THE MASONIC WORK: ASTRAL AND VISIBLE

It will no doubt be of assistance to students, and also serve to bring out clearly the position which the Masonic Order claims to occupy, if fundamental theories are stated in the form of propositions; such propositions being followed by explanatory and illustrative notes. Of course these propositions must not on any account be taken as dogmatic statements, but merely as a convenient way of explaining a somewhat difficult subject. Obviously the first point is with regard to the nature of the Order, and our first proposition therefore is:

1..The Masonic Order is in itself a distinct living entity or unit, whose visible body is composed of multitudes of entities, each having an individuality of its own, the whole Order, like the living human being, having its seven Principles.

The first proof of this proposition is to be found in the existence of the Masonic Order as an Association at the present day, for it is fact that every association is to a greater or less extent an individual entity apart from the members comprising it. For instance, a regiment of soldiers has its ideal personality, its model-body, popularly called "astral body", so to speak, which survives from generation to generation, and has definite character, memory, honour and disgrace. Further, the men composing the regiment may be regarded as the physical body of the regiment, while the "esprit de corps" which holds them together corresponds to the Prana (life) of the regiment. Thus in every association the seven principles may be traced, some being dormant or mere potentialities; and according to the varying development of them, so are the associations analogous to human, animal, vegetable, or mineral entities.

The fallacy opposed to this lies in confining the conception of a living entity or unit to such bodies as have form and limitations perceptible to human senses, as, for example, to men, animals, vegetables etc. It is, howevers obvious that every cell of the human body has in a certain sense an individuality of its own (using the term in the popular sense), it lives, it functions, and dies, according to its own laws of growth and development. There are also in the human body innumerable parasites and bacter ia, having nothing in common with its life save as guests it a house, some of them being actively hostile to the common life. Moreover, multitudes of cells of foreign matter simply pass through, and are never incorporated in the body; hence, to the perception of a cell or a microscopic parasite the entire human being as an entity might well seem a myth. Either then we must make the limit of the perception of human senses our final limit, or concei ve of an association as a living entity; the latter is obvio usly "a priori" the most philosophic.

Like the ordinarily understood living entity, the Masonic Order, and indeed every other association, has both its material and its astral body. The astral body is the ideal form, the internal and invisible Order, so to speak, and of course existing before the visible and material form. This astral Order must be as old as Humanity, and capable of existence apart from the visible Order, and the counter proposition is that such invisible or astral Order is the only true Order. Express reference is made in the Order rituals to the existence of a Grand Lodge Above, having its Grand Master and Officers. Such reference is meant to testify to the fact, which forms part of the long stream of esoteric tradition throughout the ages, that a supernal Masonic Assembly not only exists, but that it preceded, in point of time and constitution, the Masonic Order on earth. Had it not so existed and preceded the terrestrial Order, that Order itself would not have existed ; for the hypothesis is, as we have already stated, that the latter is the shadow and projection upon the physical world of a corresponding hierarchical order in the superphysical.

There is, then, an astral Masonic Order or inner community which has been engaged from the earliest ages in building the grand Temple for the regeneration of Humanity, by which the kingdom of God will become manifest, as is proved by the testimony of occult science of all ages. There is also a visible material association, now existing, which we have suggested was considered by its original Founders to be the material and visible body corresponding to that astral Order. The Brethren of the First Assemblies of Masons were the custodians of the Craft legend, now known as the Hiramic myths and it will be necessary to show or assume that this mystic Hiram ("our Master Hiram Abiff") was the same as the Prototype of the ancient mysteries. It will be necessary to return to this point, but for the present, accepting the various Hermetic and Kabbalistic schools as connecting links, we may assume it, although we add the qualification that the view of the 1700's Brethren was more limited, and that they knew less of the mystic side of these great teachings than the famous schools who preceded them.

The relations between the visible and the invisible Masonic Order are analogous to those between the material body and the astral double of a human being. This must needs follow as a corollary from the propositions for every material unit must have its astral form, and the relationship between the two is always the same.

The various human beings composing the Association called the Craft are analogous to the various cells composing the human body, these are heterogeneous and none of them exactly represent the whole. There is an individuality (again using the term in the popular sense) in every association which is more or less definite, but which is not the individuality of any of its members or of the sum of them, or the average of that sum; but a distinct entity. That this applies to the Craft is clear from the popular s peech even of the critics of Freemasonry, who declare, "Freemasonry teaches, proclaims, instructs etc," and although usually there is no authority for making such statements about Freemasonry, the speakers instinctively recognise the Craft as a distinct entity.

Every philosophic truth is faced by an opposite error, which is mostly a misapprehension. It may therefore conduce to a better understanding of our first proposition if we place alongside of it its counter-proposition, viz, "Freemasonry, like every association, is nothing more than the aggregate of the individuals at any particular time composing it, and can, therefore, have no character or qualities of its own". This counter proposition represents one form of ordinary thinking, and as the philosophic "pros " and "cons" have been so thoroughly thrashed out in the arguments of the Nominalists and the Realists there is no need for their repetition here.

We may now predicate a few points which follow as natural corollaries from the analogy of the body of Freemasonry to the human body:-

1.. It ought to be sufficiently organic to express in material form and human language its constitution, rules and teaching.

2.. As the material human body is subject to sickness and imperfection of various parts, to old age, decay and death, and to Karmic results in general, which do not touch the higher principles, so it is in the Craft. Imperfection in the members is not only to be expected, but is an absolute necessity.

3.. As a man often knows inwardly in his higher knowledge truths which he is utterly unable to express in words or in any way to communicate to his fellows unless they are able by their own intuition to grasp his meaning, so the amount which any man or body of men are able to gather of the doctrine of Freemasonry must by no means be taken as the sum total of those doctrines, but some allowance must be made for the limitations both of expression and receptiveness incident to material bodies,

This brings us to the second and third of our propositions, viz:-

(2).. The visible body of the Craft, like the material human body, had a material origin at a definite epoch of time. Its organic constitution is hereditary and is for the purpose of acting as a vehicle, or means of communication between the invisible soul and other souls bound in material limitations.

(3).. This organism is the constitution designed by the first Founders of the Masonic Order acting on the express or implied directions of the inner community whose doctrines they desired to perpetuate.

The demonstration of this follows directly from the analogy of an association to the human body. The body of a child is derived from its parents, and from them it inherits the organs whereby in mortal life it communicates with its fellows, but the soul is not derived from the parents. In like manner, if any man or body of men, desire to perpetuate any idea, or to impress any idea on the world at large, the first and most obvious method is to form a society thoroughly impressed and impregnated with that idea . The second method is to write a book, adopt a written book, or make a compilation. The deficiency in the case of the first method is that the society may wander from their original purposes while in the second instance written words soon lose their meaning in the absence of a living teacher to expound them. Hence, it follows that the Society with written records presents an exact analogy to the child stamped with the hereditary image of its parents, and the living soul coming into that child, the body bec omes its vehicle of communication.

Adopting the conception of the Masonic Craft as a unit consisting of an association of smaller units, held together by some common tie, and with some common object of central will, informing and controlling the association, it is evident that unless there is a clear and unquestionable means whereby that will can be expressed, the Order is a nonentity so far as the rest of the world is concerned. This brings us to the fourth proposition:-

(4)..The physical and visible Masonic Order, in common with every other Association, has, as the physical man has, organic means of communicating its will, thoughts, and teaching.

This proposition is almost self-evident from a consideration of any Association of which we know. For instance, the smallest club begins by appointing a secretary to answer questions and to speak in the name of the club, and then forms a more or less efficient organisation by which the wishes of the members as a whole can be ascertained. Similarly, a limited Company has its board of directors, its seal authenticating its utterances, and its official appointed to speak and act in the name of the Company. E ven a Nation has its House of Representatives or its Autocrat. In every case until such an organisation is formed the Association has no cognisable existence. The common consent of both friends and critics assigns an organic voice to Freemasonry by speaking either in praise or condemnation of what the Craft does, says, or teaches.

(5).. The organic means of communicating the thought, teaching or decision of the whole Craft is by decree of a Grand Lodge, i.e., a General Assembly lawful, approved and received by all subordinate Lodges.

The Masonic movement in London began in the 1700's, in obscure circumstances, by four old London Lodges resolving to generate out of themselves an over-riding fifth entity designed to be the governing authority for themselves and a few other Lodges in and around London and which became the first Grand Lodge. From the very first it was considered that the whole Craft, either personally or by representation, should deliberate on what concerned the whole. When Freemasons grew too nume rous for all to be present, they came by representation. In an association too large for a consensus of all its members to be possible, the result is attained by the principle of representation. As there may be imperfection in the representation, there may also be doubt about the expression of will when first promulgated, but it is to be presumed accurate, and its subsequent acceptance by the association makes it the organic voice of that association and binding thereon. These conditions are all fulfilled in the decrees of a Masonic Grand Lodge. The formation of the Grand Lodges at York and London in 1700's was the seed-germ of the world-wide Craft of today.

The doctrines authoritatively promulgated by the Craft may be reduced to a very small compass. Since the great union between the Ancient and Modern Grand Lodges in 1813: which resulted in the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England, the organ (so to speak) of the living Craft whose function was to enunciate teachings in final, absolute and crystallised form, has become temporarily inoperative, its potentiality however retaining. The office of the teaching Craft was thenceforth limited to the authorizations, inculcation and application of truths already defined, or to the tentative and local promulgation of teaching hereafter perhaps to be generally received by the whole Craft. Occultists will, of courses be familiar with the idea of a certain amount of teaching being given out at a the from an authoritativ e source, and then the supply ceasing for a time, to be again renewed at the proper season. Materialist enquirers must simply accept the fact that the Craft by its constitution provided itself with an organ of speech, and that having made sundry definite statements by means thereof, it became silent, although the organ of speech was not destroyed.

Surveying now the ground we have gone over, we see that the Craft may be conceived of as an entity, apart from the individuals at any particular time composing it, and bearing a strong analogy to the human body, the men at any given time making up the association called the Craft, corresponding to the molecules and cells composing the body; having also its ideal or astral counterpart, imperfectly expressed by the outward and visible Order; and having further its common mind or thought faculty, and an organ whereby the thoughts evolved by that faculty can be expressed and made known. It thus appears that we have the means of knowing the outward or exoteric Freemasonry, and that we can use such knowledge to gain acquaintance with the esoteric Order; see how far the outer is a true presentment of the inner, how far Karmic Law operates, and other problems of deep interest.