day, its message uttered in nearly all the languages of the race but always the same message, Masonry is one of the mightiest, one of the most benign, one of the most conservative and, constructive of all forces in the world. - Masonic News (Montreal, Canada).
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New Members
George Louis Davis; 6556 N.E. Durham Ave.; Portland 11, Oregon.
John Connor Failing; 1111 Failing Building; Portland 4, Oregon.
Abraham Fellman; P.O. Box 1054; Tel-Aviv, Palestine.
Fred W. Hartman; 6301 North Commercial Ave.; Portland 11, Oregon.
Alfred Louis Heiden; Rt. 3; Harrison, Michigan.
Arthur John Kaglund; 3 Australia Street; Croyden, New South Wales, Australia.
William Furman King; 38 Drayton Street; Savannah, Georgia.
George Prentice; 10 Roman Drive; Motherwell Road; Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Jacob John Quillin; 209 S.W. Oak Street; Portland 4, Oregon.
Jean Sibelius; Jarvenpaa, Finland.
Harold Brooks Watson; P.O. Box 4771; Kansas City 3, Missouri.
* * *
Change of Address
Roger Crampon; "Te Gai Logis"; Puys Neuvilles les Dieppe; Seine Inferieure, France.
* * *
Jean Julius Christian Sibelius, M.P.S.
None of our Brethren having ever felt the charm of Sibelius' music which echoes and reflects the majestic beauty and mystery of Finland's lakes and forests, will fail to experience a thrill of pride and satisfaction on thinking that the great composer is not only a member of the Masonic Fraternity but has written special music to be played during Masonic ceremonies and is even now working on further compositions for the use of Masonic Lodges.
The members of the Philalethes Society will be particularly proud to know that Brother Sibelius has presented to the Society, through Bro. Falter W. Grandberg, M.P.S., Worshipful Master of St. Henrick Lodge No. 5, of Helsinki, a bound volume containing manuscripts of Ritualistic music composed by our great Brother for use within a tiled Masonic Lodge. Jean Julius Christian Sibelius, to give him his full name, is now a member of the Philalethes Society. He was born at Tavastehus, Finland, on December 8, 1865, studied music in Berlin and Vienna, and is a member of the Musical Academy of Stockholm. He won universal fame by his music to the tragedies Kuolema and King Christian II, and by the many splendid orchestral pieces which he composed, among them "Karelia" and "Finlandia," and a number of symphonies and songs. - L. F.
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By John Urzidil, M.P.S., Jackson Heights (L.I.), N.Y.
The psychological re-education of the European nations that have been infested with fascist principles and ways of life, i.e. mainly of the Germans and the Italians, is generally looked upon as the essential post-war task. Technically, this plan is to be carried out by a host of democratic teachers who are to pour into Europe, as missionaries as it were, from the homelands of democracy, chiefly from the United States, and to exert a decisive influence on the education of youth and the readjustment of the adults. These democratic educators, whether they be Americans, or better still, Americanized Europeans, must be familiar with the political, social, economic and cultural conditions in their future fields of activity. Above all, they must know exactly which are the positive facts and ideas extant which have played a part in the life of the European nations and which might be adopted as starting points and possibly be put to world effectually for democracy. For the project would be scarcely promising if Europeans who know little about western democracy were to be abruptly confronted with the symbols of America's factual and ethical greatness. Franklin, Washington and Lincoln are impressive instances of the American conception of what life should be. When the ideas of these men are used to influence Europeans infected with fascism, a connecting and utilizable link must first be established between them and the traditional values in the respective European countries. The primary and essential task of Europe's future educators will be to emphasize these traditional values which exist potentially in all European nations and which have but temporarily been buried.
It will not be possible to organize this educational system in Europe and to set it going merely with the aid of touring lecturers, itinerant teachers, and committees controlling the curricula and methods of instruction. It must begin with a number of well-organized headquarters methodically distributed throughout the countries and capable of furnishing the students not only with instruction, but also with tangible practical prospects of life. The two criteria, consisting in the system of democratic instruction and in the advantages provided by it, must be put clearly into relief, and must be obvious to everybody. For no one will want to learn something which he does not expect to be of use in his future life.
It would, therefore, be a very appropriate measure if by order of the future treaties of peace, a network of International Universities were instituted all over Europe the object of which would be to form the spiritual link and intermediary between the various nations and their cultural traditions and values. Their subject would not include specialized sciences as such, not mathematics, philology, medicine, physics, etc., but comparative sciences and civilizations taught as a superstructure on the basis of precedent specialization and in the spirit of democracy and western humanitarianism. In this manner the International Universities would counteract the isolating tendencies of nationalized schooling and civilization. Professor Philipp Leonard, for instance, who had been awarded the Nobel prize, wrote "German Physics." The International Universities would have to teach comparative physics, to show where the great discoveries in the sphere of physics originated, and in what manner the great synthesis of the world's knowledge in physics was brought about. This principle, namely that of teaching world sciences, would be also applied to all other branches. It would, furthermore, be the object of the International Universities to advance polynguistic facility among their students. It would be compulsory for every student to acquire at least the elements of three languages in addition to his mother tongue - English, French and one Slav language if he were a German. The students might be permitted to suit themselves in selecting the languages as, in general, they might be given the greatest liberty of choice in the subjects. Admission to those International Universities, the staff of which would be international, would not be nationally restricted. On the contrary, the community of the students of diverse nationalities should be promoted to the fullest extent while, naturally, it should be ruled that two thirds of the students registered in an International University in Germany be Germans. The International Universities should be institutions of the people, operated without tuition fees and principally on international funds. No internationally recognized academic degree would be available to a student of former fascist territory save by graduation from an International University. No other diploma would enable him to practice any profession, including teaching. It would be precisely this regulation that would make it advantageous for the students to attend the International Universities.
Thus there would come into being a class of European intellectuals who would be conscious of the inner correlation of world culture, who would answer the requirements for leading and responsible positions and who, due to their knowledge of languages and extensive training in their special fields, would be capable of initiating the friendly intercourse of the minds. The moment of the student's setting out on his career need not be considerably postponed by the length of time required for his curriculum in an International University. If the basis were five years elementary and seven years of secondary schooling plus four or five years of specialized training in an university, a student might, after three or more years, be graduated from an International University at the age of 25 or 26. The students' general studies at the International University might be complemented by practical or theoretical finishing courses in their special fields. It is self-evident that. if such International Universities were indeed instituted, the curricula of the other schools, starting with the lowest grades, would have to be adjusted to the requirements of the superstructure. For example, more extensive linguistic studies would have to begin as early as in the secondary schools and it would be there, too, that certain foundations of the sciences and comparative culture would have to be laid under the direction of an international staff. A student working for his graduation from an International University, which alone would assure an unrestricted field of future activity to him and, consequently, the best ways and means of making money, should be able to enjoy the benefits of the most diverse scholarships and funds. There is no need to worry about the amount of money to be raised. Every country will be able to contribute a certain portion, and for those which are principally interested it will always be profitable to invest large sums in institutions which serve to prevent future wars, rather than to economize and then to be compelled to expend-infinitely more in the barren waging of a war. It is, however, obvious that the International Universities must not become the property of the states and of the individual nations, but that they should always and in every respect remain inter-, i.e., supra-national. There is nothing that has contributed more to the hostility of nations, their lack in mutual understanding and their mutual isolation than has the spirit of the nationalized universities and of their teaching staffs, particularly in Europe.
It should be the International Universities' task to foster science, art, and culture on an ethical, humanitarian basis, globally as it were. The student should learn that people are also living behind the mountains, i.e., that there is a world existing beyond his own. Just as by comparative linguistics it is possible to prove the correlation of innumerable linguistic phenomena in languages which are apparently unrelated, most of which, however, can be shown to have sprung from a common root, so fundamental relationships can also be detected in all other spheres of knowledge and of cultural phenomena. Nobody denies that differences do exist, and surely they should not be concealed; but being aware of them we should use them as tools in embossing all the more conspicuously the linking factors and those which are common to all. The International Universities are to do for the educated of all countries, while they are still students, what the international scientific congresses of the various branches and the specialists all over the world have striven for. Only thus will it be possible to eradicate the presumptuous national vanity which for centuries has again and again been exalting one nation beyond all others, thus establishing the principle of privileged as well as of inferior groups ; which, of necessity, ultimately leads a nation to believe that it must govern and enslave the others. If one considers the abolition of the custom barriers as the basis of sound international economic life, and if the accessibility to all sources of the raw materials to all countries is solemnly proclaimed as the fundamental principles of future world peace, surely the abolition of the spiritual barriers and the accessibility to the world's values of the mind should be of at least the same, nay, of much greater importance.
The task of working out a practicable and detailed plan of instruction for the future International Universities in Europe should not put the intellects on a severer test than does the drafting of complex economic or strategic plans. If, in the future, Europe is really to be cured from its fascist disease, it is the basic, essential and unescapable condition that the Nazi stigma in European education be obliterated. This can only be achieved if the students are compelled to graduate from an International University in order to win the qualification requisite for the practice of all important occupations, notably that of teaching. For it is the teachers of all categories of schools from whom good emanates as well as evil. Particularly in Germany, but also in other countries the teachers, from the school-masters up to the university professor, constituted a class which contaminated youth with the bane of hypernationalism and fascism. The education of youth begins with the education of its teachers. When, after the lapse of some time, the graduates of the International Universities will be holding the teaching position in the elementary and the secondary schools as well as in the universities, the methods of instruction, including those applied to the lowest grades and to young children, will have become internationalized, democratic and humanitarian. The interval will have to be overcome by temporary measures tending to control instruction both in the elementary and secondary grades and in the universities, and to adjust such instruction to the spirit of international democracy.
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One of the sad conditions of life is that experience is not transmissible. No man will learn from the suffering of another; he must suffer himself.
- Masonic Outlook (Cleveland, Ohio)
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Unity and harmony will promote the great end of our Society. Teamwork will produce that rhythm within the Philalethes Society which is so essential for our success, and bind us together as a unit capable of fulfilling our fondest expectations.
- Walter A. Quincke.
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When Benjamin Franklin so sagely observed that it is the worst wheel of the cart that makes the most noise, he neglected to mention that it always the wheel that makes the most noise that gets the grease. Perhaps that was an after-thought. - Temple Times.
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The ritual defines Freemasonry as a "course of ancient hieroglyphical and moral instructions, taught according to ancient usage, by types, emblems and allegorical figures," and "a regular system of morality veiled in allegory, which will unfold its beauties to the candid and industrious inquirer." - Silas H. Shepherd.
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It is just like an organ: there are white keys and black keys, and both are needed to produce great harmonies and inspired music. So it is with the races of mankind. All are needed and God has a place for every man, no matter what color his skin may be.
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Success in any endeavor is work.
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By Leo Fischer, F.P.S., Alhambra, Calif.
SWITZERLAND. The October 1946 issue of Alpina the official organ of the Swiss Grand Lodge ALPINA, contains the report of the Grand Secretary of that Body for the year 1945. In the preface of the same, Grand Secretary Jakob Buehler says proudly:
"Let us forget what we suffered as Masons during the years preceding the war, and during the war. We only desire to affirm, and we do so with proud satisfaction, that Swiss Masonry successfully withstood all adversities and remained unperturbed in the face of the numerous slanders and threats by dubious elements who were subsequently brought to justice as traitors to their country. Under the guise of war against Masonry, malevolent and misguided individuals, some of whom were in the service of foreign ideologies, made the first attempt to break down our liberties. That attempt resulted in failure. A different outcome of the defensive struggle which the organizations attacked by them, chief among them the Grand Lodge Alpina, had to carry on, would have been the fatal beginning of the undermining of our national independence."
Grand Secretary Buehler reports great activity in the work for the relief of distress among the many thousands of refugees from the neighboring countries devastated by the war. The Lodges all contributed large sums towards the general relief fund, the Schweizer Spende. The relief organization Humanitas in Basel was especially active in behalf of the starving children in Holland. Foreign Masons in distress who found themselves stranded in Switzerland received generous relief.
A solemn Lodge of Sorrow was held on April 27th by Lode Modestia cum Libertate in Zurich for our Brother Franklin D. Roosevelt. The bi-centenary of the great philanthropist and educator Pestalozzi was observed by the Swiss Lodges, who will no doubt contribute generously to the Pestalozzi village for refugee children now being built in Trogen.
The clerical work of the Grand Lodge offices has for the last twenty years been carried on efficiently by an official known as the Kanzleichef. The incumbent of this office, who has in the meantime retired, Bro. Fritz Mueller-Rueegg, reports an increase in the number, of initiations but adds that there has been such a great number of deaths that the total membership of the Lodges has remained practically the same during the year.
To show how heavily our Brethren in Switzerland have been taxed to relieve distress caused by the war, we quote hereunder what Bro. Gottl. Imhof, M.P.S., said on this subject in a letter to President W. A. Quincke:
"We Swiss Freemasons have for years been bearing the heavy burden of aiding the countries devastated by the war, as the spirit of our Institution demands that we should be in the front rank in that work. Our three Lodges in Basel have created an auxiliary organization, 'Humanitas, Organization of Swiss Masons for the Relief of Children in Foreign Lands,' and two years ago we included in its activities the aid to Dutch Freemasonry. Besides, owing to my large circle of acquaintances from pre-war days. I receive requests for aid from all sides: from Germany, Holland, Austria, Italy, France, etc., so that I could give my last penny away every day, I often do not know which desperate appeal for relief to answer first. I do not know if the Masons of the United States fully realize how great the distress is in Europe and what indescribable efforts we Masons are making to relieve it. How can our country with its population of four millions help over a hundred million distressed Europeans? Our soil is poor and cannot adequately support our own people. We are forced to purchase foodstuffs and raw materials from other countries at high prices. We are overrun by hundreds of tourists from abroad who eat our bread and buy up our supply of clothing and shoes. Every week trainloads of starving children arrive from abroad who are sheltered, fed and clothed at our expense. All those enormous expenses are borne by our people as a matter of course. But we are astonished when a Mr. Dalton has the effrontery to demand that the Swiss pay the cost of reconstructing the towns and countries which others destroyed !
"It takes great courage and an unlimited faith in God not to tire of the obligation which we assumed when we entered our Institution. In the old ritual, dating back to 1782, used by my Lodge, the Worshipful Master says, upon closing the Lodge: 'Oppose wrong wherever it appears; never turn your back upon distress and suffering; watch your own selves.'
"Not a week passes that I am not asked for help. I have at present a Dutch Brother and his wife with me, for recuperation, as my welcome guests. We limit ourselves more and more in our personal expenses in order to be able to help our neighbor in distress. Yet, what each of us does, nay, what the whole Swiss people is doing, is but a drop in the bucket. We in Basel see the wrecked dwellings on the other side of the frontier, and we hear at our doors the pitiful cries for bread of children who have crossed the border illegally during the night."
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BELGIUM. We read in "La Chaine d'Union" (Paris) that in Brussels the Union des Familles, created in 1911, has been re-established. Gatherings of the members of this society, made up of regular Masons and their families, are held on Sunday, either - according to the season - in some suitable recreational establishment or in the "Acacias", the picnic grove of the society in the outskirts of the capital. Concerts, tennis, bowling, billiards, and bridge for the grown people and, occasionally, dancing and amateur theatricals, and games of all sorts for the children make these all-day affairs something the Masons and their families look forward to all week.
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It ranges the ages, that Bible of yours. It contains history, adventure, poetry, drama - plus the greatest story with the greatest Character of all time.
MOST men would like to be well read. This fact has insured the success achieved by many schemes for providing cheap home libraries. Since most of what we know has come to us through books, it is well that this is so.
The wisdom and the knowledge of the ages has been preserved in print. The wit and experience of clever men today, whom we would never meet, are waiting for us on the book shelves The nursemaid and the boy at school may share a view of life which otherwise might never come to them.
Yet many are most carelessly neglectful of a complete library of books, comprising the Bible, that has long rested upon their own shelves.
There lies upon your shelf a tale of one of the first adventurers the world ever saw. A certain Chaldean farmer who lived in Ur grew restless. Leaving the safety of the settled life he knew, he wandered forth into lands where languages were different and customs strange, the country cold, uncertain. Sweeps of wilderness, ranges of barren mountains, and here and there wellwatered plains came into his view. His encounters with foreign kings, the increase of his wealth, his family, his flocks and herds, the story of his walk beneath the stars one deep, clear night, and his visions of the future provide a tale more exhilarating and uplifting than any that the popular novelist ever wrote.
A story with pathos is the story you possess of a nation suddenly set free after 400 years of grinding slavery in which they could not call their souls their own. Their groping after national life, their need for laws and worship of their own, their wanderings from land to land in search of a national home, their development of hygienic living, and of a legal system of laws and judgments and punishments, their growing-pains of revolt and revolution before they achieved full stature as a nation, form a tale more deeply stirring than any modern story.
More than one literary treasure has been produced by a prodigy, but surely no other herdman ever wrote anything more beautiful than the book which contains all the scents and sounds of the country in its message: "As if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand against a wall and a serpent bit him. .... When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured them."
It comes as a great surprise to hear the author of a charming story afterward explain: "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit."
History is fascinating for most people, but few histories are so complete as the one which you possess. The first of the sixty-six Books which are yours if you own a Bible goes right back to the beginning and tells the story of the first day and night, the first sigh and tear, the first pain, the first death, how sin began, and punishment, and the first city built in sin. And the last of these varied Books, written fourteen hundred years later, projects the story into the future, to a time and a place where there is no night (for God Himself is the light of it, and they have no need of the sun by day or the moon by night), and no sighs or tears, pain or death. It describes the last city, which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God, and tells how there shall bee no sin there, for nought that defileth or maketh a lie shall ever enter in.
This wonderful Library of yours ranges the ages - from eternities past to ages to come. It contains history, adventure, poetry, drama. There are tales of highland battles between rival kings, with caves and skirmishes and assassinations all complete. There are family quarrels and good men going wrong; tales of love and loyalty, and psychological studies covering the whole gamut of human behavior.
There is a birdseye view of centuries in which the fortunes of a family or a nation take on their true perspective. There are the thoughts of scholars and golden words which came from illiterate countrymen - all in your Bible, waiting to be read - literary treasures of all time, gems of wisdom from the past, short stories of wayward - sons and fathers who are always forgiving.
The greatest story of the ages is told in wonderful detail: how the Lord and King of Glory left His unbounded place and lived on earth so men could speak of a time "Before Christ," and count their dates from the time of His birth; who took upon Himself the form of man - the High and Lofty One inhabiting Eternity, cradled in a manger and growing up to manhood's height; the God who said that He would dwell in the thick darkness, limiting Himself to one town or village at a time; and how at last the Prince of Life knew death and by His rising on the third day took from the grave its victory.
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Both were faced with a divided country, but both believed in the essential unity of the American mind and ideal
THE month of February brings round the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Of all American statesmen these are the two whose personalities and public deeds are greatest in world renown and most revered by the people of foreign lands. They are the twin peaks of our national story.
Superficially, Washington has been reckoned with the aristocrats, while Lincoln is regarded as a son of the soil but both were men of noble breed. When you see a great moral leader arise free of pettiness and personal ambition, you can always predicate that he springs from good stock - a thoroughbred comes from no other. Not that this is an exclusive term, for clean and simple and good stock exists everywhere and is constantly replenished, even though most of it is undistinguished publicly Lincoln's family line took a long downward curve through lowly life for several generations, and emerged again in leadership, but its original strength and quality has not been lost.
Nevertheless, these two men in their carriage and career were in sharp contrast. Washington ripened without the toughening experience of struggle; from the age of 19 he had command of men and the management of affairs; his powers were immediately equal to every test that Destiny laid on him. Lincoln attained his stature by continuous exertion and defeat and difficult. For 52 years Destiny hammered him on the anvil of discipline in preparation for four brief years of public service, and at 56 he was dead. Washington was a stately man, urbane, of equal mood and temper; Lincoln was homespun, humorous and melancholy by turn, haunted by a sense of the mystical overtone in things. Washington was austere, and amongst all the men he knew had no familiar; Lincoln laughed and lived with high and low alike - a homely man whom generals sometimes snubbed and cabinet members underestimated. In spite of his life of ceaseless action, Washington never moves us with a sense of drama Lincoln, a man of little action, seems a dramatic and a tragic figure at every stage of his career. And then there is their contrast as to quotability; it would be difficult off hand for most of us to recall a word George Washington ever said or wrote, but the speeches and inaugurals and letters and sayings of Abraham Lincoln make him the most quotable of our public men, and his writings, in at least three instances, by sheer beauty and truth, have attained to immortality.
Their contrasts, however, are superficial; their likeness to each other went deeper. Both were faced with a divided country, but both believed in the essential unity of the American mind and ideal. Their mission was to reunite, not further widen the rift of class and section. They believed in the importance of the American nation to the world, and considered no price too great to maintain that nation's integrity. Washington was the unifying force that drew 13 bickering Colonies into a Constitutional Union because he believed that this nation indivisible was the one hope for constitutional liberty in the world. But up to Lincoln's time full Union was not attained, and to understand that this was not an academic matter we need only visualize this continent with no United States - the Ohio River dividing two nations north and south, with perhaps the Mississippi bounding a third nation to the West - the United States that was-to-be severed and helpless. Well, that evil hap did not occur. The dream of George Washington, delayed for his day and generation, came true in 1865, and since that time, whatever else our Country may be, it has been a true Union.
Another likeness existed between these men: they were competent, but not clever, men; they did not precipitate great issues; they wisely waited the event. Eight months before The took command of the Continental Army, Washington said that no one in North America was thinking of Independence, yet in eight months circumstances forced him to fight for Independence. Lincoln till almost near the end believed there could have been some other way than war to cement the Union. But on moral issues neither man ever suffered a moment's trepidation or doubt, never trifled with what he believed to be right. Neither talked of power or craved it; what power they had was thrust upon them and instantly relinquished when the need was post. The American people of Washington's and Lincoln's times retained a wholesome suspicion of public power and reduced it to the minimum necessary for maintaining peace and order in the land.
Thus, through duty done without the slightest taint of self-aggrandizement, both these men came to be the personalities by whom the world chiefly judges our nation.
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HERE in a nutshell, are time -tested rules for improving one's relations with everybody. How many are you observing?
Be courteous to everyone. It pays and pays!
A pleasant smile accomplishes wonders.
Acknowledge all introductions warmly.
Extend a hearty handshake, never a flabby one.
Be sure to memorize names of everyone you meet.
Look people in the eye when conversing.
Talk with calm assurance; don't raise your voice.
Shun idle gossip; never meddle in personal affairs.
Be tolerant
Be a good listener; respect others' viewpoints.
Avoid arguments; keep calm even when provoked.
Be a booster; praise generously; criticize tactfully.
Don't try to justify or alibi your mistakes.
When you're wrong, admit it frankly, promptly.
Show that you appreciate all favors, large or small.
Say "thank you!" expressively, not just politely.
Be sympathetic, but never seek sympathy.
Make your word respected by keeping promises.
Be punctual.
Walk erectly, confidently; don't slouch.
Radiate friendliness, enthusiasm, good will!