Good Day My Fellow Travelers,
Here's an article published in Nov. 2014 based upon my upcoming book, "The Craft UNMASKED! The Uncommon Origin of Freemasonry and its Practice", due out in 3 days that might be of interest to you.
Fraternally and Sincerely,
Bro. John S. Nagy
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Chapter I. The
Grand Assumption
So many Seekers assume that Freemasonry comes
from Roots that are somehow Disclosed by or Alluded to within its very Rituals
and Lectures. Unfortunately, the very
Craft Freemasonry conceals is done so well that it required no hiding at
all!
From all that is written about
Freemasonry, one could conclude quite safely that the Society from its very
beginning has masked its origins in Masterful veils. One could also easily conclude that it was
purposefully done this way as to take focus off its primary root and on to what
it was designed to do. Such conclusions
are easily supported by the overwhelming lack of consistency among the
multitudes of theory surrounding the craft built up by years of conjectures
from hundreds of zealous authors.
Along these same lines, anyone
removing these carefully placed layers would not find disclosed any deceit or
deception. They would not find a
terrible grand conspiracy of any sort.
They would find, as with every Masterful Production, Freemasonry’s
intention to accomplish something wonderfully Grand.
It is abundantly clear that the
Freemasonic Organization was a truly Masterful way to do something that was
life changing for any generation.
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There is one constant within these
writings which stands out as a beacon which has led many members and non
members to crash upon the rocky shores of self-deception. That one consistency is the assumption that
the Freemasonic Organization came from any origin other than the one that would
be most obvious and clear to an unbiased observer.
Far too many have accepted without
question the offerings of those who have come before them. Equally, far too many have not stepped back
and actually Observed what the Craft was actually doing. As a result, when faced with investigating
Craft origins, they start out upon their quest on a biased road and in directions
that lead them toward further illusion.
From our Society’s very beginning,
one specific assumption was made by almost every member Entering the
Craft. From then on that one assumption
has had each member redirect his thoughts away from its true origins and toward
historical fantasies that had nothing to do with Craft origins.
A Brotherly Light
House
Brother Albert Mackey had a good
sense that this was the case. His
thoughts on investigating Craft Origins are captured in a few of his attributed
writings on Freemasonic History. He was
not kind in what he had to say about many of the authors of his time, or those
whom preceded it. Brother Albert states
very concisely that to write Freemasonry’s history, one must first take extreme
care in how you define it. He goes on to
convey that it is also clear that to include Masonry in this writing, it must
not be taken to be synonymous with Freemasonry unless “we confine ourselves closely to the
events that are connected with the Institution in its present form and
organization.” Our Brother also tells us that far too many
authors use the word “Masonry” loosely.
He provides several examples of this looseness and he then summarily
dismisses their contributions as a result.
His message is a warning that very few have heeded, even to this day.
For
me, I believe he conveyed great wisdom and was on the right path. I believe his observations and conclusions
were brilliant on this issue. I also
believe that he did not go far enough in his statements. He did however reveal the path to future
Craft Origin discovery for those who would follow his works.
Tagging Along
A few years back, I began to see
that there was a difference between how all the words associated with
Freemasonry and Masonry were being used.
Sometimes they were being used synonymously. Other times they would be used within the
same sentence and they would change their meaning each time they were being
used. The consistency of this was enough
to grab my attention and hold it. And I
would find that I was not alone in this piquing.
Within a very short time, I had
gathered enough information to conclude that the two words were entirely
different in their focus. I also
concluded that there exist many people, in particular Brothers, who take them
to mean the same thing. Included in this
latter group are many of the writers that help shape the psyche of each
generation, inside and outside the Society.
Furthermore, not only did they
take these two words to be synonymous, but they used them interchangeably and
with shear irreverence to their roots.
In that acceptance, they were blind to their blatant differences. With every sentence they constructed, they
soon could not see any difference whatsoever as they employed them in their
writings.
I began to share my observations
about these two words with others. I
first did this with those who expressed to me their confusion as to what the
Society was actually doing. We seemed to
have come to the same conclusions along similar lines of investigation. It was a breath of relief for all who engaged
in these thought exchanges. In a very
warm way what we saw was being confirmed through our interactions.
This validation brought about a
bit of boldness on all our parts and we began sharing our thoughts and
conclusions with others outside our circles when opportunities arose. It was amazing to us how we would get such a
mix of responses to our disclosers.
Some listeners simply nodded their
heads in understanding. It was clear to
us by their response that they saw and believed the same things. You could see in their countenances, and more
specifically their eyes, how much they appreciated our putting words to what
they intuitively felt. It was an awesome
experience for all of us.
Brotherly Ugliness
There was a dark side to all
this. There were some self-appointed
protectors of the Craft that took exception to our sharing. They found it annoying and antagonistic to
what they had come to believe about the Fraternity. In response, they reacted very negatively to
any and all sharing that was contrary to what they themselves had accepted to
be true.
Sometimes they would respond with
abusive indignation. They took any
opportunity they could to attack both the thoughts and the very person who
shared these thoughts. They did so with
a barrage of words and actions that made the heads spin of those involved and
even of those who observed.
The fallout of their negative
behavior degraded many opportunities for harmonious discourse. Their broad strokes of disharmony were seen
everywhere contrary thoughts were shared.
They employed dissention with every word they conveyed. Their mere presence would be a signal to shut
discourse down. Many left who came
together for intelligent exchange. They
soon shut down any efforts to share Light contrary to what they dogmatically
held to be true.
It was clear to all of us that the
Light we shared was not welcome by Darkness.
Further Down the Path
As thoughts evolved around the
differences between Freemasonry and Masonry, investigations continued. Thoughts were exchanged and conclusions
became more refined. Some, other premises
that were normally taken for granted, were approached, inspected and
ascertained as to whether they could be taken to be valid any longer. A whole new world of investigation soon
unfolded before our eyes.
And we were delighted by what we
found!
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