Many inside will defend their Craft by saying our perception on the outside is off and not truly representing their innocent Gentleman’s Club of “beefsteak dinners and community service.” However, I have found that there are several thoughts on this on why it must be defended that way.
For one thing those initiated in the Blue Lodge, who are told they now are full-fledged Master Masons having passed the 3rd degree have only touched the surface of what is further. They enter upon a request to “seek the light,” then desire “more light,” and then of course “further light.” They may be considered full Masons at the finale of the Blue Lodge initiation (3 degrees), however this enlightenment continues beyond that to reveal the true meaning of symbols, purpose, and knowledge of their Craft. If they are so invited into further initiation into advanced degrees.
Some contend that the further degrees are only for those who desire them and not necessary to become more of a Mason. There are even a few who deny these further degrees as nothing but independent desires of certain Lodges. But yes, they are correct to express that the only requirement to become a Master Mason is to finish the Blue Lodge initiation of the 3rd degree. However the further advanced degrees that they denounce hold secrets that they are not yet privy.
While a Mason is a Master Mason upon the 3rd degree, Masonry does not stop at the lower levels to know the true meaning of symbols, rituals, and knowledge of illumination to know the “light.” A lower initiate is still in darkness and naive about his own Craft and the secrets they have inside, as well as their identity, until he furthers in advancement and initiated into such knowledge. One at the lower levels do not know what the Adept levels believe, who actually lead their Craft. In higher Adept circles of Masonry, they indoctrinate the meaning of Illumination along the way. This is pure Gnosticism, which is concealed to the unworthy.
Those in lower levels do not understand this because they are deliberately kept in the dark. Albert Pike, high-ranking author for the Masons, wrote in his Masonic book Morals and Dogma that:
The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them. Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry. The whole body of the Royal and Sacerdotal Art was hidden so carefully, centuries since, in the High Degrees,…
Masonry, like all the Religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled; to conceal the Truth, which it calls Light, from them, and to draw them away from it. Truth is not for those who are unworthy or unable to receive it.
Some in Freemasonry only choose to stay on the community level, which is a “right-hand-path” in which they will only receive the false outer perception of their Craft. This is merely the surface and not the inside. But they assume they are inside as they do get a glimpse of the secrets, the handshake privileges, and a soft definition of the symbols. They receive benefits of getting a “square deal’ from other associates who are Mason, and it makes good business sense to become a Freemason for the privileges. But they are misled of the knowledge unless they are desire going into the darker realms of the inside, and upon which are initiated into by high-ranking Masons of Adept circles. Otherwise their knowledge is only limited to a surface meaning and purpose of “beefsteak dinners and community service,” with certain privileges. This is why they defend in ignorance, and accuse the outside of making false accusations to discredit their Craft. They simply are ignorant of their own fraternity.
The other consideration when a Mason denies there is anything mysterious is that they are covering their secret. In the early degrees a death oath is recited that threatens any Mason who allows the secrets to penetrate the Lodge and become public. While said to be a mere cosmetic ritual, it holds a true threat especially at higher degrees. And higher ranking Masons guard the secret with all their heart, their soul, and conscience. They will NOT admit what they know and will deny what you do. Then will lead you to superficial works by sources that cover their secrets for them. Propaganda books that downplay the Craft as a mere Community Club for Gentlemen and that also provide only a surface description of the fraternity.
Here is one secret. The “G” can represent a few things to a Mason. It can represent God, because a Mason must have a belief in a god to enter. That god could be Yahweh, Allah, A Hindu god, a Great Force, even a tree if one desires. But he must prove he has some deity he attributes because despite the god you endorse, it is the Great Architect of the Universe (GAOTU) that a Mason recognizes universally.
Higher Masons reveal that the “G” stands for Geometry. Since geometry, calculations, symbols, and numbers play a role in Freemasonry that may be true. As well as Kabbalah and the Pythagorean theorem.
Others say it represents Gnosis as in Gnosticism. Knowledge is salvation for the Mason. And secrecy is held back from the masses as unworthy to receive it. Therefore knowledge is power.
However, another meaning is that the “G” represents the “Generative Principle,” which is rooted in fertility worship, and contrasts uniting for the ultimate unity of power. This may be denied, but its principle is surely present in the rituals. Upon initiation into Entered Apprentice, an initiate participates in a blindfold ritual in which his genitals are covered with an apron to conceal his private parts. This has to do with the Egyptian legend of Osirus who was chopped into 14 pieces by his adversary Seth, in which his male part was not recovered. The male part is the missing male principle, that once identified, joins with the female opposite to unite and create hermetic mysticism. Also in Masonry you will see images of an obelisk. This is also a male phallic symbol going back to ancient times.
This male/female principle of hermetics is also represented in the very symbol of the Masonic compass and square. One tool is facing up, representing earth and female principle, while the other is facing down, representing deity and male principle. inverted together they unite to complete the “Generative Principle.” This is also seen in the Masonic flooring of black and white tiles. Black and white are opposite principles also representing male/female principle in another form. As are Sun and moon, and Light and dark.
Teachers that influenced Freemasonry like Helena Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy, who was a Rosicrucian, revealed that Unity is the real basis of the Occult Sciences – physical and metaphysical. She tells that the origin of God was that he encompassed the unity of male/female principle until the Third Root-Race when that unity was split into two. And ultimately man can be united into God through wisdom and knowledge. This is found in her document The Secret Doctrine.
The attempt to unite the male/female principle into hermetic mysticism of “As Above, So Below” can be symbolized by the androgynous image of Baphomet that represents unity in an image with a goat head, female breasts and a male phallic.
Not only is hermetics rooted in this, Masonry is also Kabbalah. Consider this quote right from Albert Pike’s book, Morals and Dogma.
The Holy Kabalah, or tradition of the children of Seth, was carried from Chaldæa by Abraham, taught to the Egyptian priesthood by Joseph, recovered and purified by Moses, concealed under symbols in the Bible, revealed by the Saviour to Saint John, and contained, entire, under hieratic figures analogous to those of all antiquity, in the Apocalypse of that Apostle.
The three great lights of the Lodge are symbols to us of the Power, Wisdom, and Beneficence of the Deity. They are also symbols of the first three _Sephiroth_, or Emanations of the Deity, according to the Kabalah (Pike)
In Kabbalah, the Gnostic mystic realizes he becomes one with God as a microcosm of the mass universe within himself, which is the macrocosm. As he is considered the female principle, he unites with the deity who is the male principle. This unity gives him extreme knowledge and unity with the One, or the All, who is ultimate Supreme.
Ultimately in higher circles (inner circles within the mass that make up the core) at the Adept levels, they recognize in the higher degrees that God has a personification. The foundation has been laid for this illumination, however concealed for those who are not worthy. The image of deity for the Mason is revealed in the very “light” he seeks in his quest. Therefore the “Light-Bearer” is the Illuminated One. And the one who receives it is the Holder of the Light. The Light-Bearer is recognized in his Latin name Lucifer. In Morals and Dogma, Pike makes the case for Lucifer not being the image that has been misrepresented by Christians. Then denies that such a brilliance of light could be considered darkness. And finally in a progressive indoctrination, equates Lucifer with Adonai and suggests it is Lucifer who has the best interest for mankind in freeing him from darkness.
Albert Pike wrote:
That which we must say to the world is that we worship a god, but it is the god that one adores without superstition. To you, Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, we say this, that you may repeat it to the brethren of the 32nd, 31st and 30th degrees: The masonic Religion should be, by all of us initiates of the higher degrees, maintained in the Purity of the Luciferian doctrine. If Lucifer were not God, would Adonay and his priests calumniate him?
Yes, Lucifer is God, and unfortunately Adonay is also god.
Higher Freemasonry is Luciferian doctrine. But this is nothing more than a twisted defense for the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, who offered what Freemasonry is principled in.
Genesis 3 in the Bible tells that the Serpent tempted mankind through Eve to partake in a forbidden fruit that God withheld. And convinced her that God was keeping her from knowledge and being like God.
[Gen 3:4-5 KJV] 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
The Serpent offered immortality (Ye shall not surely die…), to be as gods, and to have supreme knowledge. This knowledge is what Gnostics claim provides salvation. And this is the salvation that Masons ultimately desire. That despite what Jesus Christ did on the cross.
Jesus is irrelevant in Masonry. When a person is initiated, whether he comes as a Christian or otherwise, he is to admit he is in darkness and seeks the light. What he says is that the light of Jesus is irrelevant because he is in darkness even though he confessed Christ. And that he seeks the only light that can save him, the knowledge of the light in Freemasonry. This is in opposition of the Christian faith, even though it may use the Christian faith as a cloak.
I urge anyone who is a Christian or claims to be to seek this out and pray about their affiliation with secrets of darkness. At the very least, even if they claim this is not a religion (which Pike admits every Lodge is a lodge of religion), he has made commitments, and given oaths, becoming intimate with a Brotherhood with people who are not required to believe in the same God, or in the same manner. He is certainly mixing unequal yoke and fellowshipping light with darkness.