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THE LOST KEYS OF FREEMASONRY
or The Secret of Hiram Abiff
THE FELLOW CRAFT
CHAPTER IV
MANLY P. HALL
Life manifests not only through action on the physical plane, but through
human emotion and sentiment. This is the type of energy taken up by the student
when he starts his labors in the Fellow Craft. From youth with its smiling face,
he passes on to the greater responsibilities of manhood.
On the second step of the temple stands a soldier dressed in shining armor,
but his sword is sheathed and a book is in his hand. He is symbolic of strength,
the energy of Mars, and the wonderful step in spiritual unfoldment which we know
as Fellow Craft. Through each one of us course the fiery rays of human emotion,
a great seething cauldron of power behind each expression of human energy. Like
spirited horses chafing at the bit, like hounds eager for the chase, the
emotional powers cannot be held in check, but break the walls of restraint and
pour forth as fiery expressions of dynamic energy. This great principle of
emotion we know as the second murderer of Hiram. Through the perversion of human
emotions there comes into the world untold sorrow, which through reaction,
manifests in the mental and physical bodies.
It is strange how divine powers may become perverted until each expression
and urge becomes a ruffian and a murderer. The divine compassion of the gods
manifests in this world of form very differently than in the realms of light.
Divine compassion is emergized by the same influxes as mortal passions and the
lusts of earth. The spiritual light rays of Cosmos - the Fire Princes of the
Dawn - which seethe and surge through the unregenerate man, are the impulses
which he perverts to murder and hate. The ceaseless power of Chaos, the seething
pinwheel spiralds of perpetual motion, whose majestic cadences are the music of
the spheres, are energized by the same great power that man uses to destroy the
highest and best. The same mystic power that keeps the planets in their orbits
around the solar body, the same energy that keeps each electron spinning and
whirling, the same energy that is building the temple of God, is now a merciless
slave-driver which , unmastered and uncurbed, strikes the Compassionate One and
sends him reeling backward into the darkness of his prison. Man does not listen
to that little voice which speaks to him in ever loving, ever sorrowful tones.
This voice speaks of the peace accompanying the constructive application of
energy which he must chain if he would master the powers of creation. How long
will it take King Hiram of Tyre, the warrior on the second step, symbolic of the
Fellow Craft of the Cosmic Lodge, to teach mankind the lessons of self-mastery?
The teacher can do it only as he daily depicts the miseries which are the result
of uncurbed appetites. The strength of man was not given to be used
destructively but that he might build a temple worthy to be the dwelling place
of the Great Architect of the universe. God is glorifying himself through the
individualized portions of himself, and is slowly teaching these individualized
portions to understand and glorify the whole.
The day has come when Fellow Craftsmen must know and apply their knowledge.
The lost key to their grade is the mastery of emotion, which places the energy
of the universe at their disposal. Man can only expect to be entrusted with
great power by proving his ability to use it constructively and selflessly. When
the Mason learns that the key to the warrior on the block is the proper
application of the dynamo of living power, he has learned the mystery of his
Craft. The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands and before he may step
onward and upward, he must prove his ability to properly apply energy. He must
follow in the footsteps of his forefather, Tubal-Cain, who with the mighty
strength of the war god hammered his sword into a plowshare. Incessant vigilance
over thought, action, and desire is indispensable to those who wish to make
progress in the unfolding of their own being, and the Fellow Craft's degree is
the degree of transmutation. The hand that slays must lift the fallen, while the
lips given to cursing must be taught to pray. The heart that hates must learn
the mystery of compassion, as the result of a deeper and more perfect
understanding of man's relation to his brother. The firm, kind hand of spirit
must curb the flaming powers of emotion with an iron grip. In the realization
and application of these principles lies the key of the Fellow Craft.
In this degree, the two points of the compass (one higher than the other),
symbolize the heart and mind, and with the expression of the higher emotions the
heart point of the compass is liberated from the square, which is an instrument
used to measure the block of matter and therefore symbolizes form.
A large percentage of the people of the world at the present time are passing
through, spiritually, the degree of the Fellow Craft, with its five senses. The
sense perceptions come under the control of the emotional energies, therefore
the development of the senses is necessary to the constructive expression of the
Fellow Craft power. Man must realize that all the powers which his many years of
need have earned for him have come in order that through them he may liberate
more fully the prisoner within his own being. As the Fellow Craft degree is the
middle of the three, the spiritual duty of each member is to reach the point of
poise or balance, which is always secured between extremes. The mastery of
expression is also to be found in this degree. The keywords of the Fellow Craft
may be briefly defined as compassion, poise, and transmutation.
In the Fellow Craft degree is concealed the dynamo of human life. The Fellow
Craft is the worker with elemental fire, which it is his duty to transmute into
spiritual light. The heart is the center of his activity and it is while in this
degree that the human side of the nature with its constructive emotions should
be brought out and emphasized. But all of these expressions of the human heart
must become transmuted into the emotionless compassion of the gods, who despite
the suffering of the moment, gaze down upon mankind and see that it is good.
When the candidate feels that he has reached a point where he is able to
manifest every energizing current and fire-flame in a constructive, balanced
manner and has spiritually lifted the heart sentiments of the mystic out of the
cube of matter, he may then expect that the degree of Master Mason is not far
off, and so may look forward eagerly to the time of his spiritual ordination
into the higher degree. He should now study himself and realize that he cannot
receive promotion into the spiritual lodge unti l his heart is attuned to a
superior, spiritual influx from the causal planes of consciousness.
The following requirements are necessary before the student can spiritually
say that he is a member of the ancient and accepted rite of the Fellow Craft:
1. The mastery of emotional outbreaks of all kinds, poise under trying
conditions, kindness in the face of unkindness, and simplicity with its
accompanying power. These points show that the seeker is worthy of being taught
by a Fellow Craftsman.
2. The mastery of the animal energies, the curbing of passion and desire, and
the control of the lower nature mark the faithful attempts on the part of the
student to be worthy of the Fellow Craft.
3. The understanding and mastery of the creative forces, the consecration of
them to the unfolding of the spiritual nature, and a proper understanding of
their physical application, are necessary steps at this stage of the student's
growth.
4. The transmutation of personal affection into impersonal compassion shows
that the Fellow Craftsman truly understands his duties and is living in a manner
worthy of his order. Personalities cannot bind the true second degree member,
for having raised one point of the compasses he now realizes that all personal
manifestations are governed by impersonal principles.
5. At this point the candidate consecrates the five senses to the study of
human problems with the unfolding of sense centers as the motive; for he
realizes that the five senses are keys, the proper application of which will
give him material for spiritual transmutation if he will apply to them the
common divisor of analogy.
The Entered Apprentice may be termed a materialistic degree. The Fellow Craft
is religious and mystical, while the Master Mason is occult or philosophical.
Each of these is a degree in the unfoldment of a connected life and
intelligence, revealing in ever fuller expression the gradual liberation of the
Master from the trianglar cell of threefold negation which marks the early stage
of individualization.
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