From: "Mike Restivo" Newsgroups: alt.bible,alt.bible.prophecy,alt.conspiracy,alt.freemasonry,alt.illuminati,alt.religion.christian,alt.religion.christianity Subject: Albert Pike & Freemasonry's Scottish Rite Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 23:20:04 -0500 Message-ID: <6948ng$v48$1@newsmaster.pathcom.com> 11:45 PM 6/9/97 I reproduce part one of a response to an advocate Mason discussing the philosophy contained in Albert Pike's book _Morals and Dogma_: It is a given that without physical illumination, sight is impaired at least. The Craft Ritual further adds that the Lesser Lights, as I have mentioned in another part, are the M [ ],S and M. Now these serve as a triadic symbol offered without further comment except that they govern their respective regions. Let's examine the further implications of this Trinity to which the inquiring mind, both Mason and non-Mason may turn: Albert Pike, was "Sovereign Grand Commander" of the AASR (SJ). At the beginning of his long tenure as head of the Rite, he rewrote its Rituals, which authoritatively served the AASR (SJ) until most recently as efforts have been applied to rewrite the Work as appropriate from time to time. _A Bridge to Light_ has been adopted as an authoritative, and recommended AASR (SJ) study guide. It is available to anyone who orders it from the Supreme Council of the AASR (SJ), in Washington, District of Colombia. That Pike's _Morals and Dogma_ has not been supplanted in its place of respect and utility as a reference guide to the Lessons to be Learned from this Jurisdiction's Rituals, is evidenced by the fact that an economical paperbound edition is available to anyone who orders it from the Supreme Council. This surprised me, as my used copy of _Morals and Dogma_, is 45 years old and appears to have languished in the hands of its owner (i.e. There no finger marks or page wear, no wear of gold embossing on spine and front cover, no annotations. The book could have been read with white cotton gloves and supported upon a lectern, which devices would explain the lack of wear.). Later it rested unperturbed on the shelf of a Masonic Library, evidenced by the imprints of two other books along side it, cast either by the sun or fluorescent light and an inserted paper marker by another hand, noting "620 - Page lodge book". If "lodge book" indeed refers to _Morals and Dogma_, at least that it was the Library's property, not that it was integrated in the Work of the Rite, page 620 is part of a lengthy discussion of the names applied to the Supreme Being. This discussion forms Pike's commentary upon the 28th Degree, that of Knight of the Sun. It is apparently inconsistent that Grand Commander Pike discussed the understanding of the Name of the Godhead from the Classical Jewish (i.e. Orthodox) and also the Kabbalistic view, the Hindu, Persian, and the Egyptian view, but not one word from the Christian view. Mr. Pike does mention Jesus Christ (i.e. "Jesus") explicitly elsewhere. He did not "forget" to at least discuss the divine claims made by Christians and Jesus Christ Himself; it was a deliberate omission of consistency, as Pike relates, according to the Gnostics, that Jesus was considered a man only, temporarily imbued with the Christos/Logos which then departed from His being upon death. (M&D, page 208) This doctrine is influenced by Arianism, a Gnostic heresy, vis à vis Roman Catholicism, at least. Mr. Pike does not allow that this teaching is or can be, contrary to non-Gnostic Christian beliefs. Non-Christians are left, with an impression that does not universally obtain in Christianity and left unaware of same. Ergo, the name of Jesus Christ does not belong in the category of divine names. Is Pike transmitting his ideas to be considered as inner truths by the Scottish Rite brethren through the artifice of reprinting the writings of other religious traditions, while not explicitly embracing them either as his own or to be espoused by Brethren of the Rite? Yes, when understood according to his explicit annotations throughout the book. What is the point of relevance to the 28th Degree of the AASR (SJ)? Let's see: Sovereign Grand Commander Pike was of the belief that the ancients, particularly those conserving mystery religions, like Egypt and Greece, possessed a pure form of religion. Purer than Christianity? Let the reader of _Morals and Dogma_ decide, depending upon his or her own understanding of what is "Christianity", if Pike raises mystery religions above the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ (i.e. His Church, which is the assembly of His believers.). Development of this topic will await another place for a fuller treatment. From the Roman Catholic perspective: "The four Gospels provide the only accurate information available to us concerning the facts of Jesus' life, while the rest of the New Testament canon clearly affirms His full humanity and divinity. Reflection on the relation of the divine and human in Christ was stimulated primarily by a series of heresies which denied the fullness of His humanity (e.g., Docetism ) or His divinity (e.g., Arianism), or exaggerated their distinctness (e.g., Nestorianism) or their unity (e.g., Monophysitism). These views came to be seen as at odds with the faith in Christ as held in the developing historic mainstream and expressed in a series of ecumenical councils." - _Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia_, article "Christology", CDROM version of 1991 edition. Irrespective of one's foundation, it is a fact that one who wishes to subscribe to Christianity is confronted with a smorgasbord of Christological doctrines, from which he or she can choose at will, in the vacuum of fellowship in a religious denomination. Religion or philosophy à la carte is called "eclecticism". This interlocution ends with a return to my copy of _Morals and Dogma_ in Part Five to follow. Here is my second part of my letter concerning Sovereign Grand Commander Pike: The book then found its way to a Masonic bookseller, thence to my hands. In my copy of the 1951 edition, the title page, opposite a lithograph of Albert Pike (It is a black and white photo-reproduction of a painting better rendered in colour in _A Bridge to Light_.) reads thusly: " Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry prepared for the Supreme Council for the Thrity-Third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States and Published By Its Authority ESOTERIC BOOK, FOR SCOTTISH RITE USE ONLY; TO BE RETURNED UPON WITHDRAWAL OR DEATH OF RECIPIENT. Charleston A. ' . M. ' . 5632 " By the Rite's own proclamation, _Morals and Dogma_ was a book of esoteric education and of esteemed value such that it was to be returned to the Rite upon death, presumably to prevent the uninitiated from obtaining it. Today, the Supreme Council is fortunately more open about this book, but at one time, at least, it was a tome with which to be reckoned, witness Mr. Pike's words about the education served and suggested by the Rite in contradistinction to that of the Craft. This was a parenthetical comment or annotation during a discussion of the Order of the Temple (i.e. Knights Templar) in conjunction with the commentary associated to the Thirtieth Degree, that of "Knight Kadosh" or styled as "Grand Elect Knight Kadosh" or presently "Knight Kadosh or Knight of the Black and White Eagle". Note that "Chiefs of the Order" refers to the Templars, NOT the Scottish Rite. The Brethren of the Rite are called "Adepts" as a manner of speaking by Mr. Pike: "[...The Symbols of the wise always become the idols of the ignorant multitude. What the Chiefs of the Order really believed and taught is indicated by the hints contained in the high Degrees of Free-Masonry, and by the symbols which only the Adepts understand.] [The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he shall imagine that he understands them. Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry. The whole body of the Royal and Sacerdotal Art was hidden so carefully, centuries since, in the High Degrees, as that it is even yet impossible to solve many of the enigmas which they contain. It is well enough for the mass of those called Masons, to imagine that all is contained in the Blue Degrees; and whoso attempts to undeceive them will labour in vain...] - _Morals and Dogma_, Albert Pike, 1951 edition, page 819, upper part. The above quote is cardinal to an understanding of the entire book, including another quote to come. He explained that in Scottish Rite terms, the Lesser Lights represented the active and passive principles subject to the Supreme Being (M&D, p. 13) whereas in the Blue Lodge and by extension, the York Rite, they are explained only cryptically; "Of what they are the symbols, the Mason in that Rite is not told." (M&D, p.12 lower-13 upper). So? Let us consider further alchemical mysteries: "Alchemy has its Symbolic Triad of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury,-man consisting, according to the Hermetic philosophers, of Body, Soul, and Spirit." (M&D, p. 792, middle) "So the Temple of Eleusis was lighted by a window in the roof...The images of the Sun, Moon and Mercury were represented there...and they are still the lights of the Masonic Lodge, except that for Mercury, the Master of the Lodge has been absurdly substituted." (M&D, p. 411 upper). We have moved from the Macroscopic/Cosmological view of Supreme Being and principles of polarity, that is "ideals", to the microscopic/psychological view, in which man harmonizes the opposing forces within himself. Religion, spirituality and the supernatural may or may not have survived as being relevant during the transition. Mr. Pike was justly annoyed that the Blue Lodge did not teach this bold principle, which I extend further in its implications: Using the the principle of "As above, so below" according to the Hermeticists/Alchemists/Neo-Platonists, man may become empowered and through that empowerment become master of himself and circumstances, whereas formerly he was an ignorant slave as it were. This idea represents nothing less than emancipation from the yoke of religious superstition and dependence upon ministers and priests, that is clericalism, who lord it over their subjects like royals. The intermediary necessity for ecclesiastics will seen to be abolished as one apprehends the secret art (i.e. Praxis) of the ancients, enshrined in the Scottish Rite. From that Praxis, will come the Divine Knowledge or Gnosis as surely as white follows black by the alternating lozenges of the Tessera in the Lodge. And so I have arrived, in this example, at a Naturalistic-Humanistic interpretation of the Lesser Lights, such interpretations I had claimed were indirectly exposed to the Brethren under other guises previously. This stop of my inquiry is not the end yet, but will suffice for now, for the hypotheses of Mystery Religions will be finally rendered unnecessary with the development of 20th Century Psychoanalysis by Dr. Sigmund Freud and modern Psychology, both under which Dr. Carl Jung will complete the metamorphosis of transcendentalism/mysticism into a Science of Mind, where the Collective Unconscious has replaced God, who in a Deistic Universe was "Deus Abscondis" anyway (i.e. He, Who as The Grand Architect Of The Universe, initiated, then abandoned His creation, both Macroscopically (i.e. The Universe) and Microscopically (i. e. Mankind): "This is not to say that Christianity is finished. I am, on the contrary, convinced that it is not Christianity, but our conception and interpretation of it that has become antiquated in the face of the present world situation. The Christian symbol is a living thing that carries in itself the seeds of further development. It can go on developing; it only depends on us, whether we can make up our minds to meditate again, and more thoroughly, on the Christian premise." - C. G. Jung, _The Undiscovered Self_, quoted page v of _Mystical Christianity_, John A. Sanford, 1995. "From long and careful comparison and analysis of these products of the unconscious I was led to postulate a 'collective unconscious', a source of energy and insight in the depth of the human psyche which has operated in and through man from the earliest periods of which we have records." - _Psychology and Alchemy_, C.G. Jung, page v, English edition copyright 1953, 1980 edition, Princeton University Press Now it is complained by, with no surprise here, the Church of Rome, that Masonry plots the overthrow of altar and throne, tiara and crown. This follows from a reading of the so-called vengeance degree, that of the 30th, of the Scottish Rite and by inclusion, that of the AASR (SJ). Of the misfortunes of "Popery" allegedly celebrated by Masons, if only ritualistically, non-Catholic Christians may or may not be concerned. It is not the breaking of the chains of any one denomination that is one of the objects of Secular Humanism, but the severing of the bonds of ALL religions of any stipe. Any organization which is confluent with Humanistic principles exposes itself to charges of anti-clericalism, if only by association with Naturalistic-Humanistic philosophies. As to the other part of the equation, that of agitation against the crown or government, I am indifferent, seeing no evidence of sedition, treason or revolt against the government(s) of today. Does Albert Pike consider the Kabbalah a continuation of the Holy Bible, that is a progressive revalation for Freemasons? The elementary ideas that were and are borrowed from the Jewish Kabbalah by non-Jews, especially esotericists, form the so-called Christian or "degenerate" Kabbalah, because it was used only as the metaphysical basis for occultism and magic. The Mysticism, Gnosticism and Neo-Platonism associated with Kabbalah studied by serious students, usually those with Rabbinical training, if not Rabbis themselves, were not also given the same attention. Only in the past few decades has there been a deeper public interest in Jewish Mysticism indicated by non-Jews who were non-occultists. I'm condensing a lot; the point to realize is that occult and Gnostic topics form part, but not all of the omnibus of religious study dubbed Kabbalah. As a way of speaking, "continuation of the Bible", may sound alright, but philosophically, Pike would never have classified it that way. Kabbalah would be its own Light unto the Mysteries of God and Man. As the Bible is, and as other religions Sacred Scriptures are. Neither one more intrinsically superior than the other. He was of the opinion, notwithstanding the foregoing, that Gnostic religions were more pure and the study of same would grant one a fresh view of the Mysteries of life, unadulterated with traditional denominationalism, for example. To comparatively study other religions for the purpose of self-improvement is laudable. Care must be exercised such that self-improvement is not confused with apostasy of one's faith: <<73. In the transcendence from religion (i.e. sectarianism) to Religion (i.e. Mysticism), is Christianity sublimated or substituted? 74. The transformation of one's "religion" to "Religion", is determined by one's maturation in mind and spirit; not necessarily by the application of supplementary teachings from unauthorized and secondary sources, which, although possessing a veneer of compatibility, may not be entirely so.>> - Restivo Here's the essential importance of Sovereign Grand Commander Albert Pike, in context: 1. He revised, and *repaired* the Scottish Rite Rituals, which were previously held in common between the Northern and the Southern Jurisdictions. The Northern Jurisdiction has revised and continues to revise its Work differently from that of the Southern Jurisdiction. 2. He published the lectures of the Rite for the S. J., which reprints are in publication today. This affords non-Masons the opportunity to study firsthand from authoritative materials and Rituals that were once worked. The principles contained in them form the basis of Rituals of the Rite to this day world wide, else it would not be the "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite" of whatever Jurisdiction, but called some other Masonic entity. According to the principle that the fruit never falls far from the tree, subsequent recensions of the Rite will and must reveal an indebtedness to the work of Albert Pike. 3. Formerly, the Scottish Rite was an a-religious, yet Deistic, Naturalistic and Humanistic fraternity. This imbalanced focus has its limitations however: <<69. Religion encompasses a greater part of humankind's search for the Transcendent than can be accommodated by metaphysics or epistemology or any bowdlerization of Religion's self-proclaimed sacred literature as a mere literary exercise in moral allegory. 70. An exposition, for its own purposes, of a mere subset of Religion's bases, sans faith, revelation, theology, etc., serves not to display Religion unveiled in pure abstractions, but rather demonstrates that which is sacred, denuded of its raison d'être and deprived of its animus. 71. Christianity is not meant to be merely one of equally meritorious codes of living or a syncretistic fusion of doctrines from diverse religions, nor an eclectic application of selected teachings brushed upon the virgin canvas of the human condition.>> - Restivo Pike legitimized comparative religious study under Masonic auspices in a manner that was harmonized with the Rite's already established Philosophical inclinations. This reconciliation between the study of the "Book of Nature" (i.e. philosophy) and the "Book of Man" (i.e. religion) was and is truly a masterful innovation, the significance of which has either evaded most Masons or the fact of which they conceal very well. I believe it is the former rather than the later. There are many people who find non-Christian religions quite acceptable. It should not be any surprise that they would not hold Christian Sacred Scripture in the same respect as a pious Christian. When self-confessed Christians, however, accept non-Christian religious doctrines by solemn obligation, rituals, the conformity of peer pressure through an inculcated culture to "go along to get along" in the interests of "harmony" ... from the Christian perspective, this environment is not necessarily self-improvement, but self-delusion at best and apostasy/heresy/sin at worst. Put another way; When a non-Christian denigrates the Christian Bible, he or she is rendering an opinion, either informed or uninformed, upon a theology to which he or she is not subject. It is then considered without prejudice in the class of literary works, from that person's perspective. When a one who claims to be a Bible-believing Christian, accepts and defends, doctrines that are un-Biblical and contra-Biblical, it is an act of apostasy to which that person's hypocrisy would be subordinate. Do not be dissuaded by organized disinformation schemes from whatever source. Find out for yourself. English translations of the Zohar, the essential text of Kabbalistic studies, can be purchased. A comparison between that multi-volumed work and the Rituals of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Pike, will indicate that very little of *real* Kabbalism is represented in the Rite. What is enlightening is that rather than give this straightforward and *exculpatory* explanation, Masonry advocates seek to distance themselves and Freemasonry at large, from its more esoteric speculations, even to the point of belittling Albert Pike and his contributions and turning the debate, all too predictably, into one of discredit and demonization of one's antagonist. Masons try to minimize Albert Pike's vital significance to the Rite, and as I see recently, there is suggestion made by Masons that the Scottish Rite is *not* Freemasonry. Only the Blue Lodge of Craft Masonry can be called Masonic. Nonsense. Organizations may have a requirement of sustained Blue Lodge Masonic membership, but that does not make them Masonic, goes the defence. That the Scottish and York Rites are called "appendant" or "concordant" meaning "attached" or "in agreement", respectively suggests a greater intimacy than revisionists and propagandists would have one believe. Never forget to mention, that Blue Lodge Grand Lodges have authority over all bodies of the Rite, which cannot work in a Grand Lodge's Jurisdiction without its approval. The Craft then is guilty not only by association with the Rite, but guilty of sanctioning and sustaining the Rite with its members. Grand Lodge could exert its moral *and* administrative authority upon the Scottish Rite of any jurisdiction under its purview, to rectify its teachings, or shut it down, but it does not. Thusly, it validates by silence, the Rite's activities, even where inimical to Christianity and a scandal to Craft Masons. I have written in extenso why the antecedent Work of the AASR (SJ) is of significance. That Pike's influence still obtains, is given by Dr. Rex Hutchens' extensive quotations from _Morals and Dogma_ in his book _A Bridge to Light_, published and authorized by the Supreme Council of the AASR(SJ). Once the philosophy behind the rubrics and rites is comprehended, then circumstantial changes must be discounted, *in the absence of public disclosure of the current Work*. Why was Pike's Liturgy permitted to be published? Does it not constitute an exposure? It does not. It contains only the lectures and a description of the venue. The signs, passwords, and particulars associated with them, like knocks, perambulations, and steps are omitted. These proprietary items may be witheld to conserve the legitimacy of the Work against counterfeits. Fortunately, their absence from disclosure has no practical impact upon the dialogues, lectures and legenda of the Rite. Sovereign Grand Commander Pike exposed sufficent to disclose the philosophy and held inviolate that which would expose the Rite to exploitation at the hands of counterfeiters. That is *sufficient*. Alas, if only more Scottish Rite Masons were of sufficient discernment as he. TEXT END