Message from the East

When Was Freemasonry Born

June 2000

How old is our Craft?  In all probability, the question never will be answered with any degree of accuracy.  Many of the ancient records of the Craft which could be traced back to its beginnings have been  inadvertently or otherwise destroyed or lost, breaking our ties with the past.  Numerous attempts have been made to link historical events into a fairly logical chain and thus arrive at the date of Freemasonry's birth, but the results are only approximate and a matter of speculation.  Many subscribe to the so-called Temple theory: that the Craft was originated at the building of King Solomon's Temple, the date of which is given in the Bible as 1012 B.C.  This would set the age of the Craft at about 3,000 years.   Another theory seeks to establish the fact that Freemasonry is of Egyptian origin and that many of the symbols used in our Masonic rituals and ceremonies were invented and developed by the Egyptians.  Threads bearing the unmistakable stamp of the Fraternity have been traced back through Egyptian history to a time about 5000 B.C.  But where did the Egyptians get their knowledge of early Freemasonry?  Did they,  out of whole cloth invent an early form of it, together with its ritual and symbolism?  Is this the time in history of the world when it was born?   Or did they, from still earlier peoples, inherit knowledge of an ancient form of the Craft existing prior to 7,000 years ago?

Although Freemasonry is not a religion, so much of its ceremonial work is religious in nature that one cannot help but feel that its roots were planted in some form of very old religious worship.  Its ideals are so closely akin to those of religion that a member of the Craft who lived his Masonic ideals to the fullest would appear, in the eyes of the world, to be a very religious man in spite of the fact that he might not be a churchgoer nor belong to any denominational faith.  We know that religion in some form is old as man.  Being constituted as he is, he always has been and always will be conscious of a need to look up to and worship a Power or a being greater than himself.  Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry states:  "From time immemorial, man has manifested the sentimental part of his nature in worshiping Something by him considered his superior."  It also states: "As far back as we are able to extend our examinations into the history of man, we find him striving to come into close accord with God."

 In his book The Lost Continent of MU, James Churchward offers evidence that man first arrived on earth in the Land of Mu some 200,000 years ago.  Further evidence presented by him indicates that man's religious yearnings and seekings manifested themselves not long after his arrival.  Considering the way man's nature works, this would be inevitable.  Something outside his field of conscious knowledge literally would compel him to develop a religion of some sort.  If we assume that Freemasonry grew out of early religious worship, which appears to be reasonable, we could further assume that the beginnings of the Craft made their appearance thousands upon thousands of years ago, far back in the prehistoric era.  Colonel Churchward believes this to be so and, in support of his belief, he has written: "It is shown without the possibility of controversy that our present-day Freemasonry is the fragments of man's first religious teachings-man's first expression of his worship and adoration of the Heavenly Father.  The basis of this religion was the love and adoration of the Creator as the Heavenly Father, and love for all mankind as brothers."  He bases his belief on extremely old records and clay tablets which, he asserts, he saw in India many years ago and which he deciphered with the help of an old priest.  The picture writing on the tablets revealed their point of origin:  the Land of MU.  He writes that many symbols appearing frequently in the old records and tablets resemble Masonic symbols too closely for it to be a matter of pure coincidence.  One symbol to which he makes especial reference is the two-sided square.  Members of the Craft know this as a Masonic symbol.  Because of its prominence in Masonic work and because it is of exceedingly ancient origin, probably dating back to the time when early man first received religious instruction, it would indicate that what now is called Freemasonry is of great antiquity.

Between 1920 and 1924,  William Niven, an explorer and archeologist, uncovered in the central valley of Mexico some 2,600 stone tablets. the age of which has been determined as 12,000 years-possibly even older.  A startling fact is that almost all of the figures on the Mexican stone tablets were identical with those tablets Colonel Churchward saw in India and Tibet.  Furthermore, there were hundreds of the Mexican tablets on which the two-sided square appeared in the writings.  In picture-writing, the two-sided square is the spelling of an extremely ancient word meaning "builder".

 This symbol always has been prominent in Egyptian Cosmogony and one of the symbols of the god Ptah, among the oldest of the Egyptian gods.  Ptah bore many titles one of which was "The Builder".  The square also is prominent in picture writings found on the North American continent, estimated to be at least 12,000 years old.  It was even then very old, according to Colonel Churchward, as he found it to be quite prominent in the old records and tablets, he believes, cover a period of history 50,000 or more years ago, putting the symbolic square at least that far back in the history of man.  He also states that he found much evidence of the science of Geometry in a high state of development in those same old tablets.  We know that modern geometry was handed down to us by Euclid, who obtained his knowledge of science in Egypt.  Whence did the Egyptians derive their knowledge of the science?  Colonel Churchward is convinced that it originally arrived in that part of the world from the Land of Mu, the Motherland as he frequently  terms it.  These are a few of the shreds of evidence presented by Colonel Churchward in his writings to support his beliefs in the extreme antiquity of man and his religious worship and the exceedingly ancient origin of what we now know as Freemasonry.  Perhaps the Craft is more venerable than we imagine.  Needless to say, it had a beginning but when,  we do not know.  In all probability, Freemasonry first saw  light of day so far back in the dimness of the past we will never know even the approximate date.  However, this is of no especial importance today, as interesting as it may be.  The important fact is that Freemasonry exists, that in its ideals it expounds a way of life which,  if practiced faithfully, will make man better, that its aims are constructive rather than destructive.  Chief Justice Earl Warren of the Supreme Court once declared: "All world problems could be solved if Masonic ideals could be applied."

All that the past can do is provide us with ammunition for the present.  The question of when or where, while extremely interesting, can have no influence on our immediate practice of Masonic ideals and principles.  While the history of our Craft is indeed interesting and entertaining, we should not make the mistake of devoting so much attention to the past that we lose sight of present opportunities to put to constructive and beneficial use knowledge we have gained in our coaching and in the lodge room.  Only in our constructive efforts as members of the Fraternity can we reflect credit and honor on the Brotherhood, the insignia of which we wear on lapel or ring.   Our "Masonic Edifice" has been built upon the foundation laid thousands of years ago by our Masonic forefathers. Perhaps the more important question to ask ourselves is  not where masonry was born,  but, where  is the  Craft headed in the future?  What are our goals as individual masons and as a universal body?    Let us plan for the future today instead of scrambling to increase our membership at the last minute with "just add water programs."   We must consider change without compromising our ancient landmark and ritual.  We must provide energetic programs, exciting activities and community awareness though the media of our great and noble fraternity.  This concept  or paradigm will take a new  style of  leadership to build on the foundations of the past regimes.  All Past Masters, Officers and the brethren in the sidelines  must support these  leaders and their new ideas.   Don't kill the Worshipful Hiram before he even gets started!   Do not cut a brother down when he suggests a new idea.  Do not pierce his heart with criticism.  And do not bludgeon him on the head with political sabotage.  We must provide new and interesting Masonic formats to attract the new and younger masons.  If we do not, we will continue our spiral down in membership.  This is not rocket science, the numbers are there... the overall average is for every three new masons that are raised we loose nine more to death or demit.    The average birth date of a mason in the United States  is circa 1920.  Although these brothers are loyal champions of the Craft they are not immortal.   Over the last half century  we have slipped into a business as usual attitude.   We are the "good old boys", and unfortunately we only have  another decade or so of active participation until this life of bliss will end.   If we continue on this present course, our primary  function  will be  performing Masonic funerals.   We  need to jump-start the fraternity ASAP or it is sure to die a slow  and agonizing death.  Do not hesitate to suggest or propose any  new idea(s) to the Worshipful Master and/or Wardens that you believe would invigorate Freemasonry.  Our code word for this Masonic renewal program will be "Operation Lazarus."

Remember,  the building is not complete.   We as masons,  must  enter  the  temple on a daily basis to view the work and  to see if any improvement can be made in strength or ornament.   It is time to get back into the quarries my brothers,  "Carpe Dium"  Brethren!

Fraternally,

George Theofanis

Worshipful Master