Wisdom From Brother Pike

WISDOM FROM BROTHER PIKE










“The swarming of the unworthy into the Temples is only one symptom of the disease, which itself is the lessening of the spirit of loving kindness, the lessening of kindly interest in the welfare of each other, the mere acquaintanceship that has so largely and regrettably has taken the place of the old Masonic Brotherhood. Masons assemble, and part as they met, not better friends, not even better acquainted, sometimes not knowing each other. They assemble and make Masons and go away not remembering their faces. There are real brotherly relations between few members. One seldom makes any sacrifice for another; and fighting and contentions arise on as slight grounds and upon petty provocations, as among the profane ever to the shame of Masonry, out of the lust for office, the lust for control and the pitiful rivalries that it creates, in which all our obligations are forgotten.

Where these things are found Masonry is dead, and a lesser Order lives in its steed, usurping the name of Masonry. Masonry cannot live without a soul, and its soul is loving-kindness. It is time for the work of regeneration to begin; and in this work, by the restoration of this spirit, every man has it in his power to do something. Let the regeneration begin here. Live together here, all of you, as Masons should; for the Life of Masonry, is but a useless life, so long as this work remains undone.”



Lodge of Perfection Inauguration Ritual 1882

By Albert Pike


Now, sir, you know what are the principal duties of a Mason. You may say that Masons too generally do not perform those duties: that their charities are small and rarely bestowed: that their moneys, received for initiations and by contributions, are spent in show and parade: that they rarely assist or advise each other: that they defame and malign one another: that rival rites and rival bodies quarrel: that Masons prove to be no better and no wiser than other men: and that a Mason is often the last man to whom a Mason will apply for assistance in distress, or for encouragement and support when maligned or persecuted. You may therefore say to yourself, that the obligations of the Order are unreal, and its pretensions unfounded; and that you, too, may safely take those obligations, because you may, with the same impunity as others, neglect or violate them.



In part, at least, this is true. The populace has invaded the sanctuaries, and the true initiation, in the prevailing popular Rites, has died out. It has its Lodges in every little, obscure corner. It teaches little to its Initiates, and requires little of them. Too often it receives any one who offers, in order to supply its treasuries. Even its Higher Degrees have ceased to be exlusive. Populous beyond example, it is powerless. Teaching morality only, it has ceased, even in that, to enforce its lessons: well-intentioned, knowing that the great majority of those whom they call their Brethren, will not perform their obligation to them, cease to consider themselves bound to succor or assist that majority. Thus it is that Masonry has ceased to exist there, except for the excellent and enlightened few, who lament, but cannot cure the deadly disease of which the Order dies, decaying at the root, and hollow, while fuller of leaf than ever.



However it may be elsewhere, it cannot be justly charged that such is the condition of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite. There is no Order or Church that has not Members who do not practise what they profess. It is because such is the condition of Masonry, that the authorities of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite have resolved to form select bodies of Masons, by initiation according to their own forms, and by selection of the best among Master Masons already made such in the other Rites; and within this limited circle to insist on the full performance of all Masonic duty; to lop off, without mercy all dead and decayed branches, and no longer to permit the presence of the faithless, the lukewarm, or the apathetic in their Temples. Here, Masonic obligations are serious, solemn, and real. Imagine not that they can be lightly taken and as lightly disregarded, with impunity. It would be a fatal mistake.



Albert Pike, 1871


"...If all men had always obeyed with all their hearts, the mild and gentle teachings of Masonry, that world would always have been a paradise; while Intolerance and Persecution make of it a hell. For this is the Masonic creed: BELIEVE, in God's infinite benevolence, wisdom and justice; HOPE, for the final triumph of good over evil, and for the Perfect Harmony as the final result of all the concords and discords of the Universe; and be CHARITABLE, as God is, towards the unfaith, the errors, the follies and the faults of men; for all are one great Brotherhood."

Albert Pike, The Meaning of Masonry, 1858