Looking Behind The Curtain

So... What is this doing on a Masonic Blog?  Well, the simple truth is that I had no where else to stick it.  Oh well. 

I remember so many Saturday mornings when I was young, and my mother would drop me off at the library.  I would walk in and be surrounded by all those books - all of that knowledge - just waiting to be discovered and explored.  I felt like a kid in a candy store.  

I could sit there on the floor with piles of books at my side.  I would lose myself for hours.  One book would lead to another, and another, and another.  So much to explore and understand - to make mine -for free!  I loved reading.  

As a student, I wasn't much - math didn't make sense to me.  I got lost in the easiest problems.  I now know that at that time, I simply couldn't deal with abstractions.  Four and five added together made nine, but why?  It just didn't make sense.  If I tried to hold more than one number in my head at any one time, it would just drop into blackness.  I still have trouble with math, but I've learned little tricks to make most math necessities doable.

I had the same problem trying to understand something so profoundly basic that I doubt many people would empathize.  I wanted to know what was going on.  I mean now, here, reality!  What is it that is happening?

Are you familiar with this drawing?

 

This is what I wanted to do - to "look behind the screen."  It became my life's obsession.

When I look at my bookshelves I see the "breadcrumbs" that I've dropped behind while wandering through this mystery - life.  The shelves are filled with books on nature, psychology, history, philosophy, religion, hypnosis, myth...  All of them devoured in an attempt to find out more.  Was there a clue?  I wanted to understand, and I was sure that the answer was out there, but that no one had put it together.  I had to piece the puzzle together and tear the fabric of reality.  I needed to look behind the curtain.

I had been raised a Catholic.  They did a good job.  I was afraid of their god and of breaking their rules.  I was a true believer.  But it didn't take long to see the contradictions.  I couldn't understand how anyone could believe such nonsense.  At first, I thought it was me, but the struggle was enough to create a crack, and soon the crack between the Catholic church and I widened into a formidable chasm that would never close.

Strangely enough, It wasn't until I began reading about the church that I was finally able to "re-wash my brain."

To tell the truth, I was amazed at how much information is readily available on the mythology that the Christian religion is based on.  It's a wonder that more people don't try to read about their church.  Everyone seems content to simply read about the myth. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," just watch the smoke and mirrors."

Anyway, I wanted to share with you what I discovered so far.  My search has been long, but - I feel - fruitful.  But first, a caveat - there's so much I can't share.  Not because I don't want to, but because I found that it isn't the answer that means much, but the search.  You see, questions aren't resolved by answers, but by experience.  Also, whatever answer you do find is personal - yours alone.

 My questions, shaped by my life and experiences (and my search), would never be the same as yours.  My answers (and experiences) will never be yours.  I know, it's disappointing.  I too wanted someone to give me the answer.  There was a time when I thought that one answer fit all.  I don't think that's true anymore.  No one can do my search, and I can't do yours.  The all-knowing guru (or priest) is a fanciful idea. Has he lived your life?  No?  Then he can't have your answers.

I can, however, point out a direction.  If you wish to explore it, I believe that you'll find it a fruitful venture.  It requires a different mindset than the one most people carry.

What I've come to find remarkable is the consideration that both the earth and man are composed of the same very few elements.  We indeed are "of the earth."  In fact, most living things are of similar compositions.  That is remarkable, don't you think?  

But more remarkable is that everything we see was initially hydrogen and helium atoms that through a process of time, pressure, and heat became all of the other elements that make up everything we are surrounded by.  

Every plurality was once a singularity.  How could this be?  How could an apple, a shark, a rock, a cloud, a tree, a moth, a baby - originally come from the same thing?  What is it that happened (and what is happening at this moment) that could possibly lead to such a thing?  How could a living creature formed from the very same elements which comprise the dust of the earth, have thoughts?  

What is behind such a magnificent curtain?  What formed a lake, or a snowfall, or a sunset - or a galaxy, and then created man, an intelligence, to contemplate it all?  Forget, for the moment, the idea of there being a god or a cause of any sort.  Forget trying to make sense of it.  Just let the fantastic take hold for a moment.

Allow yourself a small space of time to wonder.  Magnificence doesn't need a god.  Whatever is at play is using your eyes to contemplate itself.  

You are the universe experiencing itself.  And it is happening right now... At this very moment...  As you read the next word...  You are the universe contemplating itself!

Creation, movement, evolvement is happening.  It doesn't flow around you.  It isn't outside of you. You are part and parcel of the whole event!  We marvel at what is before us and forget to marvel at what part we play (and are playing) in whatever this is!  It a very large way, we ARE the curtain, and at the same moment, we are also the person trying to see what it is we are.

Contemplating this fulfills a part of my question.  Not the thoughts themselves, but the changed world-view that they have led to.  Not something to read and consider, but something that I've made mine over the course of my search.  For me, it has intoxicating meaning.  To you?  It is your search, your question, your experience.  Have fun with it.  You are the search itself, the searcher, and ultimately, that which is happening.  You are the event unfolding, and you are the answer itself.

Universally Emerging Conciousness

So – from a photon, to an element, to a hot molten mass of stone.  How did this eventually morph into life, or into a small child?  How did non-conscious and seemingly non-animate atomic particles become the three pound universe of our brains?  How is it that 26 elements combined to create a human being – a self-conscious and self-aware animate being?

In his book, From Science to God, Peter Russell proposes that there is some degree of consciousness in everything, and that perhaps “Rather than creating consciousness, nervous systems may be amplifiers of consciousness, increasing the richness and quality of experience.”

In this theory, Man may be hundreds or even millions of times more “aware” or "conscious" than other animals, and likewise, animals may be millions of times more aware than insects which, in turn, may be millions times more aware than plants, and so on -  from plants, to viruses, to crystals, until we reach the smallest known particles.  A universe in which consciousness abides [my nod of the head to George R. Stewart - The Earth Abides] throughout - timelessly, seamlessly, omnipresent. 

This view of evolutionary consciousness maintains a perspective of “wholeness” and “inter-relatedness” of the universe.  One in which, it is not matter that creates consciousness, but one in which consciousness expands and emerges through the evolution of matter. 

One note is simply a sound; a melody comes about from the emergence of several notes; and the beauty of a concert from the ever-emergent and guided simple notes being expressed over time. 

A universal concert.

Nigel Calder puts it very nicely:

The aim isn’t to degrade mind to matter, but to upgrade the properties of matter to account for mind, and to tell how from the dust and water of the earth, natural forces conjured a mental system capable of asking why it exists.

Russell's concept ties in well with a perspective taken by Michael Dowd, author of Thank God For Evolution, who writes that

"...reality as a whole is divinely creative in a nested emergent sense. 
Subatomic particles reside within atoms, which comprise molecules, cells, organisms, and societies -- like nesting dolls of expanding size and complexity."

And that regardless of one's theological bent, "God from this perspective, can be understood as a legitimate proper name for the largest nesting doll...."

By combining Dowd's "nested emergence" and Russell's "evolutionary consciousness" one is left with a sublime sense of our own role in this universally conscious soup. 

Poetically stated, the minuscule consciousness of a photon is layered upon layer, combining and appending -- an accretion of consciousness.  

Emerging and blossoming.  

A flowering universe. 

We are elegant, yet so is everything else.

____________________________________

 Respectfully Submitted, Bro. Tavit Smith

Nice quip: 

We have all heard some fundamentalist-minded person say something like, "don't tell me I'm related to monkeys."  

But the fact of the matter is that now that we have discovered DNA and its code, we know that we are not only related to monkeys, we are related to zucchini.  So let's get over it." -- Marlin Lavanhar 

Ancient Religions and The New Story

Many people today are under the impression that what is missing in their “search” for the truth is a better understanding of the myths that have come down to us through the Judeo-Christian traditions.  And when they find out that these myths (or supposed “truths”) are simply reiterations of earlier (Babylonian?) myths, they mistakenly believe that they are closer to realizing their “real” spiritual meaning – that they are closer to the truth!  They believe that...

  

”… the ancients were blessed with an intellectually “unspoiled” mythopoetic mind, which was naturally profound and intuitive and could therefore penetrate cosmic truths far more perceptively than the modern mind with its analytic and intellectual approach.”  For the most part, this is just stuff and nonsense”  (pg 81 – History Begins At Sumer by Samuel Noah Kramer).

Like Kramer, I don’t believe that the ancients were any closer than the prototypical Christian or Jew of today who misunderstands or misinterprets mythology and continues to act out these myths in Churches and Temples worldwide. 

Ancient myth was man’s way of understanding life by using what he understood at the time.  Gods were conceived of having human personalities and foibles.  Belief in resurrection was based upon our cycles of planting and harvesting, and cycles of the sun and planets.

Myths were simply our way of understanding life prior to our development of scientific method and rational thought.

Only in the last 150 years have we been presented with a new conception of life.  And while it is still being presented in an academic manner, it is actually far more spiritual (in my humble opinion) than the Judeo-Christian beliefs of our culture

The short booklet “The Human Molecule” by Libb Thims, (esp. chapter 9 and pg. 70 - the Molecular Evolution Table) presents a fascinating depiction of man’s  evolution.  One is able to see how all life forms slowly became more complex by way of molecular evolution.  Accepting this evolutionary understanding requires us to also accept a “new story” in our spiritual quest;   

         

One that places us not as the egoist center of all that is, but as an actual  part in the ongoing process.  We are only the center of attention to the degree that we are the universe looking at itself.  We are part of the reality that is in the process of morphing into whatever mystery is to be (or is being).

Forget Christian myth.  Forget Judaic myth. Forget Sumerian myth…

As put by A. R. Peacocke in From Cosmos To Love : 

“We, and all living organisms, have emerged in time out of the non-living world of water, air, and rocks…” [And it is] …only recently that man has seen himself as actually emerging from the inorganic world by a continuous process of time.

What sort of Cosmos is it, if the original primeval mass of hydrogen items… has eventually manifested the potentiality of becoming organized in material forms such as ourselves which are conscious and even self-conscious, can reflect, and love and hate, and pray, have ideas, can discourse with each other, can exhibit the creative genius of a Mozart or a Shakespeare, or display the personal qualities of a Socrates…?” 

’The world we live in – the world in which we live and move and have our being – our world, “this astonishing cataract of bears, babies, and bananas; this immoderate deluge of atoms, orchids, oranges, cancers, canaries, fleas, gases, tornadoes and floods’ as C.S. Lewis called it.”    

And so, we are left with what Brian Swimme calls “A New Story.”  One that does not easily fit with our Judeo-Christian heritage -- One based upon our new understanding of the evolution of all matter and the evolution of life itself.

To let go of religions’ mythology and to embrace a spiritual belief that removes us from the epi-center is a scary.  Letting go of gods with human qualities means accepting life as a verb – and not a noun, a process, not a product.  It means accepting that all of our understanding, even now, is an ongoing process that is destined to change as we understand in greater detail the “wholeness” of what is, and -especially- the inter-relatedness of all that is.

Belief in an ever-changing understanding of reality is a step into a void.

                 

But, it is also a step into something far more miraculous than any mythology could have ever imagined.

To see the universe as a living, roiling, creative soup; to see ourselves as the universe itself -- A recognition of this is as great a hallucinatory trip as one could imagine.

I have always wanted to see “behind” the screen; to pull back the curtain to see "the great and powerful OZ."  And, as long as I thought of myself as an entity behind the screen, this would have been (at least feasibly) possible.  But what if “I” am not an “object,” but actually part of the screen itself?  

What if, in fact, THIS MOMENT is simply (?) the evolutionary end result of Hydrogen and Helium molecules forming, mixing, compressing, expressing, and morphing into life itself?  Non-life –to- life?  Non-conscious –to- conscious?  Photon –to- thought? 

What if EVERYTHING – life, love, ideas, fear, skin, organs, hopes…  What if everything is part of a process that we are just beginning to get a glimpse of?

EVERYTHING … from the smallest to the greatest?

Does this idea lack spirituality?  There is no chanting, no bracelets, no myriad of gods or saints, no holy book, no bended knees in supplication, no Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism, Judaism.  No statues, no incense, no brotherhood or shared beliefs. 

What then are we left with?  How should we live, why do we live, is there a reason to keep living?

Wasn’t life easier with the belief in a god and an afterlife?  Didn’t we all feel safer?

Traditional religions make people feel safe.  They supply chants, prayers, ideology, and a god that is in control.  Traditional religions are good for people who have a difficult time with ambiguity and abstract thought.  They serve a purpose.

But to my way of thinking, believing in traditional religions is like stopping at the first door of a large cathedral.  

Alan Watts tells about a place he was taken to in Japan where one walked down an ornate walkway into a massive gilded church filled with golden statues, paintings, and smelling of incense.  But there, in back of the large alter, was a door.  Walking through the door, one came across a trail that led up to a smaller, but still brightly decorated shrine.  In the back of this shrine was yet another door which led out to an old path.  This path led further up the mountainside to a quiet undecorated chapel.  Once again, inside the Chapel, behind the small alter was a door.  Outside this door was a thin overgrown trail that led up the mountainside to a tiny dark hut.  Inside was a simple wooden prayer-table -- and again, behind it was another door resting on rusted hinges. 

This door opened to the world.   

Most of us stopped at the first church.  Filled with incense, chanting, and golden statues.  We came to accept that this is where we were supposed to be.  When we felt unsatisfied, we merely looked at the religious icons hanging on the walls and thought we were making progress when we researched their history.  We became enthralled with antiquity.  Few people thought to question beliefs held for so long a time, or beliefs held by so many others. 

Ultimately, what is needed isn’t merely a new understanding of a muddled belief, but an entirely new way of seeing reality – a paradigm shift.

Ram Dass tells story that I find particularly appropriate here…

There are two waves traveling across the ocean, a small one, and a larger one. 

Suddenly the larger wave sees land approaching, and gets upset. 

He cries to the smaller wave, "Oh no! Up ahead -- waves are crashing and disappearing!   We're going to die!" 

The smaller wave, somehow, is unperturbed. 

So the larger wave tries to convince her, to no avail. 

Finally, the smaller wave says, "What would you say if I told you that there are six words, that if you really understood and believed them, you would see that there's no reason to fear." 

The bigger wave protests, but as the land approaches, he becomes desperate. 

He'll try anything.  "Fine, fine" he says.  "Tell me the six words."

  

"Okay," the small wave says:

"You're not a wave, you're water."

You’re not a wave, you’re water – I like that.  A complete and total paradigm shift in the way one sees the world.  The “New Story” demands the same shift in perceiving oneself and reality.  You aren’t you, you’re what is happening.  Part of a process, a happening, a creative becoming -- the universe looking at itself.

I think it was Emerson who said “The world globes itself in a drop of dew.”  To this I would add, "The universe globes itself in a drop of you."

From a hydrogen atom to a bit of soil and water, each of us “evolved.”  All the while everything else was/is also in the same process.  It is all evolving in a creative tumbling of all that exists in every moment.

It is not just you.  It is your wife, your partner, your children, your community, your planet, your very thoughts.  It is all part of a mysterious process that is happening forever and ever.

Now THAT… that is spiritual!

Respectfully submitted,
Bro. Tavit Smith

___________________________________________________

Notes:


I highly recommend reading: 

DEEP TIME - The Journey of a Particle from the Big Bang to the Death of the Universe and Beyond   by David Darling

  

Other authors with this perspective:

Brian Swimme

Thomas Berry

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (for a Christian perspective)

Michael Dowd (esp. “Thank God For Evolution” )

Quotes:

For the emergent process, as noted by the geneticist Theodore Dobzhansky, is neither random nor determined but creative. Just as in human order, creativity is neither a rational deductive process nor the irrational wandering of the undisciplined mind, but the emergence of beauty as mysterious as the blossoming of a field of daisies out of the dark Earth.

Read more: http://www.gaia.com/quotes/Thomas_Berry?page=3#ixzz0d1y3JUaa

It is especially important in this discussion to recognize the unity of the total process, from that first unimaginable moment of cosmic emergence through all its subsequent forms of expression until the present. This unbreakable bond of relatedness that makes of the whole a universe becomes increasingly apparent to scientific observation, although this bond ultimately escapes scientific formulation or understanding. In virtue of this relatedness, everything is intimately present to everything else in the universe. Nothing is completely itself without everything else. This relatedness is both spatial and temporal. However distant in space or time, the bond of unity is functionally there. The universe is a communion and a community. We ourselves are that communion become conscious of itself.

Read more: http://www.gaia.com/quotes/Thomas_Berry?page=4#ixzz0d1yI9tjv

You have molten rock, and then all by itself, it transforms into a human mother caring for her child. That's a rather astounding transformation.

Of course, it takes four billion years.

You've got silica; you've got magnesium. You've got all the elements of rock, and it becomes the translucent blue eyes and beautiful brown hair and this deep sense of love and concern and even sacrifice for a child.

(From an interview with Brian Swimme)

Jokes?

I added this just for fun:

Q:  Is God Love?

A:  You brought him into existence. Be creative, make him be whatever you want him to be.      (Interview with Papaji)

Freemasonry, Fraternity, and Friendships

“The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for, and deserted by everybody.”

Mother Teresa

As we sit in lodge our eyes are often drawn to the pictures of our esteemed past Worshipful Masters that line both sides of the room.  Almost half of the pictures are marked with a black ribbon as a tribute, and acknowledge that these fine men have passed on to what we call the celestial lodge.  Their pictures are a reminder that our time here on earth is limited, and that others have walked much the same path through the Masonic rites that we do today. 

I respect these men, not because of their contributions to the craft, but simply because they struggled with the same issues that each one of us must also confront in our own lives.  Although I have never met them or even been told about their lives, I have no doubt that one or more of them suffered the loss of a child, the loss of a life partner, humiliation, fear of war, a loss of income, fear of failure, loneliness, desperation, sickness, hopelessness, etc.   I have no doubt that they suffered these things, because these are all human conditions.  If we live – as the Buddha said – we suffer.  But why would I discuss this when discussing our fraternity?  What does Freemasonry have to do with life struggles?

Each meeting, I walk into the lodge and am greeted by my brothers.  We smile and offer a friendly handshake before taking our seats.  Many of us know each other on a superficial level, and at least some of us have even gotten to know each other on a much deeper level.  The lodge is a place of geniality and friendship – a place to forge bonds over a common interest and shared goals.

But what about the younger brother sitting in the corner?  And what of the older gentleman who has been helped to his seat but sits quietly alone throughout the meeting?

What are their hardships?  What is their past? Has this one lost a wife or a child?  Is that one afraid that he will outlive his income?  Is this one a single parent? Was that one raised without a father or mother? Has that one been neglected by family?  Does this one have a family member stricken by disease or mental illness?  Can this one no longer afford his medication?  As a retired social worker, I could go on and on, and on.

Am I over-dramatizing?  I don’t think so.  I used to live in a small neighborhood of 60 or so homes.  One day I made a list of what I knew about my neighbors.  My notes were enlightening.  In four homes there were individuals who were being treated for cancer.  In five homes the homeowner had lost their partner.  In three homes people were struggling with enormous debt.  In one home a family member was totally paralyzed at the age of seventeen.  In another home a family struggled with an autistic child.  In four homes family members suffered from some form of mental illness.  The owners of four homes had been divorced, and the owners of two homes struggled with children with severe behavioral problems.  In fact, it seemed as if no one was untouched by significant life problems.

            So, am I over-dramatizing?  No, I am merely pointing out what we would all admit if we were to give it a bit of thought - Life is often difficult for each of us, and sitting across from us and to either side is a fellow human being facing similar difficulties on a day to day basis.

We often sit in lodge fretting over the mechanics of ritual, or the allegorical nature of our ceremonies, but far too often forget about the brother sitting at our side.  We cocoon ourselves, sitting in cliques, satisfied that a simple handshake or nod of the head is sufficient.  Can we do more?  I have no answers, but am eager to hear your opinions.

Respectfully submitted,

Bro. Tavit Smith         

Freemasonry, Mysticism, and Mathematics

Of all of the great scientific minds throughout history, our fraternity chose one in particular to mention in our esteemed rites – the name of Pythagoras of Samos.  Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher, mystic and mathematician from the Ionian tribe who is believed to have lived between 495 BCE and 570 CE, but many of us may remember his name from early schooling when we were taught the “Pythagorean theorem.”  The concept that

“…in a right-angled triangle the square of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides…”  [1]    

But why do Freemasons honor this man in their rites?  Is it simply a reference to his role in one of the “seven liberal arts”?   Is it because he was the leader of a fraternity much like our own in which there were initiation rites and formal degrees?  What about his reputed reputation as a mystic?  Is there a relationship that exists between mysticism and mathematics?

A detailed study of this last question would fill a library, and although you may never have considered mathematics to be a spiritual pursuit, there are many written essays that do just that.  There is a beauty to mathematics, and while I cannot, in this short essay, do justice to this exploration, I will do my best to urge you on to further study.

I personally believe that Pythagoras is mentioned in our rites not simply because of his mathematical acumen, but specifically because of his belief that “All things are numbers.”[2] Pythagoras felt that there was an affinity between numbers and reality that directly pointed to a higher power (or as we say, to the GAOTU).  By the way, another great scientific mind mirrored this same thought; Galileo himself wrote that the “grand book” of the universe “…is written in the language of mathematics, and it’s characters are triangles, circles and other geometric figures without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it.”[3]

“That mathematics, in common with the other humanities, can lead us beyond ordinary existence, and can show us something of the structure in which all creation hangs together, is no new idea.”[4]  “The ability of mathematics to provide frameworks of reality and of action, and its ability to change our perception of what is, is very great.”[5]  But what is more important is the fact that “Mathematical truth is independent of human judgment.  Mathematical reality is there to be discovered or observed.”[6]    Math is true and does not depend upon judgment, that is, 1 + 1 is always 2.  The square root of 25 is always 5.  29 is a prime number, 27 is not.  And despite the ever-changing appearances of reality, mathematics serves as a stalwart marker of reality.  It is the fixed point within a circle. 

So mathematics appears to be an unchanging reflection of reality – a map used by the GAOTU for us to discover and reflect upon  – a mystical endeavor open to anyone who cares to consider it. Is this what Pythagoras meant when he said that “All is numbers”?  I believe so, and I believe that here too is the reason that he is given such recognition in the Masonic rites.  Mathematics is more than a tool used to count, or a way to record dimensions.  Mathematics is a signpost for anyone who wishes to better understand their world, and their own reality. 

Freemasonry is a fraternity that is veiled in allegory.  Its rituals reflect man’s passage through life leading from birth to his ultimate reconnection with the Great Architect.  In our second degree we are advised to study the seven liberal arts – which includes mathematics.  Perhaps we should consider that this suggestion is not a simple directive to know how to calculate, but how to better know that there is “something more behind the curtain.”

Respectfully submitted,

Bro. Tavit Smith    

---

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras

[2] http://www.mathopenref.com/pythagoras.html

[3] Vico, Opere, ed. R. Parenti (Naples, 1972), I 83. “Vico’s Concept of Knowledge”, in his against the Current (New York, 1980), pp. 111-19.

[4] Essays in humanistic Mathematics, ed. Alvin M. White, The Mathematical Association of America/ Notes Number 2.  1993

[5] Ibid, pg. 10

[6] Ibid, pg. 29.

Hiram Abiff, Noah, and Gilgamesh. 

Mythology “Repurposed”

As a young college student, I was fortunate enough to spend a semester studying in Puebla, Mexico at the University Of The Americas.  I lived nearby in a small village called San Andres, which sat at the base of a mountain that had been excavated to reveal a buried pyramid, the great Cholula Pyramid.  According to an online article, This “temple-pyramid complex was built...  starting from the 3rd century BCE through the 9th century CE”, and “is, in fact, the largest pyramid...ever constructed anywhere in the world.”[1] 

Sitting atop of the yet unexcavated part of this temple sits the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Church of Our Lady of the Remedies), which was built by Spaniards in 1594.  When I asked a professor at the University why the church was built upon a pyramid, I was told that the Catholic Church simply built where the people were already coming to worship – that it was an easy way to convert the indigenous population to a new and unfamiliar religion.  I later learned that this is called “repurposing” a religious site.

Since then, I have learned that the idea of “repurposing” is not only done with religious sites, but also with religious myths.  A general example of this would be the several myths, which have been passed along from the Babylonians to the Egyptians to the Jews, and finally to the Christians.  Interestingly enough, a more specific example of repurposing can be found in the stories that form the basis of one of our own Freemasonry rituals.

Many brothers may be surprised to learn that the Hiram Abiff legend was not always a part of Masonic lore.  Prior to 1730, our masonic brothers were taught that “the secret word” that they sought was buried with the Old Testament biblical character, Noah.[2]

   According to the story, Noah’s sons were in search of the “word” that they believed God had given to Noah so that he might start a new civilization after the flood.  After a failed attempt by his sons to raise him from his grave, a substitute word was chosen.  The secret was never revealed, and remained lost. 

While there are minor differences between the Hiram Abiff story and the earlier story of Noah and his sons, the general outline remains the same – a great builder is in possession of a word (or words), which will allow the building to continue.  However, the word(s) are lost, and mankind continues to this day to search.  

Let us now jump ahead to 1844 when a British researcher, named Austen Henry Layard was traveling in Northern Iraq around the town of Mosul.  Excavating the ruined palaces of Nineveh, the ancient capital of Assyria, he discovered of a hoard of stone tablets inscribed with cuneiform script.  At the time, it was considered to be an interesting, but minor find. [i]

These tablets remained undeciphered until 1872 when a young British museum curator named George Smith translated the Akkadian writing.  Reportedly, when he deciphered one particular section of the tablets, he became so excited that he tore off his clothes and began running around the laboratory.  You see, the tablet he deciphered, which had been written more than 3 thousand years ago, told the story of a Babylonian “Noah” who survived a great flood.  The similarities between what was written on the stone tablets and the Old Testament flood story were remarkable.

This three thousand year old story is about a man/god named Gilgamesh who sets off on a journey with a man, named Enkidu (formed out of dust by the god, Aruru) to do battle with a great monster.  During the journey Enkidu dies ands Gilgamesh, having never known death, is filled with fear and grief, lamenting

“Must I die too?  Must I be as lifeless as Enkidu?  How can I bear this sorrow that gnaws at my belly, this fear of death that drives me onward?  If only I could find the one man whom the gods made immortal, I would ask him how to overcome death.”[3]

Here then, in one of the earliest written stories that civilization has yet uncovered, we finds man’s first search for the secret of everlasting life – immortality.  Over three thousand years ago, man’s greatest fear was written in stone. 

Could the story of Gilgamesh have been “repurposed”?  Is the story of Hiram Abiff’s assailants, and Noah’s sons search for the secret word actually a “repurposing” of Gilgamesh’s search for everlasting life?   Is the search for the lost words – so that we may continue to build the temple, an allegorical story of man’s search to find the one thing that will allow us to continue to build our own allegorical temples -- our lives? 

In all three stories the content centers on a search -- a search for the greatest of secrets.  In the Hiram Abiff story, Hiram is a supervisor of builders, Noah is the builder of the ark, and Gilgamesh is ruler of a city that he describes by saying

“See how its ramparts gleam like copper in the sun.  Climb the stone staircase, more ancient than the mind can imagine, ... walk on the wall of Uruk... inspect it’s mighty foundations, examine its brickwork, how masterfully it is built...”[4]

Continuing with the Gilgamesh epic, we learn that Gilgamesh eventually meets with Utnapishtim, the Babylonian “Noah” who survived the great flood, and asks him to intervene on his behalf and to ask the gods to grant him eternal life.  Utnapishtim refuses, but tells Gilgamesh where to find a magical plant that will give him everlasting life.  Gilgamesh finds the plant only to later lose it to a snake that carries it off. 

In the Gilgamesh story, we are not told what this magical plant is.  Could it have been from the acacia plant?  If not, it certainly, at least symbolically, shares the same traits, as it is the antidote to death. 

In masonic lore, the acacia plant is the symbol of everlasting life.[5]  It is the sprig of acacia that marks the grave of Hiram Abiff, and the sprig which the three searchers find when they search for Hiram.  As an aside, it is interesting to consider the following question: Did they mistakenly miss the true object of their search (for the secret to everlasting life), and instead look for the secret in the decomposing body of their master?   Is the hidden message that the secret to everlasting life not to be found in material or transient things?

Finally, in the Noah legend, while aboard the ark, we are told that Noah sends a dove out to search for signs of life.  The dove returns after the seventh day with an olive branch in its beak.  And although the olive branch is usually considered a symbol of peace, doesn’t it make more sense that it actually represents what Noah was searching for, the “continuance of life,” much as the acacia sprig?

In all three stories, Hiram Abiff, Noah, and Gilgamesh, there is a search for the ultimate secret.  In all three stories, the secret remains forever lost, and forever sought.

Most importantly, in each of the three legends we are reminded that god (or in the case of Gilgamesh, gods) hold the ultimate answer.  In the end, we find ourselves frail, and painfully human, forever seeking solace from the ultimate question in life, our own demise.

Are the legends similar enough in traits to merit consideration?  Were the stories of Hiram Abiff and Noah “repurposed” from one of mans’ earliest recorded stories? Is there an answer to mans’ ultimate question?  Perhaps it depends upon the searcher to discover that answer for himself.  Perhaps it should be sought in the allegorical and symbolical stories of our brotherly  fraternity.

Respectfully submitted,

Bro. Tavit Smith 

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Cholula  (December 5, 2010)

[2] See: http://www.masonicsites.org/Graham_Ms.htm  for a discussion of the Graham Manuscript (1726). 

[3] Gilgamesh, by Stephen Mitchell, Free Press, NY, ©2004. 

[4] Ibid.

[5] http://www.masonicworld.com/education/files/artoct02/sprig_of_acacia.htm

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[i] In my opinion, the best and most complete translation of the tale of Gilgamesh can be found in the book “Gilgamesh” by Stephen Mitchell, Free Press, NY, ©2004.  Mitchell tells the tale twice, once with full commentary and background.  For additional reading, read “The Buried Book,” by David Damrosch, Henry Holt & Company, © 2006.

Ecclesiastes chapter 12

Brethren,

We are told that Freemasonry is a philosophic system comprised of allegory and symbolism; the three degrees, Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason, reflecting the stages of our birth, life and eventual demise and rebirth.  Our beautiful ceremonies are filled with philosophic truths and are times to quietly reflect upon our own lives and our responsibilities to ourselves and to others.

Much of our quiet and dignified ceremonies is hidden in allegory.  The use of allegory to hide meaning from the unqualified or undeserving goes back well into ancient times.  By veiling spiritual truths in poetry or symbols, man has found that some of the highest truths could be placed out in the open to become part of history, while protecting there hidden meanings from people who would denigrate or ridicule things that they were not ready to understand. 

As the Freemason candidate circumambulates the lodge – making the same allegorical journey as the sun, moon, and stars-- marking the passage of time, we are allegorically reminded of our own journey through life – marking time, and passing from one stage to another.

One of the most beautiful allegorical illustrations of our life journey is familiar to all of our brethren and is taken from the 12th chapter from Ecclesiastes.  This beautiful and allegorical poem is said to be written by King Solomon himself and depicts the last stages of our journey here on earth.  It is a stark and hauntingly realistic account of our passage through the stages of old age. 

As it is written:

Verse 1:  “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

Verse 2:  While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:

Verse 3:  In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened.

Verse 4:  And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;

Verse 5:  Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

Verse 6:  Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

Verse 7:  Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

This poem from Ecclesiastes is powerful and memorable as it is, but is there a deeper hidden meaning to it?  Many believe that there is, and once known, the verses carry an indelible message to all that hear it.  There are several interpretations, but most are similar to what follows.

Verses 1 and 2 (reread) admonish us to recognize and know the G.A.O.T.U. while we are still young, before we age and lose our joy of living – while our thoughts are clear and sound.

Verse 3 (reread) begins the depiction of our journey into old age with references to our youthful posture now bowing in age, and our teeth (grinders) and eyesight (windows) failing.

Verse 4 (reread) continues with mans’ aging by reflecting upon the loss of his hearing and the changes which occur in the timber of an elder’s voice.

Verse 5 (reread) refers to the unsteadiness and loss of balance to which we will eventually succumb.  The reference to the Almond tree, which blossoms white, is thought to be a reference to the graying of the hair.  The reference to the grasshopper is thought to be symbolic of mans struggles to overcome diversity – now more of a burden than it was when he was youthful.  “Man goeth to his long home” is a thinly veiled allegory not needing interpretation.

Verse 6 (reread) depicts the final stages when our minds and thoughts are affected.  The “silver chord” being our spinal column, the “golden bowl” being our minds, the “pitcher” being our heart, and the “wheel broken at the cistern” being our ability to control our bladders.

This allegorical journey into old age, this admonition to know the G.A.O.T.U. now while we still have time, is harsh and cold – but it is an admonition that, to my eyes, is filled with compassion and love.  This journey into old age is not a solitary journey; it is a journey which we must all take; a journey made necessary simply because we have been given life.  It is an admonition that life is precious and we must not wait to know the G.A.

   

Verse 7 (reread) – the final verse, holds the most mystery.  It says that all of us sitting here in this lodge came from the soil of this earth – “out of dust” – and that we shall return to it, and that our spirits shall return from whence they came.

I’d like to end with a favorite quote of mine from a spiritual writer, Brian Swimme, that encompasses both the mystery of life and its inherent beauty and love.  As you read this, remember verse 7 from the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes:  “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was.”

“You have molten rock,

and then, all by itself, it transforms into a human mother caring for her child.

That's a rather astounding transformation.

Of course, it takes four billion years.

You've got silica, you've got magnesium.

You've got all the elements of rock,

and it becomes translucent blue eyes and beautiful brown hair

and this deep sense of love and concern and even sacrifice for a child.”

(From Brian Swimme)

Brethren, I hope that you take from this little essay how sacred and mysterious life is, and how reverently each day that we have been given should be treated.  As Freemasons, we are reminded in symbol and allegory that life is precious, and that we are continually on a journey to the East, to Light, back to the G.A.O.T.U.

Respectfully submitted,

Brother Tavit Smith