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Is it possible that there really is a Lost Word?

bupton52

Moderator
Premium Member
Great Question! The particulars of "The Master's Word" are provided within the third degree ritual.

1) What were the three Ruffians looking for from HA?
2) Why did they want it?
3) What did it allow them to do?
4) How did it benefit them?
5) Why could HA not hand it over to them?
6) What qualities did it have which made it impossible for him to hand it over to them?
7) What qualities were lacking in the Ruffians that made it impossible for them to have it?
8) What qualities must you possess for you to have it for yourself such that you could benefit and do so without the aid of others?
9) How does one go about developing those qualities?
10) Why is it impossible to say or write it?

Coach always gets me thinking!


Sent from my iPad using My Freemasonry Mobile
 

JohnXRV

Registered User
But as the 3rd Degree involves the encounter between HA and the ruffians and the after events, none of those elements can be what the ruffians were seeking BECAUSE THEY HADN'T HAPPENED YET!!!

Bloody confusing
 

Pointwithinacircle3

Registered User
Interesting questions. These answers are more for me to organize my thoughts than to educate others.
Great Question! The particulars of "The Master's Word" are provided within the third degree ritual.
1) What were the three Ruffians looking for from HA?
The Masters Word
2) Why did they want it?
They wanted Power
3) What did it allow them to do?
Travel in foreign countries, or allegorically, to know that which was beyond their grasp.
4) How did it benefit them?
That they might receive a Masters Wages, or allegorically, gain that which was otherwise unattainable to them.
5) Why could HA not hand it over to them?
It was beyond their comprehension.
6) What qualities did it have which made it impossible for him to hand it over to them?
7) What qualities were lacking in the Ruffians that made it impossible for them to have it?
8) What qualities must you possess for you to have it for yourself such that you could benefit and do so without the aid of others?
I'm going with Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty for all of these questions.
9) How does one go about developing those qualities?
If you will allow me to quote from another tradition; To Know, To Will, To Dare, and of course the fourth part so well exemplified by HA, To Keep Silent.
10) Why is it impossible to say or write it?
Knowing, Willing, and Daring are not verbalizable. Neither is Keeping Silent which, come to think of it, could be allegorically represented as a place of darkness.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
First of all, without being able to travel back in time and speak with whomever created YOUR version of the third degree legend (and I say that because there are many different versions), you can never know what the symbolism is/was.
You can ponder it (which MIGHT be the entire point), you can read other people's ideas, you can ignore it, or anything in between. But I think it's important to remember that there is no "correct" answer that any of us can find.
 

Pointwithinacircle3

Registered User
My favorite quote is "Words are symbols which point towards concepts arranged in patterns to communicate meaning". If this definition is correct it could be suggested that the Lost Word is a symbol which points the mind toward a concept (perhaps a lost concept?). And since it con only be communicated in the presence of three people it might be suggested that the pattern of the communication caused one to arrive a certain meaning.
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
My favorite quote is "Words are symbols which point towards concepts arranged in patterns to communicate meaning". If this definition is correct it could be suggested that the Lost Word is a symbol which points the mind toward a concept (perhaps a lost concept?). And since it con only be communicated in the presence of three people it might be suggested that the pattern of the communication caused one to arrive a certain meaning.
However, the drama is an allegory and any personification portrayed within this allegory is not a person; it is a concept, ideal, moral quality or other abstraction.

In other words, it is not in the presence of three people.
 

Bevan Jones

Registered User
When one travels from East to West on the Temple Mount you go from the Temple of Solomon to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Templars were indeed travelling to the West to search for that which was lost.... Skip ahead to 1813 and the whole Masonic battle about whether to include the Royal Arch degree as part of core Freemasonry or not. All because of a 3 part word that made some uncomfortable. There's history and there's politics to our ritual today. But elements still exist that hark back to hermetic legend. The Master in the E, JW in the S and SW in W. To the Egyptians, Horus was the rising sun, Ra the noon day Sun, and Osiris the setting sun. Our ancient Bro Pythagorus stumbled upon the immortality of the soul, aside from some nice geometric theorems. As modern day Sapiens we can appreciate all of this and realise that just perhaps, the Lost Word is not really needed anymore. We have evolved to realise that the GAOTU is universal and we should all hold hands and work together to save this planet. As the Templar's Sufi helpers said, "You may have the Cross, but we have the meaning of the Cross".
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
When one travels from East to West on the Temple Mount you go from the Temple of Solomon to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Templars were indeed travelling to the West to search for that which was lost.... Skip ahead to 1813 and the whole Masonic battle about whether to include the Royal Arch degree as part of core Freemasonry or not. All because of a 3 part word that made some uncomfortable. There's history and there's politics to our ritual today. But elements still exist that hark back to hermetic legend. The Master in the E, JW in the S and SW in W. To the Egyptians, Horus was the rising sun, Ra the noon day Sun, and Osiris the setting sun. Our ancient Bro Pythagorus stumbled upon the immortality of the soul, aside from some nice geometric theorems. As modern day Sapiens we can appreciate all of this and realise that just perhaps, the Lost Word is not really needed anymore. We have evolved to realise that the GAOTU is universal and we should all hold hands and work together to save this planet. As the Templar's Sufi helpers said, "You may have the Cross, but we have the meaning of the Cross".
Yea... or we could collectively realize The Word is just a metaphor for that skill development and experience that makes a man Masterful.
 

Warrior1256

Site Benefactor
When one travels from East to West on the Temple Mount you go from the Temple of Solomon to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Templars were indeed travelling to the West to search for that which was lost.... Skip ahead to 1813 and the whole Masonic battle about whether to include the Royal Arch degree as part of core Freemasonry or not. All because of a 3 part word that made some uncomfortable. There's history and there's politics to our ritual today. But elements still exist that hark back to hermetic legend. The Master in the E, JW in the S and SW in W. To the Egyptians, Horus was the rising sun, Ra the noon day Sun, and Osiris the setting sun. Our ancient Bro Pythagorus stumbled upon the immortality of the soul, aside from some nice geometric theorems. As modern day Sapiens we can appreciate all of this and realise that just perhaps, the Lost Word is not really needed anymore. We have evolved to realise that the GAOTU is universal and we should all hold hands and work together to save this planet. As the Templar's Sufi helpers said, "You may have the Cross, but we have the meaning of the Cross".
Very interesting!
 

Bevan Jones

Registered User
Yea... or we could collectively realize The Word is just a metaphor for that skill development and experience that makes a man Masterful.

Indeed, I think all too often we are searching for an immediate literal and tangible answer, for someone to just give it all to us. In our greed for instant material and intellectual satisfaction, we forget that the process, the journey itself, is the key part of the answer. We assume that many of our so called leaders have all the answers. Yet, how can they when Masonry is such a personal journey. It would be boring if there was the same answer for everyone's quest.
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
Indeed, I think all too often we are searching for an immediate literal and tangible answer, for someone to just give it all to us. In our greed for instant material and intellectual satisfaction, we forget that the process, the journey itself, is the key part of the answer. We assume that many of our so called leaders have all the answers. Yet, how can they when Masonry is such a personal journey. It would be boring if there was the same answer for everyone's quest.
I've not so generous with the leeway of answers or the character of our leaders. I found far too many leaders had either no answer or an answer that was clearly specious. Many have yet to lift a working tool and, far worse, cultivate mastery.

Masonry is indeed a personal journey, however, when the journey entails the same cultivation Work, the ends are predictable and the answers merge.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Lightlife,

Thank you for posting this. As small of a thing as it might seem, it really got me thinking. When reading John 1:1, it's important to understand the word Logos. Using that same definition I feel really changes how one looks at the legend of the 3rd degree. I plan to write and present a paper on it to my lodge.
Thank you for providing the impetus for that.
 

LK600

Premium Member
I only know of one true (literal) lost word, and it's not that the word was lost... only that we have lost the ability to speak it (lost language).
 
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