This
is a meditation on the concept of “Esoteric Masonry”. The title is
intended to be thought provoking, because I have come to believe
Masonry, by its very nature, is “esoteric”. Therefore, all Masonry is Esoteric Masonry. The term Esoteric Masonry is redundant. Let us put forth an initial definition to work from.
Google: "intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest."
Merriam-Webster:
"designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone",
"requiring or exhibiting knowledge that is restricted to a small group",
"difficult to understand".
Dictionary.com: "understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest"
Origin:
1645–55; < Greek esōterikós inner, equivalent to esṓter ( os ) inner + -ikos -ic
And from etymologyonline.com:
esoteric (adj.)
“1650s, from Greek esoterikos "belonging to an inner circle," from
esotero "more within," comparative adverb of eso "within," related to
eis "into," en "in" (see en- (2)). In English, originally of
Pythagorean doctrines. According to Lucian, the division of teachings
into exoteric and esoteric originated with Aristotle.”
The
fact of Freemasonry being an institution relying on initiation, whereby
an individual moves from being outside a group of people to inside a
group of people, it seems clear that all Masonry is “Esoteric”. There
is no “Exoteric” Masonry (unless you are talking about “2B1Ask1”). The
word Esoteric can
be misleading, and carries connotations sometimes unintended, sometimes
intended. I consider it one of the Masonic “spooky words” that Masons
like to use to attempt to create some class of knowledge or experience
which is somehow different from the knowledge or experience of other
Freemasons. It is an attempt to construct an inner circle that cannot
exist in true Freemasonry.
One
could say that the encoding of moral philosophy into symbolic language
“is” Masonry. The encoding itself, not the moral philosophy, is what we
do. The moral philosophy itself is not uniquely Masonic, and no Mason
can claim it is. The art or science of encoding and decoding is
Masonry. All encoding and decoding is by nature esoteric. One can
easily learn moral philosophy without Masonic symbolism. The practice of
Freemasonry is in part, the practice of symbolic language. It is the
learning of “how” to decode what seems to be hidden in order to derive
meaning from the observation.
The
image for this meditation is a ribbon of fabric. From afar it appears
to be a single layer, but light and proximity reveals multiple layers.
Pulling back one layer may reveal another. This is the nature of our
Craft. There is no exoteric experience versus an esoteric experience.
All Masonic experience is esoteric. We need to employ the image of
layers in order to understand and communicate this.
The
first tangible experience of Freemasonry can be said to be initiation
into a lodge. You could say this is the first layer of knowledge a
Freemason has revealed to him. After due consideration and meditation
upon this experience, almost immediately, the Freemason experiences a
revelation that each of the things he has experienced has at least one
additional meaning. Another Freemason may explain some tricky little
hook to him, or in listening to a lecture, or considering a symbol
placed before him, he may realize that there was some hidden meaning
behind the surface knowledge. This is Masonry. It is common to all
Freemasons, not just some Freemasons. The emblem of the “layer” is
offered to illustrate this.
The following framework of five points is offered for consideration.
- The layers are interchangeable
- There is no upper or lower limit to the layers
- There is no “wrong” layer
- The layers are not secret
- Every layer is Masonic. None of the layers are Masonic.
The layers are interchangeable
There
is no correct order, and there is no “top” layer or “bottom” layer.
There are only layers that are new to you. Everyone brings to
Freemasonry their existing experience. It could be books they have read,
their religion, aspects of their psyche, their dreams, their education,
or any combination of experiences. Contemplating a symbol, an act, a
lecture, a word produces a revelation in each individual which is
unique to them. When this occurs, it is the “deepest” that individual
has gone. The layer a Mason has revealed is not “deeper” than the layer
another Freemason has just revealed, though both may contemplate the
same symbol, act, lecture, or word. Nor is it any less deep. It is just
new to him. And that is all.
Looking
at a symbol such as the Point Within a Circle, or an equilateral
triangle, or an angle of 90 degrees, or a rising sun, or a word spelled
in Hebrew Letters, or Greek Letters, or any other symbol, a Mason may
experience a revelation of a mathematical or geometrical nature, finally
understanding what a calculation means. Another Mason, looking at the
same symbol may experience a religious revelation, finally understanding
what a scripture means (to him). A third Mason may experience a
psychological revelation, finally understanding how he needs to change
certain personal behavior. A fourth Mason may experience a philosophical
revelation, finally understanding another piece of how the universe
functions, and on and on.
At
some point in the future, the third Mason may experience the revelation
the second Mason has already experienced. The fourth Mason may have
already experienced the revelation of the first Mason before
contemplating the symbol at all. None of these Masons is going in a
“correct” order. None experience a deeper meaning than any of the
others. None of the revelations are deeper than any other. They are
all simply new to each individual.
It
is important that Masons not spread the false impression that if an
individual has not experienced the revelation they have, that their
experience is somehow “less deep”. Your revelations are not my
revelations. We may experience completely different revelations. No one
layer is above, below, deep, or shallow. All are completely equal in
value.
There is no upper or lower limit to the layers
Having
been exposed to a new symbol, an individual may pull back a layer and
reveal a completely different meaning to it. Sometime later, with study
and discussion another layer may become exposed, and another; all
relating to the same symbol. There can be a single layer. There can be a
million layers. Considering a symbol like the letter “x”, a Mason may
interpret it as a letter of the English Alphabet, its number position in
that alphabet, the same in the Greek alphabet, as a mathematical
symbol, as a religious symbol, as a political symbol, or any number of
layers. If a Mason has only a single interpretation of the symbol, he
is not incorrect, nor shallow in his understanding. If a Mason has a
hundred more interpretations, he is not incorrect, nor is he any deeper
in his understanding.
There is no wrong layer
Freemasons
should not push on other people our revelations in certain specific
settings. Political or Religious layers are not “wrong”. They are
legitimate. When a Mason describes an interpretation of a symbol based
on his religion, you might tell him not to discuss it in open Lodge.
But it is inaccurate to suggest that his interpretation is in any way
wrong. Likewise, many legitimate interpretations of Masonic ritual
point to political philosophy and direct action that should not be
discussed in open Lodge. It is a correct interpretation of Masonic
ritual and symbolism, as a competing or alternative interpretation would
also be.
The layers are not secret
Some
Masons have internalized revelations based on interpretations of
symbols. Whatever these layers may be, they are not secret. That the
sun rises in the East is not a Masonic secret. That a man should
regulate his behavior in order to benefit society is not a secret. Even
that a man may do certain things to establish or re-establish a
connection with Deity, is not a Masonic secret. The symbols used to
facilitate the personal revelation are not secret. Though a Mason may
have an hundred layers of interpretation of an hundred symbols, none of
the symbols or his interpretations of those symbols are Masonic secrets.
The Square and Compasses are not secret symbols. The interpretations of
the meanings of the Square and Compasses are not secrets.
These layers may be impossible
to communicate, but not prohibited. They are impossible to communicate
because if they are truly layers of symbolic interpretation, revealed
through an initiatic process or meditation, they cannot be communicated
through speech, or picture, outright explanation. You could try. We
simply do not have the words. Humans do not have the capacity to
communicate these things to each other. If we did, there would be no
need for the science of Masonry. We could simply write everything down
in a book, or describe them to each other. We would not need to dress
in aprons and walk in patterns and carry objects, and repeat phrases,
and display symbols. However, it has been shown that the activities of
Freemasonry, including but not limited to initiation, meeting as lodges,
and performing ritual, are effective means of spreading revelation of
layered knowledge. The institution carries with it the impression of
secrecy when, in fact, the inability to communicate openly is woven into the science itself.
You
could reveal every Masonic secret and explain in plain language every
layer of knowledge you considered to be esoteric, and you could not
provide the sought knowledge to the seeker. They would still seek. We
know this, because it has been done. There are no Masonic secrets that
have not been printed and spoken publicly (FYI, this does not mean
Freemasons are permitted to do it). Yet the exposure of secrets cannot
allow one outside the lodge to understand
Masonic knowledge as those inside do. Yet going through the most
basic, rudimentary practices of lodge membership, that of initiation,
almost no matter how poorly performed, provides a seeker with building
blocks and tools to peel back layers of knowledge he never could have
experienced had you simply wrote out the experience on a piece of paper.
Every layer is Masonic. None of the layers are Masonic.
An
intentional enigma. One may legitimately and successfully reveal every
layer to oneself through freemasonry or none of them. All may be
revealed outside of freemasonry as well.
There
is no invisible line separating Masonic knowledge, or Masonic
revelation with non-Masonic. If a Mason uses skills (working tools)
learned within Freemasonry to contemplate symbols, the revelations of
layers exposed by this practice is Masonic knowledge. As said, one may
suddenly understand personal behaviors he has to change. Is that
Freemasonry? Most Freemasons would say yes it is. However, had the man
come to this realization without ever having stepped foot in a Masonic
Lodge, would the same revelation have been Freemasonry? Of course not.
Here lieth the enigma.
None
of the layers are Masonic. One may gain the same insights, the same
personal revelations, the same knowledge by studying Astrology, Alchemy,
Religion, Geometry, Mathematics, Music, Psychology, and on and on. One
may learn to interpret symbols. The layers of personal revelation
themselves are not Masonic. The process the individual used to arrive
at, reveal, or expose the layers internally can be Masonic, or it can be
some other path.
One
of the motivations for this meditation is the consideration of
Freemasons who are either getting too much out of Masonry, or aren’t
getting enough out of Masonry. Some have convinced themselves that they
need to go to a different system than regular Freemasonry, or a
different affiliation, or need to leave Freemasonry. This ranges from
the seeker who has experienced a revelation that is inconsistent with
their religion to the seeker who has not experienced the revelation they
think they are seeking. He who has experienced something they did not
like needs to understand that the layer of revelation itself may not be Freemasonry.
Masonic science simply shows how one may interpret symbols. The
interpretation itself is personal, and one Mason’s interpretation may
not be another’s. There is no Baphomet in Freemasonry.
He
who has not experienced what he is seeking needs to understand that the
ability to pull back layers is all one needs and all one will ever get,
out of our system or any other. The fact that one is not accomplishing
the personal revelations one sought is likely not a failure of the
system. It is important to be careful not to adopt someone else’s
interpretation of symbols as your own. You will always be seeking
confirmation of an understanding which is really just someone else’s
interpretation of the same symbolism you are contemplating. Beware of
someone talking to you about Baphomet and telling you it is a secret,
inner, esoteric “meaning” of a Masonic symbol. It is not. If you are
frustrated that your lodge is not describing the inner meanings behind
“Lucifer”, “Osiris”, “Emerald Tablets”, or whatever, know that it is
not a shortcoming of your lodge or of Freemasonry. As a superior
system, Masonry engages in teaching its initiates how to interpret the
simplest of symbols to derive deep meaning layer after layer.
If
you leave Freemasonry for a religious institution, or for a different
initiatic system, or a different affiliation within Freemasonry, you may
find a system which resonates better for you, and provides more
opportunities to arrive at those revelations described here as layers.
We should all try to understand, however, that Masonry as a system is
not inferior or flawed, and that another Mason may receive the
revelation they seek right where their feet are planted. We should
understand that those revelations or layers you may experience within
Freemasonry or outside of Freemasonry are not Freemasonry itself,
neither are they a religion, or another initiatic system. Hopefully,
they are “truth”, which you desired to arrive at. Truth is larger than
the religion that reveals it. It is beyond religion, it is beyond an
initiation, it is beyond whatever system is used to reveal it. You
cannot experience more truth, or greater truth than anyone else. Nor is
the truth you find any lesser or weaker than anyone else’s.
This
is an attempt to describe another “meaning” of Masonry through the use
of an emblematic symbol, that of a ribbon of many layers. This
“meaning”, if it exists, can only manifest by your contemplation of the
symbol as described. If successful, it should produce in the reader new
realizations and lead to new considerations.
This is Masonry, which has no need or use for so-called esotericism. Every
concept leads to another idea. None of us experience “deeper” meanings
than any other. Not only is there no esoteric Masonry (because all
Masonry is esoteric), there is nothing you can learn in Masonry that you
could not also learn elsewhere. Likewise, with regard to the moral
philosophy you may seek out of Freemasonry, there is nothing you can
learn elsewhere, that you cannot also learn within plain ole regular
Freemasonry. It is as esoteric as any other system. So, I am saying
goodbye to “Esoteric Freemasonry”, not because I don’t believe in it,
but because the concept is unnecessary, and wrongly implies there is
some “other” Masonry. There is not. There is only what may be new to
me.
I continue seeking.
---
Doug McCollough, Master Mason
St. Mark’s Lodge No. 7, F&AM, PHA
The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Ohio
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