FREEMASONRY AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SPIRITUAL IDEAL

  "One woe is past, and, behold, there come two more woes hereafter."
(Revelation: 9 - 12)

 "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of the trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven
to the other." (St. Matthew: 24 - 31)

 "As for these things ye behold, the days will come, in which there shall
not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

 INTRODUCTION. 

 BY all who listen with the inner ear of understanding there can be heard
today "a great sound of a trumpet"; it is sounding from the four winds of
heaven in thunderous waves of heart searching melody but is, as yet,
unheard by the majority amid the turmoil and strife of war. The "elect,"
however, or those whose ear is attuned to the overtones of life, can
discern beneath the unrest of the peoples of all lands a rhythmic beat as
of angel wings, and can feel the urge directing men of goodwill among the
nations to gather together in a united effort to prepare for the trials
which will inevitably follow upon the closing of the second phase of the
World war drama. At this time, then, it is well that we Freemasons, as
members of a Fraternity whose units are recognisably linked with the bonds
of the Spirit, should seriously consider our function and responsibility,
both towards ourselves and the community of which we are an integral part.
In the first place, if we are to learn wisdom from the bitter experiences
of the past years, we must take steps to ensure that we all understand the
wider implications of our Masonic teaching, particularly that which relates
to the essential qualifications demanded of candidates for the higher life,
for the effective work of the Craft in future will depend upon its members
being "properly prepared" to serve humanity in the great work of spiritual
re- building. There are some brethren who may recall that at the
termination of the first phase of the World War, which is now generally
recognized to have coincided with the Armistice of 1918, the thoughts of
the spiritually minded turned intuitively to the prophetic warning recorded
in the V. of the S.L., "One woe is past: and, behold, there come two woes
hereafter," and that in certain quarters the counsel to be "prepared" for
what was to come was given prominence. The majority of people, however,
although vaguely aware that radical and momentous changes in the old order
of things seemed imminent, were not then disposed to listen to the few who
insisted in directing attention to the spiritual background of events, with
the result that the warning given was allowed to pass unheeded. Today we
are all wise - after the events; the second woe has come as surely as did
the first, and with it have come many recriminations, for in no sense were
we "properly prepared" to meet with what has since transpired. The
collective mind and conscience of our nation - a medley of good and evil
like that of our enemies - has again compelled us into physical warfare. It
is idle at this stage to ask whether or no we were right in declaring war.
Save by shameful dishonour to our soul we could not do otherwise in our
present spiritual - or unspiritual - national condition, which is one of
bondage to law rather than of that liberty of the spirit which alone
enables a nation successfully to apply the higher law of non-resistance of
evil. In this matter, we are not masters of ourselves, or of circumstances,
but servants, and children, "under the law." And the children of this
world, we are told in the V. of the S.L., are wise "according to their
generation," that is according to the degree of their present limited
development, and therefore no condemnation has ever been spoken by any of
the Masters throughout the ages against their discharging what to them is
plain conscientious duty of fulfilling the highest ideal they for the
moment see and are capable of, even though it be in conflict against the
higher law. In doing so they are "rods of mine anger," executive
instruments of the Divine energies in the promotion of cosmic ends, and as
such they may - as they are doing today - display a sacred fervour and
truly mystical zeal for a righteous cause, and even stand in a laudable
detachment of soul from the physical violence and horrors they reluctantly
undertake. But, written above them, nevertheless, stands the higher law
which humanity has yet to learn, and is learning apparently - as so often
happens in the education of the human spirit - by intimate contact with,
and experience of, the very evil it is called upon to outgrow; and
according to their faith and their works, their sacrifice and their
devotion in this struggle, so will their rewards be. Nor, when their
present part in the Eternal Design is played out will further opportunity
be lacking, for ahead beyond the physical conflict lies the "third woe,"
which will necessitate the drama being again fought out in the mental world
with thoughts, arguments, and ideals for weapons. That the nations or the
public mind will suddenly leap "en masse" from the natural standard to
grasping and performing the higher law is not to be expected, but the
present crisis, and the readjustment of national and international
conditions that will follow it, will greatly facilitate and expedite the
change to which sooner or later we must all come. In the meantime, the
higher law, the precepts of that - to the natural mind - unworkable
paradox, the Law of the Mount, can be practised only by those who are
themselves upon the "Mount", whose consciousness is enlarged by
self-renouncement or quickened by the illuminative grace of God, and who
have ascended to and habitually live upon a plane of being higher than the
natural mentality can know. Those whose minds are kept adjusted only to the
"valleys," the lower levels of natural reason and judgment, will tend to
deny, deride, fail to understand, the true principles of reconstruction,
and - for the time being - follow a standard and law of their own. Yet, for
all of us, this is a time both of instruction and of hope, even amid so
great miseries. For the valleys, it is promised, shall be exalted and every
high place brought low, to the intent that between the depths and the
heights there may be reconciliation and union. Indeed, many today upon the
lower levels are straining upwards for a larger vision of life and a fuller
life; for greater liberty of spirit and richer nourishment than the
standards of this world permit to them; and these are asking continually:
What is the inner significance of the present crisis, and what is the
meaning of the new order of things to which a transition is being made? The
attempt to formulate answers to both of these questions, from the
standpoint of Freemasonry, is the subject and object of this Paper.

 1. THE PREPARATION OF THE RECONSTRUCTION 

 From the ancient mystical doctrine which lies behind modern Freemasonry we
learn that in the moral progress and spiritual development of our race,
morning succeeds night, and night follows morning, in correspondence with
the diurnal rhythm of solar light and darkness; yet, unlike that phenomenon
(for Nature has no power to "raise" herself, but remains upon one uniform
level of attainment), upon an ever-ascending spiral of progress. Hence
always, as in the spiritual record of our genesis, "the evening and the
morning" go to the making of each complete creative "day;" evening always
coming first, because in all that darkness signifies - whether intellectual
or moral, or war and strife in any form - are contained those elements by
whose very antagonism and friction is generated the heat that ultimately
bursts forth into morning light. The quickening of racial consciousness now
for some years in process, therefore betokens the dawn of one of these
periodic "days" in our evolution, and must needs be attended with
convulsions terrifying to those who are unprepared for the transition.
Indeed, a transformation to those who are unprepared for the transition.
Indeed, a transformation involving a general renewal of our minds, a
judging of the quick and the dead elements in all our ideals and
institutions - which is what is now operating - how could it come about
without a cataclysm? Purgation was inevitable, for the horrors, the
outrages, and the devilish ingenuities exhibited now are but the liberated,
manifested, thought we had been harbouring and nourishing in secret during
many previous years of both war and peace. As has never happened before,
and as though our whole inner self were disgorging its accumulated poison,
Earth, Water, Air and Fire - the four traditional metaphysical elements of
our nature - are each contributing to the conflict the visible symbols of
our subjective content, in the form of engines of destruction employed in
the corresponding elements of outward Nature. However honourably, as the
world's standard goes, we may desire to conduct our warfare, there is seen
to be nothing but vileness about it; nevertheless, it has to be worked
through and its lessons learned so that we may avoid its recurrence. This
form of inhumane treatment, that diabolic contrivance is countered and
outbid by the opponents in reprisals of increasing malice, and the struggle
proceeds in one vicious circle of intensifying evil, of any end of which
one would despair without the certitude that out of evil the new good is
being born, and out of the strain of antagonism the light of a new morning
will be kindled. In view of it all we must accept the wise council to
"watch and pray", for there is little of an exercise nature which can
profitably be undertaken at the moment. Members of our Masonic Order should
reflect that they have been instructed that both "patience and industry"
are virtues required of all those who, who humbly following the steps of
the Masters, prey fervently to the Almighty for the coming of the Kingdom;
we should, then, not "rashly attempt to rush forward," but rather wait and
watch patiently in order to observe in what direction, and along what
lines, the activity of the nations will run. The time-honoured petition,
"Thy Kingdom come," however, is one of infinite utility always, but
particularly in these days. We must not be deluded, nevertheless, into
thinking that we can prepare the way for the coming of the Kingdom by a
mere passivity; there is very much to be accomplished that is of an
esoteric nature, and it is with this we should now be occupied. Since for
so many the breaking-up of their "house" is befalling, there are needed
strong souls to serve as supports for them, and as foundations and pillars
for the new house, and the new order of things that will arise upon the
site of the old; souls that amid the fury of the storm can "stand still and
see the salvation of God" emerging from it, and that, amid panic, can
remain unmoved and "serve Him with a quiet mind." In the centre of the
storm is stillness absolute; it is at the circumference only that rage the
unruly elements and passions not yet leashed into balance and harmony. We
Freemasons, therefore, as members of a mystical Order, should harness the
unruly mental and emotional elements in ourselves, controlling and
indrawing them into our own centre, so that what otherwise would be
diffused and wasted force may become consolidated and stable. It will need,
of course, effort and will, but the divine word is "I make peace" (Isaiah,
45 - 7), and it is for us to say and do likewise. Our inward peace must be
made, for as  children of the Creator we are given the privilege and the
power of creating it ourselves, and of thus emulating the Father in this
respect; wherefore it is written, "Blessed are the peace-makers, they shall
be called the children of God." It is not made by frittering away mental
and emotional energy in anxiety as to how outward events are going; nor by
indulging in constant war-chatter, news reading, and by rushing about for
the latest intelligence. ON the contrary, the peace-maker contrives to
still himself within and without, and has confidence in the promise
contained in the V. of the S.L., - "Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Thee," - not on the contents of the daily paper. We
are, moreover, charged with the duty of carrying forward the task of
interpreting nation to nation in terms of Brotherhood, and at this juncture
of the world's history there is no higher form of service that we can
render, either to God or man. Under existing psychological conditions, wen
the astral or emotional bodies of human beings (which constitute the astral
body of humanity as a whole) are in a state of chaos, the principle of
Brotherhood is admittedly one that is sadly lacking in manifestation, but
we must "steadily persevere." Let us remember that despite the apparent
predominance of separative attitudes and specious arguments, there still
remain enough people in the world who are responsive to the  spirit of
goodwill, and who are animated by the desire for permanent, right, human
relations. Furthermore, it should be possible - at a later date - to aspire
to a world-wide recognition of a day of forgiveness, and of fulfilment of
the Biblical injunction to "forget the things which lie behind and press
forward" into the New Age, the new relationships, and the new civilisation.
The function of the moment, however, consists in the purification and
co-ordination of the divers kingdoms of this world - political, social, and
intellectual - preparatory to their combination in that higher unity which
we call the Kingdom of God. We must be careful not to under estimate the
stupendous task confronting humanity when the physical conflict has worn
itself out and some measure of peace and clam prevails once again. The
movement towards reconstruction will serve to intensify the testing and
purifying of human institutions, and just as the physical war has reached
down into and altered the foundations of the society of nations, so will
the coming mental readjustments descend to and alter the very foundations
upon which are based liberty of thought and freedom of religious
expression. The religious conceptions, beliefs, and thoughts, of humanity
have built up a mighty temple composed of many "goodly stones;" each nation
has builded its part of this temple, hence no division of mankind can
entirely escape from the responsibility and the consequences which it
entails; it is this Temple of Humanity of which it is predicted in the V.
of the S.L., "Not one stone shall be left standing upon another, that shall
not be thrown down." Has not the race for centuries past been indulging its
intellectuality, and starving and suppressing the spirituality inherent in
it? We cannot deny that the history of the modern world is the history of
the compromise between intellectual and spiritual elements which are
present in each of us, and it has, at long last, brought us to this
agonizing crisis. This does not infer that we have been wholly devoid or
negligent of spirituality, but points to the fact that when two have
clashed it has hitherto been spirituality which has been accorded the
second place. The position has now to be reversed; today it is spirituality
which needs to become organized and concentrated, whilst the bonds of
intellectuality have to become so shattered and for ever dissipated, that
there may be universal "liberty of the spirit." It is difficult, if not
impossible, to impart any idea of the enormous transformation in human
outlook, in social affairs, and in the human consciousness generally, that
will result from all that is implied by the simple phrase "reconstruction
of the spiritual ideal." We have no historic standard by which any such
organic change inncollective human nature can be measured, or with which it
can be contrasted but at least it is certain that we must not look for it
to happen by any abrupt miraculous change. Years will yet go to it, but
time as we count it, moves at it sown pace when the cosmic processes of
Spirit-action are at work. Meanwhile, amid the break-up of all external
things, an inferior constructive work is going on, preparing upon the
mental and psychic planes the conditions which will characterise the
Aquarian Age, upon the threshold of which we now stand.

 2. THE LAW OF GROWTH 

 In order to understand the causes underlying the many problems pressing
upon thinkers for solution today, we must recognize the motive power at the
back of the evolution of both our individual lives and the Race, as well as
the planet upon which we dwell. All manifested creation is produced as a
result of vibratory differentiation of Eternal Motion and its resultant
Force. Spirit and Matter are but conventional terns used to express degrees
of retardation of Absolute Motion, which in turn is the expression of
Divine Will. The power of the sun and wind, the waves of the sea, the
water-fall, of stream and electricity, are but various expressions of
Divine Will going forth into manifestation. Every force in the Universe is
capable of being transformed into any kind of force by using suitable
means; there is thus an inexhaustible supply of any particular kind of
force that we may need. There is no limit to the extent of the relations of
any man with the Universe in essence; for as soon as man makes himself one
with any idea the means of measurement cease to exist; but is power to
utilise that force is limited by his mental power and capacity, and by the
circumstances  of his human environment. One reason why Saturn, according
to the symbolism of the arcane schools, is spoken of as the Regent of the
Earth is because the forces sent out by this cosmic centre are stability
and inertia. Saturn, is therefore, Ruler of the planet in so far as without
stability, Motion would have nothing on which to act. Saturn is also called
the Adversary, on account of the fact that the force of inertia is forever
opposed to Motion, and because it is against this impressive shore that the
sea of humanity is always beating in restless activity until an equilibrium
between the two is attained. Thus perfect balance, or equilibrium, is the
"rest that remaineth for the people of God," for stillness and apathy, as
well as strife and in harmony, result in death, while equilbriated  Motion
is eternal life. Today humanity is awakening to the realization that we are
living in an age of transition, in which changes are taking place so
rapidly that we must become more thoroughly acquainted with aspects of the
many forces of the Universe with which we thought ourselves already
familiar, but which are daily surprising us with new expressions. The true
explanation is that both our Race, and the Earth planet, have grown up to
young manhood, and are now entering in earnest upon their real life
expression. Many will reject the idea that the Earth is travelling its
appointed Path, unfolding and manifesting the various stages of its
evolutionary cycle, and taking its true place in the Universe in obedience
to the same Law of Growth that governs the individual and the Race. To
these we may reply; it is the same force whether pushing a planet or solar
system onwards to the fulfilment of its destiny, or acting within the heart
of a tiny seed causing it to expand and burst asunder its confing husk and
gradually unfold into the type of plant its destiny has ordained. So
familiar are we with the phenomena of the transformation of a seed, such as
is exhibited in the miracle of a tiny acorn into the mighty oak tree, that
we forget that it is according to the same law the ideal, or potentiality,
within the seed of a world , or a humanity, or an individual Soul, must
likewise pass through similar phases of unfoldment, and ultimately manifest
that which the Divine Will has implanted within it. However, once we awaken
to the method by which the ideal manifests through the Law of Growth, we
comprehend that as we ourselves advance we do not discover new forces in
Nature, or harness new energy, but that whenever a force is contacted it
indicates that the seed is taking a new step in its growth, for the
completion of which it must utilise a higher aspect or expression of the
One Life. The man who is under the impression that he has discovered a new
force, therefore, has merely unfolded within himself a new phase of
consciousness by which he recognises and vibrates to a similar force within
Nature and himself; and, like the seed, at every unfoldment of the
God-consciousness within him, he enters a new field of force in Nature to
which his physical body and consciousness have responded ere it was
possible for him to take the next regular step. For example, until the last
few years aeroplanes, radio, radium and so on were impossible, not because
the laws of aviation and radiant energy did not exist, but because man's
consciousness had not reached a point where it could contact, recognise,
and understand those laws; in other words, man had not unfolded into that
realm of consciousness. Expressed in alternative terms, we may say that all
advance in understanding demands the acquisition of a new point-of-view,
and for this reason modern conceptions of Mathematics. Physics, and
Chemistry are sheer paradox to the "man in the street," who thinks of
Matter as something that one can knock up against. Similarly, we do not yet
understand how to utilise dynaspheric force, and thus draw power for the
aeroplane and other engines directly from the air without the use of fuel,
or how to use it for the purpose of healing disease and satisfying our
needs, but there can be no doubt that this will be grasped and understood
in a comparatively short time. A number of popular scientific theories
regarding the Earth planet are based upon false premises; for instance, if
the Earth were merely an inert mass thrown off from the Sun (or other
planet) and projected only by its initial velocity, it would have slowed
down and ceased manifestation of its forces long before this. The fact is,
however, that it is constantly unfolding new expressions of force and
manifesting new powers, thereby demonstrating the effect of more rapid
vibrations, and exhibiting the phenomena of a living entity growing
gradually unfolding its inner ideal according to the Law of Growth. We may
say that the difference is similar to that observed between a projectile
fired from a cannon, which continually and rapidly decreases in velocity,
and an express train that picks up speed as the result of an increased
application of power at the will of the engineer, so that it may conform to
the schedule or destiny set out for it. The present age is truly called a
"speed" age, because the Earth is picking up speed, and events are rushing
towards us and flying past, like the scenery viewed from a speeding train.
Our human Race is now passing through a transitional state in which one
sub-race (fifth) is overlapping the next (sixth); a night between two day
periods, and both the Earth-planet and the Race are involved in minor
"pralaya." During this minor night-period all that has been given to man to
use and rule, in order that he may become a conscious co-worker with the
Divine Architect - but which his selfishness, unbrotherliness and
inhumanity, and his refusal to work with the Divine Will has perverted -
must be gathered up in a mighty harvest, the tares and the wheat together.
In dealing with this subject in he brief and generalised way in which alone
it is practicable to refer to it here, it is impossible to indicate the
several and extremely complex processes at work; processes present in both
the seen and the unseen worlds, which have culminated and are expressing
themselves in a World War, which is but the material "signature" or
externalisation of forces in conflict upon withdrawn planes of life. "There
was (and there is today) war in heaven" - upon the plane of the physically
unmanifest; and its physical reflex betokens the purgation of evil and
dispersion of darkness, materialism, and selfishness, before the advancing
ingress of the Light of the World into the body corporate of humanity. The
seeds of larger good for the world in general, however, have already been
sown, and in this conflict - which is the challenge of evil to them - is
the evidence of their strong vitality. Amid all the devastation there will
be no waste save of that which it is desirable should be wasted, and no
ultimate loss; but rather a legacy of improved distribution of power, both
human and divine, of better perception of humanity's vital and ultimate
interests, and of freer moral and spiritual development than our self-made
limitations of the past would permit until a drastic pruning has taken
place. Let us next  consider, in the light of the foregoing, the parable of
the "feeding of the five thousand" as narrated in the V. of the S.L. (Mark
6, 31 - 52 ). The scene is a "wilderness" or desert place," the usual
biblical formula for this spiritually barren world is which man is being
created, and the fact that human evolution has already been proceeding in
it for long ages is referred to in the statements that "the time is far
passed" and "the day was now far spent" (verse 35). It was the beginning of
the present era two thousand years ago and the Master has in his purview
the impending opening up of the then undeveloped European continent and the
destiny of those souls, already incarnating ("for there were many coming
and going" - verse 31), which were to become for many centuries the
dominant peoples of the human family, and which were to come under His
special car, since, as a new race, they would be born outside the folds and
spiritual traditions of the great Oriental and Mosaic dispensations and
therefore be "as sheep having no shepard" (verse 34). He sees the inchoate
barbaric populace of Europe becoming, as the new race of souls enters into
it, segregated into sharply defined nationalities, arranging itself into
ordered states with highly organised social conditions; see them, as it
were, "sitting down in companies by hundreds and by fifties upon the green
grass" (verses 39 and 40 - note the significant multiples of the number
five which characterises our fifth sub-race, among which some nations are
more intellectual and influential than others.) That apparently negligible
detail of the "green grass" is full of purport; the literalist may be
reminded that profuse vegetation is not a feature of the ordinary "desert
place", but the "green grass" (verse 39) upon which the five thousand are
bidden to "sit down" discloses the conditions into which the souls of the
race they typify will actually descend as its members come to birth, and
signifies natural energy and abundance of physical activity. In other
words, "grass" simply means carnality; "All flesh is grass" - Isaiah 40, 6
- 7. What will be the interior food of this great multitude? Not the "true
bread which cometh down from heaven", for these hard- headed commercial
peoples are not yet ready for that; the "true bread" must therefore be held
in reserve until the time is ripe for it. Accordingly the Master dopes not
offer His own bread, but enquiries "How many loaves have ye?" - as if to
say "Of what character and quantity does your own stock of interior
provender consist?" Now the answer - "five loaves and two fishes" verse 38
- is an announcement in symbolic terms of the soul-properties which did -
and still do - distinguish our sub- race. "Loaves" stand for the rational
or intellectual principle; "fishes" - a frequent gnostic and scriptural
symbol - for the spirituality; and if seven - the "perfect number" - be
taken, as here implied, as representing the sevenfold properties of the
soul, it follows that the proportion of intellectuality to spirituality
possessed by our sub-race is as five to two. An unfavourable proportion
perhaps; but at the same time considerably more propitious than that
displayed by the preceding fourth race, for the "four thousand" - see Mark
8, 5 - were distinguished by "seven loaves", their sevenfold "scale" being
wholly given over to carnal rationality, with the exception of "a few small
fishes" mingled with their "loaves" (see Mark 8, 7). Students should
carefully note that the "four thousand," or fourth sub-race, belonged to an
earlier "day" or world-period than the "five thousand;" "They have been
with Me three days" _ Mark 8, 2, whereas the "five thousand," or fifth
sub-race, is associated with the "fourth watch," until which "day" or
world-period the Christ did not become manifest. Despite the disproportion
the loaves are multiplied and distributed among the "companies;" likewise
the two fishes "He divided among them all." How thankful, then, we should
be for the "two fishes," for our "loaves," as they are bound to do, have at
last turned stale and become the proverbial "bread of contention;" for the
properties of unspiritualised intellectuality are disruptive, and its
tendencies are to generate all manner of conflicting thought-modes and
mutually exclusive opinions and culture-ideals, and we have "all eaten of
it and been filled."  Truly man cannot live by bread - intellectual loaves
- alone; Spirit - "fishes" - alone is unitive and continues perennially
sweet. When the present war-crisis ends and the clash of international
ideals subsides, that which will make possible the future harmony and
brotherhood of the nations will not be that little measure of the spirit of
charity and loving-kindness, common to them all and planted from the
beginning in the hearts of them all, and waiting only its opportunity to
emerge and display itself. It will be those "two fishes" which He has
multiplied ( and is still multiplying) and "divided among them all." The
parable of the feeding of the "five thousand" concludes with the cryptic
statement, "He sent away the people" (Mark 6, 45); well, the people are
being sent "away" now, for our fifth sub-race ("the five thousand men") is
dissolving at this moment, and all its ideals, well established
institutions, as well as methods - social, political, economic, theological
- are undergoing gradual but perceptible disintegration. A new era of
things is dawning, and amid, the warfare and death- pange of the old order
another sub-race is being imperceptibly born. Nevertheless, the fragments
(see Mark 6, 43) that remain of the old era, and that are of real value,
will be gathered up and carried forward to the new epoch, thereby
constituting the spiritual working capital which the people of the new
sub-race may be trusted to profitably employ and increase. These last two
thousand years have been needed to pave the way for this new order of
things; "It was the preparation," as St. John tells us; the world had to be
fully opened up, and the races and nations both East and West, knitted
together into a whole of mutually interdependent parts; the dress and
rubble of current civilisation had to be cleared away; processes which,
these years past, have been in the doing, and the completing of which is
being accomplished in the fiery crucible of today. Moreover, the race
cannot attain a new grade of spiritual evolution until its iniquities have
been burned up; and "without bloodshed is no remission of sins." The ground
must be swept and cleared before it can be built upon afresh, but the hand
that devastates also restores:-

 "I looked and lo! 'mid the decay 
The Master was the Builder too; 
And when the dust-cloud rolled away; 
I saw the new!" 

 The Piscean cycle, which is now passing, was primarily an intellectual
cycle, and during the two thousand -odd years of its sway, mankind has been
perfecting the lowest aspect (symbolised by the "feet" - see episode of the
Master washing the disciples' feet, John 13, 10) of his understanding.
Intellect and reason have been the ruling factors and because of this it
has been a cycle of materialism for intellect demands only that which it
can see, handle, and classify. But it has also been a very important cycle
in the unfoldment and progression of the Earth planet and of man's relation
to it. We must not, therefore, presume that because the physical universe
represents the lowest and most dense vibration of manifested Spirit and the
lowest are of the life-wave, and materialism represents the lowest and most
dense phase of intellectual development, that the intellectual and material
attainments of man are of little importance. The cycle of materialism was
indeed the negative expression of a great racial life-wave, but it wa one
that was necessary in order to gain the momentum required to  make the wave
of the New Age reach its destined height in the attainment of spiritual
realisation. The phase of mind which the Piscean cycle has developed is the
rational mind of the intellectual man, or what in the Eastern teachings is
called "Lower Manas," but the coming Aquarian cycle must develop the
superconscious mind or "Buddhi Manas." This will not be possible
immediately for the large majority, and as the inrushing tide of the New
Day sweeps over humanity there must be those who are duly qualified and
prepared to help their less evolved brethren to learn the wonderful lessons
of the New Age. The Great Masters of Wisdom have stored up the entire
philosophy of the Ancient Wisdom so greatly needed in the coming age, ready
to be given to mankind; but it cannot be given like rain on a rock, lest it
fail in its mission. It must be given out through agents who have learned
the lessons of the past Age in the cultivation of the rational mind, and
who have illumined it with the rays of the Spiritual Sun and hence are
ready to reach up understandingly into the Divine Mind and consciously
carry their illumination down to the lowest point of the wave. For if we
are to have a reconstruction of the spiritual ideal, which will meet the
needs of the New Age, it must be all-inclusive; must be both philosophical
and devotional, rational and inspirational. To place such a system
fittingly before the world a new order of ideas in education,
specialisation, and efficiency must be grasped. Once, however, it is
understood that the Source of all Power is within, and that it is gradually
unfolding our possibilities according to the Law of Growth, the principle
of a Divine Plan will be more generally accepted and men will begin to work
consciously with the Law. They will then cease striving to conquer Nature's
forces only from without, and aspire to become co-workers with the Divine
Architect, realising that to know and master a force they must first unfold
the consciousness of it within themselves. It is in this larger sense that
we Freemasons must interpret the claim made on behalf of the Craft that
"Masonry is universal," because quite apart from the fact that there have
always been Initiates and Masonic energies at work in the world outside the
limits of our formal Order, the building tendency is innate in everything,
from atom to man, and beyond man. We are therefore primarily Masons because
our Creator is Himself the Grand Master Mason, and because we, as
"creatures of the Creator," inherit our Maker's qualities. Moreover, the
history of the human race demonstrates that when man has laboriously built
up his civilisations and social systems, put up his houses and temples, and
finally exhausted his capacity for material Masonry, he at last turns to
Speculative or spiritual Masonry and the contemplation of building that
House "not made with hands, eternal in the heaves." Thus our system of
Speculative Freemasonry exists in the world to bear witness to the
transformation necessary in man as an Operative Mason to enable him to
become constructive on a higher plane. Accordingly, members of our Craft
should be particularly well equipped to demonstrate to their fellow men
that there is a kind of Faith to which we must all attain - a living Faith
in the certainty of the working of the Great Law - which will carry them
through every experience; a Faith which is in truth "the foundation of
justice, the bond of amity, and the chief support of civil society" (see
Fourth Section, First Lecture).

 CONCLUSION 

 As a fitting conclusion to a Paper of this nature we ought now to envisage
the position of our Craft in the light of current world events, for there
are many portents that Freemasonry and all that it stands for are destined
to play a great part in the incoming cycle. Only two hundred and twenty six
years ago the formation of the premier Grand Lodge of England in 1717 was
the seed-germ from which has grown the Craft of today with its world wide
ramifications. How are we to account for his remarkable phenomena? To
students of the history, ideas, and doctrines of the secret fraternities
from which our Craft ritual and doctrine have emanated, certain indubitable
facts are clear. One of them is the marked signs of purpose and guidance
from hidden sources, and the presence of minds thoroughly versed in the
ancient arcane tradition, which has characterised our Order from its
inception. Indeed, to the wise and instructed, our Landmarks, ancient
usages, and symbolic clothing, all of which (after allowing for errors and
blunders by less expert assistants and compilers) manifest a knowledge of
mystical and historical truth far more profound than the average Brother
suspects or its competent to recognise. And it is because these ritual
forms, symbols, clothing and usages are so widely devised, and charged with
so much more latent meaning than they suggest on the surface, that i not
permissible to us to alter or in any way deviate from them. The y may not
be, and in fact they are not, as yet fully appreciated or understood by the
majority of the Brethren, but this for the time being is of small moment;
they have preserved testimony of the concealed doctrine during the initial
years of the growth of the Craft against the time which will come when a
fuller realisation of what our system involves will be possible. Another
important feature of Masonic growth is that since its birth and infant
nurture our Grand Lodge system has borne witness to the divine principle of
Hierarchy. Whilst itself essentially democratic, al its members standing
upon a level before Heaven, our Craft nevertheless is constructed upon, and
will always preserve, the principle of Hierarchy, as one conforming with
divine ordinance and cosmic law, and the only one providing a sound
foundation for the kingdoms of this world. By Hierarchy is meant the
government of society, whether in this world or beyond, by wisdom and power
from God mediated through graded orders of life, the more spiritually
developed charged with responsibility for controlling, ministering to and
uplifting the less advanced junior brethren, whilst the latter in turn
supply material support and sustenance to those above who labour in their
interest. Until spiritual teachers can be properly supported and left free
from the necessity of spending the best part of their time earning a
living, the world need not expect fully equipped spiritual teachers; those
fitted to give the world such specialised help must be enabled to devote
all their time and attention to the work. As to spiritual teachers
"demonstrating supply," a phase so often glibly used, there is no doubt
that the Great Law could amply support all who devoted all who devoted
their lives to its promulgation and expounding. It could even feed, clothe
and support in idleness all the children of men if it so desired, but that
is not the order of life. The plan has always been, "If any would not work,
neither should he eat." And since man's higher development requires
spiritual food as truly as his physical development requires physical food,
and since those capable of obtaining and preparing such food have to
exercise  the highest of talents and spend many hours of concentrated
application to present it, one of the important lessons that humanity needs
to learn in the New Age is that humanity itself must supply ample support
to those qualified to give them the best, or else humanity must be
satisfied with that which can be supplied at odd moments. An ideal state of
human society on earth - towards which so many discordant experiments are
in process today - must ultimately be one reflecting the ordered
organization of life beyond this world, - "the Grand Lodge Above" - "As
above, so below"; the inferior must become a true reflex of the "pattern in
the mount." The ideal human society, the perfect temple of humanity, must,
therefore, be constructed upon the same architectural principle as our
Craft; it will be as a pyramid of living stones, built up from a broad base
and rising through a series of narrowing courses which taper towards the
summit to a point or chief cornerstone which binds them all together. At
the supreme point the earthly hierarchy ends and the heavenly hierarchy
begins, contact between the two being established, and Light and Wisdom
from on high flowing through to those in the ever widening ranks below. In
proclaiming the principle of Hierarchy the craft holds up to our
contemplation the pattern of a graded social organism, "perfect in all its
parts and honourable to the builders;" Hierarchy is the negation of
anarchy, of mob-rule, of all forms of self-willed despotism, whether by
unenlightened individuals or fluctuating majorities; it recognises that:-

 "Order is Heaven's first law, and, that confessed, every Masonic Lodge is a
little self-centered hierarchical cell within the larger organism of the
Province; the Province in turn functions as a similar hierarchy within the
greater matrix of Grand Lodge, and finally the Grand Lodge on earth
reflects, moves within, and is mothered by the Grand Lodge Above, "whose
Grand Master is the great Jehovah and whose officers are holy angels."
Here, then is a subject upon which we should all reflect both as Freemasons
and as "citizens of the world;" it is a theme requiring the utmost
development along lines of Masonic thought, and should be stressed in the
case of those Brethren who are prone to confine their attention to personal
work in their own lodges, thus overlooking the magnitude of the organism of
which His Lodge is but a single cell. The time has now come when we must
take a much broader view of our Craft than hitherto has been the case; we
must rise from a personal and parochial view of it, to an impersonal and
cosmic one, for Freemasonry is a spiritual process and cosmic one, for
Freemasonry is a spiritual process and cosmic work that goes on
unceasingly, and that is being used by Higher Powers as an instrument
dedicated to the work of re-building the Temple of Humanity - "the
reconstruction of the spiritual Ideal."

 "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and 
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the 
saints, and of the household of God; 
And are built upon the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself 
being the chief corner stone; 
In whom all the building fitly framed together 
groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 
In whom ye also are builded together for an 
habitation of God through the Spirit." 
 Ephenians 2, 19 - 22