The purpose of right you all in F by VW Piers Aon brought to by Masonic audiobook Library a speech given in Washington Lodge No 21 state of New York United States of America on Tuesday 17th September 202 nasarudin used to take his donkey across a frontier every day
Loaded with baskets full of straw because he freely confessed to being a Smuggler when came home every night the frontier guards would search him again and again they used to strip him SI the straw steep it in water sometimes even burn it meanwhile Nash Rudin was becoming more and more wealthy then he
Retired and went to live in another country here one of the frontier guards happened to meet him years later you can tell me now mran he said what on Earth were you smuggling all that time when we could never catch you out donkey said nudin from perfume of the desert
Inspirations from Sufi wisdom Ed a Harvey and E hnut 1999 Pub Quest book books introduction what is Freemasonry for by what measure of success are we judging ourselves if the indicators are number of members sums donated to charity or speed of advancement to Master Mason then indeed we are
Achieving all our goals but this can be claimed of almost any society Club fraternity or Union who has members and collects money for charity ah we say but ours is a fraternity with rituals and education and this is what makes us unique if this is so we have a problem
If our rituals are so important to us why do they become the secondary consideration against the desire to attract large numbers of members some have been concerned with quality and by this they mean the quality of candidates being attracted to the craft far fewer seem to be concerned about the quality
Of the experience we offer to these candidates the quality of our education will be a topic covered in later talks in this series in Europe every effort is made to ensure that the rituals are special for the candidate and only one person two of the most is Advanced
Through a particular grade at one time the focus on education is on the the meaning of the rituals and their application to daily life the ritual is everything it inspires educates and binds its members together in fraternity here I have heard reports of Masters even of Lodge’s meeting at Grand
Lodge who say that it would be much easier to attract new members if only we got rid of those boring rituals to put this more bluntly conversations with a number of new members reveals the following telling comments I join Freemasonry to learn I can go to business meetings all day at work I
Didn’t join masonry to attend yet more business meetings I have friends and an active social life why do I need more dinners I choose to give to charity but I didn’t join free massry because of its Charities most tellingly my father joined Freemasonry many years ago in the Caribbean and the
Whole family saw the transformation it worked in him I see nothing of that process here this paper is not an examination of any particular ritual used in Freemasonry it will use contemporary anthropological Theory to try to better understand the purpose of Ritual from this understanding is hope
That ritual will be seen to be key and Central to Free Masonry and that if the fraternity is to have any relevance in modern society it must accept that this is truly its mission statement and that the time spent in organizing Mass rallies charitable donations and filling the evenings with committee meetings and
Dinners while Worthy is not Central to its purpose and function whatever might be going on in the minds of those who wish to remove rituals from Freemasonry altogether rituals are far far more that pretty little plays to be learned by wrote and put on for the satisfaction of
A group of actors or an annoyance that gets in the way of charitable works and delicious dinners Tom drive’s Theory said you Tom driver in his book liberan writs sees ritual as resulting from the tensions arising from two dimensions in the first that performance must balance the modalities of ritual where
Efficaciousness is Paramount and theater where entertainment is Paramount this is logical as seeing a play with no teaching is simply that and evenings entertainment on the other hand a ritual which only serves to promote a particular message or state of mind with no eye to keeping the attention through
Beauty pageantry or spectacle will soon lose our attention the second dimension is that of confession versus ethical or the personal aspect versus the public aspect again this makes sense since all ritual is a balance between what we either do and private or within ourselves and only carry of what we have
Learned into public life be it to improve ourselves to change the world or to perform little acts of kindness this Theory although developed for religion is applicable to masonry know I am not implying that Masonic ritual is religious I am categorically stating that much of religion is ritual in that
It uses symbols repetitive action separation of space and time to convey emotional states and teachings the Masonic degrees are an Exquisite tension between ritual theatrical confessional and ethical modes the allegory of meaning is concealed within a formalized method of delivery which nevertheless is intended to be communicated in a highly
Absorbing entertaining environment the wearing of unusual clothing and being divested of anything which might connect one to the outside world through a careless touch or glance is removed and the nefy enters a new dimension outside of time and space this should mean no clocks no alarms no cellular
Phones and no profane signs of any kind including the fire exit signs sadly imposed Upon Us by overly intrusive regulations in truth this list should include no artificial candles for the symbolism of three natural luminaries describing a triangle is very profound and worthy of a paper in itself and yet
We do not intend to bore him to death with dry dull teachings we present him with a kaleidoscope of Sensations and symbols which he will study with pleasure throughout his Masonic career the two opposing modes of confession and ethics are also superbly balanced in our inspired rights the ceremony itself
Balances the things the candidate must do for himself including his first spoken words upon entering the lodge and his obligation both to conceal and to study the teachings he will receive and those actions which this new community the parts and characters within this symbolic Temple will do to and for him
We will consider three aspects of ritual ual and relate them to the Masonic experience ritual as subversive ritual as teaching and ritual as Transcendence ritual as subv RS IV history has shown us that Kings presidents and the church alike have been terrified of the power of ritual and those of free missionary
In particular from the Morgan Affair and the papal prescriptions of the 18th and 19th century through the persecution of Freemasonry under both fascism and communism earlier this Century to the present enforced public Declarations of membership by judges and policemen in England under the labor government Masons have been singled out for attack
Why is this and why should this be a good thing for Freemasonry ritual takes us away from society even if only for a few hours it allows us for a period to overcome social alienation in the famous wearing of white gloves and affords us an opportunity to talk with intelligent
Informed people about the state of our nation without concern that our words might be carried back to anical forces by spies our traditional cow and eavesdroppers this might not seem a big thing to to us in the United States but ask a mason in Spain in the 1930s or
Occupied France in the 1940s for his opinion and you will tell you that a poorly chosen candidate meant more than a disrupted Lodge it probably meant a firing squad what we stand for is contrary to any society which seeks to control segregate repress or persecute its habitants and sadly that is the
State of Affairs in a majority of the countries of this world arm Masonic meetings allow us to rehearse and debate teachings from an earlier time and many books have been written about how these deposits of mystical learning were bought at the price of blood and are a
Sacred Heritage which it is our duty and our joy to preserve and in succession to pass to the Next Generation this state of existence beyond the threshold of daily Society has been described as liminality which comes from the Latin Lyman meaning threshold Arnold van jip described these rights being flanked by prelimin or
Separation rights and post- liin or reincorporation rights having been separated from conventional reality through Darkness enclosure androgynous clothing CL the candidates or threshold people are ambiguous entities which flow passively through the Lial rights which take place outside of time and space before being reintegrated by the post-
Lial rights to take their place among the new community Ben jip described Lial ritual as being frequently linked to death to being in the womb to invisibility to Darkness to an eclipse of the sun or moon Masons will recognize many of these Illusions it is hardly surprising therefore as Tom driver
Suggests as the powers of nation states have grown in modern times so has the desire on their part to eliminate as much liminality as possible from ritual performance because liminality can lead to a weakening of State control over people’s ideas emotions and behavior he continues much goes on in rituals that
Would not be tolerated at other times hand clapping aoic speech crossdressing speech song recitations direct address to Invisible beings public exchanges of affection mystical Union with other participants the liminality of rituals means that they are informed on the One Hand by a greater than usual sense of of
Order and on the other by a heightened sense of freedom and possibility so ritual and especially Masonic ritual is a process which separates the man from normal society and places him in a position in which to analyze that Society with the symbolic tools he has given and if he finds Society wanting in
Its stand on charity fraternity rights God and nature empowers him to go out into that Society in order to change it for the better no wonder Masons are seen as subversive and here lies the Paradox according to driver ritual stands in contradiction to society while at the
Same time being a part of it our ritual empowers us to live act and work within Society but empowers us with the mission to change it for the better this empowerment given through the Lial process of ritual internalizes this drive to a far greater extent than a debating Society or business meeting
Possibly could for though internalizing the symbols we become those symbols ourselves symbols of what man can achieve by right thinking right acting and right saying we have only to look to George Washington to see those great Masonic symbols in action ritual as teaching our rituals are full of
Symbolic teachings we do not lay out the secrets of our deposit like Pearls Before Swine we protect them even from the Casual Mason for only those who are prepared to work at understanding the meaning behind The Parables and allegories is truly worthy of that deposit ritual allows the deposit of
Knowledge to be passed from generation to generation unchanged so that if one generation fails to understand the true pearls therein contained the message is transmitted intact to the Next Generation when someone might then the wisdom within WTI the ignorant Keeper of the work who decides to modernize abbreviate or amend the ritual he
Commits a capital offense in the eyes of the early members who placed this sacred deposit in the Cure of our mystery school as an aside I remember a story I think a Greek myth being told in my early School in an old man who appears before a great king carrying 12 books
When the King asks what he has in those books the old man says sire they contain all the wisdom of mankind how much will you sell them to me for asks the king for half your kingdom replies the old man the king laughs and says this is a
Ludicrous price the old man then asks for a brazer intrigued the King has a sermon fetch a lit brazer the old man solemnly places six of the books into the brazer and burns them to the horror of the king then the old man asked the king if he would like to buy the
Remaining six books truely for he’s a wise King The King ask how much half your kingdom the old man replies the king shakes his head solemly the old man places another three books in the brazer and they burn to dust the king promptly purchases the remaining three for half
His kingdom let not our great deposit be squandered in like manner for if a generation destroys some of the great symbolism in the name of progress or expediency the Next Generation cannot go back to the dead to ask them what it meant there’s a second reason we communicate our teachings through the
Use of symbols while allegories and Parables tell a story is only through the use of symbols that we truly become a universal Brotherhood language divides us but ritual reass symbols Ro Rapaport wrote the distinctions of language cut the world into bits into categories classes oppositions and contrasts it is
In the nature of language to search out all differences and to turn them into distinctions which then provide bases for boundaries and barriers and further it is in the nature of ritual to unite or reunite the psychic social natural and Cosmic orders which language and the
Exigencies of Life pull apart it is of importance in this regard that representation and ritual are often multimodal employing one in the same time words music noise odors objects and substances a ritual can act like a mantra or meditational exercise it is not to be seen once and forgotten it is
To be seen again and again whereby different messages and nuances are perceived and understood in masonry this effect is enhanced considerably through the possibility of seeing the ritual Through The Eyes of different participants as the brother takes first one then another part in the Mysteries as he progress in the lodge this
Lifetime of learning opens like a rose to reveal the Bey beauty within to the intelligent and seeking eye sadly this value breaks down when as driver writes people do not see the necessary correspondance between what they signify and the reality of the community in the world religion makes the same complaint
There is little value in going to prey and in coming back into the world unchanged and continuing the same negative behavior as before to return to Driver’s model the confessional mode should drive us towards the ethical mode charity right thinking right acting and right saying while these are not primary
Concerns of masonry and its rituals they are a visible and confirming sign that the ritual has achieved success in communicating its lessons that they have not fallen on Stony ground but indeed have been internalized and have become an unconscious part of the brother’s daily Behavior this is when learning
Transforms us finally one point which will be a little vexatious in the current American Masonic climate but one which I feel morally obliged to raise is that of mass initiation I cannot believe it is efficacious is critical that the neoy undergos the experience of transformation of lionization himself
While the side degrees are often run as theatrical experiences in which the candidates watch the drama unfold by means of a proxy or Exemplar the first three degrees of the Holy Saints John are too important to be conferred in Mass if I might give an extreme example
Is rather like a row of Jewish babies at a bris watching one of them being circumcised on their behalf or a group of confirman watching the dios and Bishop laying his hands on an Exemplar for the class how about those to be initiated into the mysteries of ucus
Sitting out inside the cave and being given a brief summary of what is happening to the one allowed into the cave to undergo the rights or one which has been seriously debated the efficacy of a Papal Blessing when watched on television ludicrous example certainly but do they apply to Masonic initiation
As well I believe so ritual as transformational ritual can transform Us in two ways internally in the way we learn to think and to perceive things in a new way and externally in making as part of a new community this external Community has been been called a number
Of things is not strictly a club or even a fraternity for undergoing transforming ritual is a far more powerful than going out for a few drinks or sharing in some Community project in mystical groups the term often applied is egregor or the collective thoughts and inspiration of previous generations if
That is a little too esoteric for some the term used by driver is communites which he defines as a spirit of unity and mutual belonging not- existing outside ritual in other words charitable giving a dinner business meeting or coach trip do not confer this common bond which transcends Lodge even
Continent for any well-traveled Mason will tell you that the welcome received from those who share this sense of communites is as warm and sincere in a lodge in New York as in Namibia those who hold out the hand of Brotherhood are not doing so on the strength of a du’s
Card or a common set of passwords and grips they are doing it out of a sense of common experience this transformation takes place at a number of levels there is nothing which can describe the excitement and joy of making that link between symbol in the external World
Which opens up a whole new area of understanding to the perceptive Mason that momentous instant when the interior and exterior world’s link and the Hermetic action As Above So Below is once more realized in turn this realization or understanding leads the experiencer to enact that part of the
Ritual with a greater understanding with the result that those who also understand that particular teaching will immediately realize that this Mason 2 has the key to its interpretation while those who still seek its inner meaning will Marvel at the the feeling and command that Mason brings to his role I
Like to give the reader a means in my papers to experience what I say on a practical level and this is no exception one means of opening up one’s uncritical mind to the power of the symbols which surround us in our ritual is through using what is called creative
Visualization when the reader next takes part in a masonic ritual I would ask him to spend a few moments before the ritual begins sitting quietly in his place or station preferably with his eyes closed and imagin himself transported back to the historical time in which the ritual
Is set said while any officer in anybody can do this exercise let us use the example of the master in this blue Lodge let him imagine with all his power of concentration that he is indeed King Solomon you should feel the crown on his head the top hat being magically
Transformed into its prototype the rich red and gold robes and folding his body the scepter of power for us the gavl lying to his right the sensation of the opulent Throne pressing against his body hear the muffled sound of workmen and their subdued cries all around this great building sight for remember no
Sound of metal was to be heard feel the heat of the new day sun beating down the ACD drying sand ass Sal in the nostrils now the eyes are open and I guarantee the words uttered by this new King Solomon will thrill the most experienced ritualists in the
Room at the obligation he will step down from his throne leaving the triple days and walking across the Great flagstones of the temple floor aware of the eyes of all his cers upon him he walks between the pylons formed by the senior and Junior wardens and enters the holy place
To admin minister of the vows to the faithful workmen kneeling in awe and love before him in the simple white vestments of The Apprentice who has earned the great Master’s approbation stevenh members of the living temple arrayed on either side in the shadows huge and Dread as the great statues of
The Gods in the Egyptian temples from which this Great temple took its design then the great king takes his position before the great Altar and opens his mouth to speak kuson in order to survive Freemason rain must be a society which offers more than making as many members
As possible giving more money to in organizing yet more committees dinners and events which the same dwindling number of stalwarts doggedly support to those who say that our society would attract far more members if we didn’t have degrees I would ask then what do we have left to offer where will we find
Candidate who do not seek light and who long for long business meetings Relentless collations and endless calls for charitable donations we are a mystery School our gentle craft is a place which imparts important and relevant lessons about the nature of our relationship with God with each other
And with the Earth as of all mystery schools these lessons are not poured out at the feet of the new student but are revealed over time to the true seeker of meaning in today’s fast and dangerous World our message has never been more relevant it is Tau through the allegory
And symbolism of ritual finally as I am sure you have realized in the Sufi Parable which began this paper the straw which occupied the Border guards so completely is all the chaff and secondary attributes of Freemasonry the pomp the titles the dinners the Charities the meetings the business the
Committees while buried under all this superficial activity is the true way to wealth of the spirit the donkeys under the very noses of the guards who fail to appreciate their value represent the ritual B yesu dve Tom F 19911 1998 liberating rights wiu press rap po T Rya
1979 ecology meaning and religion perul North Atlantic books BMG NP Arnold 1908 1960 the rights of P AG trans Monica b v z and gabri LC Fe Chicago University of Chavo Press thank you for joining the Sonic audiobook Library the true Mason never hesitates to use the working tools to correct personal flaws
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