You know the routine.  Lump all the negative influences in your life together, and then, without bothering to analyze them too critically, throw them all out, because you deem them “detrimental to your well-being.” As many may well be.

So it is with the list of bizarre organizations and secret gatherings of like-minded individuals, sometimes called cults. Such as---and these are just a few—the Bohemian Grove, Skull and Bones, Bilderberg Group, Club of Rome, and the Illuminati. The Council of Foreign Relations, and the Tri-Lateral Commission also qualify if secrecy is the predominant criteria

Notice that one, so-called “secret” organization, was not mentioned: Freemasonry.  Why was Freemasonry omitted from the list? Because of all the dark and obtuse organizations which I consider the “bath water”, I have a gnawing suspicion that Freemasonry may be the “baby” we are thoughtlessly throwing out with it.

There are good reasons for my thinking so. And if you’ll bear with me, I’ll try to explain.

Unlike, for example, Skull and Bones, an ultra-secret society in which occult traditions, secret oaths, and pagan rituals are the norm--- and in which many prominent families (including the Bushes) send their sons to Yale to become Bonesmen--- Freemasonry is neither pagan, occult, nor elitist. But it IS secret, for an honest and logical reason.

Before we discuss that reason, and the tenets of Freemasonry further, I confess an association with the Masonic Order earlier in my life, and my subsequent resignation from the organization---simply because I soon discovered that I am not an “organization” type person; a “joiner” by nature. Thus, anything further I have to say about Freemasonry is as objective and free of judgment as I can make it.

That Freemasonry has historical ties to Biblical teachings is beyond question, because it is provable. Out of the Dark Ages, both the Bible and Freemasonry emerged in England and Europe when the public weal finally had access to writings which previously could be passed along only by word of mouth.

Calling Freemasonry a “religious” organization, however, is not accurate. It can best be described as specialized physical “work” with deep spiritual overtones.

In the Middle Ages, the word mason was used to denote a builder. That is, one of the many artisans in crafts and trades connected with architectural construction; such as men who worked in stone, bricks and tiles. But there were many grades of craftsmen, and many kinds of special talents.  In Gothic construction of cathedrals and other monumental architectural marvels, the work of Master Freemasons, was equal to Greek architecture, but never surpassed.

Eventually these disparate, but related, crafts organized themselves into gilds, or fraternities, each having its own rules, regulations, memberships, trained apprentices, AND a monopoly on its own kind of Masonry. This is important to know, because it is this monopoly, this professional secrecy about the “tricks of their trade” which has given Freemasonry an air of mysticism, occultism, even paganism, however inaccurate and undeserved it may be.

The understandable reticence to give away the “secrets” of their trade exists with professional artisans and craftsmen to this very day.  My Uncle Bob, now deceased, was a cabinet maker whose work exemplified what true craftsmanship is all about.  I have a chessboard, with squares of oak, maple, and walnut, which Uncle Bob made nearly 70 yeas ago, and it is in my office, still in beautiful condition.

Some accuse Freemasonry of being a black art or a heathen cult. A curious accusation since history shows it to be one of the most respected and honored of the ancient crafts; that Masons were honorable and lawful men, and that their craft had been practiced, honored, or established by such great men as David, Solomon, Euclid, and Pythagoras.

Oddly enough, Biblical elements came into the craft, not directly, but in a roundabout way.  And not as history or theology, but as data to show that the great art of architecture had been known and practiced as far back as the prophets and kings of the Old Testament. And although occultism and mysticism flourished back then, and through the Middle Ages, Freemasonry was solely identified as the art of the builder, designer, and engineer, and had no interest in either occultism or mysticism.

Since time immemorial, Freemason philosophy is that work comes from God, for He Himself, as the Sovereign Grand Architect of the Universe, is a worker.

Pretty heady stuff, I admit, but the rationale for that statement is the great equalizer.  God so made the world that plants do not grow ready to eat, clothing is not made by sheep, leather is not shoes, and houses do not build themselves.

Work, then, is universal, and a way of life. To be a worker is to be a man, and where idleness is praised, men deteriorate. It is in work that man discovers himself, reaches his stature, and becomes what God created him to be. That’s why Masons never refer to their activities as meetings, occupations, sessions or rituals; it is always referred to as Work.

Moreover each Masonic station, degree, pillar, column, and allusion are all symbolic of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty, and, to put it bluntly, are no less meaningful than Jesus on the dashboard of your car, a candle on the altar in your synagogue, or a cross on the steeple of your church.

So, before you throw out the bath water, it might be wise to make sure that the baby is no longer in it.

James T. Moore
http://jamestmoore.us/