AN OBJECTIVE VIEW OF FREEMASONRY (XX) – SECRECY
By a blog reader
Regular Freemasonry does not describe itself as a ‘secret society’ but rather as a ‘society with secrets’.
To the laymen with a vivid imagination, these secrets would mean anything from a globalist plot to usher in a one-world government to some kind of earth-shattering esoteric knowledge. To totalitarian fascist regimes, it would mean a Judeo-Communist plot, and to those on the opposite side of the spectrum a radical bourgeoisie cabal incompatible with socialism.
But what do the terms secrets and secrecy mean to Freemasons themselves?
The only formal secrets that ever exist in Freemasonry are the manner in which Freemasons recognize each other – these are called signs, tokens, and words. Those means of recognition also indicate one’s degree of knowledge and station in the craft. Each of the three degrees, those of entered apprentice, fellow craft, and master mason all have their different modes of recognition and passwords. This ensures that an impostor cannot pass himself off as a mason and neither can an apprenticed mason pretend to be of a higher degree without the knowledge of such. As with all things masonic, these modes of recognition owe their origins to the medieval craft guilds.
Medieval guilds closely guarded trade secrets. So seriously were these trade secrets kept that we know for example that in medieval Florence and Venice, it was state policy that a worker who possessed any essential trade secrets and for some reason fled to a foreign territory was to be tracked down and killed lest he divulge the information.
In most craft guilds, the Master Craftsman would convey a way of producing an item that is unique to his trade to his apprentices. He would not want that secret to be conveyed to people outside of his guild, for that would have a very strong detrimental effect on his business, his livelihood, and his reputation. Neither would the master craftsmen convey all the secrets of the trade before apprentices could prove themselves worthy of receiving them. The transmission of these secrets would be conveyed at different stages of the apprentice’s progress and would also be accompanied by vows. Only after having produced a masterpiece and after having proved his trustworthiness would an apprentice finally be proclaimed a master craftsman and allowed to practice the trade in his own right.
Members of most craft guilds would rarely travel beyond their local confines but stonemasons were different. Their skills were in high demand all over Europe, and it was not uncommon for them to travel far and wide to work on particular projects. Thus for the stone masons in particular, the need for modes of recognition, ways to ascertain their level of skill, were matters of great importance.
It is also here pertinent to point out, that for much of human history and indeed until very recently, knowledge was not considered neutral, indeed it was always considered, and not without justification to be harmful in the wrong hands. The custody and ‘secret’ transmission of ‘Good knowledge’ to those who were worthy to receive it was considered to be an ethical duty. This concept of transmission of knowledge was not confined solely to guilds but indeed permeated the whole of society. Even the established early church itself embraced what is known as the disciplina arcani and much of the liturgical and sacramental development grew out of the fact that the Christian rites and beliefs were only gradually revealed to prospective converts in degrees. Indeed this concept still lives within the divine liturgy of Orthodox churches where catechumens are asked to leave the church before the Offertory. It is also partly for the same reasoning, that the Catholic church was opposed to the translation of the Bible into the vernacular fearing that it would fall prey to corruption by those lacking proper instruction.
At some point in the late 16th century, certain stonemasons guilds evolved from purely operative purposes to ones incorporating a more speculative (philosophical nature). The rituals and degrees of the stonemasons were now transformed into ethical instruction based on allegory. The Secret modes of recognition not only helped discriminate between masons and non-masons but just as importantly, the knowledge of such words and signs ensured that masons would only be able to be privy to the workings of the degrees to which they were entitled.
But there’s also another crucial and nowadays little understood aspect, which is that in Freemasonry, it is the discipline of secrecy itself that is much more valuable than the alleged secrets it claims to possess. This is the reason why despite all the masonic secret signs and words along with the rituals that have long been published and known in the public domain, Freemasons still continue to act as if they were still secret.
People today forget (apparently no one teaches them anything anymore), that the discipline of secrecy was long considered to be a spiritual virtue just like fasting, chastity or charity. The ability to keep a secret is a test of one’s trustworthiness and fidelity. The ability to wait to receive a secret teaches one to be patient and humble. The ability to do acts of charity in anonymity instead of shouting from the rooftops our good deeds, teaches abstinence or self-denial. Denying attention to oneself teaches one to be free of people-pleasing and of what people think of us. Even the reluctance to respond publicly to unjustified accusations is a product of this discipline.
As we can see therefore, the meaning of secrets and secrecy in Freemasonry is an amalgamation largely derived from the tradition of medieval guilds as well as from philosophical (knowledge not being neutral) and spiritual (The discipline of secrecy) customs.
It is no wonder then, that today’s post-Christian society, largely ignorant of its heritage and tradition and shorn of the values that once made our culture great, has such grave difficulty understanding these concepts.
One other secret that Freemasons resolutely hold steadfastly to is that of not exposing a fellow member as being a Freemason.
Initially, this too was simply a matter of discipline but as we shall see in the next article about anti-Masonic persecution, it quickly also became an urgent necessity.