April - May,1952
Contents
Unrealized Ideals AN ESTABLISHED ORDER IN A CHANGING ERA
THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION PARAPHRASED CHARITY VAUNTETH NOT ITSELF
HOW ANCIENT IS FREEMASONRY ? Delayed Action
NEWS OF THE SOCIETY THE LETTER ' G '
TRANSIENT FORM
PROBLEMS or PURPOSES
Man is an incorrigible dreamer, but his realizations are limited. Nothing is more tragic than the contrast between his ambition and his attainment. He struggles all his days toward some end, but before he realizes it death snatches him away from the scene of his endeavor. Mr. Barrie said, "The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story but writes another, and his most humiliating moment is when he compares the volume as it is with what he intended to make it." We plan a saint and produce the most commonplace Christian. We have boundless aspirations and humiliating realizations.
Why is life so full of withheld completions? Would it not be better to choose ideals that were more easily attained and spare ourselves the disappointment of failure?
When we study the teachings of Jesus, we discover that He was always setting standards that were beyond the reach of human attainment. "Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect." "Love your enemies. Bless those that persecute you, and pray for those that dispitefully use you." Why does Christianity hold out ideals that are beyond attainment?
First, because happiness requires this for its completeness. It may seem to be a paradox, but it is true that happiness requires for its perfecting the desire to be still happier. Give a person everything and he immediately seeks for something outside of everything. We are never happy when standing still. Happiness is a byproduct of pursuing a goal.
But there is a larger reason. We cannot be stationary. We are either progressing or retrograding. He who is satisfied never seeks anything better. We advance only under the stimulus of the unattained. George Herbert called dissatisfaction, ''The pulley of God by which man is drawn toward infinite and eternal good." To be at its best, life must be on the stretch for something better. The old deacon unconsciously approached this principle when he prayed that his pastor might be "ever learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth." A noble discontent has marked the grandest souls of time. Those who have accomplished most are always filled with a sense of incompleteness. Our greatest good is not in finding but in seeking. The call of life is to the impossible. A life that falls short of a great ambition is better than one that realizes a small ambition. Better leave a half finished temple than a finished hovel. He evils accomplish very little who has not a dreamladder set up against the sky.
There is another explanation of unrealized ideals. We are molded into their likeness even though we fail to attain their outward expression. From the pursuit of impossible ideals have come the sweetest, strongest souls of earth. Struggle is the artist's brush which paints upon the canvas of the soul the ideal for whose outward expression it is striving. The holy visions, which we pursue and which elude our grasp, hide themselves in our souls, It is not the thing which we outwardly achieve but the thing we try to achieve that determines our worth. Better strive for some great thing, though we leave it uncompleted when the sun goes down, than to fill our lives with many little things that are attained because the ideal we pursue will produce in us its spiritual expression.
Another thing adds zest to our struggle. This life is only to give us start and direction. There is within us the power of an endless life. He works effectively who works eternally. This truth rescues life from the pathos of the unfinished. Through the eyes of this fact we may gaze into the mists and mysteries of everlasting time, and know that the purposes, which here we form, and the processes, which here we start, will go on, and that forever we will be approaching the unapproachable God. Beyond the grave the tangled threads of life will be grasped in the hands of a stronger and longer purpose, and the impossible ideals for which we struggled will there be realized and larger ones be pursued. The realest thing about a person is his ideal. The body will die, but the ideal belongs to the soul and will pass on with it into the eternal.
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AN ESTABLISHED ORDER IN A CHANGING ERA
By William A. Thaanum, M.P.S.
Conrad, Montana
THE INCREASED use of mechanical tools, the progress of science, and the additional leisure brought to so many people, have during the past generation, made necessary a complete reconstruction of many of the basic ideas which governed society prior to this time. The natural abilities of many men and women have found a remarkable opportunity under this new system to build industrial empires which, in many respects, bear strong resemblances to the old feudal systems of the medieval times, not all of which were tyrannical in nature, but of which the majority were joint efforts for mutual safety and advancement. However, where the leadership has been blind to the real needs of those led, where the leadership has been selfishly greedy at the expense of the majority of workers linked with them in their enterprise, there has, following the universal pattern from the beginning of time fostered by man's primitive fight to survive, festered, within those burdened beyond their capacity to bear, a boiling indignation which eventually exploded in organized revolution in one form or another. Out of these revolutions have come the greatest strides toward freedom.
The present trend of revolution, whether basically sound or not, is to substitute for these individual groups, which have carved out for themselves peculiar benefits by their own progress and leadership, a tempo of achievement geared to the strength and ability of the weakest member. There has arisen a fanatical concern for the welfare of the weak in society, for the weak in the family of nations, for those handicapped by heredity and geographic situation, and out of this concern the ambitious and selfish prototype of the medieval baron and the industrial overlord now insists that the care of the weak must be consigned to his direction and their progress and welfare entrusted to his control and authority.
Again, not all of these self-styled leaders imposing their own controls on the peoples of the world are damaging to the progress of the human race. Many of them are real leaders and advancing the present civilization beyond anything heretofore enjoyed. However, selfish greed and lust for power, on such scale as the world has never seen before, has been engendered by the new changed ideas of social relationships, and has permitted the usurpation of dictatorial powers to the detriment of large groups in perhaps key positions in the world.
No one great organization, however noble its aims, however charitable it work, however enlightening its program - and we have many of these dedicated to progress and improvement - is entirely free from this stigma of abuses of authority, and in some cases criminal embezzlement of public property to private use. It has never been possible to produce any group of organized leaders entirely free from some taint. The exercise of authority and power over others brings with it too many opportunities for channeling for private benefit the use of the efforts of those governed or the confiscation of their property or freedoms. The greater the power, the greater its abuse.
Many great institutions have been founded in an endeavor to bring to the world a pattern of behavior which would make for the best in social relations, morally and materially. The patterns of the beliefs of some of these vary only in a slight degree from each other, and all were conceived to follow the highest ideals to which man can strive, as religions, ideologies and philosophies. Some realistically accept the challenge of the fight against evil in the world and, with all their efforts, are concerned in a gradual betterment, hoping eventually to reach their goals. Others rely on a system of antique superstitions and spiritual suppressions to maintain a status quo, which the leaders impose on their group by limiting their education within the confines of their own narrow beliefs, and by commanding obedience to tenets, the existence of which was fostered by leaders determined that to a few alone were knowledge and authority to be available.
Freemasonry has its place in the structure of society today, as it has for so many ages gone by, and the teachings it inculcates are as old as the family of men. Freemasonry recommends to its votaries a search for the truths which are eternal, and in such search demands that they follow their highest ideals. Freemasonry endorses charity as the outcome of love, brotherhood of man as that excellent rule by which we can mutually take our appointed place in society, and the Fatherhood of God as acknowledging the Supreme Power and Authority of the Divine Creator, whose watchful care makes proper awards to those earnest in their search for Truth and faithful in the discharge of their duties. Freemasonry by its teachings tends to induce among its members a stern desire to support only those material projects, those systems of governing laws and bodies, those steps toward social freedom and advancement, which have as their foundation sound ideals and practical application to the problems they seek to solve. Freemasonry regards no man for his special privileges in material things, but only for his special abilities in the field of mental achievements and for his capacity to best work and best agree among and with his fellowmen. We are ever striving toward the light and our progress has been steady. We do not despair amidst the Chaos of present times, but with steadfast belief in the ultimate triumph of Truth, with confidence in our respect for humanity and with sympathy for and cooperation with all men of good will; we look to the future with assurance. May eventually the teachings of the Prince of Peace and the Harmony of the Universe prevail in widespread acceptance among all men.
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THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION PARAPHRASED
By V.M. Burrows, M.P.S.
Long Beach, California
N THE SEVENTH DEGREE of the Scottish Rite, known as PROVOST AND JUDGE, the lesson of Justice is inculcated; in decision and judgment, and in our intercourse and dealings with other men. That lesson is based on the Bible quotation: "Judge not, lest ye yourselves be judged; for whatsoever judgment ye measure unto others the same shall in turn be measured unto you."
In a popular modern book by Emmet Fox, entitled "The Sermon on the Mount" (published by Harper and Brothers), this subject is treated in such an interesting manner that it merits direct quotation for the benefit of all Masons. The following is from pages 118 to 120, inclusive:
"Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." If the average man understood for a single moment the meaning of these words, and really believed them to be true, they would immediately revolutionize his whole life from top to bottom; turn his everyday conduct inside out, and so change him that, in a comparatively short space of time, his closest friends would hardly know him. Whether he were the Prime Minister in the Cabinet or the man in the street, this understanding would turn the world upside down for him, and because the thing is infectious beyond computing, it would turn the world upside down for many, many others as well.
"Again and again we are struck with amazement, upon re-reading this Sermon on the Mount with a fresh mind, to find how completely its most challenging statements have been quietly ignored in practice by the bulk of the Christian world. If one did not know for a fact that these words are constantly heard in public and read in private, by millions and millions of Christians of all sorts, he would hardly believe it to be possible; for the truths which they teach seem to be the last consideration to enter into people's motives in everyday life and conduct . . . and yet they express the simple and inescapable Law of Life.
"The plain fact is that it is the Law of Life that, as we think, and speak, and act towards others, so will others think, and speak, and act towards us. Whatever sort of conduct we give out, that we are inevitably bound to get back. Anything and everything that we do to others will sooner or later be done to us by someone, somewhere. The good that we do to others, we shall receive back in like measure; and the evil that we do to others in like manner shall we receive back too. This does not in the least mean that the same people whom we treat well or ill will be the actual ones to return the action. That almost never happens; but what does happen is that at some other time or place, often far away and long afterwards, someone else who knows nothing whatever of the previous action will, nevertheless, repay it, grain for grain, to us. For every unkind word that you speak to or about another person, an unkind word will be spoken to or about you. For every time that you cheat, you will be cheated. For every time that you deceive you will be deceived. For every lie that you utter, you will be lied to. Every time that you neglect a duty, or evade a responsibility, or misuse authority over other people, you are doing something for which you will inevitably have to pay by suffering a like injury yourself. With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
"Now, is it not obvious that if only people realized all this as being literally true, it would have the profoundest influence on their conduct? Would not such an understanding do more in practice to decrease crime and raise the general moral standard of the community than all the laws ever passed by parliaments, or all the formal punishments meted out by judges and magistrates? People are very apt to think, especially when they are strongly tempted, that they can probably escape the law of the land, outrun the constable, or slip through the clutches of authority in some other way. They hope that individuals will forgive them, or else be powerless to revenge their actions; or that the thing will be forgotten sometime; or, better still, that they will never be found out at all. If however, they understood that the Law of Retribution is a Cosmic Law, impersonal and unchanging as the Law of Gravity; neither considering persons nor respecting institutions; without rancor, but without pity; they would think twice before they treated other people unjustly. The Law of Gravity never sleeps, is never off duty or off its guard, is never tired out, is neither compassionate nor vindictive; and no one would ever dream of trying to evade it or coax it, or bribe it, or intimidate it. People accept it as being inevitable and inescapable, and they shape their conduct accordingly - and the Law of Retribution is even as the Law of Gravity. Water finds its own level sooner or later, and our treatment of others returns at last upon ourselves."
Let us also be reminded of what Brother Albert Pike wrote about The Law of Retribution, many years ago. "Our moral, like our mental character, is not formed in a moment; it is the habit of our minds; the result of many thoughts and feelings and efforts, bound together by natural and strong ties. The great Law of Retribution is, that all cowing experience is to be affected by every present feeling."
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By N. W. Dellinger, M.P.S.
Cherryville, N. Carolina
DOING GOOD is the only certain action of a man's life. The very consciousness of well doing is in itself ample reward for the trouble to which we have been put. The enjoyment of benevolent acts grows upon reflection. Experience teaches this so truly that never did any person do good but he became ready to do the same again with greater, anticipated enjoyment. Never was love, gratitude or bounty practised but with increasing joy, making the practicer more in love with the fair act. If there be a pleasure on earth which angels cannot enjoy, the possession of which in almost every man they might envy, it is the power of relieving distress. If there be a pain which devils pity man for enduring, it is the death-bed reflection that he has possessed the power of doing good, but that he had abused and perverted it to purposed ill. He who has never denied himself for the sake of giving has but glanced at the joys of benevolence. The joy resulting from the diffusion of blessings to those around us is the purest and most sublime that the human mind can ever experience, and can be appreciated only by those who have enjoyed it. Next to the consolation of Divine Grace it is the sovereign balm to the miseries of life, both in him who is the subject of it, and in him who exercises it. As in all other human gifts and possessions, though they advance nature, they are subject to excess . . . for we see that by aspiring to be like God in power, the angels transgressed and fell; by aspiring to be like God in knowledge, man transgressed and fell, but by aspiring to be like God in goodness and love, neither man nor angels ever did or shall transgress, for unto that likeness we are called.
A life of passionate gratification is not to be compared with a life of active benevolence. God has constituted our natures that a man cannot be happy unless he is, or thinks he is, a means of doing good. We cannot conceive of a picture of more unutterable wretchedness than is furnished by one who knows that he is wholly useless in the world. A human being without benevolence is an imperfect being, a deformed personality. In every heart there are many tendencies to selfishness, but the spirit of benevolence counteracts them all.
In a world like this, where there are so many needy and dependent, where our interests are so interwoven, where our lives overlap and grown together, we cannot live without a well defined spirit of benevolence. We do most for ourselves when we do most for others; hence, our highest interests, even from a purely selfish point of view, are in the paths of benevolence. In a moral sense we know "that it is more blessed to give than to receive." Good deeds double in the doing, and the larger half comes back to the donor. A large heart of charity is a noble thing, and the most benevolent soul lives nearest to God. Selfishness is the root of evil; benevolence is its cure.
In no heart is benevolence more beautiful than in youth; in no heart is selfishness more ugly. To do good is noble; to be good is more noble. This should be the aim of all youth. The poor and the needy should occupy a large place in their hearts. The sick and suffering should claim their attention, and the sinful awaken their deepest pity. The oppressed and down-trodden should find a large place in their compassion. Man appears in his best light and grandest aspect when he appears as the practical follower of Him who went about doing good. He who does these works of practical benevolence is educating his moral powers in the school of earnest and glorious life. By thus laying the foundation for a noble and useful career, he is planting the seeds of charity that will grow to bless and save the suffering of our fellowmen.
Liberality consists less in giving profusely than in giving judiciously, for there is nothing that requires so strict an economy as our benevolence. Liberality, if spread over too large a surface produces no crop. If over too small it exuberates in rankness and in weeds, and yet it requires care to avoid the other extreme. It is better to sometimes be mistaken than not to exercise charity at all. Though we may chance sometimes to bestow our beneficence on the unworthy, it does not take from the merit of the act. It is not the true spirit of charity which is ever rigid and circumspect and which always mistrusts the truth of the necessities laid open to it. Be not frightened at the hard word "impostor." "Cast thy bread upon the waters" some have unawares entertained angels. A man should fear when he enjoys only what good he does publicly, lest it should prove to be the publicity rather than the charity that he loves. We have more confidence in that benevolence which begins in the home and diverges into a large humanity than in the worldwide philanthropy which begins at the outside and converges into egotism. A man should indeed have a generous feeling for the welfare of the whole world and should live in the world as a citizen of the world, but he may have a preference for that particular part in which he lives. Charity begins at home, but it may and ought to go abroad. Still, we have no respect for self-boasting charity which neglects all objects of commiseration near and around it, but goes to the end of the world in search of misery for the sake of talking about it.
Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death. One proceeds from genuine liberality and benevolence; the other by preventing his wealth doing good while he is living, prevents it doing good to himself when he is gone. By egotism that is suicidal and has a double edge, he cuts himself off from the truest pleasures here and the highest pleasures hereafter. To pass a whole lifetime without performing a single generous action till the dying hour when death unlocks the grasp upon earthly possessions is to live like the talipot palm tree of the East, which blossoms not until the last year of its life, then suddenly bursts into a mass of flowers but emits such an odor that the tree is frequently cut down to be rid of it. Even such is the life of those who postpone their munificence until the close of their days. When they exhibit a late efflorescence of generosity, which lacks the sweet smelling perfume that good deeds should possess, and when it appears, like the talipot flower, it is a sure sign that death is at hand. They surrender everything when they see they cannot continue to keep possession, and are at last liberal when they can no longer be parsimonious. The truly generous man does not wish to leave enough to build an imposing monument, since there is so much sorrow and suffering to be alleviated. They enjoy the pleasure of what they give by giving it when alive and seeing others benefited thereby.
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By Clifford W. Parkin, M.P.S.
North Hatley, Quebec, Can.
MANY EXTRAVAGANT statements which we read or hear as to the antiquity of our ancient and honorable Order, should be considered in the knowledge that TRUTH is one of our cherished and essential tenets. Antiquity is often valued far beyond its worth simply because it has long been regarded as an evidence of solid foundations. For a business to have been established for a century or more may be convincing to casual customers as indicating long observance of sound economic principles, coupled with a sincere desire to serve the best interests of the public, but unless such continuity can be supported by outside and impartial opinion as to the preservation of high standards of integrity, even a venerable age fails to support.
We are proud of the historical records of our Craft; we like to think of our connection with stirring achievements of past ages in the world of erecting stately and enduring edifices of wrought and sculptured stone, but as Speculative Freemasons we must not be led astray by idle and fanciful speculation when facts are wanted to complete a chain of logical reasoning. In a constant effort to attract attention to the importance of our organization, also when attempting to throw new light on the solid foundations on which we have erected such a wonderful superstructure of mutual understanding, some are apt to be led beyond the realm of reality into the area of interesting but unreliable imagination. Over-indulgence in such thoughts, founded on uncertainties, lead to half-beliefs, then on to faiths which often undermine that which is really believable and acceptable.
Ancient narrators and writers often engaged in the practice of spanning gaps by building mental bridges, spun from the recesses of their vivid imaginations. In ages when reliable literature was not readily available, also when few could have read even if such had been, anyone who could tell a story was eagerly listened to; generally audiences were blissfully ignorant of the circumstances and mostly wanted to be entertained; the majority had not sufficient knowledge to distinguish between what might have been true and what was unquestionably improbable.
The old tribal leader, when narrating heroic exploits and urging the young warriors to still greater efforts, would not hesitate to enlarge on past achievements. In later times, the wandering minstrel knew that the more exciting he could make his story of love and adventure, the greater hospitality he could expect. In more prosaic periods the budding writer and loquacious lecturer followed the example and made bids for public patronage by telling a little more than they actually knew. Many have heard that truth is stranger than fiction, but they will not risk a recital falling flat by telling an unvarnished tale. Hence a warning is often necessary to serious minded students of history, Masonic and otherwise, that constant care should be exercised in sifting the grain from the chaff in the grist of information from olden sources which is available for the mill of their minds. Over-statement and undue emphasis are abhorrent to philosophers and scientists; they prefer to mull quietly over ascertained facts and data, then after due consideration they can pass unbiased judgment as to relative values. Young students of our literature concerning old records are well advised to follow such examples.
A well-known Masonic authority has agreed with this precaution by quoting the remarks of a prominent university man as to the character of some researchers into the history of Freemasonry. Said he: "Its origins are both obscure and highly controversial." Notwithstanding such fact, he stated that the subject was a happy hunting ground for the fanciful and unscholarly mind . . . "even those bordering on the lunatic fringe . . ." Such a sweeping condemnation would be highly resented by many earnest students in the Craft were they not aware that there was much truth in the reproof.
Writers and lecturers often fail sadly to distinguish between the backgrounds of Ancient Operative Craft Masonry and the circumstances under which Speculative Freemasonry developed. We must admit that many accretions were written into the Constitutions of the early 18th century, of which the medieval stonemasons were blissfully unaware.
If we, as upholders of the great principles of our institution wish to continue as well instructed brethren, let us firmly beware of being misled. When enthusiastic but ill-informed supporters of antedeluvian or other wild theories claim our assistance in spreading information as to possible beginnings of Speculative Freemasonry, let us apply the same principles of testing for truth as we would use in other matters. When we read, for instance, of Nimrod being one of the founders of Masonry, and are confronted with the Old Constitutions as evidence of fact, we should first realize that Nimrod is named as a mighty hunter in Genesis 10; he lived about 2300 B.C., which was about 1,300 years before the building of King Solomon's Temple. Next we may be surprised that a hunter was associated with the ancient Craft. From Mackey's Encyclopedia however we learn that Nimrod was also considered to be the architect of many cities, including Nineveh. Under the alternative name of Nembroth the Cooke MS is presumed to refer to this same Nimrod as having begun the famous Tower of Babylon where he taught his workmen the rudiments of the Masonic art. The Harleian MS goes much further and says that Nimrod was a builder and well loved the Craft; he is stated to have employed 60,000 of them and enjoined them to be true to their principles. The traditions as to the magnificence of the buildings erected under his supervision were familiar to the Arabs, Greeks, and Romans of later ages. Modern investigation have confirmed the architectural splendor and profoundly symbolical religion which then existed.
It may be that Speculative Freemasonry has inherited some of the skills and some of the philosophies which possibly have been passed from age to age orally and by crude records. However, we have nothing beyond myth and legend for all this, even as from the Biblical account of the organization attending the building of the Temple of Jerusalem in the tenth century B.C. Surely this is ancient enough to satisfy the most insistent as to antiquity. Our beliefs as to the beginnings of our Craft being linked with high standards of workmanship, just and upright conduct, fair dealings between master and workman, etc., seems to find a reasonable and understandable starting place right there at Jerusalem. A Temple dedicated to God's great and holy purposes by King Solomon, at his father's expressed wish, is a foundation on which Freemasons have in past ages built a superstructure of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth, far surpassing the importance of the original edifice of stone and timbers. Why then do we so frequently hear astounding claims as to the antiquity of our Order dating back far, far previous to the 3,000 years generally attributed. Simply because some of our number wish to shine as super-earnest upholders of the importance of the Craft. Such desires, undoubtedly arising from over-enthusiasm, are however likely to do more harm than good.
An author of this super-enthusiastic type was Brother, the Rev. George Oliver, D.D., an Englishman of undoubted literary ability, but endowed by a too vivid imagination to receive full credit for his attempted contributions to Masonic history. His entry into the literature of the Craft was marked by his volume entitled: "The Antiquities of Freemasonry, comprising Illustrations from the Creation of the World to the Dedication of K.S.T." This was published in 1823 and must have made a great impression on the credulous. Believing that Freemasonry dated from the earliest periods of Biblical history, he had little hesitation in stating that Seth had taught the science to his descendants, from whom it passed on through Noah to King Solomon. It was later admitted by his critics that the innocent brother had accepted without hesitation many crude theories from previous writers (who probably knew as little as he did on the subject), also that he had recognized legends as authentic which subsequent researchers rejected. This shows the extent to which supporters of the antiquity theories will go, also the danger which they create for serious seekers of the truth.
Even on this North American continent, where legend and folk-lore are usually submitted to close scrutiny before whole or partial acceptance, we have instances of sensational writers occasionally causing a flurry among Masonic students bookmaking extravagant assertions as to the great antiquity of our Order. Recently a widely read Masonic monthly posed the astounding question as to whether Masonry might have originated more than 150,000 years ago on a continent not now existing but thought to have been submerged by the ocean in past ages. The question of civilization having then advanced sufficiently to have produced men capable of organizing such a Craft as ours was lightly disposed of. The point at issue seems to have centered on which lost continent was responsible for introducing Freemasonry to North America or Europe. It was claimed that there were two such mythical lands; one in the Atlantic and the ether in the Pacific; both disappeared many eras ago; scientists cannot agree that such areas ever existed, but that did not prevent our imaginative writers posing as super-historians and regaling their brothers with their fanciful theories.
It would seem that the late Brother Douglas Knoop, a most conscientious seeker after what is reasonably true in Masonic history, was very conscious of the gibe uttered by the fact-loving college student of history, previously quoted. Most of us love and cherish our great inheritance of symbolism, philosophy and ethics far too much to have any irresponsible members risking its origins by flourishing unreasonable opinions as to its beginnings, development or present status.
Our Ritual is well-established on the premise of the Order having originated in the building of the Great Temple on Mount Moriah about ten centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ. It describes certain happenings there which are vividly impressed on our minds; so much so that any suggestion of previous existence of the Craft in tangible form as an organization for the advancement of respect for God's ways and observance of the moral laws, or any other combination of right-living ethics or philosophy is hard to conceive, bearing in mind the state of semibarbarism of preceding ages. We admit that much of the early history of the Craft is legendary; much of its ceremonial and teachings are unsupported by actual records of ancient usage. However, we value it for what it is and what it has done, and still is doing for humanity. Why then try to establish a greater antiquity?
As far as manual skills are concerned we believe that operative principles of construction have steadily developed from primitive beginnings in prehistoric times. The ruins of ancient structures still amaze us when we realize the human ingenuity and vast amount of muscular energy which must have been expended in creating them. Having regard to the moral instruction which Speculative Freemasonry seeks to impart, we cannot conceive that the system of forced labor on which many of them depended could have been associated with any ideas propagating the virtues of Brotherly Love, Relief, or Truth. It is evident that the skills and arts of Operative Masonry dating from the mists of antiquity were practiced with a view to providing for ambitious requirements. Probably there have existed from time immemorial other schools of thought whose endeavors were in the direction of spiritual development and uplift of the mind. The records of prophets and priests, of philosophers and poets, of orators and leaders all indicate that there has been a constant urge to seek solutions of human problems and to point better ways of living.
The great achievement of certain constructive and progressive minds in the early part of the 18th century was that they were able to convince others that the time had come for blending the appreciation of constructive manual skills with a desire to practice the virtues which ancient teachers had advocated. To the sturdy standards of high-class workmanship of the Ancient Operative Stonemasons they added a summarization of the best ethics and moral philosophy then known. A secular art and a spiritual ambition; different forms of human aspiration; each the outcome of ages of striving since the dawn of civilization, yet having developed along different channels of progress, such have been combined in the Operative Art and Speculative Science which we have in modern Freemasonry. Its value is not to be determined by its ancientness, but in the possibilities which it affords us.
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"THE PHILALETHES"
Volume 7 - April-May, 1952 - Number 4
Published by The Philalethes Society, 352 Sycamore Road, Santa Monica, California.
HAROLD H. KINNEY, F.P.S
President and Editor
Publication schedule: Eight (8) issues per year or Volume - January, February, March, May (April-May), July (June-July), September (August-September), November (October - November ), and December: No Advertising in and form solicited or accepted.
"The Philalethes" is the official publication of The Philalethes Society founded October 1, 1928 and formed solely by independent thinkers. All articles appearing in its columns express the ideas and opinions of their contributors only, and in no way need they express the opinion of the Society.
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(Editorial)
IT IS A MOST MORTIFYING REFLECTION for a man to consider what he has done, compared with what he might have done. - Samuel Johnson. The right to seek Truth is based on the individual responsibility of every man, and each must account to the Source of All Things for the talents and varied activities given him in trust to be used in the interest of that humanity of which he is part. This doctrine advanced by a seeker after Truth, in one of the so-called higher degrees, is an expatiation of a charge given the Entered Apprentice in the first degree of ancient Craft Masonry, that Masons should so live that they may "exert the talents" wherewith God has blessed them, "as well to His glory as to the welfare of their fellow creatures."
Like all similar structures the Philosophy of Masonry is empirical; it is something founded upon experience. Throughout the ritual, lectures, obligations and in its symbols Masonry makes clear that its purpose is humanitarian. It is a principle from the code of conduct and responsibility that distinguished the system of humanization devised by that body of Architects and Builders which sprang out of the Roman College Artificers, passed over to the traveling Freemasons of Lombardy, and as Mackey says undoubtedly influenced the early lodges of England and Scotland, finally to become a landmark of our modern Speculative philosophy.
The Temple of Freemasonry is erected upon the cornerstone of service to others. Before a candidate is permitted to pass between the Pillars of the Porch he must avow his desire to be of service to his fellowmen. How often are these aspirations forgotten and the former candidate becomes content with ceremonials and an occasional dinner.
William James said: "The solid meaning of life is always the same eternal thing - the marriage, namely, of some ideal with some courage and endurance."
If each member of our Society were to daily exert his God-given talents for the welfare of others, the faculties, powers, capacities, and accomplishments represented in our membership would be a most potent force for good, felt in every hemisphere of the world.
The Masonic experience and education represented in our membership aggregates several thousand years of thinking, training, and work. It is probable there are a few who cannot physically do more than they are doing, or have done, yet there must be many who could do more.
Let us look about us and see where we can put our talents to greater use in making this a better world. "No one can cherish an ideal, devote himself to its realization, strive and struggle and make sacrifices for its attainment, without undergoing a certain gracious transformation; of which the highest powers must be aware, and which men can hardly miss."
- Harold H. Kinney, F.P.S.
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New Members
HAMILCAR SMITH, Santa Monica, California. (Recommended by Harold H. Kinney, F.P.S. )
JOHN C. KOST, JR., Roswell, New Mexico. (Recommended by Harold H. Kinney, F.P.S.)
M. ELTINGE GORE, M.D., Orange, New Jersey. (Recommended by Harold V. B. Voorhis, F.P.S.)
JAMES STEVE SKUFAKISS, Hammond, Indiana. (Recommended by Alphonse Cerza, M.P.S.)
GEORGE W. TOFT, Mitchell, So. Dakota. (Vouched for by Bro. Alex R. Stirling, Secy. of Resurgam Lodge No. 31, A.F. & A.M., Mitchell, So. Dakota.)
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Recent visitors whose calls upon the President of the Society were most enjoyable and greatly appreciated were Brother Philip H. Coad, F.P.S., and Mrs. Coad, from Berea, Ohio, and Brother Harry E. H. Grant and Mrs. Grant, of Mountain View, California.
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The many friends of Brother Allister J. McKowen, F.P.S., among the membership of the Society extend to him their heartfelt sympathy and condolences over the sudden passing of his wife Dorothy earlier this month. The Society was represented at the funeral by the President.
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Hamilcar Smith, one of our new members, was installed Most Illustrious Grand Master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of the State of California, April 16, 1952 in Sacramento. A cast of 50 companions from his own Council, Alpha No. 39, made the trek to Sacramento, to exemplify the Super Excellent Master Degree in his honor before a class of 166 candidates.
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Books and Pamphlets Received
The Square and Compass, a Journal of Masonry, Vol. 61, No. 3, published in Denver Colorado, and edited by Edward E. Hedblom, P.M., F.P.S.
Short Talk Bulletin, "Ten Masonic Prayers," Vol. 30, No. 5 for May, 1952, published by the Masonic Service Association, Washington 1, D.C.
Transactions of the Masters and Past Masters Lodge No. ;30, Vol. 11, No. 20, March 1952, published in Christchurch, New Zealand, V.W. Bro. Dr. Ross Hepburn. F.P.S Editor
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VOYLE M. BURROWS 32 KCCH, M.P.S.
Brother Voyle M. Burrows, whose likeness appears on the cover of this issue was born in Charleston, Iowa, February 28, 1889. He passed his boyhood years in Milroy, Rush County, Indiana. He is a graduate of Indiana University, Department of Chemistry, receiving his degree of A.B. in 1914.
His first activities in the business world were those of development chemist and department foreman for a number of large firms situated in Badin, No. Carolina, Cleveland, Ohio, Niagara Falls, and Clarksburg, West Virginia. Later turning to sales work, Brother Burrows became the Cleveland Sales Manager of the Darnell Corporation, a company having its head office in Long Beach, California. Subsequently moving to Long Beach, he became foreman of the Rubber Division of this Corporation, which position he occupied for several years.
During World War II he was employed in the inspection division of the California Ship Building Corporation. Since the war he has been employed by the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in the Long Beach - Los Angeles Harbor areas, being now identified with the Maritime Patrol.
Brother Burrows is a veteran of World War I, having been commissioned a Lieutenant of Engineers, serving in France. He is a member of the American Legion in Long Beach, Calif., and is a Past Commander of Lakewood Post No. 66, of the American Legion in Lakewood, Ohio.
Our Brother was raised in Indianapolis Lodge No. 669, F. & A.M. on September 3, 1914. At present he is a member of All States Lodge No. 593, F. & A.M., Long Beach, California. He received his Scottish Rite degrees, during 1917-18 while receiving military training in Charlotte, N.C., and Meridian, Mississippi. He is now a member of the Scottish Rite bodies in the Valley of Long Beach, where in January 1952 he received the decoration of K.C.C.H. in recognition of his services to further Masonic education.
Brother Burrows is one of Masonry's prolific and indefatigable writers. During the past ten years over twenty of his articles have appeared in the New Age. At the same time he has been a regular contributor to numerous Masonic publications in the states of Washington, Idaho, Virginia, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Indiana.
The development of Masonic Study Clubs has received Brother Burrows' especial attention. With Brother W. T. Corbusier, M.P.S., he conducts the Long Beach Study Club and Scottish Rite Forum, and over a period of three years furnished articles on Masonic education published in Masonic Historiology.
In addition to his membership in The Philalethes Society, which is of years standing, Brother Burrows has been an active member of The National Masonic Research Society since 1916.
Our Brother makes his home at 924 Hoffman Ave., Long Beach 4, California. He is married to the former Emmie Stanley of Meridian, Mississippi. Their marriage is the result of a Masonic romance which occurred while he was receiving his Scottish degrees in Meridian, Miss. Miss Stanley, whose parents were active in Masonic affairs in Meridian, met Bro. Burrows while assisting in serving the meals to the candidates. They were later married in Rushville, Ind., just before his embarkation for France. They have two married children, a son and daughter, and six grandchildren, three girls and three boys.
The "Philalethes" is proud to present the portrait of Brother Burrows on the cover of this issue.
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Good taste is essentially a moral quality. Taste is not only a part and an index of morality, it is the only morality. The first, last, and closest trial question to any living creature is, "What do you like?" and the entire object of true education is not merely to do the right things, but enjoy the right things. What we like determines what we are, and is the sign of what we are; to teach taste is inevitably to form character. - John Ruskin.
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By the late Reynold E. Blight, F.P.S.
Los Angeles, California
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Philalethes Society, as a Masonic Research group, per se, excavates from the debris of half-forgotten philosophical thoughts bits of mental structures, "models of excellence" which have been buried, and which if ''brought to light" should prove of essential service to the Craft. Among the records of the Society are a few yellowing copies of "The Master Mason", published monthly by San Diego Lodge No. 35, F. & A.M., and once the property of the late Cyrus Field Willard, F.P.S., President of The Philalethes Society 1935-1942, who was a member of the Lodge Publication Committee. In the April, 1930 issue, Vol. Vlll, No. 3, your Editor forged the following article, much too fine to be filed and forgotten in the archives, which is reprinted for the enjoyment and edification of the brethren everywhere.
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OF ALL THE SYMBOLISM of Freemasonry, those symbols which relate to mathematics are certainly the most significant. High emblazoned above the Master's choir flames the sacred letter "G", which we are told, represents Geometry. Looking back over the history of Masonic symbolism we find that the science of numbers occupied a large part in the teaching of ancient Masons. In the Old Charges, which have been traced by experts to the fourteenth century, the young Mason is strictly enjoined to make himself master of the science of numbers, especially of geometry, because it is the basis of all human achievement. Whether you build a house, throw a bridge across a roaring torrent, erect a monument to endure through the milleniums, gridiron a continent with railroads, write a poem, or sweep the vast spaces of the infinite darkness to rob the eternal spaces of their innermost secrets, you must be a master of mathematics.
Divine Expression
The ancient philosophers saw in numbers not only a means of ciphering and calculating, but read into them a divine significance. One of the greatest of all the ancient wise men was Pythagoras, and there are many Masonic students who trace much of the deeper teachings of Freemasonry to him. When the Romans were commanded by the Oracle of Delphi to erect a statue to the wisest of the Hellenes, they chose Pythagoras for the statue. This wise old Athenian declared, "All things are in numbers. The world is a living arithmetic in its development - a realized geometry in its repose."
Plutarch tells us that Plato was once asked how God employed his time, and he replied, "God is always geometrizing." Elsewhere Plato remarks that "Geometry rightly treated is the knowledge of the Eternal," and over the porch of his Academy at Athens he put the inscription: "Let no one who is ignorant of geometry enter my doors."
Figures Not Cold
Now because Freemasonry sets such store by mathematics and bids its disciples learn the principles of the science of numbers, let it not be thought that Masonry regards life and the world in a hard, grim, literal and mechanistic manner. It must be remembered that mathematics is used by Freemasonry as a symbol of moral and spiritual truth, and if its meaning is to be known, geometry must be idealized; it must be used not so much for the mathematical truth it reveals, but as a representation of a deeper truth.
This is where the enlightened imagination must do its work. The Right Hon. George J. Goschen, the famous Scottish statesman and economist, once said: "The whole study of geometry is an imaginative study. The lines with which geometry deals are not the imperfect lines that are drawn upon the paper or slate, but the ideal lines that have length without breadth, and which therefore can exist only in the imagination. No man has ever seen or will ever see a circle or a square which complies with the definition of a circle or a square. The thing defined exists only in the imagination, and every problem in geometry involves the exercise of that faculty. The use of the imaginative faculty is so much a part of our normal habits of thought that we scarcely realize that our imagination is at work at all."
Its Significance
Let us therefore ask ourselves the question: What is the moral significance of geometry? What is the spiritual meaning of mathematics? By the application of the rules laid down in the science of numbers the Operative Mason of earlier years learned how to lay off angles and triangles and invoke those principles upon which edifices and structures are erected. The Speculative Mason of this later day uses mathematics to discover the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of the Grand Artificer of the Universe, and demonstrate the more important truths of morality.
The first lesson we learn from the study of mathematics is that this is a perfect universe. The cosmos in itself is a thing of beauty, of truth, and of joy. It is a glorious representation of its Makers who looked upon the work of his hands and rejoiced to see that it was good. And the universe is consistent with itself. It is a perfect symphony. The cosmos is permeated with a transcendent music, the seeming discords of shadow and loss, of limitation and decay, are but the dissonances necessary to the perfect unfolding of the divine theme. The laws of God are immutable, delicate, and indescribably beautiful. Two and two make four throughout the universe, and we cannot conceive of a place or condition wherein the principles of mathematics are reversed, denied, or inoperative.
Quickly someone will point out the misery and injustice of human life; tyranny, wrong and wretchedness, and cry, "Behold - do not these agonies and horrors deny our doctrine ?" Nay, not so! Let the mighty Emerson give the answer: "The ruin or the blank that we see when we look at Nature, is in our own eye . . . The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is because man is disunited with himself . . . When a faithful thinker, resolute to detach every object from personal relations and see it in the light of thought, shall, at the same time, kindle science with the fire of the holiest affections, then will God go forth anew into the Creation." Continuing our great American prophet cries: "Every spirit builds itself a house, and beyond its house a world, and beyond its world a heaven.... Build therefore your own world. As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in your mind, that will unfold its great proportions."
I have said that the universe is consistent with itself. In the realm of mathematics, which is simply a set of symbols or factors with which we measure the world, we use laws and rules that are precise, unchanging and utterly comprehensive. This accuracy, this precision, this perfection we find throughout the world of Nature. The blowing of the corn, the swing of Orion and the tides of the sea are illustrations of this law. The moral law is one with gravitation. It is a perfect thing, allowing no lapses - or caprice. The law of righteousness and law of the multiplication table are identical. Three times three are nine is no more expressive of immutable law than that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap. He who builds his home according to the principles of geometry may rest secure in the face of storm or tempest. He who builds his life on the rock of moral rectitude builds also on a rock that cannot be moved, and he too may rest secure. This is good Masonic doctrine and it lies at the root of Masonic ethics.
Law of Love Highest
Yet I would not leave you thinking that morality is wholly a thing of precept and conduct. It is something far deeper, more subtle, more beautiful. There is a law of mathematics. There is a law of gravitation. There is a law of astronomy. There is a law of righteousness. And they are all phases of the same great, fundamental, all-embracing law. But there is also a law of LOVE, and that is greater than them all. A few years ago a great Mason, a great man, a great scientist, passed away. I refer to our beloved Californian, Luther Burbank. The Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, recognized his splendid services to humanity by conferring upon him the honor of the Thirty-third Degree, and he was worthy of this splendid recognition. Despite the snarling of critics and those who would make a sensation out of a simple man's simple words, he was no atheist, no infidel, no sneering unbeliever. In the truest sense he was a believer, because he believed in God's love as against the prophets of cruelty and hatred, and he proclaimed to the world his confidence in God's mercy and infinite kindness toward all his children, the erring and the foolish as well as the righteous and respectable. He shared the unlimited sympathy of the great Lover, that Divine Lover, Who revealed to us the unutterable kindness of the heart of the Heavenly Father.
On the eve of his seventy-seventh birthday Luther Burbank addressed a message to "the children of the world." He knew that the children in their simple faith and sincere love more closely approximated goodness than anyone else. He told them that their happiness will be in direct proportion to their loving thoughts "toward every person and animal, and even toward stars, planets, oceans, rivers and hills." The great scientist and humanist had caught a glimpse of the deepest truth; only as we love do we live, only as we love do we grow, only as we love do we approach the heart of the Great Almighty Father whose name is Love.
It seems a long journey from the forty-seventh problem of Euclid and the geometry of Pythagoras to an exhortation to love one another, but it is not so far after all. The Mason who understands the mystical significance of the letter "G" that gleams with a spiritual refulgence above the Master's chair will know that this is the secret doctrine. Blessed are the eyes that see, the ears that hear, the hearts that feel, and the hands that do. They only are wise.
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By - Arthur C. Parker, F.P.S.
Naples, New York
THE HUMAN RACE differs from the beast world in many characteristics, among which may be mentioned its extraordinary appreciation of form. The earliest of cave men made drawings of men and animals, and those of the Magdalenian period developed a technique of line that is truly remarkable. An appreciation of the forms of things was highly developed in ancient man.
These same early men dreamed of a ghost world, of life beyond the grave and of themselves as denizens of the misty land beyond the gates of death. They saw themselves there as they were upon this mundane plane. They desired a conservation, a preservation of present form in immortality.
Mystic Egypt with its strange symbolic cults revered the human form. It was known that the body would perish and hence a means of mummification was devised, giving rise to the weird cult of the dead. With the mummy nearly every implement and product of Egyptian art was preserved.
As time went on and civilization developed, busts and statues were made, preserving, thereby, the physical appearance of noted men and women. The classic world excelled in this appreciation of form. More than this, it created forms of architecture and standards of art that persist to the present day.
When one thinks how transitory are the forms of organic things and how precious some forms are we can understand the propensity to preserve things that the future may contemplate them. We preserve our memories of various forms by means of pictures, by sculpture, by casts. We press in books the tinted autumn leaves that have caught our fancy. We send out expeditions to ancient places seeking the relics of bygone days in order that we may gain an understanding of the cultures of antiquity, and behold the forms of things preserved by strange chance. Soul and substance may endure, but form is but momentary.
Bryant in his "To a Greek Boy" expresses this. thought:
"Gone are the glorious Greeks of old
Glorious of mien and mind;
Their bones have mingled with the mold
Their dust is on the wind.
The forms they hewed from living stone
Survive the waste of years alone,
And scattered with their ashes show
What greatness perished loner ago."
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IN THESE days almost every one you meet seems to have a problem. Some of these are intellectual, indicating the wrestle of human minds with truth. Some problems are social and have to do with the adjustments which individuals must make in our rapidly-changing society. Some are practical and are concerned with the material or financial affairs of daily life. Not a few are definitely religious problems, indicating the struggle of souls not completely in harmony with the universe and God. The new conceptions of our day and the ever-enlarging experiences in widening realms of life, together with that inborn restlessness for God which characterizes every individual soul, account for many of these problems.
There is always hope for the person who is seeking light. But deeper than these problems of life, are the purposes of the individual who must solve these problems.
Everything about us has a purpose. The tools we use, the instruments we employ, the books we read, the buildings we erect, the vehicles in which we are transported - all these have specific purposes. More definitely, as human skill increases and as science advances our knowledge of nature's laws, are these materials adjusted to the purposes which they are intended to serve.
Every life is a plan of God. He has work for each individual which that individual alone can best accomplish. He would have us each fit into the purpose of his divine economy. He would have us live and labor in the light of those purposes. It is clearly the first duty of every individual to find that station, which is peculiarly his own, and strive to his utmost to fill it.
It is in the light of this major purpose of each individual that most of our problems, however they arise, must be solved. We may seek counsel from others. We may check up our own thinking with the experience and the wisdom of others. We do well to ask advise of those who have gone over life's way before us. Indeed, we are not even confined to living persons who come within the immediate circles of our acquaintance in the matter of this counsel.
We have the poets, the prophets and the historians and the saints of old beside whom we may stand and through them God may speak to us and we may learn his will. God wonderfully helps us in these times of decision and of opportunity through his many voices and through his faithful servants of our own and of other days.
When most of our problems are measured up to and fitted into the high purposes of our life they disappear either positively, being taken up into the main currents of our life, or negatively, being turned aside, and they thus become an opportunity for service and sacrifice and for the development of the powers entrusted to our care.