Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on My Personal Views On Pikes Morals and Dogma Hiram and Masonic Views of God (continue Chapter 14) by jtasher Greetings and welcome back as we continue to read Morals and Dogma by Albert Pike. Today we are continuing with Chapter 14 where Pike is begining to decipher Hiram Abif and lecture on the views of God through Masonic eyes. We have been reading of a God that is personal and not afar off. A God that is best reached by looking within and not calling out to a far off place and hoping for our voices to be heard and responded to. And today, we will continue with a look at a personable God. Now, LETS READ PIKE! Whatever Hiram really was, he is the type, perhaps an imaginary type, to us, of humanity in its highest phase; an exemplar of what man may and should become, in the course of ages, in his progress toward the realization of his destiny; an individual gifted with a glorious intellect, a noble soul, a fine organization, and a perfectly balanced moral being; an earnest of what humanity may be, and what we believe it will hereafter be in Gods good time; the possibility of the race made real. If the mythical Hiram was indeed humanity in its highest phase then we might say Hiram is symbolized best by the perfect ashlar. We are the rough ashlar hopefully, through introspection and self awareness, chiseling away at our own imperfections striving to become more perfect to serve humanity better NOW in our human form, not in the day of judgement. This introspection is probably the toughest of all the works in freemasonry, and possibly the work less visited by most of us. Our physical eyes easily look outward and what we see in others is more easily seen and judged. Our spiritual eyes of inward reflection need to be cultivated and excercised enough that we judge ourselves more harshly than we like to judge others, and then do the hard work of changing about ourselves what we should change, and what we must change as to serve our fellow man in better ways. Next The Mason believes that God has arranged this glorious but perplexing world with a purpose, and on a plan. He holds that every man sent upon this earth, and especially every man of superior capacity, has a duty to perform, a mission to fulfill, a baptism to be baptized with; that every great and good man possesses some portion of Gods truth, which he must proclaim to the world, and which must bear fruit in his own bosom. In a true and simple sense, he believes all the pure, wise, and intellectual to be inspired, and to be so for the instruction, advancement, and elevation of mankind. That kind of inspiration, like Gods omnipresence, is not limited to the few writers claimed by Jews, Christians, or Moslems, but is co-extensive with the race. It is the consequence of a faithful use of our faculties. Each man is its subject, God is its source, and Truth its only test. It differs in degrees, as the intellectual endowments, the moral wealth of the soul, and the degree of cultivation of those endowments and faculties differ. It is limited to no sect, age, or nation. It is wide as the world and common as God. It was not given to a few men, in the infancy of mankind, to monopolize inspiration, and bar God out of the soul. We are not born in the dotage and decay of the world. The stars are beautiful as in their prime; the most ancient Heavens p. 226 are fresh and strong. God is still everywhere in nature. Wherever a heart beats with love, wherever Faith and Reason utter their oracles, there is God, as formerly in the hearts of seers and prophets. No soil on earth is so holy as the good mans heart; nothing is so full of God. This inspiration is not given to the learned alone, not alone to the great and wise, but to every faithful child of God. Certain as the open eye drinks in the light, do the pure in heart see God; and he who lives truly, feels Him as a presence within the soul. The conscience is the very voice of Deity. In these paragraphs, we are reminded that God is owned by no one sect or nation, but God lives in the our heart of mankind and God is found everywhere in everything if we will only take time to see the truth. And we are also reminded that we will see this truth as our own education and intellect will allow us to see. And this view of truth can and should change as we progress in our understanding. Next Masonry, around whose altars the Christian, the Hebrew, the Moslem, the Brahmin, the followers of Confucius and Zoroaster, can assemble as brethren and unite in prayer to the one God who is above all the Baalim, must needs leave it to each of its Initiates to look for the foundation of his faith and hope to the written scriptures of his own religion. For itself it finds those truths definite enough, which are written by the finger of God upon the heart of man and on the pages of the book of nature. Views of religion and duty, wrought out by the meditations of the studious, confirmed by the allegiance of the good and wise, stamped as sterling by the response they find in every uncorrupted mind, commend themselves to Masons of every creed, and may well be accepted by all. The Mason does not pretend to dogmatic certainty, nor vainly imagine such certainty attainable. He considers that if there were no written revelation, he could safely rest the hopes that animate him and the principles that guide him, on the deductions of reason and the convictions of instinct and consciousness. He can find a sure foundation for his religious belief, in these deductions of the intellect and convictions of the heart. For reason proves to him the existence and attributes of God; and those spiritual instincts which he feels are the voice of God in his soul, infuse into his mind a sense of his relation to God, a conviction of the beneficence of his Creator and Preserver, and a hope of future existence; and his reason and conscience alike unerringly point to virtue as the highest good, and the destined aim and purpose of mans life. These two paragraphs hold crucial words that are the very core of Masonic philosophies. In the first paragraph, Pike writes of the importance of ALL religious ideas and ALL religions being able to exist in lodge together and offer up prayer to one God above us all. In the second paragraph, Pike reminds us WHY this is possible, and why we SHOULD coexist peacefully together when he wrote The Mason does not pretend to dogmatic certainty, nor vainly imagine such certainty attainable Masonry does not ever bow to dogmatism in any belief system or in any one idea. This is the means in which we CAN accept one another as a Brother Mason no matter which religious or political ideals we might hold. And this is why freemasonry can never be held within any countrys border, any state line, or any provincial coordinance. It is a search for truth, no matter where this search leads us to, that binds the Mason to other Masons. We support and encourage one another along this journey, and we should lift one another up when the journey gets lonely or discouraging. Next He studies the wonders of the Heavens, the frame-work and revolutions of the Earth, the mysterious beauties and adaptations of animal existence, the moral and material constitution of the human creature, so fearfully and wonderfully made; and is satisfied p. 227 that God IS; and that a Wise and Good Being is the author of the starry Heavens above him, and of the moral world within him; and his mind finds an adequate foundation for its hopes, its worship, its principles of action, in the far-stretching Universe, in the glorious firmament, in the deep, full soul, bursting with unutterable thoughts. These are truths which every reflecting mind will unhesitatingly receive, as not to be surpassed, nor capable of improvement; and fitted, if obeyed, to make earth indeed a Paradise, and man only a little lower than the angels. The worthlessness of ceremonial observances, and the necessity of active virtue; the enforcement of purity of heart as the security for purity of life, and of the government of the thoughts, as the originators and forerunners of action; universal philanthropy, requiring us to love all men, and to do unto others that and that only which we should think it right, just, and generous for them to do unto us; forgiveness of injuries; the necessity of self-sacrifice in the discharge of duty; humility; genuine sincerity, and being that which we seem to be; all these sublime precepts need no miracle, no voice from the clouds, to recommend them to our allegiance, or to assure us of y their divine origin. They command obedience by virtue of their inherent rectitude and beauty; and have been, and are, and will be the law in every age and every country of the world. God revealed them to man in the beginning. These paragraphs recall the notion that God is everywhere and within. And Pike restates some biblical precepts of self governing behavior such as The Golden Rule and the freeing energy of forgiveness. Next To the Mason, God is our Father in Heaven, to be Whose especial children is the sufficient reward of the peacemakers, to see Whose face the highest hope of the pure in heart; Who is ever at hand to strengthen His true worshippers; to Whom our most fervent love is due, our most humble and patient submission; Whose most acceptable worship is a pure and pitying heart and a beneficent life; in Whose constant presence we live and act, to Whose merciful disposal we are resigned by that death which, we hope and believe, is but the entrance to a better life; and Whose wise decrees forbid a man to lap his soul in an elysium of mere indolent content. As to our feelings toward Him and our conduct toward man, Masonry teaches little about which men can differ, and little from which they can dissent. He is our Father; and we are all brethren. This much lies open to the most ignorant and busy, as fully as to those who have most leisure and are most learned. This needs no Priest to teach it, and no authority to indorse it; and if p. 228 every man did that only which is consistent with it, it would exile barbarity, cruelty, intolerance, uncharitableness, perfidy, treachery, revenge, selfishness, and all their kindred vices and bad passions beyond the confines of the world. And in these paragraphs are the thoughts Id like us all to ponder as we enter this week of Christmas. As I close this study for today, and until the first SUNDAY of 2015, I am most hopeful for a renewed vigor in our search of truth and in the search within our own souls for the truth about ourselves. Im hopeful to learn better ideas so I can practice better deeds to my fellow man. And I thank you all for traveling this path with me. As I mentioned, this study will be on a short hiatus so we can all enjoy the holidays without this distraction. We will continue in January of 2015, there will be some exciting transformations next year as this study will also be in podcast form as a monthly synopsis of what weve covered here. I am also considering ideas for You Tube to make this come to life. In the meantime, please visit universalfreemason.org for links to other great study sites and you can also find me on Facebook at The Universal Freemason Page. Happy holidays everyone! May peace reign amongst all of us! jtasher | December 21, 2014 at 11:52 am | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: wp.me/p2U6RQ-is Comment See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from My Personal Views On Pikes Morals and Dogma. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: masonicme/2014/12/21/hiram-and-masonic-views-of-god-continue-chapter-14/
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 14:14:05 +0000
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