Vol. 7No. 2 THE ILLINOIS LODGE OF RESEARCH Page 101 it is true. This, my Brothers, is true religion. It is that quality within us which transforms us for the better and directs our energies fo the high and holy goal of betterment for our world, ‘our family, our country and our friends. Nothing in life is a void. There is no emptiness. God fills all space, all life, all striving toward good. Webelieve this because ‘we are religious men, Few men live out their lives, whether Jong or brief, whodo not feel the claim of the Creator upon them at some point in time. We, as Masons, are exceedingly blessed to have confronted this claim. Perhaps we, to a great extent, hhave resolved the place of this relationship in our lives because of the instruction we have been given regarding our depen- dence upon Deity. ur daily obedience to do good i the thing that persuades men to look at those wearing the Square and Compass and re they have made the admonitions of the Supreme Architect the plumb line forthe values of thie lives. Good Masons live their belief in God. It makes their lives a square when the world and its values seem sometimes to be terribly askew. Masonry and religion-they must complement each other, for both, ifobeyed and followed, make a man far better than he could ever be ‘without them, There can be no valid conflict, for they nurture men to be all their gifts and talents will allow them to be. ‘A man that renounces his Masonic Affiliation because of @ dictum of his religion’s policy has totally failed to understand that neither can cancel the claim of the other. In no way does Masonry challenge the claim of a particular religion on aman’s allegiance. By the same token, no religion has anything to challenge in a man’s devotion to the fellowship and beneficent endeavors of his Masonic Lodge. The more he lives a life ‘circumscribed by his Masonic vows, the more he fulfills his vow to his place of worship. Adherence to the teachings of Masonry creates a moral, upright man who loves God, family and country. My years asa pastor revealed tome that deaconsand elders that ‘wore the Square and Compass were men devoted (o their ‘church and their God, men that took very seriously their vows. of fidelity. All that ever served with me were men that revered God and supported their places of worship because as Masons they were taught to do so, Masonry and religion? They are totally different, but they are also the same, Both teach men (o use their falentsand wealth so that ignorance and want may be overcome; to love so that hatred and bigotry may be eliminated; to revere God so that family and country may live in security and peace. Masonry is nota religion, but it is composed of religious men who strive to do all they can to make our world into what we believe the Supreme Architect intended it to be. Let us consolidate our efforts and energies so that the good Masonry has to offer tothe ‘world will be spread to the largest number possible and offer them the greatest benefit our benevolence can offer. That which we can give will call our beloved Fraternity to respected remembrance because we have loved, even as we were loved. ‘The Mission of Freemasonry is to promote a way of life that binds like-minded men in a worldwide brotherhood that tran- scends all religious, ethnic, social, cultural and educational differences by teaching the great principles of brotherly love, relief and truth; and by the outward expression ofthese through its fellowship, its compassion and its concern, it finds ways in which to serve God, family, country, neighbors and self. Ancient Mystery Religions and Freemasonry By Harold J. Spelman, J.D. ‘The Mystery Religions have been interpreted by many writers as having been the ancestor of Freemasonry and, therefore, Freemasonry directly descended from such religions. This is generally referred to as the “Wisdom Schoo!” approach. Thei intimation is that the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans had the equivalent of Masonic Lodges. On the other hand, many modern writers seemingly take a singular or pragmatic ap: proach to the history of Freemasonry, having held thet the ancient mystery religions are not relevant to the beginning of Freemasonry, holding that Freemasonry arose strictly out of the events establishing the Grand Lodge of London in 1717, taking their cue from the guilds of the past. [is the view of the writer ofthis paper that both the pragmatic approach and the wisdom school approach are not mutually exclusive and a balanced or harmonious view of the historical antecedent should be taken and that this balanced view will be the approach taken in this paper showing the connection between the mystery religions of ancient times and modern Freemasonry, Myths of Man Allof man’s institutions developed out of or from onc another. ‘No institution ever sprang up full loom without an antecedent and so it is with the mystery religions. This antecedent started ‘when the mind of man was fist awakening, The first thing he began to question was aeis of nature; the storms, the cold, the rain and the floods. Having no pragmatic explanation for these natural phenomenon, man developed myths to answer hisVol. 7 No. 2 questions.' These preliteral stories dealt with supernatural beings or heroes that served as primordial types ina primitive explanation of nature and the world. Of interest, concerning, these myths, was the fact that common myths are found in primitive cultures intribes andsocicties that area great distan from each other and have had no contact with one another This has led the famous Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung, to conclude that mankind has a common subconscious, trom which these myths arose, given to man by a religious or nonreligious source.’ We, however, as Freemasons must con- clude that they came from a religious source. Gradually, as time passed, man connected these myths with objective, observable heroes; men who had lived among them ‘and done a heroicor supernatural feat. When a mythisattached 10 an individual person, it becomes a legend, Long alter the individual has been forgotten the legend will continue and often times will pass into the realm of becoming a god. AS Manly Hall writes, “In order to make simple the great truths of nature and the abstract prineipals of natural law, the vital forces of the universe were personified, becoming the gods and ‘goddesses of the ancient mythologie: (One of the more common, and for our thesis more important ying with nature, is the bieth, death and rebirth myth. This myth is found in most all the Mideastern prehistoric cultures and was passed from there to the Greck and Romancultures. inonc of its most popular forms itis known as, the Tomes myth. There are many variations of the story but the essential features areas follows: A certain goddess came down tocarth. Inher wanderingsshecameacrossa mortal man whom she falls in love with. The human impregnated her and she became with child. For one reason or another the human was killed and descended into the ncther region. In her grief, as ‘goddess, she descended into that realm to look for him. There she met with various adventures in attempting to have her lover returned to the surface world. During her wanderings, the earth, in sorrow over her going below, became cold and barren and nothing flourished. She was finally able tomake a deal with the god of the underworld which usually followed the theme that the husband may live with her, the goddess, above ground, but, since the god of the underworld had fallen in love with the goddess, she must return and spend six months with him in the underworld. Upon the goxidess and her lover returning to the earth's surface the world rejoiced in seeing them. The sun reappears and the earth blooms. The husband is then killed, a son is born, he impregnates the mother-goddess, he descends through some accident to the nether land, the goddess again ‘goes below to rescue him, the earth again turns cold and is fruitless, again a bargain is struck and the two return to the surface with the same result, the earth blooms. The story s itself ad nauseam, THE ILLINOIS LODGE OF RESEARCH Page 102 ‘This is, of course, primitive man's attempt to rationalize the change in the seasons: the disappearance of the sun, the onset of the winterand the failure of the earth to bloom. The goddess has gone below! This story gives him confidence to know that, spring will eturn in due time, the earth would bloom and life ‘would go on. It is important to know this resurrection story as it will, in a changed form, become the basis ofthe mystery religions and many ofthe religionsof man. By taking the mythsoftheseason, ‘ith it raising in spring from the depths of the earth and applying it to the soul of a man and the return of the soul from ‘whence it came, rather than to agriculture, the mystery relic sions were born. It is one of the great discoveries in self understanding and forms the basis of Plato's philosophy and of 1neo-Platonism. Before examining these mystery religions it is necessary that we examine the conditions in the Greck and Roman state religions during this period. Greece and Roman State Religions For our studies theofficial state religions ofboth Greece and Rome provided the same challenges, The gods that they recog- nized were super humans; subject to the same vices and weaknesses as man, bt their strengths were also superhuman, ‘They wererelegatedtoa“home”, Mount Olympusfor instance, far from the life and world of men and they took not the feast interest in human affairs.S There was no personal salvation and the prayers that were addressed to these gods were never personal but were always for the public good. The city-state regime was a regime where no wadge could be driven between the temporal and the spiritual function.* The religion lacked both dogma and scripture. The ceremonies were pastoral and agrarian.’ The religion was totally indifferent to ethical con dicts" One ofthe chief responsibilities of religion ist switch the respaase system of adolescents from the dependency ofthe child world to the responsibility ofthe adult worl.° This is a result not easy to achieve. The religions of Greece and Rome failed in this respect. Inadtion, theofficial religions provided no plan for salvation: no hape fr eternal peace was provided. More importuntly the gods were immoral or amoral and pro- vided no code of conduct whereby one generation could pass on to the next a mode of right chavior. The gods, as we said, were only invoked for the benefit of the state and then only ‘when the state hada socal virus, such as war, ora natural crisis such #s a eatastrophe. In summary, the official state religion of Greece and Rome faited to provide the two essentials of a personal religion; salvation and moral code, As a result, the void left by the Greek religion to answer the needs of man the Greek poetry of tragedy was born. “The spirit of inquiry meets the spirit of poetry of tragedy.""! Tragedy was the natural joiner of the Greek world’s love of beauty and its inquiring mind, always asking the question whyVol. 7 No.2 ‘What isthis tragedy that will eventually lead usto the mysteries? ‘A poetic tragedy shows us the greatest pain which a man can suffer and gives to us, from that pain, pleasure and insight; the change comesthrough the “alchemy of poetry”? Again weturn to Edith Hamilton who says, “Itisby our powerto suffer, above all, that weareof more value then the sparrow. Endow them with 8 greater or as great a potential of pain and our foremost place in the world would no longer be undisputed.” So tragedy is the suffering of the soul that can suffer and yet pursue its goal and eventually be victorious. In orderto illustrate these tragedies, the poet’s heroes turned to mythology, for nothing will ruin tragedy as will reality In addition to tragedy, one other source of knowledge came to the aid of the people of Greece, in lieu of religion, to help them understand the place of man in the cosmos. This was Greek philosophy. By lessons learned in the Mideast, Pythagoras and Plato began to formulate the nature of the cosmos and the place ‘of man within it through the use of mathematics, geometry and the doctrine of the soul." Asa result ofthe failure of state religion to answer for morality, and salvation —the Greek poetry of tragedy: the Greek philoso phy of Pythagoras and Plato: the Greek ability to apply syncretism, the tendency to idemtfy deitiesand combine them into separate and distinct cult, or religion — was applied and slowly the poetry of tragedy and the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato united with the ancient mystery religions and the new mystery religions began to develop. Even though the poetry of tragedy and the philosophies brought some comfort to the people of Greece, there was still missing two important ingte dlients of religion, a moral code and a plan of salvation. To supply these missing factors the mystery religions were developed. They, as do al religions, grew out of a need. If man is not given what he needs to answer the age old questions of death, society, and nature, he will invent answers. He must be able to know thst somehow as an individual, he fits into the scheme of things. All ofthis led the men of Greece tobelieve that the cosmos was reatcd and laid down by god; teaching the unity of life with the unity of god.' The Mystery Religions During the history of Egypt, Greece and Rome, there were hundreds of mystery religions. We know, for instance, thatthe famousschoolof Pythagoras, Cratona, was operated inthe form of amystery school. isexact teachings, other then being formed on & conceptual mathematical basis are unknown. Pythagoras, having left, to our knowledge, no writings.'? We do know that ‘ost, if nt all, the mystery religions, were based on pusifica tion, processions, passions, plays, sacred symbols and mystic lirurgies.!* THE ILLINOIS LODGE OF RESEARCH Page 103, The only knowledge we really have of them comes from various poets, playwrights and the early Christian church doctors who quoted them: rightly or wrongly: and we do not know much to refute their teachings and hold them heretical We do know that the mystery religions were united in their search for knowledge and religion." They seemingly were first imported from the near east, possibly Egypt, during the prehistoric period. They attempted to lessen the distance between manand god and “forge bonds of unity” between them. ‘This gave the candidate a feeling of regeneration and redemp- tion and made him secure against the trials of life. Through initiation, the candidate was united with god. A blissful after life was promised and a triumph over death was guaranteed.> ‘What was the basis for this, upon what philosophy was this ‘built? We ean only speculate. To do this we will ake the three ‘most popular mysteries, all of which occurred in Greece, and ‘examine them. Then by projecting back into history we may beableto geta feel forthem and what they stood for. The three were known as the Dionysian, Orphic and Eleusinian, ‘The Dionysian Rites Dionysus wasa got of Tracian originand wasan offshoot of the fertility cults ofthe mid east. These erty cults rose out of the agricultural cults and myths used to explain the seasons. “They earied these agricultural mythsastp further by beliey- ing thatthe earth must be fertilized by blood, semen or penis before it would again bloom, The symbology of planting an ear of corn, endwise, in the ground was a symbolic carryover from these rites and led tthe “com rites” practiced by many iaily mative Arveticin The rites of the Dionysian’s were an ecstatic form of ssacramentalism, They took place in secluded places and were accompanied by wild drinking and dancing. The eating of raw flesh from an animal, connected with Dionysus, torn apart by participants, ended the rites. All this emotionalism led to a state of divine intoxication. The members though that they were at one with Bacchus (lord of the vine), a form taken by Dionysus, lifting them, by this intoxication, from the realm of reality to unification with god and in his realm; the intoxica- tion removing them from reality. The wildness of these proceedings caused criticism and hostility among the more staidcitizens. But is wasa counter reaction othe non-personal aloofness of the state religion of Greece. The Orphic Mysteries ‘The wildness of the Dionysus Mysteries led to the Orphie Mysteries with ts fous onestheties rather hen orgiastc rites. The Orphic myth developed as a separate myth and while tore resemblance tothe vegetation myths, it is endemic only to this Mystery. Is an important antecedent as far as our