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nking@freemasonry.org or nking@onramp.ca




The Dawning of "SPIRITUAL~' Masonry

by Norman Williams Crabbe, MPS

[Editor's note: In the interest of presenting various viewpoints, we present Brother
Crabbe's thoughts on "Spiritual" Masonry]

Masonry is faced with grave problems
in the latter part of the 20th century and
going into the 21 st century. Membership
is dwindling. The original purpose for
Freemasonry is getting lost because of
the tangents it has developed over the
last two hundred years. The leadership
is growing old while the young no longer
find that being a Mason has any rele-
vance to their lifestyle. There are those
among the Brethren, a few, who have the
ability to help set things a-right and
move Masonry forward on its True
Course.

I want to bring to the forefront the
condusion I have arrived at through the
study of Freemasonry and elaborate on
the original and true course Masonry
had, has, and will continue to have. Some
of you will not agree with me; and I
expect some, a few, will loudly proclaim
that I'm one hundred percent wrong.
Still I feel that it is time to bring Freema-
sonry into the 21st century and by so
doing fall back on its original purpose.
The TRUE purpose of Masonry must be
brought back to center stage and a~ain
allow the Bright Light of Divine Wisdom
to come to the forefront of Masonry's
Mission. If Masonry is to perform its
mission on Earth, then some of us will
have to take the lead and in a small part,
"Inform our Brethren." I am going to
presentfocts. It is up to you to scarch for
the truth and thereby undcrstand these
facts.

First: In order to move forward, a Me-
dieval ruse must be exposed. To protect
life and limb and escape a very real
charge of heresy in the narrow-minded
Catholicism of the Medieval mind, Ma-
sonry went underground and took on the
appearance of being Stone Mason
Guilds. Freemasonry may have hidden
behind the cover of the Middle Age
Stone Mason Guilds but ncvcr was it the
other way around. Speculative Masonry
was not derived from guilds of stone ma-
sons. Masonry alludes to the building of
the Godhead within every human. Free-
masonry is the direct descendant and the
continuing unbroken line of The Ancient
Wisdom, Religious Divinity Schools. At
one time only for the intelligence, the
priestly class, it now is, in the form of
Freemasonry, an updated version to in-
clude the wisdom of Christ and others.
By Initiation a young man was intro-
duced into the Holy Mysteries. After-
ward it was up to him to study and search
out the truths behind the allegories.

Second: Masonry, its forms and ritual,

48

predate the deluge, going back to our
pre-diluvian Ancestors. When man be-
came a material thinking being, Ma-
sonry was planted in his Mind whereby
he could have the knowledge of truth so
his soul could bind back to his Creator.

Third: The ritual, the three basic de-
grees, give the keys to life and death and
allude to the knowledge whereby the
soul, once enlightened, can spiritually
commune with the Creator forever. Each
subsequent degree, either York or Scot-
tish Rite, is an embellishment on the
Three Primary Degrees. Each offers one
or more keys, or hints, as to the direction
you are to follow for true spiritual en-
lightenment.

Fourth: By symbolically causing you to
die as Hiram Abif, you are shown that
not only is there life after death but that
there are many lives and deaths. (I reit-
erate I am giving you the First Key. It is
up to you to discover the rest.) The sym-
bol of Hiram Abif has many different
levels of meanings.

Fifth: This symbolic death is designed
to lay before you the key that hopefully
opens up the channel of communication
to your innermost self; your soul. Your
soul, your essence, upon participating in
the Rites of Initiation either consciously
or unconsciously recognizes the Mes-
sage, and the pathway to salvation is
illuminated.

Sixth: Why is Masonry not a religion?
Because Masonry only alludes to what
all Religions, in their true form, are
teaching. Every world religion (if
Divinely inspired), from the beginning
of man's material existence, has had and
has within it the true keys for man' s spir-
itual salvation. Masonry and its forerun-
ners have carried that spark of truth in a
secret allegorical form for thousands
upon thousands of years. In so doing it
has helped millions of souls enter into the
place from whence they came and
"there" be invested with what they had
been divested. By learning this knowl-
edge of divine truth while in material
form, you will possess the keys by which
your soul can, if it so chooses, remain in
the spiritual realm.

Seventh: Through study, a deep and
life-long study, a Mason can learn about
his soul. He can remove the veil that
separates his material self from his spiri-
tual self. He has locked up within him the
key to true timeless salvation. never
more will he have to walk as a material
being on planet earth. This is the goal of
Masonry. This is its only true goal. The
Masonic Fraternity was designed by the
Supreme Architect of the Universe,
placed within the mind of material man,
so when man is Initiated into the Frater-
nity, his soul will hopefully take over. and
guide the material man to search out the
truth about material death and take the
necessary steps to insure that the next
material death will be the last.

One very important last note. No one
on the face of this earth can give you this
knowledge! You must earn it yourself.
The answers you wish to find are within
you. You can study, ask questions, read,
write, think, attend lodge, watch and
participate in degree work and by all
means attend your own place of worship,
but in the end you yourself are responsi-
ble for making the needed discoveries. It
actually becomes the business of your
soul to educate itself.

~ources: Rather then footnote enclosed
is a Reading List.
Readin~ List
(Revised August, 1 993)

~) The meaning of Masonry . Wilmshurst
+ ) The Temple and the Lodge
.............. Baigent/Leigh
= ) The Holy Bible . . . KingJames Ver.
= ) TheJewish Kabbalah . . . Historical
= ) The Other Bible-Ancient Esoteric
Texts .............Barnstone
= ) The Greek/English Interlinear New
Testament . . . . . . . . . . . -Tyndale
= ) The Apocryphal Books of the Old
Testament ... . ... KingJames Ver.
= ) The Nag Hammadi Library Robinson.
= ) The Upanishads . . . . . Hindu Bible
= ) The Holy Koran . . . . Muslim Bible
~) The Historical Landmarks of
Freemasonry . . . Dr. G. Olivver, D.D.
~) Morals and Dogma . . Albert Pike, 33 
:) Ex Oriente Lux . . . . .. . . .Henry
z) Anglo-saxon Israel . . . .. Rutherford
z) Mind and Maggic ...................King
#)The Occult World . . . . . . . Sinnett
~) Duncans Ritual of Freemasonry McKay
:) The Mysticism of Masonry . . . Clymer
+ ) Born in Blood: The Secrets of Masonry
 ................                 Robinson
+ ) Holy Blood/ Holy Grail
. Baigent/Leigh/Lincoln
?) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance ........................Pirsig
?) Jonathan Livingston Seagull . . . Bach
~) The Grand Lodge Ritual Book
 ........     Maryland DC, Scotland
~) The Secret Teachings of Ail Ages:
Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic &
Rosicrusian . . . . . . . . Manly P . Hall
= ) The Supreme Identity . . . A. Watts
= ) The Way of Zen . . . . . . A. Watts
#) Atlantis ................Donelly
~ ) Revelations . . . . . . Edgar Cayce
The Secret Doctrine 1 8~ 2 . . . Blavatsky
= ) More Than Wanderers: Spiritual
Disciplines for Christian Ministry
............. J. C. Fenhagen

continuod on pago 51
Thc Philale~hcs, April 1994
The Dawnin~ of Spiritual Masonry
contirlue~l from pago 48

:) I.N.R.I. De Mysteriis Rosae Rubeae et

Aureae Crucis . . . . . . Frater Achad
:) The Kybalion; Hermetic Philosophy
................ 3 Initiates
:) The Rosicrucian Philosophy; the
R. C. Creed ............G.W. Plummer
:) The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary . . .
...........       K.V. Eckartshausen
:) Constantly Creating Circumstances
.............G.W. Plummer
:) Codex Rosae Crucis, D.O.M.AM.P.Hall

) History of Initiation . . G. Oliver D.D.
:) Philosophy of Fire . . . ... . Clymer
:) The Science of Death . . G.W. Plummer
#) Tour Notions of the Theosophical S.
.............Theosophical S
Quarterly Publications . . Theosophical S.
#) Roots of Ritualism in Church &
Masonry.................Blavatsky
?) The Story of Philosopy . . Will Durant
z) Karma: T. Universal Law of Harmony
 ............    Hanson & Stewart
#) Esoteric Buddhism . . ... . Sinnett
?) History of Western Philosophy
.............Bertrand Russel
) Masonry in the New AgeLynn F. Perkins
Book Search under the Topics:
Religion/Philosophy/New Age.

) Freemasonry + ) Knights Templar

:) Rosicrusian #) Theosophy - ) Religion ?)
Philosophy & History z) Unclassified Occult
