Part 6: What is the role of various doctrinal books, like Pike's Morals and Dogma?

Part 6: Difficult Questions About Freemasonry by Roger Firestone

"What is the role of various doctrinal books, like Pike's Morals and Dogma?

Actually, there are no "doctrinal" books in Freemasonry. Freemasonry is a society dedicated to free thinking and freedom of all kinds. No Mason has the right to dictate to another what he shall or shall not believe regarding his religion, his politics, or even his interpretation of the Masonic symbols. There are a number of conventional interpretations of the symbols of Freemasonry, some of which are given in the lectures of the degrees, but no Mason is required to accept any or all of them; he is free to explore the world of thought and make up his own mind. Anti-Masons are fond of combing through Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma to find various passages that somehow "expose" the "secrets" of Freemasonry's dangerous beliefs. They conveniently ignore a number of facts:

The preface of Morals and Dogma makes it clear that Pike's work is an unannotated anthology, containing a portion of his own writing and also the works of many philosophers and theologians dating back to antiquity. Much of the book is derived from sources far removed from Freemasonry in time.

The preface also makes clear that no one is required to believe or accept any of the contents as truth. No "doctrinal" book would announce that every reader is "free to dissent" from any of its contents. Morals and Dogma was first of all written for those who have received the degrees of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in the form developed and edited by Albert Pike (the "Pike recension"). For someone to attempt to interpret the contents without the knowledge of the degrees is like trying to understand a book on quantum physics without having mastered the basics of dynamics and statics.

Morals and Dogma was written under the authority of the Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, for the Southern Jurisdiction of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the USA. The SJ of the USA, AASR, encompasses only a minority of Masons in the US and an even smaller proportion worldwide. Outside of the SJ of the US, Albert Pike is of much less influence than many non-Masons (and certainly anti-Masons) suppose. (The same is true of later works which also elucidate the degrees of the SJ of the US, such as Clausen's Commentaries and Hutchens' A Bridge to Light.)

Similarly, anti-Masons like to quote (out of context, quite often) Manly Hall (who wrote many of his books before becoming a Freemason), Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, Albert Mackey, and others. Many of these men did their writing a century or more ago and use an idiom not well understood by those living today who are not familiar with such writing styles. These books are useful reference sources for those who seek to improve their knowledge of Masonry and who wish to sharpen their wits against the whetstone of great thinkers, but they are not doctrine.

I've read the ritual in an exposé; what is all this strange stuff?

Remember that Masons solemnly pledge to keep the ritual secret. An "exposé" is the product of someone who has broken a promise to his friends and neighbours and to God. Can you really trust that such a person is telling you the truth? Masonry must be experienced to be understood; reading the ritual does not truly confer the lessons of the degrees, even for those of us who have the real ritual (and not some "exposé"). Masonry is a way of life that involves much more than the ceremonies of the degrees. Knowing a password or secret handshake is not what makes a man a Mason. The essence of Masonry is not something that can be written down."