Philosophy, Theology, and Esotericism

Brother Greg Stewart left a thoughtful comment to my rant on esoteric Freemasonry. I'm sorry if I hurt his feelings, I just felt a sense of balance needed to be brought to the topic.

Brother Stewart's comment reads as follows:

Br. John, thank you for the kind words. One of the few comments i can come away saying is that I did not want to alienate anyone, from an esoteric stand point.

My use of the term (and idea) was for me to say that my opinion is of a few, of whom do not conform to the main-stream, idea of what Freemasonry means. Is that right, or is that wrong, I can't say. I don't think any of us can. I can say that personally, I have found a deeper meaning of it. Having taken all three degrees apart and looked at the individual pieces, and then reconstructed them, they have come to say something more to me than their surface representation. Perhaps I am misreading my tea leaves, but when you have a system of metaphor and allegory, you have to take the whole system as a metaphor too. Some say it is an occult understanding (hidden), some say its a bunch of B.S., what ever "it" is, is still a metaphor. The degrees were not designed to represent just an oath and obligation or to be a framework for guys to just get together. They were meant to represent something. So the esoteric question is what do they represent. Where did they come from?

I can say definitively that its not a hocus pocus hoo-voodoo, magick (yes,I said magick with a K), but I am seeing a system more in line with a hinduism philosophy, perhaps in the journey to the inner divine. (Insert Carl Jung). The traditions of the alchemists, John Dee and company, are a good point of origin for how Freemasonry came about and where these ideas originated. And these guys thought they were the real deal magicians, total occultists, total esoteric knowledge, but what they though was "magic" was really just science. I can see why some other traditions branched out to do their own thing (OTO, Crowley, etc...), but you are right, they are wholly different things and NOT Freemasonry.

But does everyone see this connection? Probably not. Do they want to see it that way? Probably not. One of the things I asked in my random survey of Freemasonry was "do you believe freemasonry is an esoteric society" and 40% of those that took the survey said yes. This is out of 800+ random masons. So I think there is definitely something to think about.

Personally, I do believe there is a "deeper" meaning to Freemasonry. The tradition has been with is for 300+ years in its present form, I don't want to believe it is to just get guys to come out to free spaghetti dinners. We come for something... The brotherhood, the fraternity, the shared experience. Something resonates in us that keeps up coming back month after month, meeting after meeting.

Rational is rational, but like faith, it takes a less empirical analysis to look for the "esoteric".

My honest response to Brother Greg would have to be an admission that I was not entirely honest in my rant. I was honest when I said that mainstream Freemasonry wants to have nothing to do with esoteric discussions. It would make my Christian brothers squirm to the extreme.

I also honestly meant what I said when I talked about those who believe the various rituals access 'higher realms' or 'powers' or give access to occult forces and even various beings in the spiritual realm. You only have to read Wilmhurst and some other occultist writers to get a feel for this kind of thing. Especially reading the works of C.W. Leadbeater will make it clear what I'm talking about here.

Leadbeater's books have titles such as: The Astral Plane: Its Scenery, Inhabitants and Phenomena (Dodo Press) , Occult Chemistry: Clairvoyant Observations on the Chemical Elements (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press), Chakras: A Monograph, Freemasonry and Its Ancient Mystic Rites.

In fact, I own several Leadbeater books and when I hear the term 'esoteric' as it refers to Freemasonry I pretty much assume it is talking about the wacky stuff in Leadbeater's writings. Wilmhurst does much of the same thing as well in his book 'The Meaning of Masonry'

Now, I enjoy reading Wilmhurst and I even get a kick out of Leadbeater. It's fun reading. That said, I rather doubt I'm going to see any chakras, energies, or any other hoodoo myself. I'm pretty much certain that my brain is not wired that way.

In Brother Stewart's commentary, however, he goes beyond talking about 'esoteric' stuff and make reference to theology and philosophy.

Anyone who knows me knows that these are two of my favorite topics. As far as theology goes my personal favorite model is based on the writing of a ghost named Seth. It is important to note that my personal views are quite distinct from my Masonic experience.

I would no more talk about Seth in a lodge than I would talk about Jesus Christ. And, were I to hold esoteric views, I would act the same way.

Greg and I both know, from previous conversations, that our personal philosophy and spiritual world views are actually quite similar. I have read an enormous amount of material and I hold a lot of thoughts on these topics. This, however, is personal. I don't see what it has to do with Freemasonry.

I was well entrenched in my theological and philosophical views long, long, before I joined Freemasonry and my affiliation with the organization hasn't changed any of these opinions significantly.

While I claim I don't understand the Freemason 3rd degree ritual I can certainly put my own symbolic interpretation on it. Of course, so do other Freemasons like Wilmhurst who is convinced that it is a barely veiled allegory for the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

My personal theory would be considered quite heretical to the mainstream and that is why I am uncomfortable voicing it. My interpretation would necessarily fall in line with my already pre-existing spiritual world view.

I wouldn't mind if what Freemasonry in general, and the 3rd degree in particular, was trying to convey was this; That there is one living and true God, the Great Architect of the Universe. This creator is expressed as a divine intelligence which infuses the Universe as a whole and our spirit in particular. My spiritual world view might incorporate the Hindu concept of re-incarnation, though I wouldn't necessarily adopt their exact karmic model.

Within the cycles of reincarnation our spirits have a short term goal of exploring the range of experience in material existence and a long term goal of ascending beyond the material plane. The best way to ascend, spiritually so to speak, is to adopt the kind of moral code which is inculcated within Freemasonry.

All of the religions of the world are made by men and, while inspired by the desire to reach the divine, are rife with dogma that clouds and confuses the purity of the one living and true God. A God that is so much greater than the despot depicted in the bible; A God as mind blowing as eternity, black holes, imaginary numbers, or the most difficult conceptual model you could ever imagine. The purpose of life, the Universe, and everything is creative expression.

The evidence for the idea that the divine spark of God lives within each one of us is that each one of us are driven with a deep desire to better know God through the use or intellect and reason.

By now it seems I have gone a long way away from the 3rd degree which is really just a story about a guy getting konked on the head because he wouldn't betray a secret. Sure, there are a few more details to the skit, but this is really the core of it.

I consider these kinds of ideas as pure theology or philosophy. Where it intersects Freemasonry is debatable, obviously, since so many people read something different into it. The Blue Lodge is a giant Rorschach test, intentionally so in my opinion. Only in the higher degrees of Masonry do the lessons speak more openly about the perennial philosophy.

I apologize for sounding quite so negative and using such strong language in my rant. It was, afer all, only a rant. While my experience with mainstream Freemasonry does match the views I expressed, my *personal* philosophy and theology is much more broad and open minded.

That said, I would just love to see some chakras, auras, feel energies, or interact with entities from the spirit world.

That just sounds enormously cool to me!