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THE SHORT TALK BULLETIN
The Masonic Service Association of the United States
VOL. 5 January 1927 NO. 1
... Secrecy ...
An old Greek Philosopher, when asked what he regarded as the most
valuable quality to win and the most difficult to keep, replied, "To
be secret and silent." If secrecy was difficult in the olden time,
it is doubly difficult today, in the loud and noisy world in which
we life, where privacy is almost unknown.
Secrecy is, indeed, a priceless but rare virtue, so little effort is
made to teach and practice it. The world of today is a whispering
gallery where everything is heard, a hall of mirrors where nothing
is hid. If the ancients worshipped a god of silence, we seem about
to set up an altar to the god of gossip.
Some one has said that if Masonry did not more than train its men to
preserve sacredly the secrets of others confined to them as
such-except where a higher duty demands disclosure - it would be
doing a great work, and one which not only justifies its existence,
but entitles it to the respect of mankind.
Anyway, no Mason needs to be told the value of secrecy. Without it,
Masonry would cease to exist, or else become something so different
from what it is as to be unrecognizable. For that reason, if no
other, the very first lesson taught a candidate, and impressed upon
him at every turn is unforgettable ways, in the duty of secrecy.
Yet, strictly speaking, Masonry is not a secret society, if by that
we mean a society whose very existence is hidden. Everybody knows
that the Masonic Fraternity exists, and no effort has made to hide
the fact. Its organization is known; its temples stand in our
cities; its members are proud to be known as Masons. Anyone may
obtain from the records of Grand Lodge, if not from the printed
reports of lodges, the names of the members of the Craft.
Nor can it be truly said that Masonry has any secret truth to teach,
unknown to the best wisdom of the race. Most of the talk about
esoteric Masonry misses the mark. When the story is told the only
secret turns out to be some odd theory, some fanciful philosophy, of
no real importance. The wisdom of Masonry is hidden, not because it
is subtle, but because it is simple. Its secret is profound, not
obscure.
As in mathematics there are primary figures, and in music
fundamental notes, upon which everything rests, so Masonry is built
upon the broad, deep, lofty truths upon which life itself stands. It
lives, moves, and has its being in these truths. They are mysteries,
indeed, as life and duty and death are mysteries; to know them is to
be truly wise; and to teach them in their full import is the ideal
at which Masonry aims.
Masonry, then, is not a secret society; it is a private order. In
the quiet of the tiled lodge, shut away from the noise and clatter
of the world, in an air of reverence and friendship, it teaches us
the truths that make us men, upon which faith and character must
rest if they are to endure the wind and weather of life. So rare is
its utter simplicity that to many it is as much a secret as though
it were hid behind a seven-fold veil, or buried in the depths of the
earth.
What is the secret in Masonry? The method of its teaching, the
atmosphere it creates, the spirit it breathes into our hearts, and
the tie it spins and weaves between man and man; in other words, the
lodge and its ceremonies and obligations, its signs, tokens, and
words-its power to evoke what is most secret and hidden in the
hearts of men. No one can explain how this is done. We only know
that it is done, and guard as a priceless treasure the method by
which it is wrought.
It is the fashion of some to say that our ceremonies, signs and
tokens are of little value; but that is not true. They are of
profound importance, and we cannot too carefully protect them from
profanation and abuse. The famous eulogy of the signs and tokens of
Masonry by Benjamin Franklin was not idle eloquence. It is justified
byu the facts, and ought to be known and remembered:
"These signs and tokens are of no small value; they speak a
universal language, and act as a passport to the attention and
support of the initiated in all parts of the world. They cannot be
lost so long as memory retains its power. Let the possessor of them
be expatriated, shipwrecked or imprisoned; let him be stripped of
everything he has got in the world; still these credentials remain
and are available for use as circumstances require.
"The great effects which they have produced are established by the
most incontestable facts of history. They have stayed the uplifted
hand of the destroyer; they have softened the asperities of the
tyrant; they have mitigated the horrors of captivity; they have
subdued the rancour of malevolence; and broken down the barriers of
political animosity and sectarian alienation.
"On the field of battle, in the solitude of the uncultivated
forests, or in the busy haunts of the crowded city, they have made
men of the most hostile feelings, and most distant religions, and
the most diversified conditions, rush to the aid of each other, and
feel a social joy and satisfaction that they have been able to
afford relief to a brother Mason."
What is equally true, and no less valuable, is that in the ordinary
walks of everyday life they unite men and hold them together in a
manner unique and holy. they open a door out of the loneliness in
which every man lives. They form a tie uniting us to men of the
Craft everywhere, and enable us to help one another, and others, in
ways too many to name or count. They form a net-work of fellowship,
friendship, and fraternity around the world. They add something
lovely and fine to the life of each one of us, without which we
should be poorer indeed.
Still, let us never forget that it is the spirit that gives life;
the letter alone is empty. An old home means a thousand beautiful
things to those who were brought up in it. Its very scenery and
setting are sacred. the ground on which it stands is holy. but if a
stranger buys it, these sacred things mean nothing to him. The
spirit is gone, the glory has faded. Just so with the lodge. If it
were opened to the curious gaze of the world, its beauty would be
blighted, its power gone.
The secret of Masonry, like the secret of life, can be known only by
those who seek it, serve it, live it. It cannot be uttered; it can
only be felt and acted. It is, in fact, an open secret, and each man
knows it according to his quest and capacity. Like all things most
worth knowing, no one can know it for another and no one can know it
alone. It is known only in fellowship, by the touch of life upon
life, spirit upon spirit, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand to
hand.
For that reason, no one need be alarmed about any book written to
expose Masonry. It is utterly harmless. The real secret of Masonry
cannot be learned by prying eyes or curious inquiry. We do well to
protect the privacy of the lodge; but the secret of Masonry can be
known only by those who are ready and worthy to receive it. Only a
pure heart and an honest mind can known it. Others seek it in vain,
and never know it, though they be adept in all the signs and tokens
of every rite and rank of the Craft.
Indeed, so far from trying to hide its secret, Masonry is all the
time trying to give it to the world, in the only way in which it can
be given, through a certain quality of soul and character which it
labors to create and build up. To the making of men, helping to
self-discovery and self-development, all the offices of Masonry are
dedicated. It is a quarry in which the rough stones of manhood are
polished for use and beauty.
If Masonry uses the illusion of secrecy, it is because it knows that
it is the nature of man to seek what is hidden and to desire what is
forbidden. Even God hides from us, that in seeking Him amid the
shadows of life we may find both Him and ourselves. The man who does
not care enough for God to seek Him will never find Him, though He
is not far from any one of us.
One who looks at Masonry in this way will find that his Masonic life
is a great adventure. It is a perpetual discovery. there is
something new at every turn, something new in himself as life
deepens with the years; something new in Masonry as its meaning
unfolds. The man who finds its degrees tedious and its ritual a
rigmarole only betrays the measure of his own mind.
If a man knows God and man to the uttermost, even Masonry has
nothing to teach him. As a fact the wisest man knows very little.
the way is dim and no one can see very far. We are seekers after
truth, and God has so made us that we cannot find the truths alone,
but only in the love and service of our fellow men. Here is the real
secret, and to learn it is to have the key to the meaning and joy of
life.
Truth is not a gift; it is a trophy. To know it we must be true, to
find it we must seek, to learn it we must be humble, and to keep it
we must have a clear mind, a courageous heart, and the brotherly
love to use it in the service of man. |
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