THE MYSTICAL QUEST IN FREEMASONRY

By the general agreement of Masonic students today the history of
Speculative Freemasonry is considered to commence with the formation of
the London Grand Lodge on the 24th June, 1717, but as an introduction to
the subject of my Paper this evening, I wish to emphasise that although
this data is accepted because it marks the beginning of an organised
plan for the development of what is now the English Masonic
Constitution, it must not be overlooted that the transition of the Craft
from Operative to Speculative was a gradual process taking place both
before and after the inauguration of the Grand Lodge. At the beginning
of the the eighteenth century Masonic Lodges in Englang, Scotalnd and
Irelard were composed of Operatives as well as Speculatives, and
notwithstanding the fact that by this time the greater number were
undoubtedly Speculative Freemasons, the operative element was by no
means eliminated.  This was the period when the Craft of Masonry was
transformed, and the final result was the emergence in the year 1723 of
Speculative Froomasonry proclaiming itself a system of morality
presented in the form of Ritual, and veiling its instruction by recourse
to allegory and symbolism. The precise circumstances under which the
transformation took place have not yet been revealed, but we do know
that the real Founders of the Speculative Rite remained in obscurity and
occupied themselves with only the general execution of the design of the
system which they had inspired.  Hence it is that the structure of tha
Ritual and the Instruction Lectures as we have them today was the
responsibility of the executive of the London Grand Lodge, who  worked
in accordance with principles outlined to them by the master minds who
directed without actually participating in the verbal composition. A
close study of the historical setting prior to the emergence of the
Speculative Order will disclose to the student that the orginal Founders
saw with clear vision and forsight that the Operative Craft Guilds had
outlived their sphere of usefulness as a trade organization, but that at
the same time they were capable of placing a ready-made machinery
complete with an elementary symbolism on which to graft matters of a
hignly esotaric and mystical nature.  It was with this end in view that
they arranged for non-operatives to be admitted into the Trade Guild,
and then they gradually derived blended with the symbolism derived from
the operative art of Masonry a higher-symbolism which served to veil an
arcane science and philosophy.

I have deemed it advisable to draw your attention to these facts in a
Paper of this nature, in order to illustrate that Emblematic Freemasonry
incorporates doctrine and symbolism divided into two distinct classes:-

(1)..ETHICAL AND MORAL - derived from the Operative Craft and the
technical equipment of a workman in material stone.

(2)..MYSTICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL - transmitted from less public
organizations of mystics and occultists, and having no relation to the
practical building tradee.

The wisdom of the incorporated system lies in the recognition that both
classes of symbolism and instruction have one characteristic in common;
they both refer to MAN, his nature, his destiny, and the course he must
follow in order to fulfil that nature and attain his true destiny.
Freemasonry therefore acknowledges, as the writer, Pope, expressed it in
his celebrated Essays that, "the proper study of mankind is Man", and we
find this same principle set forth in the Third Degree, in the
instruction to the candidate to "guide his reflections to that most
interesting of all human studies, the knowledge of himself". AlI
thinking men will freely admit that some form of self-knowledge is a
necessary preliminary to self-mastery, and it is also abundantly proved
that he who would be a Master among men, must indeed know himself and
know of the powers which reside within himself, further he must know the
truth concerning his relationship with his fellow men and all nature.
The system we know as Craft Freemasonry was especially designed to teach
selfknowledge, but this involves a knowledge much deeper, vaster, and
more difficult than is popularly conceived, and therefore before the
individual Freemason is in the position to reduce its implications in to
personal experience, he must have the ability to understand the meaning
of all that has been communicated to him "veiled in allegory and
illustrated by symbols".

As a contribution to the interpretation of Masonic doctrine I will now
proceed with the subject of this Paper, and I first of all wish you to
note carefully one thing that emerges clearly in the MASTER MASON
DEGREE; this is an Emblematic Quest for the recovery of what are
cryptically described as "the genuine secrets".  In the title of my
Paper I have termed this Quest mystical, because great significance is
attached to a full comprehension of what is intended by the cryptic
Ritual phrase, "To seek for that which is lost".

I must now ask you to concentrate your attention for a few moments on
the Ceremonies of Opening and Closing the Lodge in the Third Degree. You
will recall in that in the case of the Ceremony of Opening the Lodge the
whole intent is fixed upon the loss of "genuine secrets" and the method
of their recovery, and it is shown in the Ritual catechism that so great
is the zeal of those who are presumed to be engaged in the search for
them, that they have covered the symbolical distance between cosmic East
and West in order to participate. Now, by way of contrast, we find that
in the Ceremony of Closing the Lodge the symbolical journey is reversed,
being now from West to East, it is declared that the "genuine secrets
have not been found. Further, certain "substituted secrets" having been
regularly communicated, it is decreed that the fulfilment of the quest
must be delayed "until time or circumstances shall restore the genuine
ones".  From this is quite cloar that the intention is to show that in
the Master Mason Degree the measures of possibility have been spanned,
and that henceforth the fulfilment or recovery rests with Providence,
watching within the veil of futurity.

In what light do we Freemasons regard the contents of these two brief
Ceremonies of Opening and Closing the Lodge? It may surprise some of you
who have listened in Lodge on many occasions to the recitation of tho
Ritual catechism, to learn that it is a modern version of what is known
in mysticism as the "Quest-formula" and thus is the reflection of a
highly mystical doctrine. Its correspondence in mysticism is in fact the
age-old theosophical doctrine concerning the Eternal East of our
ante-natal life, which is forfeited by the descent of the soul into
generation as on a journey to the West, or into manifested being and the
"grave" of the flesh. The way of resurrection from the grave is
proclaimed to be that of return whence we came.

The Quest-formula in exceedingly old in folk-lore, and the presence of
the doctrine incorporated in the ritual of the Third Degree throws a
flood of light upon that which is presented heavily "veiled in allegory"
in the Ceremony of Raising; it also provides the key to that obscure
passage in the Ritual when the attention of the candidate is directed to
a "retrospect of those Degrees in Freemasonry through which he has
already passed".

Let us reflect a little upon these things, and express them in language
with which as Freemasons we are all familiar. We have been taught that
our "admission into Freemasonry" was "an emblematical representation of
the entrance of all men upon this their mortal existence". What bearing
has this on the problem of self-knowledge? Surely we may quickly grasp
that it is an emphatic answer to that deep persistent questioning which
presents itself to every thinking mind, WHENCE COME I? The answer is
luminous in Ritual terms; each of us, we are told, has come from that
mystical "East" the eternal source of all light and life, and our life
here is described as being spent in the "West", that is in a world which
is the antipodes of our original home. Hence every Candidate upon
admission is placed, in a state of darkness, in the West of the Lodge.
Thereby he is repeating symbolically the incident of his actual birth
into this world, which he entered as a blind and helpless babe, and
through which in his early years, not knowing whither he was going,
after many stumbling and irregular steps, after many tribulations and
adversities incident to human life, he may at length ascend, chastened
by experience, to larger life in the Eternal East. The Instruction
Lectures also illustrate this in order to amplify the Ceremony of
Admission, and thus in the First Section of the  First Lecture the qu
estion is asked, "As a Freemason whence come you?" ; the answer coming
from an Apprentice (i.e. from the natural man of undeveloped knowledge)
is "From the West", since he supposes that his life has originated in
this world. But, in the Master Mason Degree, First Section of the Third
Lecture, the question is put, "As a M.M. whence came you?", and the
answer is that he came "From the East", for by this time the Freemason
is deemed to have so enlarged his knowledge, as to realise that the
primal source of life is not in this world; that existence on this
planet is but a transitory journey, spent in search of the "genuine
secrets", the ultimate realities of life, and that  he must return from
this temporary world of "substituted secrets" to that "East" from which
he originally came.

I trust that it is now possible for you to glean that, in its highest
understanding, the doctrine of Freemasonry tells us that the soul of man
comes forth from an eternal centre, and that the soul in fine goes back,
or to that "point within circle" from which the Master Mason "cannot
err". It is in this sense that as Master Masons, we are intended to
realize that the pageant of the Third Degree, is our own story told in
another manner of language, and shadowed forth in other types. We are
also pursuing the search for that "which is lost", and we have been
raised in the shadow, that we may be brought thereafter into a great
light, at once a Morning Star and Orient which visits us from on high.
This is indeed the message of the Sublime Degree, and it is again truly
recorded in the Introduction to the Third Lecture that, "To a perfect
knowledge of this Degree few attain, but it is an infallible truth that
he who gains by merit those marks of p reeminence and distinction which
this Degree affords receives a reward which amply compensates for all
his attention and assiduity"; thus we are reminded that these few are
those who lift their eyes to the Morning Star. Whose rising brings peace
and salvation, and a great inward light to all who sit in darkness and
in the shadow of death.

It now remains for me to show, that the key to the whole purpose of the
Masonic system is contained in the Central Legend and the Traditional
History of the Third Degree; and that it is this key which is missing in
the majority of cases when Brethren have sought to elucidate the
mystery.

To many members of our Order the story of the building of the Temple at
Jerusalem appears to be the history of an actual structure of stone and
mortar erected by a famous Hebrew King, assisted in the work by another
King who supplied the men and materials, and by a Principal Architect
who supplied the pre-ordained plans to the Craftsmen.  But we must be
very careful before we come to any such conclusions regarding this
Temple, and we must also bear in mind that the Masonic legend informs us
that during the course of the work of erection a conspiracy arose among
the workmen, resulting in the murder of the "Principal Architect" and
preventing the completion of the building, which therefore remains
unfinished to this day. I will ask you to note that this legend cannot
refer to any historical building erected in the old metropolis of
Palestine, for if we refer to the V. of the S.L., as an authority for
the Temple at Jerusalem, we find it recorded that the Temple was
completed.  Moreover, the account given in the V. of the S.L., makes no
reference whatever to the conspiracy among the workmen, but on the
contrary it is expressly stated in the Second Book of Chronicles,
Chapter 4, verse 11, "And Huram finished the work that he was to make
for King Solomon for the House of God", and we are further i nformed
that the Temple was finished and completed in every particular.

The Masonic legend further instructs us that by the death of the
Principal Architect "the genuine secrets of a Master Mason were lost".
Now it is obvious that the principles of architecture, the genuine
secrets of the building trade, are not, and never have been lost; they
are thoroughly well known, and it in absurd to suppose that Masons of
any kind are waiting for time or circumstances to restore any lost
knowledge as to the manner in which temporal buildings ought to be
constructed. Clearly our duty is to pierce the veil of allegory
contained in the Legend, and by so doing, grasp the significance of its
true purport. That which "is lost" in to be found, we are told, "With
the Centre", but if we enquire in the language of the Ritual, "What is a
Centre?", we are confronted with the enigmatic answer that it is, "A
point within a circle from which every part of the circumference is
equidistant". But what circle? and what circumference? for we can obtain
no clue to this in the construction of ordinary buildings. If we ask
also  "Why with the Centre" we are again faced with the perplexing
answer, "Because that is a point from which a Master Mason cannot err".
The truth is that these questions and answers are typical examples of an
intentional puzzle language which is used to stimulate investigation
into the deeper things which lie behind the literal words. The method is
one that is common to all systems of initiations, and the clue to its
adopt ion in our system will be found by a reference to the Lecture on
the Tracing Board of the First Degree, where it is affirmed that,
"philosophers, unwilling to expose their mysteries to vulgar eyes,
concealed their tenets and principles of polity and philosophy under
hieroglyphical figures". The Traditional History of the Third Degree
constitutes such a hieroglyphical figure.

From what I have already disclosed in this Paper, it follows that the
Legend of the Third Degree deals with something quite distinct from the
construction of a material edifice, and I need only add that the Temple
of Speculative Freemasonry is that Holy Temple of which all material
edifices are but the types and symbols. It is that Temple of the
collective body of humanity referred to by St. Paul in the First Book of
Corinthians, Chapter 3. verse 16, in the words, "Know ye not that ye are
the Temple of God;

and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?", and of which he also
declared, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, I have
laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man
take heed how he buildeth thereupon" (1st Corinthians, Chapter 3, verse
10). A perfect humanity was the great Temple, which in the counsels of
the Most High, was intended to be reared in the mystical Holy City (the
"City of Eternal peace"), of which the local Jerusalem was the type. The
three Master Builders, King Solomon and the two Hirams, are a triad
corresponding to the Trinities to be found in all the great world
religions; it is hardly necesary to remark that the builders of this
Temple of the Most High were not three human personages, and we should
realise that their names are a personification of the Divine Creative
Energy considered in its three constituent principles, which are
symbolised in our Ritual as "Pillars of His work", namely:- Wisdom,
Strength and Beauty. Those of you who are versed in metaphysics will
recognise that these three metaphysical principles form the basis of all
created things, and may be defined for our purpose of study in more
modern terms:-

(1)..WISDOM. - Life essence, otherwise the "breathe of life".

(2)..STRENGTH. - Primordial substance or that which translated from the
Hebrew in the V. of the S.L., as "dust of the ground" into which the
Lord (life) God breathed the "breath of life". It is therefore a mould
or vehicle of the Life-essence and is termed in our modern nomenclature
"the soul", which gives form or objectiveness.

(NOTE: the actual passage in the V. of the S.L., concerning this is in
GENESIS, Chapter 2, verse 7, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul".)

(3)..BEAUTY, - The intellectual principle which is built into the soul,
and which energises and binds the life-essence and the substance
together, and constitutes the whole an intelligent instrument.

It was of these three principles, or in the words of our Ritual, "of
these Divine attributes", that the human soul was originally and
divinely built, and thus the Temple of the collective soul of humanity
was made, or built, of the three constituent principles of Deity in due
balance and proportion, "perfect in all its parts" (see Genesis, Chapter
1, verse 27, "So God created man in his own image"), and the work was
divinely pronounced to be "very good" (Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 31,
"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good".
The material of the mystical Temple at Jerusalem was therefore the souls
of men, who were at once t he living stones, the fellow craftsmen and
collaborators with the divine purpose. But in the course of the
construction of this ideal Temple, something happened that wrecked the
scheme and delayed the fulfilment indefinitely. If you will consult the
Book of Genesis in the V. of the S.L. you will find the same subject
related i the allegory of Adam and Eve, They were intended, as you are
aware, for perfection and happiness, but the project of the Creator
became nullified by their disobedience to certain conditions which were
imposed upon them.  You will observe that their offence was precisely
the same as that committed by our Masonic conspirators. They had been
forbidden to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, or, in Masonic language, they
were under obligation "not to attempt to extort the secrets of a
superior degree" to which they had not attained.  In our Masonic system
the "ruffians" are represented as demanding the secrets of the Master",
or, the secrets of his exalted degree", and they attempt to extort them
by violence.  The meaning of this becomes clear once it is understood
that the translation of the Hebrew word HIRAM is "teacher of supreme
knowledge", or more correctly it is the equivalent of the Sanscrit word
CURU, meaning literally "teacher of the divine wisdom".  The
Fellowcrafts are therefore represented as endeavouring to obtain that
knowledge which Hiram said was "known to but three in the world," or in
other words knowledge that was known only in the counsels of the Divine
Trinity, and the attempt resulted, as you know from our legend, in the
"death of the Master".  This tragedy, however, is not intended to be the
record of any vulgar, brutal murder of any individual man; it is a
parable of a universal loss, and an allegorical expression of that which
resulted in consequence of a defect in the collective or group soul of
the human race. In this parable we are dealing with a moral disaster to
universal humanity, for those significant words "Hiram is slain" refer
to the fact that owing to all that is signified by the "Fall of Man",
the faculty of enlightened wisdom has been out off from humanity.  It it
in this sense that the Temple of human nature still remains unfinished,
and it will do so until we recover the "plans and designs" which were
formerly "regularly supplied" by the T.G.A.O.T.U. In our own day we have
good reason to know that despite all efforts and endeavours we are still
unable to regulate the disorders of individual and national life, and
this indicates to us that some heavy calamity has befallen us a race.

It is also true that in our best moments we all long for that light and
wisdom which have  become lost to us, and like the Craftsmen in search
of the body we go our different ways in search of what is lost. We seek
it in pleasure, in work, and in varied occupations and diversions; we
seek it in intellectual pursuits, and in Freemasonry, and those who
search farthest and deepest are those who become most conscious of the
loss, and who are compelled to cry M...... or M......! "the Master is
smitten". Thus the search goes on, and in the Divine Providence we find
that there still remains to us "the glimmering ray" in the "East", for
in our "darkness" we still have our "five points of fellowship", our
five senses and our rational faculties to work with, and these provide
us with the "substituted secrets" that must distinguish us before we
regain the genuine ones. In this manner, "veiled in allegory"'
Freemasonry teaches us the great truth that it is Humanity itself that
is the living Temple whose building in those far off days became
obstructed, and therefore to all of us who have "eyes to see and ears to
hear", it conveys the emphatic message that we are both the Craftsmen
and the building  materials of that edifice which was intended to be an
unparalleled structure", but which although in foundation, "well and
truly laid" has so far failed in the effort to raise a superstructure
perfect in all its parts and honourable to the Builder". But let us not
forget that while Freemasonry emphasises the "utter confusion" arising
from the universal loss of the original "plans and designs", its real
purpose is to bear witness to the fact which has been taught in all
subsequent ages, namely that with proper instruction and by our own
patience and industry, we can regain "that which is lost". Remember, w e
are taugth that in "due time we shall be entitled to a participation in
the genuine secrets", providing that we are found worthy, and in our
Masonic system, to be "installed in the Chair of KIng Solomon" means, in
its true sense, the re-attainment of that Wisdom we have lost and the
revival in ourselves of the Divine Life-essence which is the basis of
our being.  This brings us to the consideration of the most important
matter.  How can we regain the genuine secrets? In order to answer this,
w e must obviously solve the problem of the burial place of the
Principal Architect.

According to the legend we are informed that the Wisdom of the Most High
- personified by King Solomon - ordered him to be interred, "in a grave
from the c.../ 3 feet between N and S, 3 feet between E and W, and 5 or
more feet perpendicular". Where, Brethren, do you imagine that grave to
be? Probably you have never thought of the matter as other than at
ordinary burial place outside the walls of a geographical Jerusalem, but
the real grave of Hiram is ourselves. Deep at the centre of ourselves
lies buried the "vital and immortal principle" that affiliates us to the
Divine Centre of all life, and this is never wholly extinguished however
imperfect our lives may be.  The lost guiding light is buried at the
centre of ourselves, high as your hand may reach upwards or downwards
from the centre of your own body i.e. 3 feet between N and S, as far as
your hand can reach to the right or left from the middle of your person
i.e. 3 feet between E and W, and 5 feet or more perpendicular, the
height of the human body; these are the indications by which our cryptic
Ritual describes the tomb of H.... A... at the centre of ourselves.

Freemasonry then, is a system of philosophy inasmuch that it provides us
with a doctrine of the Universe and our place in it; indicates whence we
are come and whither we may return. Its first purpose is to show that
man has fallen away from a high estate to the externalised condition in
which we now live, but its great virtue lies in the fact that, to those
who seek it indicates the way by which the "centre" may be found within
ourselves, and the outline of this teaching is embodied in the
discipline and or deals brought to the notice of the candidate in the
three Degrees. The instruction of these degrees is "veiled allegory and
illustrated by symbols" to emphasize that all great symbols are shadowed
forth in the person of man himself. Thus the human organism is the true
Lodge that must be opened and wherein the mysteries are to be found;
thus it is that our Lodge-rooms are so furnished to typify the human
organism. The lower and physical part of us earthy, and rests, like
Jacob's Ladder, upon the earth; whilst our higher portion is spiritual
and reaches to the heavens. These two portions are in perpetual
conflict, and he alone is a wise man who has learned to effect a perfect
balance between them and to establish himself in strength so that his
own inward house stands firm against all weakness and temptation. The
world at large is, as it were, but one great Lodge, of which our Masonic
Lodges are the little mirrors.  Mother Earth is also the Mother Lodge or
us all. As its vast work goes on, souls are ever descending into it and
souls are being called out of it at the knocks of s ome great unseen
Warden of life and death, who calls them from labour here and summons
them hence for refreshment.  Hence it is that after the work in the
Lodge, the festive board; after the labour of this world, the repast and
refreshment of the heavenly placeos.

In submitting these thoughts to you I would once again stress the fact
that the real aim of Freemasonry is to provide us with a course of
self-knowledge and self-discipline, by means of which we may accelerate
our return to our real home, which in the V. of the S.L., is known as
the "Kingdom of Heaven". The candidate in the  Entered Apprentice Degree
is informed that our system is one containing secrets, but he is also
reminded that those "secrets" are not "communicated indiscriminately".
This is indeed true, for they exist concealed beneath a great
reservation, and are disclosed only to those of us who are prepared to
act upon the hint given in the Instruction Lectures, "Seek and ye shall
find; ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you".
The search may be long and difficult, but great things are not to be
acquired without effort and it may be affirmed that to the candidate who
is "properly prepared" there are doors leading from the Craft, that,
when knocked, will assuredly open and admit him to places and to
knowledge of which he at present knows little.

And now, Brethren, this brings me to the conclusion of my Paper and our
study of the Mystical Quest in Freemasonry", and I trust that the small
contribution I have been privileged to place before you will prove to be
"glimmering ray in the restoration of that "Light" which we have
declared is the predominant wish of our hearts". It rests with each one
of us whether Masonry remains merely a series of symbolic rites, or
whether we allow those symbols to pass into our lives and become
realities.  Our Craft was given out to the popular world from obscure
and secret sources as a great experiment and means of Grace.  The
knowledge concealed by the allegory and illustrated by the symbols is
only taught in certain carefully concealed sanctuaries, and its
presentation in Craft Lodges is intended to lead those capable of
discerning its true purpose, into still deeper initiations.

Finally, Brethren, in accordance with the general design of our system,
the Worshipful Master of a Craft Lodge is the humble representative of
King Solomon, who himself is a symbol, and behind these and all the
Grand Officers, stands the Grand Master of all true Freemasons
throughout the Universe, "The Master of the Great White Lodge", to whom
we all owe allegiance, and to whose protection and enlightening guidance
I commend myself and you all.

SO MOTE IT BE