Emperor’s New Clothes

Paper 63/2007 Title Emperor’s New Clothes Author Bro David Sims - Thailand Our Craft has spread to all corners of the globe and has been an important part of our society for hundreds of years. A part of our society into which many of us have put considerable time and effort. So may I ask, brethren, how can it possibly be, after all this time and effort, that, apart from the preparatory moral aspects and guidance, we ignore the ultimate focus of what our Craft puts squarely before us. You may feel that this is unduly provoc ative, but a sharp point is surely justified for such a central issue, particularly when our capacity to ignore what our ritual puts before us is so great that emperor’s clothes syndrome comes to mind. Nevertheless, you may well feel that this is a somewhat extreme viewpoint and that if there was any substance whatever in the idea that we are mostly oblivious to what our Craft ultimately puts before us then others would already have voiced their concern. So may I refer you to a similarly pointed reference by our Pro Grand Master
“Anglo–Saxon masonry has lost it’s way and fails to teach candidates the fundamental truths of freemasonry” And if you think that this is just a contemporary viewpoint, W.Bro. Wilmshurst back in 1922, in “The Meaning of Masonry” said, equally pointedly - “The meaning of masonry is a subject usually left entirely unexpounded
and that accordingly remains largely unrealized by it’s members, save
such few as make it their private study.” Surely, Brethren, these considered opinions cannot be easily dismissed.
So what is the ultimate point of our Craft that we are ignoring? Brethren, what we have ignored is made quite clear by both the opening and the closing of our MM degree, - it is the MM’s Search for the Genuine Secrets. This Search is a direct reference to the natural process by which every man has the opportunity to tune in to higher levels of awareness when he starts tuning into the interests of others rather than staying apart. It is the grand process of coming together which is sublimely c aptured by our three Grand Principles; Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth, - Brotherly Love being the feeling of coming together, Relief making this feeling genuine and substantive, and Truth being the higher awareness that we automatically tune in to when we make another’s interests “inseparable from our own.” This, along with the need for Detach ment, is the process that true esoteric traditions and ancient mystery schools around the world have always used and directly relates to “…that mysterious veil which the eye of
human reason cannot penetrate unless assisted by that light which is from above.” Our Craft presents MM’s with this age-old, natural pr ocess by which we, as individuals, can expand our awareness in the physical world before we move on to the Grand Lodge Above. Can we not now take our Craft more seriously and finally give our Grand Principles, and the Search, the credibility that they so richly deserve?