Albert Pike, "Morals and Dogma," worth reading?

I7ve always wanted to read this book...it contains a treasure trove about the esoteric meanings of the higher Freemasonry degrees. Plus it touches on all sorts of points very germane to the western mystical/hermetic/gnostic traditions in general. I bet one could learn a lot from it.

But fer the love of meg the danged thing is almost 800 pages long, and much of the diction is 1800s-ish. There will be long, repeteitive passages and wearisome slogging through lots of infor I already know -- that A'S the 19thc entury way of reiting after all. The book itself is not exactly a weekend beach read, if you know what I wean...if I'm going to crack open the musty old leather copy of this that has been lying on my library shelf and sternly reprocing me for lack of deserved attention at the very least requires serious committment of brain wattage and time. So is it worth it in your opinion, or kust a roundabout way of telling us all we already know? Anyone read it cover-to-cover or made a serious trudy of it? Recommend it?

[edit on 6/22/09 by silent thunder]

yeah. read the book. who cares if you remember what you are reading while you are reading it. everybody gets something out of reading a boring book. its not really boring though. its about earth, the stars, people, mind control, and especially the sun in the sky. great book for weeding through religions to get to their original meanings.

I read it cover to cover once and some chapters more than once. It seems like the 29th is the longest chapter in the book. It is a long read but very interesting. There was something interesting about the number 9. No matter how you multiply 9 you can add up its numbers and they resolve to 9.

Example 9x81= 729 7+2+9=18 1+8=9 it always returns to nine.



That's one of the most amazing things that I remember from the book. I should like to read it again some day.

Do read it, it is worth it, but I would read it in small pieces. Not more than a Chapter at a time. I took almost a year to get through it. I had to keep looking up reffernces. It become very clear to me that our education system has change a great deal since Pike's time.

Reading Morals and Dogma was like getting a start on a Classical Education.

Lots of good stuff in the book, lots to think about.

reply to post by silent thunder


Pike is so often quoted out of context, or has had his words twisted and used for purposes other than their original intent so often that I think giving it one reading just so you can recognize the frauds and put them in their place makes it worthwhile.

It's a boring, but interesting read. It's as much a philosophy book as a book pertaining to the Scottish Rite.
However, in order to get some of the references I needed to keep Wikipedia open and a notepad.

[edit on 22-6-2009 by TruthJusticeFreedom]

It's only boring if you are not interested in the topic being discussed. If you have a desire to learn Pike's views on Masonry and particualrly the Scottish Rite then by all means read the book.

I also second Josh's opinion that it will easily recognize mis- or non-quotes of Pike that people popularly and mistakenly attribute to him.

A friend of mine last night just gave me a copy of this book. We were talking about the Illuminati and the Masons and other conspiracy's and he later handed me this book. It's an old copy of it but in good reading condition. It is long but I will read it. I skimmed through it and it looked interesting.

Here is a link to Morals and Dogma online.