In the Mahabharata, Yudhishtira when asked by the Yaksha to identify the greatest wonder in the world states, “Everyday people die and the rest live as if they are immortal. That is the greatest wonder.”
What is it that enables us mortals to ignore the imminent certainty and yet continue without fear? What is it that has conquered fear, even the fear of death?
The fear of the unknown (death) can be explained thus: the mind tells us that in order to move forward, we must know what is waiting for us there, because “if I know, then I can control the situation, and if I don’t know, then I am not in control”. This second part is what scares us the most, because control is what establishes a measurement that we can use to manipulate the result of our actions. And when we don’t like what is different, this is simply because we can neither understand it, nor have a plan to control it beforehand.
This fear has been with us for thousands of years, and it is a great part of what has helped us survive as a species. Many of us, when we were kids, were afraid of the dark, mainly because we didn’t know what might be hiding in there, and similarly when we didn’t know what might be at the end of the hallway we felt the need to pull ourselves away from it. However, this fear of the death often stops our progress and makes it harder for us to discover and understand new things, encouraging rejection and closed mindedness
It was the forbidden fruit of human imagination that set us free, the powers of imagination, that only the human’s posses sprang forth hope and reason. And with the tools of Hope and Reason, man made himself an unending labyrinth of belief systems that defined and limited all his fears. He made stories of heroes fighting death, he made stories of man conquering nature, he made stories of man domesticating the universe itself…and it was those stories he wants to make real. Billions of dollars are spent every day in reaching out to the furthest limits in space and the deepest depths within earth. It is these notions that make man think that he can control everything, even death someday.
With all this knowledge, are we really free now? Blissful in the arrogant abundance of knowledge, man has abstracted and encapsulated himself from the fact that everything he build is purely man made and does not acknowledge the existence but also attempts to supersede the Supreme Being, who on a mere whim can nullify not just reason but the entire human existence.
Just like Lord Shiva`s rattle-drum that constantly reminds of the cyclic rhythm of all creation, of beginnings and endings, we mortals also need a constant reminder to break our illusions of grandeur and prompt a honest dialogue with ourselves while keeping the Supreme Being in and above everything we do.
That is where Freemasonry fits, in the big scheme of the nature of the universe.
The Scientific process, which is Freemasonry
The generally accepted definition for science is: “It is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.” So if a thought has to be said to be scientific then it has to be systematic in nature, to be able to contribute to a vast database of knowledge on the basis of its test-ability and repeat-ability.
Freemasonry is a perfect example of the scientific method as a freemason is in a systematic yet continuous process of self improvement… the process that will make Good Men Better. He is provided with various working tools and measures with which he can build his empirical knowledge about himself and everything around him. He is also provided with the unrelenting standards of moral excellence in the VSL against which he can test on how well is has been successful in his progress from good to better.
During the ceremony of conforming the second degree, the candidate is also coaxed to explore the seven liberal arts and science. i.e. Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music & Astronomy. It is using these scientific frameworks of various domains that a Mason of good standing hopes to reach the highest realms designed by the GATU.
The Masonic Rituals that are Religiously followed
Freemasonry explicitly and openly states that it is neither a religion nor a substitute for one. "There is no separate Masonic God, or a separate proper name for a deity in any branch of Freemasonry.”
Wikipedia explains Religion as: “Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature”
Simply put, it is a construct made of stories, symbols and rituals that cultivates and gives a framework for thought and mind and hence a social/individual identity. As the Stories of the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ are Symbolically represented by the Holy Cross on which he was executed. Christians every Sunday participate Ritualistically in the Holy Communion which is the essence of the Christian religion, hence providing the Christians a framework of beliefs to build their value systems upon.
Any Mason who has ever stepped into a functioning Lodge will be able to immediately identify with the Freemasonic practices that have been transmitted through generations on generation in the form of stories, symbols and rituals and also know that the general definition of Freemasonry is “it is a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols”. Masons strictly follow the Rituals that include the Symbols which derive its meaning from the Stories that define them. We have stories of the “Widows Son”, we have symbols that equate one man to another and have Rituals that encompasses these stories and symbols into a framework for a Freemason to build himself upon which leads him to have a distinctive and unique social and individual identity.
So why do we in all our public interactions categorically state that Freemasonry is not a Religion? The answer lies in the statement itself - “"There is no separate Masonic God, or a separate proper name for a deity in any branch of Freemasonry” We are not a religion in the sense we do not have a separate God-Head but reflect the doctrine of the Unity of God and all our practices point towards the same thought.
In Search Of Truth and Wisdom – A Masonic Philosophy?
“The Allegory of the Cave” was a story that Socrates uses to emphasis the need for a philosophic quest for wisdom. Socrates describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Socrates, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.
In addition, the Allegory of the Cave is an attempt to explain the philosopher's place in society: to attempt to enlighten the "prisoners".
“Having been kept for a considerable time in a state of darkness, what, in your present situation, is the predominant wish your heart?” “Light” replies the initiate…. And thus marks the beginning of an unrelenting journey of an EA into the enriched and enlightened pinnacles of Freemasonry. He is lighted to enlighten… and in the prayer the following is humbly requested of the almighty: “Endue him with a competency of Thy divine wisdom, that, assisted by the secrets of our Masonic art, he may the better be enabled to unfold the beauties of true godliness” reinstating the fact that a Masons intellectual journey is similar to that of a Philosopher.. seeking the Truth and Wisdom which will enable him to see the real beauty of Gods handy work.
The reason why Masons universally unanimously agree that “Once a Mason, Mason for life”, is because of the fact that once the mind has been made to look away from the darkness and has seen the path towards the light of everlasting wisdom, it is very difficult to go back to the state of ignominy. And in every ritual in Freemasonry there are multiple references importuning the Masons to expand their knowledge and spiritual horizons.
All this and yet not Just That
A belief is what creates ones identity and a belief stems from the stories we have heard and have believed in or have chosen to believe. The belief could be an artistic representation of death or religious stories of afterlife, it could also be scientific research data that is working towards longer human life.. it could possibly also be the philosophic logic or moral thoughts of how to live a good life.
Freemasonry is all that and yet cannot be individually categorized to be any one. As Freemasonry edifies that each man is a school of thought in himself. A Mason is not adjudicated by the laws of man, but lives as an equal in front of the All Seeing Eye, with the principles and conviction that are entrusted upon him that were bought down from the times of the Wise King Solomon.
To conclude I would like to state, like the beauty of the rainbow gets constrained by semantics and limited to human hindsight as mere mortals dissect and debate about it, similarly Freemasonry when left un-dissected is surreal yet universal and infinite.
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." -Albert Einstein
