THE SECRETS OF FREEMASON

THE SECRETS OF FREEMASON

BY SIXBERTY LUIZ MANSON

INTRODUCTION

"We must become aware of the knowledge of self and the time in which we are living. You must know these things whether you agree that Sixberty Manson  is on time or out of time. If what I say is out of season, it goes for nothing. If I am on time or in season, then all I say will bear fruit."

Behold the days come, oracle of the Eternal. . . I will set
my law within them and write it on their hearts . . .
Behold the days come that city shall be built.
JEREMIAH 31:33-38

To find the origins of Freemasonry, it is important first to iso- late its original characteristics, which can be found in the institutions from which it appears to have emerged:

1. It was a professional builders—or, more precisely, construc- tion—organization; the long-ago vocation of mason does not correspond directly to the modern specialization, but included an extensive knowledge of architecture. The organization was represented hierarchically.
2. The organization extended beyond a strictly professional frame- work. Its members considered themselves brothers and provided mutual assistance.
3. The association, in both its operations and assistance, followed traditional rites. Members were accepted into it through an ini- tiation and the brothers were united by sacred practices that were illustrative of an asceticism, an indispensable condition for the realization of the work.
4. The association accepted members who were not practitioners of the trade.

5. The association displayed and highlighted its character of universalism.


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This study of Freemasonry looks at both its specific history and the influences and events that have left their imprint over time on its for- mation and evolution. As such, it includes an examination of various spheres—social, juridical, religious, and philosophical—that have con- ditioned these events.
From a chronological perspective, the most certain sources of Freemasonry have emerged as the following:
1. The Roman collegia, the remnants of which remained in the West following invasions and survived in the East as institutions discovered by the Crusaders at the end of the eleventh century.
2. The ecclesiastical associations of builders formed by the bishops of the early Middle Ages, especially the Benedictines, the Cistercians, and the Templars.
3. Trade-based freemasonry, which was born under the aegis of these associations and followed the form of lay brotherhoods or guilds.
The history of Freemasonry and its origins will form the first part of this book. In the second part, we will study the evolution of the pro- fessional organization; its purposes, both operational and speculative; its initiatory and spiritualist nature; its gradual transformation from an organization of those who worked in the art of building to those who engaged in a stricto sensu art of thinking and living; and the creation of modern Freemasonry under the influences of and in circumstances con- nected to British history.

The greatest common denominator that we can distinguish across the centuries, truly the millennia, is the coexistence and interdepend- ence of masonic objectives and a sense of the sacred. In fact, it is the sacred that is the effective and ultimate cause of these objectives, how- ever different from one another they may appear in the various stages of their evolution. This is an exemplary illustration of an important truth: Faith lives only through works and works are worth only the faith that moves them.

PART 1 (Sehemu ya kwanza)

The Origins of Freemasonry from

Ancient Times to

the Middle Ages

The  Corporations: Colleges of Builders in Rome

The Religious Character of the Ancient Corporations
The corporative organization of labor goes back to distant antiquity, and associations of builders are among the most ancient. When humans abandoned the nomadic lifestyle, they formed builders associations to erect durable shelters, protective ramparts, and temples in which to worship their gods. Architecture became an art—a difficult one demanding unique empirical knowledge prior to the development of the exact sciences. In some ways builders created the first aristocracy of jealous exclusivity whose services were indispensable to the gradu- ally forming states. The association proved necessary because isolated individuals were incapable of erecting large structures by themselves and because this work required extensive general, technical, and artis- tic knowledge. Here it is necessary to make an important, preliminary observation if we truly wish to understand the history of labor and trades: First and foremost, this association always had a religious basis. For the people of antiquity, every action of life was commingled with religion. Humans considered themselves the playthings of higher pow- ers without whose help it was impossible to succeed at anything. Work was notably invested with a sacred nature. Oswald Wirth, in Les Mysteres de l'Art Royal, translated this religious sentiment with great skill:
The Ancient Corporations: Colleges of Builders in Rome 5
The hunter sacrificed to the guardian spirit of the animal he sought to kill, just as prior to chopping down a tree, the carpenter won the approval of the hamadryad. The quarryman, in turn, would have felt he had committed a sacrilege if he began cutting into rock without beforehand obtaining the consent of Mother Earth, whom he was mutilating. This is not the entire story, because avoidance of inspiring the hatred of a deity corresponds only to the negative side of worship by the professions. For his labor to be successful, the worker additionally had to ensure the positive support of the gods who dispensed the talents required. A pact was therefore nec- essary: By devoting himself body and soul to the service of the deity of the particular profession, the artisan would bilaterally contract sacred obligations, because by fervently striving to do his best in the domain of art, he compelled the god of his trade to come to his aid ... So a union was therefore effected between the humble mortal and the god who worked through him, using him as an intermediary, therefore deifying the human through work . . . Each trade exalted its tutelary deity . . . Rich in imagination, the ancients were able to poeticize the actions of daily life and give
their professional occupations a celestial aura. Thus were born the
1
mysteries of the different trades.
The cult of the ancient builders must have been of a distinct scope, for the noblest object of their labor was the construction of temples in which the gods were worshipped. In addition, human dwellings had religious significance. Rituals were an indispensable part of their con- struction. Among the Romans the home was the temple of the lares gods. This was true for all ancient peoples and still survives in the tra- ditional societies of the East. "The dwelling was not an object, a 'machine to inhabit': It was the Universe that man built in imitation of
2
God's exemplary creation, the cosmogony." The home was not merely
a geometrical space; it was an existential and sacred place.
When trade associations were indispensable, as was the case with those of the builders in ancient times, they were of a sacerdotal nature. Among the Egyptians, the priest embodied a special branch of human knowledge. Each grade put its students through a predetermined series