Whence We Came – The Final Answer
Photo Credit: 100pages.me
Over the past few months we have travelled around the world and throughout time searching for the origins of Freemasonry. We have explored many myths and histories. So whence do we originate? Are we philosophers from the Royal Society? Templar Knights? Mystics of Osiris? Druid warlocks? Stonecutters? Artists of the Roman Collegia?
The truth brethren, is that whence we came is actually irrelevant! We should not focus on the allegory but on the sacred truths hidden behind the veil.
There are ancient truths that have been passed down since the dawn of time. These truths were taught to Adam by God. Adam passed them on to his children from generation to generation until they reached Noah, who preserved them in the Ark. Noah taught them to his children until they reached Malchizedek, who taught them to Abraham, who taught them to the children of Egypt and the children of Israel. Man has designed different allegorical veils to preserve these truths, to ensure their transmission, but the vessel utilized is irrelevant. Yesterday we protected, preserved, and transmitted these truths using the story of Osiris, and when it was on longer useful, the allegory was changed to some other tale, and today we use Freemasonry to tell the truths. While the story may change, the tenets never change.
What are these great truths?
There is only one God. He may go by many names, and people may pray to Him (or Her) in many languages, however, there is still but one God. More than that, the true mason, believing in the one God, will feel the spirit of the Lord move within himself, whether he stands in a cathedral, synagogue, or mosque. The true mason will find the word of God whether he reads a Bible, Tan’ach, or Koran. That is why our alters are adorned with a Sacred Volume of Law. All the books speak the same truths.
You are endowed by God with a Soul. We are so much more than just a body with animal needs. We are created by God in his image with eternal souls that will live on long after we leave this temporal world. Now how will you conduct yourself? Will you allow your animalistic desires to control you until you are no better than the beasts of the field and the vultures of the air? Will you learn to use the square and compasses to circumscribe your desires and keep your passions within due bounds? Will you live a life of enlightenment, enriching your mind, as you journey along the road of truth and light? Will you spend your brief time in the west preparing yourself for that rendezvous with destiny, for that eventful day when you will stand before your Maker as he welcomes you back to the east?
It is these truths that create the mystic tie that binds us from generation to generation, all the way back to Adam himself. The allegory of Freemasonry is but a tool. It is our responsibility to preserve these truths and to transmit them to future generations, and as the Worshipful Master informs you “tools and implements of architecture and symbolic emblems most expressive are selected by the Fraternity to imprint upon the mind wise and serious truths, and thus through a succession of ages are transmitted unimpaired the most excellent tenets of our institution.”
RW Michael S Neuberger
Grand Historian – 2017