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Why the secrets?

hanzosbm

Premium Member
Regardless of your opinions regarding the origins of Freemasonry, one can see similarities with the Ancient Mystery Schools. One particular aspect that many of the Mystery Schools, religious sects, and Freemasonry all have in common is of secret teachings. Most of sects and Mystery Schools say something to the effect of needing to keep the secrets to prevent them from falling into the hands of people who don't truly understand them. Since most of these organizations strive for enlightenment, why the fear of their secrets getting out?
Let's assume a hypothetical XYZ Mystery School teaches some kind of secrets that help the initiate to find some kind of beautiful, hidden truth. With the truth being so wonderful, why keep it from the uninitiated? The argument could be made that they might not truly understand it, but so what? Why is this knowledge that is so wonderful guarded so closely?
During the Enlightenment era, this continued. Even the argument of the fear of persecution doesn't really hold up. That would be a legitimate reason for keeping the identity of members secret, but not the knowledge.

(just a note, this isn't asked sarcastically and I don't think there's any evil underlying plot, just a legitimate question for discussion)
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
"Carborundum non illegititatum". Don't let the rhymes-with-mustards grind you down. ;^)

Deal is so many people are negative about anything they don't understand it is often expeditious to isolate a teaching from the fuss budget folks.

Thing is that approach eventually led to a stagnation in society. Every discovery kept secret was eventually lost so progress hit a maximum. It was the invention of the Scientific Method that finally broke out of that trap. One part of the Scientific Method is the credit goes to the first one who publishes there there is incentive against secrecy.

Grand Lodge Masonry dates from a time when the Scientific Method was new. Time Immemorial Masonry dated from a time when the tradition of secrecy was still in place.

This in addition to lodges being places of haven from religious persecution that would literally cost people their lives for refusing to convert every generation as the next King or Queen issued the next mandate.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
Okay, I think I follow. So the thought process is that these teaching were kept secret for fear that if they were disseminated to a larger audience, the volume of naysayers would drown out the teachings. Is that about right? I think that argument is very likely the case. Anyone else have any different ideas?
 

pointwithinacircle2

Rapscallion
Premium Member
The argument could be made that they might not truly understand it, but so what? Why is this knowledge that is so wonderful guarded so closely?
Because knowledge is powerful. I happen to think handguns are wonderful, but I don't give them those who are not properly trained in their use. Let me tell you a true story. I grew up around guns, my first wife did not. In fact, she had never held a gun before. One day, after we were married, I took her out to the gun range to teach her how to shoot a pistol. I took her to the firing line and spent 20 minutes explaining gun safety to her. Telling her "you always point the gun toward the target, never point it at anything behind the firing line. Then I loaded the gun and demonstrated how to fire it. Then I reloaded it, set it on the firing line, told her to try, and stepped behind her. The first thing she did after picking up the gun was turn around, point it directly at my chest, and say "Wow, I could kill you." That is a true story.

The point is that she had all the information, she was not ignorant. But she was not psychology and emotionally prepared to have that much power in her hands.

If you think about it, the case can easily be made that we don't teach secrets in Masonry. In fact, I think that a much stronger case could be made that what we do is prepare men to learn the secrets. What we do is help make good men better. I might even go so far as to say that the first thing a Mason must do is to prepare himself emotionally and psychologically. No one should be given what they are unprepared to handle.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
If you think about it, the case can easily be made that we don't teach secrets in Masonry. In fact, I think that a much stronger case could be made that what we do is prepare men to learn the secrets. What we do is help make good men better. I might even go so far as to say that the first thing a Mason must do is to prepare himself emotionally and psychologically. No one should be given what they are unprepared to handle.

I agree with this 100%. And I would also say that the tools we are given/earn that are used to unlock that truth would be completely lost on someone who had not adequately prepared themselves. (I myself was not properly prepared for years after I had been raised) So while I totally agree that it would be wasted on the unprepared, let's go back to the concept of it being dangerous if you don't mind. (by the way, I'm loving this conversation)

With a firearm, the dangers are obvious (I was a professional shooting instructor for a number of years, so I can totally relate to your story) but what of this knowledge? Now, if we're going the full mystic route and one were to argue that there are incantations and magic that unlock abilities such as some Mystery Schools claim, then I completely see your point. However, if they are the tools to making a good man better, what danger is there?

For the record, I'm asking this somewhat rhetorically, not denying it. In the Essenes Gospel of Peace (which most scholars believe to be a hoax), Jesus says something to the effect of ignoring the laws of Moses because they come from a dead man. And that rather than following dogma set down by someone who is not in the here and now, to follow the living truth. While I don't believe that these were actually the words of Jesus, I don't think it would be difficult to argue that dogma of almost all religions can and has been used twisted and perverted by many for unintended purposes. Just as the anti-Masons out there twist our ideas into something they aren't and thus prevent those genuinely seeking truth from our door, maybe the fear this same problem happening on a more massive scale.
 

pointwithinacircle2

Rapscallion
Premium Member
Now, if we're going the full mystic route and one were to argue that there are incantations and magic that unlock abilities such as some Mystery Schools claim, then I completely see your point. However, if they are the tools to making a good man better, what danger is there?
I don't think it would be difficult to argue that dogma of almost all religions can and has been used twisted and perverted by many for unintended purposes. Just as the anti-Masons out there twist our ideas into something they aren't and thus prevent those genuinely seeking truth from our door, maybe the fear this same problem happening on a more massive scale.
I propose that you have answered your own question. Aren't religions, as you said, "tools to making a good man better"? And aren't they sometimes twisted exactly as you propose? Let me add this thought to the discussion.

I propose that we think of what we teach not as tools but as abilities. The first three liberal arts are grammar, rhetoric, and logic. I man who possesses these abilities can sway the opinions of others. Let us suppose that he is not a bad person, just full of ignorant opinions. He has no intention of rallying people to do the wrong thing, he simply does not have the insight to urge his fellowman in the right direction. I offer this example because I think that well intended but misguided people do a lot, if not most, of the harm in the world.

I see secrecy as a form of caution.
 
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dalinkou

Premium Member
Because knowledge is powerful. I happen to think handguns are wonderful, but I don't give them those who are not properly trained in their use. Let me tell you a true story. I grew up around guns, my first wife did not. In fact, she had never held a gun before. One day, after we were married, I took her out to the gun range to teach her how to shoot a pistol. I took her to the firing line and spent 20 minutes explaining gun safety to her. Telling her "you always point the gun toward the target, never point it at anything behind the firing line. Then I loaded the gun and demonstrated how to fire it. Then I reloaded it, set it on the firing line, told her to try, and stepped behind her. The first thing she did after picking up the gun was turn around, point it directly at my chest, and say "Wow, I could kill you.".

Wow. That would have ended all present and future firearms discussions with me. I have introduced basic gun safety to a couple of people, and I do not even have ammo in the same room until I am sure the rules are understood.

Anyway, point taken. You cannot place something in someone's hands before they are ready for it.
 

pointwithinacircle2

Rapscallion
Premium Member
I disagree. Knowledge is not powerful. It is Inventory and hence potential-filled; and there in lies the challenge as to who should receive such inventory and who should not.
(PWAC mumbles to himself) knowledge is not power.....knowledge is inventory.....knowledge is potential.....mmmmm, what is power? what utilizes inventory? what releases potential? mmmmm, must remember to read my signature after posting this.
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
(PWAC mumbles to himself) knowledge is not power.....knowledge is inventory.....knowledge is potential.....mmmmm, what is power? what utilizes inventory? what releases potential? mmmmm, must remember to read my signature after posting this.
lol! KUDOS!!!

Power is Potential Flowing!
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
So the thought process is that these teaching were kept secret for fear that if they were disseminated to a larger audience, the volume of naysayers would drown out the teachings. Is that about right?

Yes. Deal with those who want to learn.

I have another suggestion - One way to hide a secret is to hang up a sign that says "This way to the secrets". People go nuts looking for the secrets in the place the sign says. So we say there are secrets in the ritual and folks look there for secrets. Are there secrets in the ritual? Sure but the simple ones appear in expose' books. We just happen to have promised not to help anyone find they books. That has a fun indirect effect of focusing the attention. "Don't think of the weather" and "I promised not to help with that so you're on your own."

So we have very real secrets of the sort that can be shouted from the rooftops without anyone figuring it out, we we treat each other as kinfolk. And so have secrets of the type that are secret because most of our members aren't interested enough for the topics to gather attention, sacred geometry.

Also many of our secrets are the sort that take good old fashioned hard work. The fellowship of service together. The results of long consistent study. For most of the population the type of secret that takes 5+ years of study to approach, that secret is safe from them. And bless the negative nannies for making it even more so.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
I have no idea where that comes from but it is not in the ritual for the Craft Lodge Degrees in Louisiana.


See:
http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/MADHAVAN_HiramicLegend.html
As a bit of a tangent, awhile back I did a significant amount of research about the shift in the Legend. It actually goes pretty deep and potentially has some pretty powerful ramifications and tie back into the things we're discussing here. I couldn't definitively tie all of the different stories together but my hypothesis was at least supportable. I hate to tease like this, but without us being in a tyled setting, I wouldn't want to go much further. Suffice to say, if one wants answers about obscure things, one needs to remember that while the Bible is the most common source of biblical knowledge, there are many other versions and histories that didn't make it into the Bible. Upon digging into some of these, our Legends aren't as out of left field as you might think.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
>Are there secrets in the ritual? Sure but the simple ones appear in expose' books.

I think you undersell the ritual.

Underselling the ritual isn't my usual stance. I put a lot of time into pointing out layer after layer of symbolic meaning in the ritual. That's the first level of what I mean by the simple secrets of the events that happen at the altar and the other secrets in the ritual that are layer after layer of symbolic meaning.

Brother Nagy makes a distinction between Freemasonry as the organization that uses the ritual to carry our values forward into future generations and Masonry as the practice of our meanings and values outside of ritual contexts. I think that's what I have been trying to get at.

Our practice is built on top of and in addition to our ritual. Much of our practice happens out in public but no matter how much the public sees they still don't get it.

Some of our practice is elitist, mystical, philosophical, whatever you want to call it. It is also built on top of and in addition to our ritual. This part is different for every brother who delves into its depths, which is why it gets described with so many names. The "My Freemasonry" mentioned in the name of this forum is something we share among ourselves. The "My Masonry" that is in addition to it is something we each find within ourselves.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
>Underselling the ritual isn't my usual stance.

Sorry, I did not phrase that well.

I found it accurate enough. As much effort as I normally put in selling the ritual, I put more value on the other types of secrets. Think of a finger pointing and of a gaze that follows the pointing finger. To a great extent the ritual is the pointing finger. Without it we would not know where to look. But the value is greater in following the extended line that of looking at the fingerprints.

The hand and finger, great value. The gaze pointing into the distance that has been directed to the correct spot in the distance, even greater value. There's a section that talks about points - The hand and the finger. There's a section that talks about the mysteries - What the finger points at out there at a distance.
 
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