Keep your pearls . . .

"Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you."

(Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:6.)

Originally posted by LTD602
"Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you."

(Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:6.)

This is exactly right. I forget about this sometime, as we all do, in the urge to widely disseminate what we think is useful knowledge.

Another problem is that we live in an age where knowledge has been first commodified, then unmoored from its context, and finally genericised. There's so much competition for people's attention. How do you find the young man or woman who is ready to hear what you have to say?

They will find you.

You already have one.

Last week I had no intention of becoming a Mason, nor did I know anything about them.

Today, I already have my first sponsor.

Give yourself more credit.


















[edit on 23-8-2004 by LTD602]

Heh, sure, of course. Builders of the Adytum says that "when the student is ready, the instruction shall appear."

But I think it's a good first step to petition a Lodge.

I agree with LTD602. People who really want to learn and grow will show it pretty much right off the bat. People who are just here for entertainment or just to pick a fight are easy to spot, too. I came here to try to learn about one thing in particular (Freemasonry) and not only have I learned a great deal about that (my sincere gratitude, gentlemen), but also many other things I never even knew I was that interested in. Some people just don't care enough to take of their "conspiracy goggles".

Originally posted by LTD602
"Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you."

(Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:6.)

And what would your view of Freemasonry be if you hadn't read any of the words written here by Freemasons themselves?
Sure, there are people who hate for hatred's sake - either through ignorant fear or a shallowness that they are unprepared to address. But that doesn't mean that the "pearls" of Freemasonry are for Freemasons alone - part of the meaning of Freemasonry is to share and make the world a better place.
We are always going to be attacked as Freemasons. It doesn't matter if we are the most open or innocent society in the world. There will always be those who have thier own agendas and seek to further them by casting slander at others. It doesn't mean that we should sit there and take it nor that we should not defend our Order. In fact, I made a promise to defend Freemasonry from the attacks of those with hate agendas. If by doing so, I reveal a few of these so-called "pearls", so be it.
At the end of the day, we really have nothing to hide.

.



[edit on 12-9-2004 by Tamahu]

Interesting thread, all.
I also think when we are on a path toward enlightenment, be it B.O.T.A., Masonry or some of the ancient ways, we become enthused with our new knowledge. We want others to find what we have found. Our lives are enriched and we want to share.
Unfortunately, not everyone wants to be enlightened. For various reasons.
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
Interesting thread, all.
I also think when we are on a path toward enlightenment, be it B.O.T.A., Masonry or some of the ancient ways, we become enthused with our new knowledge. We want others to find what we have found. Our lives are enriched and we want to share.
Unfortunately, not everyone wants to be enlightened. For various reasons.
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

Heheh I just used that same saying earlier today... I guess great minds really do think alike...


I'm not even a Mason yet and I want to share it, how wierd is that?

Axe, I'm not a Mason, either. I recently joined B.O.T.A. (Masonic Light talked about this group in earlier threads.) And, I tend to want to share my happiness with others. But, if folks aren't receptive, c'est la vie!
BTW, I kinda like that saying myself.
I also credit the Masons on ATS with my current attitude. They're a great bunch of guys. Sometimes, I swear you can feel the goodness across cyberspace

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
I also credit the Masons on ATS with my current attitude. They're a great bunch of guys. Sometimes, I swear you can feel the goodness across cyberspace

I agree totally. I checked out the BOTA website, looks very interesting. Obviously you are enjoying it, what can you tell me about your experience so far? I remember reading that you were looking into Co-Masonry and Ladie's Masonry, any luck there? I will be petitioning soon myself, I am already anxious...

Originally posted by Tamahu
We should all seek to learn the origins of things...

Some people just look for ways to be critical while pretending a higher purpose. The reality is that nothing can be traced to its orgin.

(Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV) What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. [10] Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. [11] There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. [12] I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. [13] I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! [14] I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

This most likely isn't original either, so you can feel free to trace it to it's source for us.
.

.

[edit on 12-9-2004 by Tamahu]

.

[edit on 12-9-2004 by Tamahu]

Originally posted by Tamahu
Again, I wasn't attacking Alex Kennedy personally, just using his words as an example. But it did seem odd that he seemed to have attributed that axiom to BOTA, when you would think that someone of his intellectual level would know that they didn't originate it.

How flattering, thank you.

We do owe much of early philosophy to the mystery schools that apparently originated in Egypt (Kemet, of course). Actually, I think you will find that, for example, Plato was very forthcoming about the fact that his philosophy is an elaboration of what he learned in these schools, and there is absolutely no doubt that the ancient Egyptians were a major source of information in the ancient world. Again, I believe that if you look at actual ancient Greek documents, they do give a lot of credit to Egypt.

Regarding the BOTA thing, I quite honestly wasn't even considering the issue of attribution; I just like the aphorism (I'm not sure it's always true... especially when people reverse it and assume that just because the instruction appears, the student is ready). The ancient Egyptians, the ancient Mesopotamians, and the Chinese were pretty well the first city-building civilisations on Earth (as far as I am aware). It's not surprising that many of our basic aphorisms owe their origins to the Egyptians, the Mesopotamians, and the Chinese.

Also, I'd like to say in Tamahu's support that Africa has never ceased being a centre of learning, philosophy, and literature. If we extend Africa to include the Arabian peninsula (which some do and some do not), Africa is responsible for all three of the major "desert religions." This is, again, not a surprise, as one of the first civilisations proper (Egypt) was in Africa, and another one (Mesopotamia) was very close to Africa, and right next to the Arabian Peninsula.

[edit on 23-8-2004 by AlexKennedy]

Originally posted by Tamahu
But one could argue that the Kemetians got it from Atlantis, who in turn got from Lemuria, etc., etc.; but all that is debateable.

Indeed it is: we do not have any evidence of Lemuria or Atlantis, but we do know that ancient Egypt existed (I mean no offense in calling it Egypt rather than Kemet -- I feel it would be pretentious of me to call it Kemet).

What isn't debateable, is that some passages from "The Bible" where directly taken from Heiroglyphic writings almost word for word, which can be found inscribed in stone to this very day.

Certainly. There is little doubt that the ancient Hebrews learned a great deal from the Egyptians.

If you like origins, you will love Morals and Dogma by Albert Pike. He writes about the Scottish Rite degrees (1� thru 32�) in 900+ pages of detailed discussion. After 3 months of reading and rereading I have achieved an elementry understanding of M&D.
.

Originally posted by Tamahu
What isn't debateable, is that some passages from "The Bible" where directly taken from Heiroglyphic writings almost word for word, which can be found inscribed in stone to this very day.

Tamahu. Can you give some examples?
We've discussed some of these ancient writings before and I could only find two that look pretty definite.

I'm already aware of some of the lines in the Song of Songs being taken from a poem of Isis. I've also read that Matthew 11.28 is inscribed over the doorway of an Isis Temple. But it would be interesting to see what else is out there.

I tend to follow the line of thinking that religions evolved from one another. Any evidence based on the above would be appreciated.

Originally posted by The Axeman
I agree totally. I checked out the BOTA website, looks very interesting. Obviously you are enjoying it, what can you tell me about your experience so far? I remember reading that you were looking into Co-Masonry and Ladie's Masonry, any luck there? I will be petitioning soon myself, I am already anxious...

After looking into B.O.T.A., Co-masonry and Eastern Star, I opted for B.O.T.A. It most closely fit my needs. I wanted the knowledge, but was not keen on the meetings of the Masonry-like organizations. Although, BOTA has groups in many major cities.

So far, I had had instruction in basic metaphysics and begun study of the Tarot. The study of this hidden knowledge is "right up my alley" LOL. I am a recent student: I joined only 4 months ago.
Feel free to u2u me.

Builders of the Adytum is an authentic Mystery School. Its system is that of the Western Tradition. Its teachings, which are based on the Holy Qabalah and the Sacred Tarot, have been handed down from one group of initiates to another since very ancient times.

www.bota.org...

[edit on 24-8-2004 by DontTreadOnMe]