Originally posted by Mintwithahole.
reply to post by senrak
So once again we come full circle. Pike wasn't interested in the common man he was only interested in conveying his words to the elite!
Mint, for goodness sake. Not all books were meant for the general public to read. Ever seen an Army Field Manual? It wasn't written for you, unless
you're in the Army. You can read it, but it's not applicable to you. Neither is Pike's Morals & Dogma, nor several of the books he wrote.
The book's title is:
Morals & Dogma
of the
Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite
of
FREEMASONRY
Prepared For
The Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third Degree
(Mother Council of the World)
For The
Southern Jurisdiction of the Untied States
and
Published By Its Authority
No, he wasn't writing for the "elite" He was writing for Scottish Rite Masons. Again, not every book that's printed in the world is intended for
everyone in the world to read. This one was written for S.R. Masons. Not you. Not Jack Chick. Not John Ankerberg. Not non-Scottish Rite Masons or
Scottish Rite Masons in other jurisdictions.
Pike wasn't being an 'elitist' by writing to the membership of his Supreme Council. He was writing an instruction book for them to better
understand the fraternity to which they belonged.
The Ritual of the Order of the Eastern Star (since we're talking about stars) was NOT written for you or anyone EXCEPT MEMBERS of The Order of the
Eastern Star. Nothing elitist about that.
To those selected special few who would be in a place where they would understand what he was talking about. The rest of us, well what does it
matter what we think?
Again, it wasn't written for YOU. You may certainly read it (I doubt you ever will) and it might be interesting to you and you would likely learn
some things that you didn't know. But unless you've experienced membership in the Scottish Rite, much of it's lessons are lost.
It seems to me that freemasonry is built on rather shaky ground.
That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. Personally I believe that Friendship, Morality and Brotherly Love (which is what Masonry is built
upon) is a rather sound foundation.
We aren't elite you say but the writings of Pike are only meant for the elite.
Nope. I said M&D was only meant for S.R. Masons. Pike wrote a few things for general distribution, but most of his work was for the Scottish Rite,
S.J. in Washington DC. In fact MANY of his writings exist in manuscript form only and are in the Archives of the Supreme Council in D.C.
We invite any one to join
We do NOT invited people to join. An interested party must ask a Mason about joining. If you've missed this in all the Masonic threads you've been
involved in, you're selectively reading.
but hey, you you wont understand whats going on so why bother?
Masonic education is freely available to any Mason interested in pursuing it. If he chooses not to, it's his fault that he doesn't understand.
We're not part of the Illuminati/NWO but unless you are on the inside you have no chance of understanding or grasping hold of what the high masons
are saying.
This is what people like me worry about when we hear the words masonry and brotherhood,
If you're interested in the truth about Masonry you need to read factual information about it and discuss it with knowledgeable Masons. We LOVE our
fraternity and are very willing to open up and tell you about it.
yet you go out of your way to say it's not true then reverse track when the conversation turns to Pike. . .
I've not seen any back-tracking. I'm very open about Pike. He's one of my favorite writers. The Rituals of the Southern Jurisdiction are
masterpieces and Pike is the one who revised them into what they are today.
Suddenly the friendly and helpful brotherhood becomes the realm of the select few again!
If you want to put it that way, then, yes. We are. We are a friendly and helpful brotherhood and we are (or should be) very select. We don't want
just anyone to be a Mason. In fact there are many people that we don't want at all. If you were an employer would you hire anyone and everyone
who walked in and asked for a job? Or would you select those qualified to do the job. Our fraternity does NOT strive to make bad men good. We
strive to make good men better. If you apply for membership will we do a background check on you? Darn tootin'! (Sorry for the colloquialism,
I've just always wanted to say "darn tootin'" in a post)
A brotherhood where you don't have to be a scholar and where everyone is welcome.
You DON'T have to be a scholar, mint. I know a ton of Masons who aren't. They're still my Brothers though. As I said above, if they CHOOSE to
learn more about Masonry, there are plenty resources to allow that to happen. If they're happy not doing so....it's by choice. We don't force
Masonic education.
Or is it a rather secretive society who doesn't care about what those outside the brotherhood think because at the end of the day, we don't matter.
. .
You're missing the point entirely, mint.
It isn't that those on the outside don't matter as human beings, but if those on the outside choose to think wrongly of Masonry, that's THEIR
choice. I'll do what I can to correct the errors, but many (a lot of whom are on this list) don't WANT to be told the truth. They've made up
their minds already based on some anti-Masonic website or Bible-thumping preacher with his hand out for donations. Too bad for them. But there's no
opening some closed minds.