On the History (or Science?) Channel just a few weeks ago, they were talking about Isaac Newton and how he feared for his life should his alchemical experiments and other interests be discovered.
The show featured his paperwork, with signs and symbols that scientists are at pains to decipher in full.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting…trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home -Wordsworth
The Museum of Jerusalem possess a number of Newton’s manuscripts, showing his intense interest in biblical texts. Through these he decoded the measurements and geometry of the sacred temple of Solomon, and even identified the date of Armageddon as occurring on or after 2060.
What twisted irony then that, modern mechanistic thinking be based largely upon a man who was not mechanistic, but rather viewed nature as a unified whole. There is a truth buried here, that is overlooked all too often; all great thinkers from every age always seek a ‘higher truth’, they accept hidden occult knowledge and metaphysical ideas as a given, just as they readily seek the hidden forces of life, the spirit and the divine. And just as in every age these great thinkers are ridiculed for this pursuit, from Socrates to Galileo. And in the cases where these individuals works become the foundations of society – then everything is accepted bar the unthinkable. Far easier to believe in the infallibility of measured knowledge rather than the possibility of the unknown.
But such awareness can only stay suppressed for so long, because sooner or later it always finds a way.
Masonry deliberately conceals its teachings from the brethren by veiling them in allegory.
Masonry does not prevaricate or mislead. It veils a peculiar system of morality in allegory only because it is ineffable: What it veils it also revealed (by symbols).
Last Edit: Oct 19, 2011 12:07:42 GMT 9.5 by tamrin
So were the genuine secrets not actually lost but rather hidden from the London-led influx of new brethren?
Ah an often cited view that upsets a lot of such masons. However when you look at the masonic world, as a whole, objectively, woods from the trees, it would appear that this could well be the case.
However, from my reading of the UGLE Grand Master speeches it would appear that he at least (and yes I do know some others within) has been trying very hard to direct his flock in the right direction. Fortunately it seems that being a blood royal like HRH The Duke of Kent, gets less noticeable rejection of his guidance than being aristocracy (thinking of Lord Northampton the ex Pro GM). Can only hope that whichever blood Royal takes over has the esoteric development and the wisdom to touch the hearts to help more of those who seek it in the ugle amity world gain what they have lost, while those who seek the bar and the social continue to enjoy their freemasonry while hopefully hindering those who are trying to find less and less.
Eternal optimist me.
A Simple Man, who tried and failed to reilluminate this planet.
Slogging Scotsman Ma’at Ankh Re
Who am I trying to kid for I can’t even resolve family darkness. Whoever is next to step up, please do.
Maybe the tradition of having Royal Blood as the UGLE Grand Master has not served them well. It might well be just another duty which they know they are expected to fulfil, and do so to the best of their ability. Not everyone is suited to or interested in the hidden side of things.
All due respect to the Monarchy.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting…trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home -Wordsworth