A Brother Asks: I can't wrap my head around our origins. Can you help?
Coach: Are you talking about our Freemasonic origins?
Brother: Yes.
Coach: I hope so. Where do you want to begin?
Brother: How about this? The earliest records offered by researchers show that masonry originated out of Scotland in the 1500's.
Coach: Okay, Yes. At least the records of the medieval Eurocentric version.
Brother: The medieval Eurocentric version?
Coach: Yes. That's where Freemasonry as we practice it today has its professed roots.
Brother: Why do you say that?
Coach: Great question! What is called, "Masonry" by current Freemasonic organization members does show records of gatherings of Stonecraft workers around this time. These records are often offered up by Freemasonic enthusiasts as proof that our Craft, as they believe it to be, existed years before the Grand Lodge Era. Let me point out though that these records to which you refer are Stonecraft records only. They are not records of our "Freemasonic" Craft.
Brother: They aren't?
Coach: Yes. They are not. In truth, the pre-circa 1717 records put forth reflecting "our origins", as in the "Origins of Freemasonry and its Practice", are invalid because our modern organization as a whole didn't exist prior to the Grand Lodge era, especially as it does today.
Brother: It didn't?
Coach: Yes. It didn't. Most everything provided as evidence is either an invention of Grand Lodge Era Franchise Freemasonry or a bastardization of history if one were to take any of our lore as actual history.
Brother: Wait! There's a difference?
Coach: There certainly is! The fact that our lore and ritual script writers have used Stonecraft documents to bring the illusion of authenticity and Stonecraft connectedness to our rituals, does not make our scripts authentic Stonecraft rituals. It merely makes them better to serve the purpose of creating the illusion of that connectedness.
Brother: You mean like using authentic police reports, uniforms and other props to create the TV series "Dragnet" where the actors playing the parts are not law enforcement personnel just because they are reenacting these reports for the viewing pleasure of the audience?
Coach: Exactly. No matter how authentic their portrayals are, they're still actors portraying a theme show. The same goes for ritual reenactments. The organization uses Stonecraft lore, symbols and lexicon to create the illusion of authenticity. That doesn't make what its members do any more authentic than any other portrayed reenactments. It's role-playing!
Brother: Role-playing?!?!
Coach: Yes. All for the moral purpose of spot-lighting the candidate's Morality and how they can improve it.
Brother: Wow! That's interesting! I had not thought of it this way. What more is involved?
Coach: This effort to create an authentic feel was coupled with quarries of post-circa 1717 fabricated lore which attempts to further connect us to Stonecraft. The premise is this: If we can convince through writing that we are a continuation of Stonecraft, the attraction and retention will increase.
Brother: I can see that occurring.
Coach: The problem is that this only adds to the confusion between what is real and what is part of the show.
Brother: Curious-er and curious-er...
Coach: Yes indeed! What we have currently are verbal illusions painted upon the wanting hearts of members and member wannabes by organizational script writers. These illusions lead unknowing members and non-members alike to mistakenly believe that what these playwrights wrote was actually real unaltered history; it was never this, is not now this and will never be this. As a result of taking these provided lore as true, far too many people follow imaginary Freemasonic milestones trying to make sense of things that were never intended to be taken as actual history or serious historical accounts.
Brother: How did you come to these conclusions?
Coach: I did the Work pointed toward by Ritual. As a result, I understand that allegorical stories are not historic events! I did Sound Research! And not research using the inbred information provided by organizational zealots; that stuff will tangle and twist your mind and quicken your heart unnecessarily when you cannot clearly sort out the fantasy from the reality.
Brother: What did you find?
Coach: As a result of doing the Work, my feet are firmly standing upon the following:
- Stonecraft[1] has been around since men started whacking, cracking and stacking rocks to make things. Contrary to organizational lore, this profession still exists to this day; it never went away. Its craft is still in demand. It is not in danger of losing any of its trade secrets.
- Personification Arena Theater[2] has been around since Thespis in ancient Greece put on his first public performance to win a he-goat with his support staff. In this vein, Freemasonry has wrapped itself around Stoncraft lore, symbols and lexicon as its backdrop and premise. Consequently, what Freemasonry offers to its member are Privately Owned[3] Morality Plays[4] using the props, symbols and lexicon of Stonecraft all intended to help members improve their Morality and life Skills, but only when they do what the Scripts "direct" them to do.
Brother: But that would mean the two Crafts, Stonecraft and Freemasonry, are not even remotely the same and the latter is nowhere near a continuation of the former!
Coach: Exactly! The evidence is overwhelming once you take the blinders off. This especially when you examine closely every effort to claim of any Operative-Speculative connection. When you try to honestly match up what one does in relation to the other you'll find that they clearly don't fit! This especially when you try to correlate operative and speculative natures, actions and goals. The progressions from Apprentice to Master are vastly different in each, even when one takes into consideration the Operative-Speculative divide.
Brother: That always makes me scratch my head.
Coach: What has?
Brother: The fact that there are so many inconsistencies within our lore and ritual that can't be reconciled with anything other than, "it's a mystery!" or "that's left to future generations to discover." I have yet to meet any "masterful" members that were created by activities supported by any one specific Grand Lodge program. Sure, they're are some great actors in the Craft, but where are the speculative "Masters"?
Coach: But that's the point!
Brother: What is?
Coach: All these inconsistencies are ironed out the moment you realize it's all "theatrically based role-playing" with a moral purpose that uses allegories (not actual history) to convey moral themes. Our Rituals are morality plays based upon Stonecraft, using its lexicon, lore, and history as props, but they are not actually Stonecraft Ritual! Not even a speculative form of it!
Brother: That makes so much sense!
Coach: I'm glad you're seeing it.
Brother: What about those who don't realize or accept this?
Coach: You'll always have plenty of hyper-vigilant members claiming that Freemasonry is a speculative continuation of Stonecraft, especially when...
- ...they do not know that they are playing a character instructed to equate the two as synonymous...
- ...they use and do not deviate from the script that they were handed...
- ...they never question the script designed to obfuscate the two...
Brother: I've seen this occur as well, and all too often.
Coach: It's good to know you see this also.
Brother: Can you tell me to what Freemasonry points?
Coach: Yes. Freemasonry, through its scripts, continually point to "Maturation" (EA Work) and Mastery (FC Work); this are the basis for Betterment! Memorizing these scripts only installs Road Maps of Betterment to follow.
Brother: What's its shortfall?
Coach: Performance of the scripts will not make you a better man. Only seeking and cultivating what these Road Maps refer and allude to will improve you! They reflect only a card catalog of references to a library far grander than what the scripts communicate and offer.
Brother: I'd like that improvement!
Coach: When you want to access the library of improvement you truly desire, these road maps are the directions your card catalog search needs to focus upon. When you want the actual improvement, you must travel the lands these card catalogs direct you to search and do the Work.
Brother: And I do want that betterment for myself and my Brothers.
Coach: Me as well. Of course, betterment will not occur when the basis so noted (betterment!) is of no interest to you and you would prefer to believe the illusion and chase things that will not actually make you Better for your efforts. If this is so, you would not be alone in your lack of betterment action.
Brother: I wouldn't?
Coach: You wouldn't. There are countless men who join the organization and go to their deaths never realizing they joined a total-immersion live-action virtual-reality role-playing theatrical society whose sole purpose was to improve member's morality by engaging them in betterment roles with a moral purpose. The organization's construction is masterful, does exactly what it is designed to do and could not be done better.
Brother: Okay. I see truth in this. This becomes very obvious to anyone progressing through other Freemasonic appendant bodies. The role-playing and the plays become even more elaborate, especially within the Scottish Rite Degrees.
Coach: Indeed! However, members forget the purpose and get caught up in most all of the illusions.
Brother: Wow! So this is what makes our origins so difficult to track down and understand?
Coach: Yes.
Brother: Most everyone researching and writing about it assumes Freemasonry actually is a continuation of Stonecraft rather than Role-Playing Theater?
Coach: Yes. And as a result, anything written or shared by these individuals is heavily biases toward that assumption and heavily biased against seeing the man behind the curtain pulling all the strings.
Brother: No wonder it's so difficult to wrap my head around.
Coach: You're not alone Brother. There are many members who are facing the same challenge. I too didn't see it at first until I stopped assuming what I was continually being told was actually true and started connecting the dots to what I saw being acted out by the whole organization. What is being conveyed through organizational scripts and lore doesn't match with what is being acted out by its members and actual history.
Brother: I like your choice of words. But what about the lack of overwhelming evidence?
Coach: Evidence?
Brother: Yes, the fact that we have very few actual records of freemasonry existing prior to the creation of the Premier Grand Lodge in 1717.
Coach: Occam's Razor my Brother!
Brother: Meaning?
Coach: The lack of historical records tells us that it didn't. Hence, the reason for the efforts to connect Freemasonry to Stonecraft. Stonecraft has records since it did exist! That's how things work as proofed by the creation of Freemasonry.
Brother: How's that?
Coach: Within a very short time after Freemasonry's creation, there were things being written about it. Human nature is such that people write and reveal what exists. When things don't exist, you have a lack of written documentation. And it's not because these Stonecraft lodges tried to keep there activities "secret." What few records that do exist tells us that they kept some very detailed records of their business activities. The modern ritual focused activities that modern Freemasonry uses though... nowhere to be seen. Freemasonry, even in its "speculative" form, is simply not the same, even analogously.
Brother: Wow! That makes so much sense.
Coach: Thanks!
So, here are two questions for you to consider: Do you know in what you are truly involved? How do all solved mysteries end?
F&S,
Brother John S Nagy
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[1] a.k.a. "masonry"
[2] a.k.a. "Freemasonry"; "Role-playing" and the very basis for Freemasonic progression; Please, think about it! ...memorization of scripts and choreography and participation in supposed re-enactments.
[3] The term "privately owned" is the original meaning behind the word "peculiar".
[4] Most all medieval guilds participated in wares and services marketing by putting on "morality plays" (also known as "moralities") or "mystery plays" (also known as "mysteries" and "occupational plays".)
