Evil Will Ultimately Be Dethroned

Greetings and welcome back as we continue Chapter 26 of Morals and Dogma.

 

  This chapter explores the intricacies of different religious thought and spiritual paths, and, most importantly in my opinion, reminds the Mason that freemasonry belongs to not one single religion or spiritual path. 

Inherent in all of the degrees are lessons from every single religion, showing no prejudice towards any religion.

 

This chapter continues to remind us that, we too, should live our lives in that manner.

 

  And now, LET’S READ PIKE!

 

   To every Mason, the Infinite Justice and Benevolence of God give ample assurance that Evil will ultimately be dethroned, and the Good, the True, and the Beautiful reign triumphant and eternal. It teaches, as it feels and knows, that Evil, and Pain, and Sorrow exist as part of a wise and beneficent plan, all the parts of which work together under God's eye to a result which shall be perfection. Whether the existence of evil is rightly explained in this creed or in that, by Typhon the Great Serpent, by Ahriman and his Armies of Wicked Spirits, by the Giants and Titans that war against Heaven, by the two co-existent Principles of Good and Evil, by Satan's temptation and the fall of Man, by Lok and the Serpent Fenris, it is beyond the domain of Masonry to decide, nor does it need to inquire. Nor is it within its Province to determine how the ultimate triumph of Light and Truth and Good, over Darkness and Error and Evil, is to be achieved; nor whether the Redeemer, looked and longed for by all nations, hath appeared in Judea, or is yet to come.

 

 

In this paragraph, Pike reminds us that evil WILL be dethroned. 

 

When I read this paragraph, I was reminded to renew my hope in humanity, because, and I am being honest, I have been losing my hope that civilization will rise above what seems like the pits of despair and all of the killing that has been prevelent in the news of late. 

 

Evil will be dethroned! We must continue to believe that love will rein and common sense will rule, because if we do not believe this then there is no sense to continue to try to do any good whatsoever. 

 

Pike also reminds us that it is not for Masonry to decide HOW evil is dethroned, nor even if the redeemer has yet been born, which is to say that even though the christian believes that the messiah has been born and raised again, this is not the same as the Jew who believes the messiah is yet to come.

But, we must all cling to our own beliefs as to how evil will be dethroned, because it is that belief that helps us to continue to be beacons of light.

 

Don’t give up, my fellow Masons. The world needs us to hold up our love and faith in humanity. There is no better example of love and acceptance than when a true mason shows this to the world.

 

NEXT

 

 

It reverences all the great reformers. It sees in Moses, the Lawgiver of the Jews, in Confucius and Zoroaster, in Jesus of Nazareth, and in the Arabian Iconoclast, Great Teachers of Morality, and Eminent Reformers, if no more: and allows every brother of the Order to assign to each such higher and even Divine Character as his Creed and Truth require.

Thus Masonry disbelieves no truth, and teaches unbelief in no creed, except so far as such creed may lower its lofty estimate of the Deity, degrade Him to the level of the passions of humanity, deny the high destiny of man, impugn the goodness and benevolence of the Supreme God, strike at those great columns of Masonry, Faith, Hope, and Charity, or inculcate immorality, and disregard of the active duties of the Order.

 

 Masonry, Pike reminds us in this paragraph, sees truth where truth is present. 

  Masons should remember to kill their own dogma (which in this discourse “dogma” is the belief that “we” already have THE TRUTH so there is no need to seek any other truth.)

  as to clearly see what else might be true in the heart of others. 

   We must remember that all creeds point to what is truth, and we must not forget that every truth builds upon another truth. 

  The foundations of all religions have ancient origins, but we often forget that it was the ancients that built these foundations and we often decry their beliefs as “pagan” or “evil” while holding our own dogmatic ways as truth, when it is the ancient truth that we follow anyway! 

Pike reminds us to seek all truth.

NEXT

p. 526

Masonry is a worship; but one in which all civilized men can unite; for it does not undertake to explain or dogmatically to settle those great mysteries, that are above the feeble comprehension of our human intellect. It trusts in God, and HOPES; it BELIEVES, like a child, and is humble. It draws no sword to compel others to adopt its belief, or to be happy with its hopes. And it WAITS with patience to understand the mysteries of Nature and Nature's God hereafter.

The greatest mysteries in the Universe are those which are ever going on around us; so trite and common to us that we never note them nor reflect upon them. Wise men tell us of the laws that regulate the motions of the spheres, which, flashing in huge circles and spinning on their axes, are also ever darting with inconceivable rapidity through the infinities of Space; while we atoms sit here, and dream that all was made for us. They tell us learnedly of centripetal and centrifugal forces, gravity and attraction, and all the other sounding terms invented to hide a want of meaning. There are other forces in the Universe than those that are mechanical.

 

Masonry IS a worship; but one in which all civilized men unite, Pike writes. 

And he explains why this is in the next line: for it (masonry) does not undertake to explain or DOGMATICALLY to settle those great mysteries that are above the feeble comprehension of our human intellect.

 Pike goes on: (Masonry) trusts in God, and HOPES; (Masonry) BELIEVES like a child and is HUMBLE. (Masonry) draws no sword to compel others to adopt its belief, or to be happy with (masonry’s) hopes.

(Masonry) WAITS with patience to understand the mysteries of Nature, and Nature’s God hereafter.

 

   We as masons should be adopting this behavior daily. As I mentioned earlier, the world is waiting for masonry’s heartfelt actions to help us to rise above the ignorance and evil that seems to be choking out the hopes of many. 

 

   We need to remember to be beacons of hope and to hold out for the positive attributes of mankind. There is too much negativity right now, not enough peace it seems.

   So we must and I mean we MUST begin to ask ourselves daily as bearers of light “what can I do to bring peace and positivity to those around me?"

   If we can find a way to deliver light daily, I believe we will beging to change the world around us for the better.

 

     Stay strong, my fellow Masons! Stay hopeful! 

      The world needs YOU now.

 

       And with that, I will close for this time. 

 

      Thank you for joining me again as we learn from Pike. I truly hope this study makes some difference to you, as it certainly has helped me to change my own views and to be open minded.

 

Don’t forget that Universal Freemason has an app which will remind you as to when new posts are featured here, and after I write the opinion here, I also write some other insight on the app. 

     The link to the app is in this blog, and though you must be ok’d by admin, you will be ok’d! Just sign up!

 

       I will see you next week as we continue chapter 26!