August 14th, 2010

Speculative Freemasonry,

Pythagoras,

and Euclid's 47th Proposition

Copyright © 2010 by RWB Wesley F Revels.

Euclid's 47th proposition is commonly used as the symbol of a Master Mason but few masons have been taught the meaning underlying the symbol denominating their achievement. It can be argued that understanding the relevance of Pythagoras and Euclid's 47th Proposition to Speculative Freemasonry is nearly as enigmatic as Pythagoras and the now ancient Order that claimed his name. Why would an exercise in plane geometry be used in Speculative Freemasonry? And why would Speculative Freemasonry find it necessary to explain an ethical principal referencing Pythagoras and Euclid's 47th Proposition? Could it be that Speculative Freemasonry as we know it today has evolved from earlier attempts from age to age, to form virtues that mirror or understand more perfectly the miracles of its creator, the One God Of Love And Peace? The One Great Architect Of The Universe?

332B.C. - 276B.C., The Great Conquest 
And Creation Of The Library At Alexandria, Egypt

As every story involving humanity usually begins with some sort of conflict so does this one. In his expedition to Egypt in 332 - 331B.C., Alexander had founded the city of Alexandria after waging a war to end all wars. At age 33 he was dead, and so was his great empire; breaking up into a heap of little empires, each of which were led by generals in competition for dominance. After his death in 323B.C., his generals fought each other over who was to get their hands on what they could. But by 306B.C. control over Egypt had firmly been established by one of them, Ptolemy I, who was succeeded by his son Ptolemy II. The Ptolomies were of Greek ancestry but adhered to many of the customs of the country. The Ptolomies ruled Egypt for many generations and it was PtolomyII who founded the museum and library at Alexandria.
Ptolemy acquired the most valuable manuscripts for the Library and had translations made of them. Ptolemy's purchasing agents would scour the Mediterranean for valued books, and even compelled travelers arriving in Egypt to give up any books in their possession which were then copied by scribes in the Library, the original retained, and the copy given to its owner. His son Ptolemy III, who decreed Leap Year, was even more tenacious. Borrowing the original copies of famous Athenian Greek playwrights, he had their manuscripts copied and return the copies forfeiting the deposit he had paid as bond for the return of the originals. Before the arrival of Caesar's thugs, the library is said to have had close to three quarters of a million books or scrolls. A standard scroll was about 15 to 20 feet in length and contained the equivalent of about ten to twenty thousand words of modern English text. Examples: Scrolls from Qumran or Nag Hammadi.

Even more impressive was the Museum which included a school or institute - in effect, a university. Ptolemy III, engaged the most celebrated scholars of his time to teach at this university, and soon it became the scientific capital of the western world. Few were the learned men of later antiquity who had not studied at Alexandria; they were taught by the finest scientists the contemporary world could muster.

Mathematics flourished at Alexandria. Eratosthenes (292 -273B.C.) chief librarian, calculated the circumference of the earth to within 5% of the correct value by observing the difference in zenith of the sun's shadow cast from obelisks located at two places separated by a known distance at the same time of day (Alexandria and Syene, on approximately the same meridian).  In possession of ever more accurate trigonometrical tables he calculated the distance to the moon and to the sun. The method was correct, and although his imperfect measuring instruments yielded a large error for the moon, the distance to the sun, as near as we can ascertain the length of his unit, the stadium, agrees with what we know today, including measurements by radar. And this was done at a time when the philosopher Epicurus in Athens taught that the Sun was two feet in diameter!

The academic community at Alexandria was mainly Greek, Egyptian and Jewish although much of the knowledge they transmitted originated in ancient Sumer and Cydonia. And so was the city surrounding it. It was referred to as "Alexandria of Egypt" for it was considered a part of Egypt. Considered worthless as soldiers, the culture of Alexandria had a reputation fro being lively and quick-witted. Among the scholars whom Ptolemy brought to Alexandria was Euclid, a man whose place and date of birth are unknown, so today he is simply called "Euclid of Alexandria". Euclid was, among other things, a publisher's dream. His "Elements" (of Plane Geometry) are the all time best seller of any textbook ever written. More than a thousand editions have been published only since the invention of the letter-press in the 15th century and is still the standard for all school geometries.
The major part of Euclid's "Elements" was certainly known before Euclid and Pythagoras. The Egyptians "Squared Circles" to calculate the dimensions and angles of repose for the building of the pyramids and the diameters and proportional distances of the Sun, Earth and moon. The importance of Euclid's work was not in what the theorems said. The great significance of the Elements was in their method. The Elements (Proofs) are the first grandiose building of mathematical architecture. There were five foundation stones, or postulates, which Euclid believed, and were so simple and obvious that everyone could accept them. Euclid's five foundation stones were thus:
1. A straight line may be drawn from any point to any other point.
2. A finite straight line may be extended continuously in a straight line.
3. A circle may be described with any center and any radius.
4. All right angles are equal to one another.
5. Given a line and a point not on that line, there is not more than one line which can be drawn through the point parallel to the original line.
Onto these foundations stones Euclid laid stone after stone with his logic, making sure that each new stone would rest firmly supported by one previously laid, until an entire cathedral stood as firmly anchored as its foundations. Euclid was not the founder of geometry; he was the father of mathematical rigor.

525B.C. to A.D.300, The Speculative School of Pythagoras
The organization or Order was, in its origin, a religious brotherhood or an association created more for the moral reformation of society rather than that of being a philosophical school. the Pythagorean Brotherhood sought by rites and abstinences to purify the believer's soul and enable it to escape from the "wheel of birth". This would be obvious since Pythagoras was initiated into virtually all the schools teaching Monotheistic and Trinitarian religious principals during his life. Founded by Pythagoras of Samos who settled in Croton in southern Italy about 525B.C., the religious order that incorporated his name held that,
1. The metaphysics of number and the conception that reality, including music and astronomy, is, at its deepest level, mathematical in nature.
2. The use of philosophy as a means of spiritual purification.
3. The heavenly destiny of the soul and the possibility of its rising to union with divine.
4. The appeal to certain symbols, sometimes mystical, such as tetraktys, the Golden Section, and the Harmony Of The Spheres.
5. The Pythagorean Theorem.
6. The demand that members of the order observe a strict loyalty and secrecy.

Taught by akousmata (something heard) the Order passed its teachings from one initiate to another with sacred discourses that required they be memorized before ascending to the next level. And I think it to be no coincidence that this is how Freemasons transmit their knowledge today. Pythagoras was fascinated with the way the physical world seemed to have a parallel relationship with the way Nature, apparently, had a mathematical infrastructure and this mathematical infrastructure was subtler than its material counterpart in the outer world we experience. Example: A circle drawn in the sand may seem to be exactly circular and perfect but in reality is not because of its tiny imperfections by virtue of its material form. A mathematical circle is however perfect because it can only be "pictured" in the mind. Idea is Greek for "picture".

Pythagoras being both mathematician and mystic, "pictured" that all of life, particularly harmonious sounds, always vibrated at lengths in simple numeric ratios and from this conclusion he determined that a properly balanced material body would carry an equally harmonious spiritual soul, just as properly tuned strings emit equally harmonious sounds. Therefore he saw good souls as being balanced, harmonious, and rational. The Brotherhood called this speculative perception of reality, "The Harmony Of Souls". By understanding this "Attunement" with the universal laws of creation, one would have the key to understanding the process for achieving union with the divine.

"The Harmony of Souls", like "Harmony Of The Spheres", was described as the Sacred Decad, and its significance was explained in its mystical name "tetraks" meaning "fourness". The Sacred Decad explained that 1+2+3+4=10, and was thought of as the "Perfect Triangle" as pictured in the illustration.

The idea of union with divine or "The Transmigration of Souls" was the basis for the Pythagorean way of life. As the soul is material it also has its spiritual soul. this idea was later explained in the Christian epistles bearing the name of the Apostle Paul, in 1st Corinthian's 2:11-12 and 15:37-58 for example:
"For who among men knows, the thoughts of a man, except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of G*d except the Spirit of G*d. We have not received the spirit of the word but the Spirit who is from G*d that we may understand what G*d has freely given us".
Paul is defining a G*d that exists in a pluralistic universe. Paul clearly separates the existence of G*d (infinite) with the thoughts or Spirit who is from G*d (the finite being and unity with divine) and ourselves (finite). This verse also implies a Spirit that is able to move from one place to another thus establishing the Pythagorean idea of the Transmigration of Souls. In chapter 15:37-58 Paul continues:
"When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But G*d gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kinf of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly dodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead [in spirit]. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So too is written; "The first man Adam became a living being" the last Adam, a life giving spirit. The Spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we are born the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven."

Pythagoreanism & Christianity. The Unity of Opposites & The Triadic Principal
The Pythagoreans taught that the universe is composed of three fundamental properties that make it possible to exist.
1. The first was "Creation" the infinite spiritual reality. This "One" is beyond ousia, or being.
2. The second was the product of creation and was a finite material reality.
3. Third was that which brought a union, Logos, the Word that connects all things "Reunion" (A cyclical process that causes one "finite" to be united with the of other "Infinite"). This process was also called the Unity Of Opposites. Hence, Monotheism.  Sound familiar? There is one G*d, and that one G*d is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are distinct, but not separate... Therefore, G*d is everything we can conceive and more! Pythagoras is given credit with bringing Monotheism to Western thought in 525B.C. About 475 years would pass before Western cultures would accept Monotheism as the Christ experience. As the Creator Logos, Jesus is the Word which connects all things. As the personal Jesus, he is the flesh and blood of G*d who walks the earth giving sanctity to life and man. Through Christ there is a: 1. Unity Of Opposites 2. Infinite - Finite 3. Finite as Divine.

The dichotomy of G*d into divinity and humanity and his return to himself in the sacrificial act hold the comforting doctrine that in man's own darkness there is hidden a "Light" that shall once again return to its source, and that this Light actually wanted to descend into the darkness in order to deliver the Enchained One (his humanity) who languishes there, and lead him to the Light everlasting.

Squaring Our Actions
Square\'skwa(a)(ae)r,
1. An instrument with at least one right angle and two or more straight edges used to lay out or test right angles.
2. The corner or angle of a figure.
3. The product of a number or quantity multiplied by itself.
4. The guiding principal : Pattern, Rule, Standard.
5. Justness of Workmanship or of Conduct : Exact Proportion : Regularity : Quartile Aspect.
6. Squares pl. obs. Matters, Affairs, Things.
Squaring our actions is a phrase common among Freemasons. By squaring our actions with each other and G*d we free ourselves from the bondage of finite existence therefore achieve union with Divine Light. The phrase to square one's actions can easily be interpreted through Pythagorean thought. The product of the material self multiplied by its spiritual self squares its actions in both finite and infinite relationship with the unifying spirit of G*d.

A.D. 2005, Conclusion
Today, with the exception of a few elementary theorems, Euclidean geometry is of little use for modern science and engineering; trigonometry and analytical geometry being much more efficient methods of mathematics. In Euclidean thought there is also no room for science based on speculative prediction - "Quantum Probabilities", or the Planck Constant. But the real significance of Euclidean geometry lies in the superb training it gives for logical thinking. A "Proof" must not contain anything that is ultimately based on what we want to prove, or the Proof, is circular and invalid. Example: "Every angle in a semicircle is a right angle". Or, "The apex of a right angle subtended by the diameter lies on the circumference". Obviously certain conditions are required for a semicircle to have only right angles. The second statement is correct, but it must be proved. And Euclidean geometry teaches the difference between truth based on conditions and truth based on absolutes.

Though having flaws, regarding what ever Quantum Probability there may be, the Euclidean Foundation Stones were and are regarded as the foundation stones of mathematics and also in a way the foundation stones of Speculative Freemasonry. Oh, with regard to Freemasonry as a "Secret Society", you can go to any book store and pick out hundreds of books that explain Euclidean and Pythagorean thought. The fact is that if Freemasonry were "Secret" there would be no books --- the society would have snuffed out all the libraries centuries ago. But then, what became of the great library in Alexandria? A story to be continued in another column...

Operative to Speculative

An Evolution of Freemasonry

From Ancient to Modern Times

Copyright © 2011 by RWB Wesley F Revels

This article published in The Missouri Freemason, Fall 2013
Official Publication Of The Grand Lodge Of Missouri A.F&A.M. U.S.A.

Masons, historians and theological critics alike wrestle with the question how Masonry as we know it today came into being. Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, describes a group called “Culdees”, Christian priests distinguished for their pure and simple apostolic religion.  The Culdees trace their traditions and teachings long before Abraham the first Patriarch of Israel, and Pythagoras of Samos, but in the current Age originating when Joseph of Arimathea and the Apostle John traveled to Britain from Israel around A.D. 63, and there introduced Christianity to the Gaelic speaking people.  The word Culdee is an Anglicization of the word "Céili Dé" meaning, client/companion of God.  To the Céili Dé, the Christ path is rooted in a contemplative search for the Divine Reality Within, with deep reverence for the creations of God, leading toward Christ Consciousness fulfilled in unconditional  love.

In A.D. 546 St. Columba, an ordained Culdee Priest founded with a college or fraternity of Operative Masons, an abbey at Derry Ireland.  Seventeen years later in 563 he with 12 Brethren called the Apostles of Ireland, founded a monastery at the Isle of Iona in Scotland.  Both the abbey and monastery exist to this day. The Royal Order of Scotland (ROS), a Masonic order from Iona is its descendant and Freemasonry as we know it today from the Grand Lodge of England descended from the Royal Order of Scotland.  The earliest Lodge of which can be found at Edinburgh, Scotland, Edinburgh Masonic Lodge No.1, the oldest surviving Masonic minutes there being recorded in the year July 1st A.D. 1599.

The two patron saints of the Culdees are Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Divine.  Saint John the Baptist was primarily known as the person who conducted the initiation ceremony of Baptism to new Christians.  Saint John the Divine was the person who declared Jesus The Christ, the “Logos” or “Word” which is found in ^KJVJohn 1:1-9:

          “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² The same was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.  ⁴ In him was life; and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. ⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. ⁸ He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁹ That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

An early account of Hiram Abiff and the building of King Solomon's Temple, the archetype for building the Spiritual Temple of man, is found in the writing of 4th century Christian Mystic, John Cassian.  In his 11th book "The Conferences" he writes in detail about symbolism in the 3 Degrees of monks.  Throughout the Ages, Masonry has professed two sciences, one being Speculative or Symbolic and the other being Operative.  The path here described being Speculative, fore it would not be possible to write at any reasonable length a description of them together although both Operative and Speculative being intertwined throughout history in the "Old Charges" of Operative Freemasonry.

Reference to Operative guilds in antiquity are found in the Holy Bible.   In Mark 6:3 we find, "Is not this the [Tekton], the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?" The English translation "carpenter" actually in Greek is Tekton meaning construction worker or stone cutter.  In the original Greek language there is no word "carpenter".  Justin Martyr, A.D.165, wrote that Jesus made yokes and ploughs.  This verse also clearly refers to the family of Jesus. In 2 Samuel:5-11, "Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys [Masons] to King David to build him a palace." 1 Kings 5:17,18 & 6:1-38. 1 Kings 7:1-51,  Also Amos:7-7. "Thus he shewed me. And the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand...".

The histories of the old and new charges of Masonry evolve through the teachings that include King Solomon and Prophets of the Old Testament, The Christ Jesus, his family and Disciples, Euclid and Pythagoras, and the ancient philosophies of Egypt, Persia and India.  Indeed Masonry spans the entire evolution of human culture.  But with the Industrial Age superstructures were now made of iron rather than stone and Operative Masonry fell into decline, and officially came to a close by edict during the construction of St. Paul's Cathedral at London in A.D. 1703 when Christopher Wren, then Grand Master resolved, "That the privileges of Masonry shall no longer be confined to Operative Masons, but be free to men of all professions, provided they are regularly approved and initiated into the Fraternity." The Edict was instituted four years later in 1721.

Manuscripts of Operative Masonic Fraternities are mentioned throughout antiquity. Surviving documents resembling what we recognize today as Speculative Craft Masonry in Britain include among others the Regius Manuscript dating to not before A.D. 1390 and the Matthew Cooke M.S. dating not later than the fifteenth century current era.  Both the Regius and Matthew Cooke Manuscripts are prototypes of Masonic Ritual recognized today.  Written in poetic form, they are Codes of Moral Duties, using Euclid and Geometry in symbol, presenting the Points and Articles for the well governed Rule of a Heavenly School in the guise of a Philosophic Trade Guild on Earth.

In A.D. 1717, in London, after the suppression of the first Jacobite uprising, with the resolution declared by Christopher Wren, four Old Lodges met to reestablish Freemasonry under new Charters. The Goose and Gridiron Ale-house, Crown Ale-house in Parker's Lane, Apple Tree Tavern and Rummer and Grapes Tavern, with Lodges meeting at the Apple Tree Tavern forming a Grand Lodge. "Some old Brothers met at the Apple-Tree, and having put into the Chair the oldest Master Mason, constituted themselves a Grand Lodge pro Tempore and forthwith revived the Quarterly Communication of the Officers of Grand Lodges, resolved to hold the Annual Assembly and Feast, and then to choose a Grand Master from among themselves, till they should have the Honor of a Noble Brother at their Head."

In 1721, George Payne, being the current Grand Master,  compiled from ancient charter documents a series of charges and regulations based on the "Charter of York", a constitution written previously in A.D. 926 by Edwin, the grandson of Alfred the Great, and Grand Master of the fraternity prefaced with a history saved from the fires and pillage of the invading Danes of Scandinavia.  Payne submitted his document to a committee of 14 containing the body of law and doctrine for use in Lodges of England.  Dr. James Anderson a Presbyterian, (at right) born in Aberdeen, having a Master's in the liberal Arts at Marischal College, under the direction of the committee wrote "Anderson's Constitutions", and included a telling of the legendary history of the Old Charges of Masonry.

It is important to note that Operative Masonry developed over the globe throughout the millennia of time, separating Itself from religion and politics. The New Charges making Freemasonry more accessible to the masses however brought new challenges to the fraternity. As with any human endeavor to exemplify the supreme perfection of our Creator, there also is the corruption of humanity's failing when individuals or groups develop oligarchies to elevate their egos or control humanity under the cover of politics and religion. May we ever remember that Freemasonry's Moral Tenets have always been Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.  "It may be said that Truth is the Column of Wisdom, whose rays penetrate and enlighten the inmost recesses of the Lodge of society; Brotherly Love, the column of strength, which binds us as one family in fraternal affection in the world; and Relief, the column of Beauty, whose ornaments, more precious than the lilies or pomegranates that adorn the pillars of the porch, are the widows tear of joy and the orphan's prayer of gratitude." (Mackey)  It is the interior and not the exterior quality that is important to Freemasons.

_________________________________________________________

St. Joseph Lodge No.78, Chartered October 14^th 1846

An Artist's view of St. Joseph in 1858 looking across St. Michael's Meadow Northwest
toward Wyeth Hill, the Missouri River and site of the Court House built in 1871.

By the late 1720s in the newly formed colonies of America several Masonic gatherings were reported in newspapers at Boston Massachusetts.  And Ben Franklin's newspaper "The Pennsylvania Gazette" he not yet being a Freemason, reported meetings of St. John's Lodge, meeting at the Tun Tavern whose records begin in 1731.  On July 30th 1733, after Viscount Montague, issued a deputation appointing Brother Henry Price, Provincial Grand Master of New England, a Provincial Grand Lodge in Boston Massachusetts was formed thus beginning the building of Free and Accepted  Masonic Lodges in Colonial America.  The Constitution of the United States was only 58 years of age and the Missouri Territory was only 44 years of age when a petition for the Dispensation to create the first Masonic Lodge in Buchanan County was applied through Liberty Lodge No.31, Missouri, issued May 11th 1841 by R.W.B. Joseph Foster Deputy Grand Master, Secretary Protem, Grand Lodge of Missouri U.S.A., named Katzell Lodge located in the village of Sparta.

Eli Hubbel was elected to be the first Worshipful Master of Katzell Lodge with John Browning, Senior Warden; Simeon Kemper, Junior Warden; R. Duncan, Treasurer; Frederick Waymore, Secretary; and J. Selsil, Tiler. James Highly was also a charter member .  Eli Hubbel was originally a member of Wisdom Lodge located in Massachusetts, John Browning from Liberty Lodge No.31 Missouri, Simeon Kemper from Montgomery Lodge No.23 Kentucky, Frederick Waymore from Lipton Lodge No.33 Indiana.  Also chartered with this first Dispensation were John Edgar from Liberty Lodge No.31, Cornelius Gilliam from the Lodge at Jefferson City, Missouri and S.K. Waymore from Lipton Lodge No.33 in Indiana.  Katzell Lodge, met in regular stated communications until a Charter was issued as Sparta Lodge No.46 by the next annual Grand Lodge proceedings October 8th 1842.  The following account can be found in the book "Old Saint Jo, Gateway To The West" by Sheridan A. Logan, ©1979 John Sublett Logan Foundation:

In 1827, there was a Trading Post along the Missouri River at the mouth of Blacksnake Creek, owned and operated by Joseph Robidoux, who traded with most all Native Americans in the region including the Pottawatomi, Musquakee, Kickapoo, Iowa and Otto.  Robidoux made an arrangement with the American Fur Company a few years before to operate a business called Blacksnake Hills, and for many years Robidoux was the only evidence of European settlement as far North as Council Bluffs, Iowa and South to Independence, Missouri.  With a large log house surrounded by a stockade built by Robidoux himself he conducted his business. The journal of Richard Hayes McDonald from Kentucky wrote a description at the time. The journal is now deposited in the Library of the Commonwealth of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia:  "From his cousin's, Richard went to where the city of St. Joseph is now located, and where the only occupant and owner of a business house was a Frenchman named Robadoux [sic], (pictured below) who had lived there a number of years as an Indian trader, and who was at that time still engaged in the occupation. He was moving around dressed in an old, red flannel shirt, his trousers strapped around his waist, on his head a slouched hat, and so tanned and weather-beaten that is was difficult to tell whether he was a white man, a mulatto, or an Indian. His establishment consisted of three log-cabins, one or more of which were filled with furs of otter, beaver, buffalo, deer, bear, and other skins; in the other buildings were stored provisions, trinkets, and supplies for the Indians, the latter chiefly in whiskey, tobacco, and liquors. The old man seemed to be a very energetic, enterprising, shrewd business manager. He was familiar with several dialects of Indian language, and was highly respected by all the natives who dealt with him...', 'From this trading outpost grew the city of St. Joseph, in many respects, perhaps, the most promising city west of St. Louis and this side of the Rocky Mountains."

In 1843 Robidoux contracted two surveyors to create plats for a town he had proposed to build next to his outpost in the area named Saint Michael's Meadow. This area was mentioned by Meriwether Louis, in his journal on July 7^th in the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804.  Brothers Frederick W. Smith and Simeon Kemper, both members of Sparta Lodge No.46 surveyed plats for the settlement.  Brother Frederick W. Smith  named his plat Saint Joseph after Mr. Robidoux's Patron Saint and Simeon Kemper named his plat Robidoux. Frederick Smith's plat was selected and was recorded at St. Louis, Missouri in July 1843.  The population at that time was about  200.  By 1845  St. Joseph  was  called “Queen of the Riverboat Towns” North of St. Louis and a Dispensation was created the same year for a new Lodge to be built on ground donated by Robidoux called DeWitt Lodge.  The Dispensation was recommended by Savannah Lodge No.71, located North in Andrew County that is still active today. 

In 1846 the County Seat for Buchanan 1861 is known as the year of the “Rebellion”, and  the beginning of  the Civil War.  From the first Post Office, the Pony Express carried President Lincoln’s Inaugural Address west to Sacramento, CA., and Confederate and Union men, some of whom were Masonic brethren, battled in the streets of St. Joseph and citizens watched as the American Flag was torn from the Post Office flag pole by an angry mob. 

R.W.B. Penick entered the Union Army in 1862 as a Colonel in the 2^nd Regiment, Missouri Militia and wrote his address to the Annual Grand Lodge Communication from the field.  Such is a history of Masonry and its travel to the town of St. Joseph, Missouri in the United States of America.  Freemasons, some being from the same Lodges separated to both sides of the fence during the American Civil War.  One such Brother was RWB William H. Carpenter.  

William H. Carpenter At left, served as Worshipful Master at St. Joseph Lodge No.78 in 1886.  In 1891 he was a member of a Knights Templar excursion party which visited important places in Germany, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, France, England and Wales.  Upon his passing in March 1916, WB Carpenter was permanently interred at Mount Mora cemetery in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Meditations On Unity In Duality

Mystical Consciousness!

qu'est ce que c'est?

you might say!

THE CONTEMPLATIVE FREEMASON,

Walking The Mosaic Pavement With Faith In Deity.

"It is the internal and not the external quality that Freemasonry Regards".

"All that man has here in multiplicity is, ONE.

Here, all blades of grass, wood and stone... All Things Are, ONE.
This Is The Deepest Depth."

Meister Eckart, 1260 A.D. - 1329 A.D.

"Stopping The Internal Dialogue,

Becoming More Internally Focused & Mindful"
Copyright © 2013 RWB Wesley F Revels

We - complacently caught in our particular view of the world - are compelled to feel and act as if we knew everything about the world. And so, before we can begin meditation or contemplation on the symbols and lectures of Freemasonry, it is of upmost importance to remove this complacency made up of exterior impressions that make up our accumulated thoughts, feelings, sensations Dr. Carl Gustav Jung, calls the Archetypes of the self - those aspects of our selves that form the superfluous exterior individual character disconnected from the Inner True Self that unites the individual with all life called the collective consciousness.  Mystics call it stopping the internal dialogue that is influenced by the individual's exterior circumstances, and they are convinced that it is the 1st and single most important technique to learn when beginning a meditative or contemplative study. Alchemists call it uncovering the Alchemist's Stone concealed within the individual's True Self. By recognizing that this complacency over time displays itself as the individual ego, which is the illusion of an individual's outer-self, rather than the individual's inner collective self, as defined by Dr. Carl Gustav Jung, the contemplative Freemason becomes more internally focused and mindful.  Becoming more internally focused and mindful, the Freemason studying the inner or contemplative path finds greater harmony and balance in his consciousness. In other words, he becomes more the master of his own consciousness, enabling him to understand the symbols and lectures of Freemasonry with greater clarity.

An important lecture on the study of archetypes and their cause and effect on consciousness was from the Spiritual Master from India, Maher Baba. Maher Baba, taught that the phenomenal or exterior world is an illusion, that the universe is a holographic creation or mirror of the soul, and that each person's soul (Oversoul) is really a reflection of God, passing through the universe realizing its divine Self. In this way there is a collective consciousness making the entire universe a conscious entity. And in the author's opinion, in light of the research of Max Planck, Louis DeBroglie, and the more recent research of Paul A. LaViolette's subquantum kinetics, this may in fact be the supreme being religions refer to when speaking of God as Deity.

In the 1930s through 1950s Maher Baba, wrote several Discourses, with a focus on the search for truth and spiritual advancement. The following excerpt comes from “Mastery of Consciousness, An Introduction and Guide to Practical Mysticism and Methods of Spiritual Development", compiled and edited by Allan Y. Cohen.  Impressions, [termed archetypes by Dr. Carl Gustav Jung], are the contents of consciousness, one’s accumulated thoughts, feelings and sensations, like layers of dust on a perfect mirror. Human beings do not have self-illumination because their consciousness is shrouded in the accumulated imprinting of past experiences. Accumulated imprints, is the "will-to-be-conscious" with which evolution started and succeeded in creating consciousness from birth. But it does not arrive at the knowledge of the Oversoul; because the individual soul is impelled to use consciousness for experiencing these accumulated imprints, instead of utilizing it for experiencing its own True Nature as the Oversoul.  The Oversoul, is that which is the transcendent, infinite and eternal consciousness.

Maher Baba states, "The power and effect of accumulated imprints or archetypes that make up the individual's outer-self, can hardly be overstated. An archetype is solidified Might, and its inertness makes it immobile and durable concealing the individual True Self.… The mind contains many heterogeneous archetypes and, while seeking expression in consciousness, they often clash with other archetypes because they are not a part of the collective self - the Self that exists in humanity in unity. The clash of archetypes is experienced in consciousness as a mental conflict… Experience can become truly harmonious and integral only when consciousness is emancipated from these archetypes… The problem of de-conditioning the mind through their removal is therefore extremely important.  And for the individual who studies the symbols of Freemasonry the archetypes of the outer-self "Ego" is emancipated from these conflicts through meditation and contemplation.  This de-conditioning process, the release from binding archetypes, takes place in five ways.  (1) First, is the cessation of new impressions. This consists in putting an end to the ever-renewing activity of creating fresh impressions. If the formation of impressions is compared to the winding of a string around a stick, this step amounts to the cessation of the further winding of the string.

(2) Second, is the wearing out of old impressions. If impressions are withheld from expressing themselves in action and experience, they are gradually worn out. In an analogy of the string, this process is comparable to the wearing out of the string…
(3) The Third cessation, is unwinding past impressions. This process consists in annulling past impressions by mentally revisiting the process which leads to their formation. Continuing our analogy, it is like unwinding the string.

(4) The fourth cessation, is the dispersion and exhaustion of some impressions. If the psychic energy which is locked up in impressions is subliminated and diverted into other channels, they are dispersed and heaved and tend to disappear.

(5) The fifth cessation, is the wiping out of impressions. Completely annihilating impressions. In the analogy of the string, this is comparable to cutting the string with a pair of scissors. The final wiping out of impressions can be effected only by the grace of a master through initiation and lessons, which includes experience in a practicum of meditation and contemplation."

What then is Meditation?  What Is Contemplation?

Meditation is an inward outward movement between our outer surface levels of consciousness and our inner deeper levels of consciousness. As there is a most outward physical reality of life there is also a most inward reality of life. The physical (manifest) and inward (unmanifest) realities of life exist simultaneously and are present in all life everywhere. A “knowing” that these two realities in life exist simultaneously while understanding how they complement each other brings about a greater awareness that liberates us from the confines of experiencing only the finite, physical manifest reality of life. As a result of this liberation one experiences more balance, harmony, and wholeness in life.

When meditating alert and in a waking state of consciousness, the conscious mind expands to embrace deeper levels of thinking. During meditation, thoughts are realized and released to make way for new thoughts that occur randomly as a result of memories or impressions collected in the mind associated with the surface finite manifest reality of life. Releasing thoughts that surface randomly without concentrating or analyzing them during mediation eventually quiets the mind and it becomes calm. As the mind becomes more calm there are moments when it realizes there are periods of no thoughts. As more thoughts are released and the mind experiences and becomes more aware of the times when there is no thought, the mind becomes more aware of its inward (unmanifest) reality of life and realizes its True Infinite Self.

For some the experience is unsettling at first because having only consciously experienced the awareness of the outward or manifest reality of life, the mind is only programmed and imprinted to experience life relative to the emotions caused by the memories or impressions attached to the finite outward physical reality of life. While alert and awake during meditation, as the mind experiences no thoughts during meditation, one experiences the unmanifest reality as a vacuum of silence that is timeless. Experiencing this vacuum of silence, one experiences the Inner True Self, the individual's collective consciousness, at One with the universe.

As the conscious mind experiences the unmanifest reality of life, it's consciousness increases in potential and results in increased energy and awareness. Meditation may be defined as turning attention inwards towards the subtler levels of thought until the mind transcends the experience of thought associated with the physical reality arriving at the source of one's thoughts. This experience expands the conscious mind and at the same time brings the mind in contact with an awareness that integrates the outer and inner realities of life.

There are many different types of meditations used for many purposes. The one described in this Introductory is the one taught by Patanjali as the foundation of all meditations.

Contemplation is that which is experienced consciously and then reflected upon with both the absolute and finite conscious mind. When we contemplate we analyze certain states of mind by concentrating upon an object. The object creates an impression causing certain feelings or emotions. We contemplate by reason and the experience draws forth understanding using both infinite and finite conscious thought as a reference.

Meditation 1

"Tao gives birth to one.

One gives birth to two.

Two gives birth to three.

Three gives birth to ten thousand things.

Ten thousand things find harmony by combining the forces of positive and negative…"

Also, one can explain this meditation using axioms of science. "A force on a charged particle moving with velocity creates induction and therefore becomes inverted from a direct current to an alternating current. A direct current applied to a coil creates an alternating current causing an induction or magnetic flux density".

The aphorism is thus:

“F” (Tao) is force or “Cause”

“qv” (Giving Birth) is a charged particle moving with velocity

“B” (Giving Birth to Two) is magnetic induction

“F=qv x B (Ten Thousand Things) = Magnetic Inversion (Creation)

"Electromagnetic potential that exists in all of life through alternating currents.

Ten thousand things find harmony,
By combining the forces of positive and negative,
there is "Unity In Duality".

Through the science of today we know that we live in a universe where there is symmetry in life not necessarily intersecting as Euclidian plane geometry would explain it. (Explain the traditional theory of E=MC2, and Fibrnmocci),  By this I mean that there is more to life than what we experience or witness with our physical senses. And there seems to be an underlying “cause” or pre-manifest existance that we could also experience daily if we look toward a greater understanding of our inner-selves. Unfortunately however, humanity's greatest strength become its greatest doom. Obsessed with attachments to the physical world, we doom ourselves to endless suffering. The great challenge for the Freemason on the inner or contemplative path therefore, is to become more aware of this cause or purpose that integrates our consciousness so that we experience life with greater quality, harmony, balance and wholeness. As all of us live on different paths of consciousness in a quantum rather than linear universe, there are many ways or methods to accomplish this integration. One path or method used by one Freemason may not be suitable or useful to another. But we can be certain that with an integration of both our outer and inner levels of awareness there is greater understanding in life. We seem to become our own greatest obstacle and we doom ourselves by our own works. Yes, it is through our own actions that we doom ourselves to endless suffering. Yet, as we follow our path of integration we live in this hope that we will indeed return to our Spiritual home. Any redemption we receive from our actions comes not through our works but rather through a higher awareness working through us living in peace and reconciliation with all of life.

"The Holy Grail of Speculative Freemasonry,

Meditations On "Unity in Duality".

Reaching Out To Find God's Presence.

Copyright © 2010 RWB Wesley F Revels.

One of the most enigmatic symbols in Freemasonry is the "Point In A Circle". No one is able to date exactly when it came to be used as a tool for plane geometry much less know how the symbol came to be used in spiritual teaching, which means it was probably in use before the last cataclysmic ice-age which based on ice core samples would be before 12,000 B.C. It can be dated to the Middle Kingdom in Egypt according to Emmanuel Velikovsky to 1,640 B.C. when the symbol was used to represent the planet Jupiter. In Christian mythology, this first "Circle of Unity" corresponds with the Golden Age, the primeval perfection, the allegory of the Adam and the Eve, in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the Tree Of knowledge Of Good And Evil, they were cast out from the eternity of divine unity, into the realm of time, and conflict symbolized as duality.

In recent history, Euclid (323-283 B.C.E.), included it in Book I Postulate 3 of his book "Elements". Defined as drawing a circle with a compasses, there is a certain point in the center of the circle such that all straight lines from the center to the boundary are equal. That is. "all radii are equal". In his Book III Proposition 18, Euclid teaches that a line drawn from the center intersects with a tangent and for Freemasons there are two parallel tangents. One represented as Saint John the Baptist and the other Saint John the Divine. It is a tradition among religious doctrines dating before Freemasonry in Great Britain that Saint John the Baptist is celebrated on the Summer Solstice and Saint John the Divine celebrated on the Winter Solstice.  In his book "Egyptian Dawn" © 2010 by Robert Temple, the original builders at the Giza Plateau used measuring rods to determine the longest and shortest shadows cast by the sun around which to show the longest and shortest days of the year circumventing the full length of a year of 365.24219 days.  The culture who observed this method of time keeping lived before 2,500 B.C.  For a detailed study of the early megalithic civilization responsible for casting shadows to calculate time it is highly recommended that you read Temple's books.

Traditionally in Sacred Geometry, the ancient Gnosis teaches that the point or "inmost center" is described as the Pre-manifest Creator "Deity" from which all life originates thus uniting humankind with the "Eternal Source" from which all life manifests. Thus the expression, "Unity In Duality". The circle circumventing the point being the divine nature or lens through which all things are created in material form with the Word or "Logos" personified as Christ Incarnate, proclaiming God's Word or "Logos", through the Holy Text. As The Christ Jesus, taught to his disciples as told in the book of Matthew 6th Chapter Verse 10, "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done In Earth, As It Is In Heaven".

The symbol as taught in the lectures of Freemasonry shown above left as traditionally shown is in 2D, when actually it is a 4D symbol as shown on right. The traditional symbol is made by creating a circle with a compasses placing two parallel tangents 180 degrees from the center and placing the Holy Word "Logos" on the circumference; The circumference made by the compasses represents the boundaries established in the Holy Word which a Freemason uses for his Moral Compasses in life. The two parallel tangents are explained in the 2nd Degree as the process by which is shown the progression of creation beginning with that of a Point, to a Line, from a Line to a Superfices, and from a Superfices to a Solid.  Viewing this symbol as exists in real life, it more resembles what is seen at right.  A living vibration of energy.  More detail will be included as this series progresses.

Through a knowledge of this higher plane of consciousness immediately above, or rather within, being infinitely more real than the physical world alone there is Unity In Duality. This is the potential divinity of every human-being in the power of the Indwelling Christ or Christos Principal that Jesus the Christ and his Disciples show through the Holy Texts. And this is what the early Christian Sects taught for the first 3 centuries A.D. The individual must have a knowledge (Gnosis) as well as faith (Pistis).  For is it not ignorance that is the cause of humanity's great pain?  By the fourth century A.D., what was originally intended to be an inner spiritual teaching had evolved into a dualistic false teaching.

It is through meditation and contemplation on the symbol currently in study that the Freemason develops a higher plane of consciousness recognized as the Indwelling Christ Principal. Although some cultures identify this point of origination for creation differently, there is a commonality to all Monotheistic belief systems. For example in Brahman teaching, Vedic spiritual texts explain that the root or "Cause" of the universe is actually the reality underlying it. The principal is the same. Some cultures anthropomorphize or deify the "Point In A Circle" attaching attributes that are really human character traits. Astrology, for example, is used as a pseudo program to categorize and determine character traits. Vedic scholars however in the Shankaracharia tradition recognize the Ultimate Cause as neither an object or subject but rather a Supreme Self or Atman underlying both that is Self-realizing and Non-personal. One Infinite Cause interweaves the two without personal attributes recognized as emotions in the human consciousness. Therefore there is Unity In Duality. For this reason, although Yin and Yang are traditionally interpreted as positive and negative, they are actually without emotions we humans perceive as being good or bad, right or wrong.

The symbol of the "Point In A Circle", alluding to mathematics dates long before the Christian Scriptures or even Pythagoras and Euclid for that matter. In Egypt about 3,600 years ago the Egyptian mathematician Ahmes, formulated a rule for determining the area of a circle corresponding to 3.16. In ancient China Liu Hui, approximated Pi up to 6 digits by approximating the areas of polygons to determine the area of a circle.

By measuring the outside circumference of a circle and dividing the number by the circle's diameter, the answer obtained is irrational or what is called a transcendental number 3.1415926 >. Pi, is not an exact number because it cannot be duplicated or constructed in a material form therefore is transcendent meaning it continues into infinity. To more understand the concept of the transcendental number, the human consciousnesses must transcend the material and conceive the non-material pre-existent. This is the goal of the Freemason who studies Gnosis or Transcendentalism. And this is the central theme taught in the symbol being studied by meditation and contemplation. The concept of a transcendent reality relative to the material universe will be described in greater detail in future installments. The "Point" within the circle, is pre-existent, meaning it is un-manifest or infinite and the "Cause" of that which is manifest or finite or material in the universe.

In consciousness, the finite (manifest) world cannot be self-aware or "self-operative" because it does not have the binding force or "Cause" (un-manifest) and therefore there is no absolute order either singularly or jointly. This explains the constant change in nature or what would be called the cycle of life and death of all that is created. In Dualism the manifest and un-manifest realities of life are only reflections of each other. We can realize this when seeing a reflection of ourselves looking at a pool of water or in a mirror. We see our self but it is only a reflection. Our real Self is the underlying cause of the reflection. Both are separate but still one reality. A conscious understanding in the relationship between that which is the Cause and its' reflection is needed if one is to transcend the material reality of life and integrate the two in daily life. Therefore, when we become Self-aware as a component of the "Cause" we become aware that we are a part of and have a relationship with all that is the Cause and there is "Unity In Duality".

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Upcoming Article:

Mystical Consciousness!
qu'est ce que c'est?
"Walking The Mosaic Pavement Of Life In Deity".

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"All that man has here in multiplicity is One.

Here, all blades of grass, wood and stone....
All Things Are One".

Meister Eckart, 1260 A.D. - 1329 A.D.