Sunday, June 24, 2007

Secrets




"The Secret" is about the law of attraction, which is positively thinking about something you want, and then getting it. Now you don't have to read the book. (The real secret is that there are just a whole lot of people out there who will pay good money if they think they are going to get a "secret" about something

People describe the Masonic Fraternity as a "secret society" - Not true. There is nothing "secret" about Freemasonry. Case in point. Go to Alexandria, Virginia and take a look at the George Washington National Masonic Memorial.



Right out there in the open for everyone to see. Masonic Lodges build meeting places and mark them with the Square and Compass for everyone to see. Nothing secret about us.

"If I tell you, I'd have to kill you" is a phrase we hear jokingly all the time regarding secrets. Well I will tell you. All of the so-called Masonic "secrets" are out there on the Web for everyone to find. Many of them are warped and interpreted incorrectly by anti-masonic sites. (Anti-Masons are those who wish to control others and have a perception that Masons are not going to fall into step with them and do what they want. For the most part they are correct. Masons value individual liberty and freedom of thought. They don't like that. So they make up things to say about us for the gullible to believe.)

We are a "private" society. Our meetings (for the most part) are closed meetings. You must be a member to attend. That is not unusual. What goes on in those meetings is designed to give the initiate an experience he will not forget and begin to teach him valuable "life lessons." To build our "character" and make us as worthy be be living stones in the eternal Temple built in the heavens.

In that we are successors to the primitive "Men's Houses" in which young boys were taken to undergo ceremonies which would turn them into men in the eyes of their society. We do this in the form of "mystery plays" designed to cause the initiate to look deep within himself and see what kind of a man he is and what he wants to be. (Note this is my interpretation of what are ceremonies are. I have not heard this idea expressed elsewhere.)

Women also have their secret societies. The most famous being the PEO. They say that PEO stands for philanthropic educational organization - Others tell me that it is Pappa's Evening Out or People Eat Onions. I did hear an explanation for the three letters from someone who purported th have received it from a girlfriend.
That made the most sense to me but I am not going to repeat it because I respect their right to their secret. And besides, it doesn't make any difference and it makes them feel better to hold their secrets separate from men.

I got to thinking about these so-called secrets because of yesterday's initiations. I had been initiated into the Knight Masons years ago. Yesterday I re-learned the so-called "secrets" of the order. By tomorrow I may have forgotten them again. What is important is that I agreed to keep them secret and not to reveal them to anyone not entitled to receive them. I have done this in every Masonic or Masonic affiliated organization I have ever joined.

I have promised to do a lot of things when I took the various obligations and let me tell you that these do not "conflict with my duty to God, my country, my neighbor, or myself" They are designed to make me a better person in relationship to God (but I must have a belief in Him and also must have my own religion) to my country (must be a peaceable citizen) and to my fellow man.

I am a better person because these obligations cause me to think about the person I am.

I saw a movie the other day called "The Good Shepherd." In that movie the hero (if you can call him that) is initiated into the Skull and Bones society. The society includes many powerful men, including John Kerry and George Bush. Morey Safer reports on it here.

It appears to be a super secret society (much like the Masons are accused of) and during the depiction of the initiation the inductee is humiliated. Stripped naked and caused to tell the Bonesmen something that he has never told anyone else. (A secret)

There are Masonic Secrets but the true "secret" of a Mason is what he puzzles out for himself. The so-called secrets are merely modes of recognition which, as I said earlier, have all been exposed on the Web. Of course you can go looking and find several different interpretations of these secrets. Some of them are more accurate than others and I won't tell you the difference.

If you tell someone a secret is it really a secret. There are a few people from whom I have no secrets but even then I won't tell them everything. Probably because my most private thoughts are just to dumb. Oh well.. no man of mystery here.

There is the Secret Service (you can certainly spot them when the president is around) and the "secret recipes for "Bushes Beans" and Coca Cola, The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky and the ever popular Victoria's Secret.

Our society is full of purported "secrets" and it seems as if we can't get enough of them. Some of us in the Masonic Fraternity keep joining various organizations in hopes that we will find the "ultimate secret" - If I find it I won't tell you then "I'd have to kill you. Have a good Sunday and keep searching. Remember You are Loved. Hugs. j

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another excellent article!

It is hard to explain to non-Masons what the "secrets" are about. The method of sharing information about friendship, morality, and brotherly love follows a much older model of imparting knowledge not by written instruction but through morality plays, lectures, and examples.

It seems to me, in our now more visual culture, it is a good time again to show people the older learning styles that are part of Masonic instruction.

jaycoles@gmail.com said...

Just so and it is by the example of my good brothers such as yourself that I learn the most. Do you suppose that is another "secret"?