Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry: First Three Degrees

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Make a breach in either, and the great steam-hammer, with its swift and ponderous blows, crushes all the machinery to atoms, and, at last, wrenching itself away, lies inert and dead amid the ruin it has wrought. The perfect Ashlar is said to be a stone made ready by the hands of the workmen, to be adjusted by the working-tools of the Fellow-Craft.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. Published in 1871, Pike's work is a dense and comprehensive exploration of the rituals, symbolism, and teachings within the Scottish Rite, one of the appendant bodies of Freemasonry. Because, the York Rite says, it is necessary that there should be Wisdom to conceive, Strength to support, and Beauty to adorn, all great and important undertakings. A perfectly pure faith, free from all extraneous admixtures, a system of noble theism and lofty morality, would find too little preparation for it in the common mind and heart.The pillar or column on the right, or in the south, was named, as the Hebrew word is rendered in our translation of the Bible, JACHIN: and that on the left BOAZ. The pavement, alternately black and white, symbolizes, whether so intended or not, the Good and Evil Principles of the Egyptian and Persian creed.

By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. The military power, not subordinate to the civil power, again the HAMMER or MACE of FORCE, independent of the RULE, is an armed tyranny, born full-grown, as Athene sprung from the brain of Zeus. These ancient myths include the Egyptian Osiris story, the Greek Dionysos or Bacchus legend, the Greek Demeter and Persephone (or the equivalent Roman Ceres and Proserpina) myth, the Greek Apollo or Sun God myth, the Roman Mithraic mysteries, and many others drawn from the national spiritual traditions of Persia, Syria, Chaldea, Judaea, India, and China. Los Templarios profesaban unas ideas que rápidamente les harían ganar adeptos, pues simpatizaban con los credos destronados, prometiendo libertad de conciencia a todos. A manifestation which will result from a general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and Atheism; both conquered and exterminated at the same time.

Not low worldliness; but the love of Earth as the garden on which the Creator has lavished such miracles of beauty; as the habitation of humanity, the arena of its conflicts, the scene of its illimitable progress, the dwelling-place of the wise, the good, the active, the loving, and the dear; the place of opportunity for the development by means of sin and suffering and sorrow, of the noblest passions, the loftiest virtues, and the tenderest sympathies. The JUSTICE and MERCY of God are in equilibrium, and the result is HARMONY, because a Single and Perfect Wisdom presides over both.

In summary, "Morals and Dogma" by Albert Pike serves as a profound exploration of the moral, philosophical, and spiritual dimensions of Freemasonry. On the surface this book comprises 861 pages of philosophy and esoteric insight into the Thirty-Two Degrees in Freemasonry.Given Pike’s presence in Arkansas in the mid-1860s, it is possible that portions of Morals and Dogma were penned either at his residence and library in Little Rock (Pulaski County), or at a primitive Ouachita Mountain cabin, where Pike spent the final two years of the Civil War. During Pike's lifetime the Northern Jurisdiction based many of their degrees upon Pike's rituals, although they subsequently revised them many times, and never presented initiates with Morals and Dogma, nor any of the subsequent commentaries. With over 46 hours of content, this audiobook has been my constant companion during my 1-1/2 hour commute to work. They were already in essentials the same ideas that I take up again in the present treatises—let us hope the long interval has done them good, that they have become riper, clearer, stronger, more perfect! The Dimensions of the Lodge, our Brethren of the York Rite say, are unlimited, and its covering no less than the canopy of Heaven.

While Albert Pike’s assumptions, interpretations, and biases have rendered an imperfect compendium of esoteric spiritual and political thought, it remains a must-read for any Mason seeking to fully understand the intellectual tradition of our Craft. Give a donation in someone’s name to mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member. He produces foreknown and foreintended effects, by the instrumentality of the forces of nature, all of which are His forces. The book delves into the allegorical and symbolic nature of Masonic rituals, tracing their origins to ancient wisdom traditions and drawing parallels with classical philosophy, Kaballah, and various mystical traditions.And in the old Lectures, our ancient English Brethren said, The Blazing Star or Glory in the centre refers us to that grand luminary, the Sun, which enlightens the earth, and by its genial influence dispenses blessings to mankind. Morals and Dogma has been described as "a collection of thirty-two essays which provide a philosophical rationale for the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.