Masonic secrecy
Media
Part of The Cabletow
- Title
- Masonic secrecy
- Language
- English
- Source
- The Cabletow Volume XXXIX (Issue No. 3) September 1963
- Year
- 1963
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- Masonic Secrecy By ROBERT J. LEWINSKY, Ph.D. (From the book "What Is Freemasonry," published by the Masonic Association of the United States) rpHERE has been no attempt to conceal the purpose, aims and principles of Freemasonry. They have been discussed in detail in numer ous publications. There are, how ever, some things which a member of the Craft will want to discuss only with his brothers, just as there are certain informations to which only members of the organization are rightfully entitled. Of these even' Mason is well aware. In this regard, all human "groups and institutions have “secrets,” or better still, private affairs which 'or good reason they do not want to be made public. Families have discus sions on subjects which do not, and should not, concern their neighbors. 'Governmental bodies meet behind closed doors to resolve problems of state without publicity. Church councils convene apart from the general congregation, permitting a more direct approach to situations demanding prompt action. Civic organizations and committees assem ble privately to draft plans which may not be made public for some lime, if at all. In industry, boards of directors attack problems and formulate new approaches to their business ventures which are of no concern to their competitors. While all these things ate done privately — “secretly,” if you will — this is hard ly evidence that the subjects under discussion, or the resolutions made, arc in any way unwholesome. Thus, il families, governmental bodies, church councils, civic organizations, and direc tors of industries have pri vate matters which they wish to dis cuss away from the general public, it is only reasonable that a Lodge of Freemasons should want to meet behind tiled doors while peacefully engaged in the lawful pursuits of Masonry. Secret societies do exist, to be sure, but Masonry is not among them. Unlike the actual sercret or ders of past and present, members of the Masonic Order proudly ac knowledge their affiliation; their places and time of meeting are pub licly announced; the installation of their officers is frequently a public affair, open to any one who wish to attend; and their aims and pur poses are macle clear so that all may understand them. To those who issue their unwar ranted barrages against Freemasonry as a secret society” seem to be bliss fully unaware of the public declara tions which have been macle on this particular issue by Masonic writers on many occasions. If thev do have knowledge of these, then their stand must be interpreted as blind, bias or a resolute unwillingness to accept 98 The Cabletow the factual evidence which has been made available to them. Along this line, it is interesting to note the comments of Masonic writers on the subject. Newton, in The Builders, one of the best known and most widely distributed books on the Craft stales that: “There is a common notion that Masonry is a secret society. . . Thus it has come to pass that the main aims of the Order are as sumed to be a secret policy or teaching, whereas ils one ('rent secret is that it has no secret." R. J. Buck, in Symbolism or Mystic Masonry, reemphasizes the point with the following: "In ils ritualism and monitorial lessons Masonry teaches nothing in morals, in science, in religion, or in any other department ol hu man knowledge or human inter est, not taught elsewhere in cur rent forms of thought, or by the sages of the past. In these direc tions, it has no secrets of any kind.” W. O Peterson puts it well: “Music is a secret from the mule: Mathematics is a secret from the ignorant; Philosophy is ta secret from the unscholarly mind. So Freemasonry is a secret from the uninitiated.” There arc some things about Ma sonry which arc difficult for the general public to understand, and thus they have become “mysteries.” One of these is aptly illustrated in Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia: “There are, according to an old way of speech, certain ‘mysteries of Masonry,’ and each Mason knows what they are; one of the mapor mysteries among these is how, and oftentimes why, men of very large affairs, in high pub lic office or at the head of great enterprises or institutions find the time to give from one to three evenings a week to Freemasonry; make it their secondary vocation, and sometimes almost a profession; hold offices year after year in one rile and Body after another, many of them becoming, and by dint of the hardest study, ritualists of an almost professional expertness." To conclude this discussion, we find that wat was supposed to be a secret is ready not a secret at all. 'Flic true "secret" is now openly dis closed in “All Sons of One Father,” The Short Talk Bulletin, Novem ber, 1959: “And because Freemasons still share that hope and that confi dence in the possibillv of a uni versal tolerance and understanding, modern brothers still find in Ma sonry a compelling interest, an inspiring activity. In spite of persecutions, hydrogen bombs and the fears of atomic extermination. Freemasons insist that man has a deathless spirit with infinite po tentials for good. That is their hope and their driving spirit. That is the ‘secret’ of a Master Mason.” A A A Above oil things lot us nover forget that mankind constitutes one great brotherhood; all bom to encounter suffering and sorrow, and therefore bound to sympathize with each other. -ALBERT PIKE September 1963