Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry [Paperback]

Morals and Dogma by Albert Pike no longer has the prominence among Scottish Rite Masons as it once held. Most likely because the majority of people it was presented to throughout the years never bothered to read it, but possibly because it is such a daunting task to try and understand what he is referring to. I usually finish a book of 900 pages in about 4 days; I've been reading this book since Thanksgiving, four months for roughly 865 pages. It's not that Pike writes above the head of any reader, it's just if you want to be thorough when your reading something as reflective as Morals and Dogma, it's good to cross reference many of the works alluded to by the author and tries to get a broader understanding of what he is talking about. I'll go ahead and make the standard disclaimer here, this book has nothing to do with establishing a religious creed for anyone reading it, and it is not the book I would recommend for the beginner who is researching Masonic lore. What Pike does, and in a masterful way, is take each of the 32 degrees of the Scottish Rite, and lifts the veils (reveals) of the allegories hidden behind each of the ceremonies (ritual is more correct, but it denotes too many ties with religion in our current lexicon). Each chapter is a degree of the Scottish Rite, and each one attempts to show the reader where the symbolism originally came from, and then cross references it with all of the religious and philosophical systems that had existed at the time of its writing. From the Kabala to the early orders of Knighthood, each piece of symbolism that Masonry had required is broken down and analyzed in the most painstaking manner, leaving the reader to decide if the symbolism holds any weight within his own moral or dogmatic code, just like the actual degree work that is performed during the various stages of initiation. Pike never said, "You must believe in all of these religions in order to be a good Mason," and even went so far as to proclaim Christianity as the most likely candidate for the one true legacy of all the early religions stemming back to the origin of the human race's belief systems as we know it. If people want to denounce the various moral codes of other belief systems, then they are free to do so, but I do think they should review the books that proclaim those codes, and not one that merely compares the various aspects of said religions so that the reader can come to an appreciation of all the various "morals and dogmas" represented. I think this is a fine work for anyone interested in comparative religion, or just wants to see that man from one background is not so much different in his beliefs from another, and that very likely they had a common root. This should also still be required reading for anyone interested in truly appreciating their Masonic heritage and wants to delve deeper than just putting on the regalia and performing the scripts.

What is the philosophy inculcated by the Masonic Fraternity? Why have so many renowned men such as George Washington, Mozart, Benjamin Franklin, Harry S. Truman, and Sir Winston Churchill found in Masonic membership keys to leading enlightened lives? 'Morals and Dogma', written by poet, philosopher, frontiersman, soldier, humanitarian and philanthropist Albert Pike, explores in this volume answers to these questions, along with commentaries on religious and philosophical beliefs throughout history. Recommended to everyone who is interested in philosophy and comparative religion, but more especially to the Mason who desires a more thorough understanding of his fraternity.

I first looked Albert Pike up on the Internet, because my friend, Andrew, told me that as the founder of the Ku Klux Klan, he was the most evil American. Many sources claim that Pike espoused slavery in 1857 while practicing law in Arkansas. And it's easy to find references to him all over the Internet saying that he worshipped Lucifer and had demonic intentions of bringing the world under the totalitarian control of the Illuminati in an apocalyptic Third World War; that he could even see far enough ahead to help engineer the modern conflict between the West and Islam and so on and so forth.

He's born and raised in Boston, considered a Founding Father. And prior to the Civil War he was firmly against secession, but he nonetheless joined the Confederate Army and was put in charge of working with the Indians, because he got along with them so well. And then he did a terrible job as a General and was even arrested on counts of insubordination and treason. And he's the only Confederate soldier who has a statue in Washington. Hmmm...

Of course, in past times, I wouldn't have been allowed to read his book, not only because I'm not an Nth degree Freemason, but because I'm just a girl. So, of course, I bought the book about a year ago, and I've been reading it slowly every evening, and then rereading passages that I felt didn't quite sink in.

Every page is infused with such heart, and such depth of wisdom and such erudition.

And there's just no way the author of this book sought the downfall of Christianity or Islam or Buddhism or any other religion. And there's no way he regarded other races and peoples as inferior... you don't write 850 pages quoting extensively and respectfully from the best writings of the Western and Eastern and African traditions if you think they are in some way inferior to your own. And he didn't believe in slavery. I could quote 1000 passages (without exaggeration) which are irreconcilable with a belief in any of this, but let me pull out a few here... Hmmm... Lessee...

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"Christianity taught the doctrine of Fraternity; but repudiated that of political Equality... Masonry was the first apostle of Equality. In the monastery there is Fraternity and Equality, but no Liberty. Masonry added that also, and claimed for man a three-fold heritage, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity... Man has a natural empire over all institutions. This seems a simple truth... But once it was a great new Truth... Once revealed, it imposed new duties on men. Man owed it to himself to be free. He owed it to his country to seek to giver her freedom, or to maintain her in that possession. It made Tyranny and Usurpation the enemies of the Human Race. It created a general outlawry of Despots and Depotisms, temporal and spiritual... Patriotism had, henceforth, a new and wider meaning. Free Government, Free Thought, Free Conscience, Free Speech! All these came to be inalienable rights, which those who had parted with them or been robbed of them, or whose ancestors had lost them, had the right summarily to retake."

"Masonry teaches that all power is delegated for the good, and not for the injury of the People; and that, when it is perverted from the original purpose, the compact is broken and the right ought to be resumed; that resistance to power usurped is not merely a duty which man owes to himself and his neighbor, but a duty which he owes to his God... This principle neither the rudeness of ignorance can stifle nor the enervation of refinement extinguish... The wise Mason will not fail to be a votary of Liberty and Justice."

"He has already lived too long who has survived the ruin of his country; and he who can enjoy life after such an event deserves not to have lived at all. Nor does he any more deserve to live who looks contentedly upon abuses that disgrace and cruelties that dishonor, and scenes of misery and destitution and brutalization that disfigure his country."

"Observing the annual return of the rising of the Nile was always accompanied by the appearance of a beautiful Star... The Ethiopian compared this act of that Star to that of the Animal, which barking gives warning of danger and styled it the Dog (Sirius)."

"We do not undervalue the importance of any Truth. We utter no word that can be deemed irreverent by any one of any faith. We do not tell the Moslem that it is only important for him to believe that there is but one God and wholly unessential whether Mahomet was his prophet... And as little do we tell the sincere Christian that Jesus of Nazereth was a man like us, or His history but the unreal revival of an older legend. To do either is beyond our jurisdiction. Masonry, of no one age, belongs to all time; of no one religion, it finds its great truths in all."

"Thus Masonry disbelieves no truth and teaches unbelief in no creed... It draws no sword to compel others to adopt its belief."

"And be Charitable as God is, toward the unfaith, the errors, the follies, and the faults of men: for all make one great brotherhood."

"The immutable law of God requires, that besides respecting the absolute rights of others, and being merely just, we should do good, be charitable, and obey the dictates of the generous and noble sentiments of the soul. Charity is law, because our conscience is not satisfied nor at ease if we have not relieved the suffering, the distressed and the destitute."

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I mean, c'mon guys. I'm not a rocket scientist, but I say that he was either sent by the Union Army, or himself decided to infiltrate the Confederate Army, and try to contribute to its defeat. And for the sake of the stability of the Union, he consented to live on in ignominy.

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