The Secrecy of Freemasonry - Part 1

It’s no secret that Freemasonry has secrets, but here is a surprising fact — your entire life today wouldn’t be possible without secrets.

Our secrets are what many men to go through the process of becoming a Mason for, to learn them. However, the knowledge we have secrets also causes quite a bit of conjecture, especially among those who believe anyone withholding secrets has nefarious intentions.

Today, our entire life wouldn’t be possible without secrets, but also, there are secrets are hiding in plain sight that we take for granted, they are critical for our own protection and keep us out of harm’s way — no, I am not talking about Government secrets

So in this two-part edition of Daily Masonic Progress, I will share some secrets with you:

• Why Freemasonry has secrets (Part 1)

• How Masonic secrets actually work (Part 1)

• What day-to-day secrets are hiding in plain sight (Part 2)

• How society can’t function without Secrets (Part 2)

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But first, let’s address a common misconception on what Masonic Secrets are as well as what they are not; because without understanding this, then you won’t be able to discover the day-day-secrets hiding in plain sight or why we have them to begin with.

Many people think that Freemasonry teaches secret or ‘esoteric’ knowledge to its members, but what if I told you that all the knowledge found in Freemasonry is already within the public sphere?

Sure you may be thinking that our ceremonies have been leaked on the internet, or that the general public can buy masonic books as to how they got into the public sphere, but that’s not the case. No, if you go and look into the foundations of all of Freemasonry’s teachings, they’re based upon public documents. Documents that have been around for centuries.

While you may not believe me, let me tell you what these documents are

• The Holy Bible

• Euclid’s Elements

• Plato’s Dialogues & The Republic

Then you also have the manuscripts such as the Halliwell Manuscript and Matthew Cook Manuscripts— which aren’t secret at all and are complete public works.

Our ceremonies and our philosophies are an alchemy of those documents put together in the form of several plays, which we know as degree ceremonies. Sure there is the argument to say that how we’ve combined these documents into a philosophy & ceremonies does form “secret” knowledge, or how our practices of participating in the experience of Freemasonry is also a way of teaching “secret” knowledge — but that “secret” knowledge is just as secret as being a Student who’s enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy) or a Master of Business Administration at a University.

If you were a student in one of those courses, they’d prescribe textbooks on which your lectures would be based. Our ceremonies are lectures/plays based on those three textbooks.

Sure, maybe it’s not a university degree, but it could be a TAFE course on how to be a builder. You would still have to attend classes in which the teacher presents the lessons as an alchemy of the textbooks of the course. The same as the lectures and the tutorials of those university degrees are just a “forgery” (think metal forge not stealing) of the Lecturer’s knowledge into the Lecture.

The point is, that the "secret” knowledge or the plays/ceremonies are just the same 3 University Lectures, and the way to obtain that “esoteric knowledge” is to be an enrolled student in the course, or as well call it in Freemasonry, you have to be “Entered as an Apprentice”. 🤯

Why did I say “esoteric knowledge” — this is a side note, but the modern meaning of “esoteric” is “understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest.” The operative word is special interest, there are a select few when we consider the size of the population who want to do an MBA, Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy etc. So it’s not esoteric in the way we bandy the term around.

Now if you are someone who has obtained a Trade Certificate as a Builder, or completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy or an MBA; would you want someone who has just bought the textbooks, and studied them on their own to be saying they’re equally qualified as you— someone who’s done the course and earned the qualification?

No. You wouldn’t want someone to be an intruder in your work, claiming to be equally qualified without the qualification. After all, you have the certificate and the transcript to prove it!

But if we go back to medieval or even biblical times, how could someone who’s legitimately done the course to earn their qualification prove it, without being able to produce a Degree Certificate, Transcript or LinkedIn Profile?

Well that’s where things like the “Secret Handshake” comes in.

And that is how Masonic secrets actually work, they’re just ways to prove your trade qualifications, but it’s also why we have them to begin with. You wouldn’t want to hire someone to build your house that’s just bought the textbooks off Amazon and hasn’t got the actual qualifications or experience.

READ PART 2 -