Improving Ourselves

Grand Orator’s Message

Improving Ourselves

W. Kirk MacNulty

Grand Orator

Given that we should use our participation in the The 1600’s are the time of the end of the Renaissance. Craft as an opportunity for self improvement, Most people think of the Renaissance as an explosion the questions arises: “What opportunities does of art, but it was a great deal more. Scholarly research Freemasonry offer for self improvement, and how do in the 1960’s demonstrated that the Renaissance was we accomplish this?” started in Florence around 1400 by a group of scholars The most common defi nition of Freemasonry is that our rituals and practices teach the principles of morality and virtue; and that by communicating these principles through our lodge work we “make good men better”. While this is certainly true in many respects, it is a defi - nition that only scratches the surface of Freemasonry. There are many other dimensions and o p p o r t u n i t i e s that are offered by the Three Degrees that are not widely recognized. To understand these other opportunities it will be necessary to start with the question: “How did Freemasonry start and what is it for?” that wanted a rebirth (renaissance) of the classical philosophies. In the 1490’s two bodies of material arrived in Florence. The fi rst was the Hermetica, a work prepared in Alexandria, Egypt early in the Christian era, which is a statement of Egyptian philosophy with some infl uence from Christianity and Hellenized Judaism. The other material was composed of Kabalistic writings which found their way to Florence as the Muslims and Jews were forced out of Spain by the Christian R e c o n q u e s t . These two philosophical works became what is called the Hermetic Kabalistic Tradition. The origin of Freemasonry is a real puzzle. The most widely accepted idea, the transition from operative lodges where Masons built castles, to speculative lodges where Masons practice morality seems to me to be too simplistic. The fi rst evidence we see of modern Freemasonry is to be found in England in the mid-to-late 1600’s. These were the so-called “casual lodges” because there was no formal Masonic organization at the time, and were just groups of men meeting privately in pubs to discuss things of importance to them. In order to know more, we need to understand The practice of the HermeticKabalistic Tradition implies that one should observe one’s behavior and learn from the observation. This sort of objective observation recognizes that one can look at things and “fi gure out how they work”. As more and more people experienced this realization many new concepts emerged; not the least of which was the idea that one should not simply follow the long established doctrines of society, but that one should explore new ideas as they occur. This led to some extraordinary activities which produced remarkable results. Florence: Birthplace of the Renaissance what the intellectual community must have been thinkIn Europe the Renaissance ended with the Thirty ing at the time, and that requires a look at history. Years War. In England the situation was somewhat continued on page 22