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What Masonry means to people
Their thoughts on the Meaning of Masonry
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Turning The Hiram Key
Find out what Masonry means to Robert by reading his latest book,
Turning The Hiram Key.
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By Johan Uys |
1. Freemasons have been persecuted in the past and it could easily happen again therefor semi-secrecy is appropriatte.
2. It is a ritual as in any other religion but based perhaps on very old rituals.
3. I felt that I belonged to a fraternity of brothers.
4. Made me much more aware of the solemn obligations that I engaged myself to.
5. It is an emotion which not unlike religion is everyone's own.
Thank you for the opportunity and it was through your own books and others that motivated me to become and find out more about the Fraternity. |
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By Dion Ryan |
I just finished reading The book of Hiram and I would like to express my sincere appreciation to you.My soul,heart and eyes are forever opened.Thank God for using you as a messenger of truth.
I am not a mason.Was born in Newfoundland,Canada and raised Irish Catholic.For many years I struggled with the various concepts and teachings of religions.Always knowing that there was one true God who one day would lead me, when ready, to the truth.Along the way I prayed to save my life, expierenced some very mystical moments and seen the bizaar done in the name of God.
Everything I ever heard about Freemasonry was negative.Just like 1300. Cult, Evil,Power hungry,Anti-catholic,rule the world for evil.
It was when I entered a bookstore several years ago and was praying for guidance that I found The Second Messiah and that made me ask more questions.Then Uriels Machine.Then The Hiram Key.I guess God knows me best and let me have what I could handle over time.
Being a steam/pipefitter I have worked with many masons and even given your books to some.Suprised alot with my information about the craft.Noticed that several joined for the positions they could acquire. Which was why I did not pursue joining. I felt I would have to march to another mans drum. My perception at the time was,"having a boss is one thing but taking an oath to obey someone was out of the question".
It is very heartwarming to know that there is an order still alive today that over time has kept the truths that my soul has always known.
Your books,I pray will never go out of print.
Masonry should be very much more open.Todays world needs it as much or more as Solomen's time did. |
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By Kimonas |
On the controversial issue of secrecy, I will have to adopt a conservative approach and say yes, it has to stay that way.
It is not a question of "hidding" something from "others".. It is simply a question of respecting the core of the craft: the ceremonies. The secrecy and discreetenes is embedded in the very fabric of Freemasonry's creation. It emphasises the importance and knowledge behind the rituals. Now whether our brothers pay the relevent attention is a different story...
And to change the subject, I am not talking about paying attention in the sense of learning pages after pages of ritual by heart. I am talking about trying to understand the meaning behind it and historical background.. Which is precisely the reason why I strongly disagree about the degrees of the craft being handed out within weeks in some (usually US) lodges!! It simply loses the point!
The teachings and meanings of the degrees should sip in, being thinked on by the newly initiated. They have to "appreciated" before someone moves to the next degree...
When someone moves to become a MM within a month or so from initiation, he won't even have time to learn his 10 or so lines of questions properly, let alone digest the meanings of the craft degrees!! Unless if he goes back voluntarily and researches them himself...
But how many will do that...?
It seems sometimes that many brothers confine themselves in reciting ritual just for the sake of it, adopting a rather casual approach towards it...
Of course we can become better persons through charity and friendship and "brotherhood love, relief and truth"... but isn't there something deeper there?... That last "truth" part, do we really seek it? Where is our research gone, where is our study of the secrets of science and nature gone? It has been said that a message or story is carried with far greater chances of succes if the carriers do not know it's meaning (like folk stories or kid's songs). Is that what we have become? carriers of a message that we long forgot it's meaning? I hope not...
When i was initiated i was thrilled as I could get to see for myself what I have only till then heard as urban legends.... The friendlines and helpfulnes of my lodge brothers was second to none and this has been one of the most vivid impressions and memories i have, after the actual ceremony that is.
The ritual itself, not making real sense in real actual world terms, made me to want to dig even deeper, find out, who, why, when, how... Read, and read again and then read some more... Maybe i was predisposed having an academic historian background, but the challenge was there in front of me in every ritual i saw. And I have to admit for me it has been an immensely satisfying experience as I discovered things about the world around me of present and past, but also things about myself.
So overall I firmly believe that joining the craft assisted me in becoming a better person... But i don't expect the craft to do it for me, i know that i have to do it myself using the hints that the craft provides me... |
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By Appolo |
1. Secret not, not wide open either. A considerable approach to the society will help people to understand what the craft did and still can do for them.
2. The masonic ritual means to me the way of getting down to myself and harmonise me with the universal rythm. Ties me with the brotherhood and verifies my human roots as a son of the widow (the universal mother).
3. Reborn. Still I feel the same every time when I am attending, as a past worshipfull master, the initiation ceremony. In every single new hearing of the initiation ritual I, always, find new meanings wich are there.
4. Ritual and their contents of symbols, myths and allegories, gives me the psychic strength to face an unjustise world and make me strong and optimistic to my way towards the ligth.
5. What I can not put into words is the esoteric pease and joy which I feel attending the masonic ceremonies and the meditations which I make. |
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By Oyas |
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It is very enlightening and morally rewarding to be a Freemason. I'm a 3rd generation Mason. My great grandfather is a Mason since the revolution against the Spanish and eventually the Americans. Our forefathers built this country, the Philippines, initially on masonic principles. My continues education and process of relearning everything drives me to be the best. That's Freemasonry. |
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By Just MY thoughts! |
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I think that Freemasonry should be what I ( the individual "I" ) want it to be. If I want it to be a secret, then I will keep it a secret. I love the Craft. Freemasonry means different things to everyone. A lot of what is said and done in lodge can be found in every day life around us, just that people don't realize it. Let's keep our recoginition signals to our selves, what do you guys say? |
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By Ray Mize |
Thanks to Knight and Lomas for working so hard to save Masonary. I became a Mason after I read The Hiram Key. I was 60 at the time.
Freemasonary should not be secret--Masonic ritual means that I accept what I hear as truth and Masonary means Maat as the arthurs said--When I was made a Mason it was indescribable, but a few weeks later I felt so very honored because I was raise during the Grand Lodge of Texas and was the first to receive that honor after that ceremony was reinstated--Since I was raised, I haven't played a big part in ritual--Since I don't beleive that Freemasonary should be secret, I feel like it(ritual) could be put in words.
I feel like the time is near that a New Masonary will be born. I hope I can play a part in that evolution.
I have just finished reading The Book of Hiram and was impressed.I have been on and off of astrology for years, but now am back on. Maybe its time for a New Astrology.
If your ever in Waco, Texas, I would like to introduce you to my good friend, Brian Pardo. Brian is truly a selfmade man and the best boss I ever worked for. Brian was the owner of just about the best solar company that ever existed. This was in the 70's and 80's when I worked for him. The company was American Solar King. Brian was into Astronomy and had taken a picture of a star with a camera. The years have gone by, but on July 26th of 2005, I was in Brians office, talking to him about the Egyptians, Brian is an expert on the Egyptians. It was at this time that Brian told me of that star he had taken a picture of. It was a planet, but he didn't know which one it was. He took the photo to Baylor University for their astronomy department to study. They said, its a planet, but they don't know which one. On that day July 26th, Brian told me that he beleives there is a 10th planet around our sun. Then on July 29th of this year just three days after we were talking, the 10th planet was discovered. Yes, I beleive that Brian's future is written in the stars and if you wont to hear the rest of the story please write me. May God bless you, Ray |
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By Christopher DeWayne Strickland |
* Should Freemasonry be secret, or should we be more open about it?
When Freemasonry was younger, secrecy was considered a virtue and highly respected. I think secrecy is also an attractive element of mystery and intrigue that surrounds the Order...
* What does Masonic ritual mean to you?
It depends on which ritual. I am most concerned at the moment with the 32nd Degree of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. It's pretty deep and layered with symbolism that I haven't deciphered to my own satisfaction and may never fully interpret the meanings...
* How do you feel when you were made a Mason?
I was very nervous at all of my initiations, Masonic or otherwise. Especially during the Master Mason's Degree Conferral...
* And what role has Masonic ritual played in your life since?
I spend a lot of time studying and not enough time "practicing" but I feel I must master the theory before I master the action of it. I don't want to half-way learn the discipline and then half-way apply it to my life. I'm in for the long haul. ;)
* Do you feel it is something which can not, or perhaps should not, be put into words?
It cannot be put into words. Truth is a slippery little weird critter. It's like something that you can look away from and see it in the corner of your eye, but if you look DiReCtLy at it, it vanishes. Words are here now, but they'll go away. Symbols are used because they are ambiguous and subtle and convey different meaning to different people under various separate circumstances, and that's what truth is: relative. But one day, I feel we will become the symbols and not need them anymore. That's something that might be difficult to wrap your mind around, but Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung have a close approximation to what I'm aiming at, and probably sorely missing and sounding neurotic... ;)
Have a nice day.
Bro.'. Christopher DeWayne Strickland, 32* |
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By Dan Williamson |
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I became a Master Mason in 1955. I was 24 years of age at the time, and a student at the University of Texas. The Masons I met at the University made a major impact on my life. Having a troubled childhood, I found people that I could talk to and confide in. This helped me through troubling parts of my life. I attend Lodge regularly, work as Lodge Treasurer, help the overworked Secretary, and share the joys and sorrows of the Lodge members. My proudest moment was when my son was raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason. I have read all the Knight/Lomas books on Masonry, and they have had a profound affect on my life. I have been a life long Christian, and was baptised as such. But I always had doubts about the Christians' view of exclusive rights to Heaven. I believed that my God would not send millions of people to Hell because they were not Christians. I doubted the miracles of the bible. I read Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and it answered many of my questions, but the Hiram Key and Second Messiah answered the rest. I now am comfortable in my belief of one God who can handle his job without additional gods. As I read the books, I had a Revised Standard Edition of the Holy Bible, and Isaac Asimov's Guide to the Bible, volumes one and two. I am going to buy Christopher Knight's Book of Hiram, Freemasons, Venus . . .. I would love to be able to meet Robert and Christopher. Since that will probably not happen, I want to thank the two of you for giving the information I had been thirsting for all my adult life. |
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By Attila Weinberger |
1. Being open about Freemasonry should be each of us personal matter - of course respecting our rules of engagement. Some of us are proudly showing off their affiliation while others are more concerned about the immediate social acceptance and possible disadvantages. As a Craft perhaps we should do a better job promoting our values and charity work. All together I feel that our Craft is standing strong as it is.
2. Knowledge, excitement, discipline and 'light'
3. I felt newborn. My legs were shaking, my heart jumped out my chest, I remember I cried in aw... It was something I went through what finally fits me by all means.
4. I became more cautious, balanced and kind toward myself and others.
5. In order to comprehend, understand and move ahead any of the fundamental principles of history, science and spirituality requires knowledge and a big load of reverence. This kind of knowledge could be obtained only in an organized disciplinary manner. For the ignorant everything stays unknown by his own choice. We all know, that inside the Brethren we could find ignorance and superficiality, plenty confusion and misunderstandings. Should our craft be secret? But it is truly secret? What would be Masonry's best of interest? Do we really need more than 6 millions of our kind? What would we gain by extending the number of our members? Are profanes really prepared to take new angles of their own life and believes? Whoever is interested in the Craft, they will find the way to get in anyway... so why should we break the social balance by openly talking about things what could lead to unrest among the non-masons? Yes, maybe we should do a better promoting the Craft, but basically I think we should stay open up only to those who have proven their real interest in our knowledge and were admitted inside. For the rest of the world in order to serve them at our best, as we did ever since, we should stay discreetly and elegantly on the edge - somewhere between the legend and truth.
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