Lessons for the Participants of Cognitive-Cultic Work 1906–1924
GA 265a — 9 April 1906, Bremen
On Freemasonry
Lecture notes by Marie Steiner
There is [an] inner relationship between Theosophy and what Freemasonry contains. There is [a] great fear of [the] Freemasons. - In Vienna, where [a] university professor and other people were present, a gentleman in my presence, a high-ranking Catholic cleric, told the following: In Rome, a dozen Dominicans [gap in transcription] had said that it was true [gap in transcription] another Catholic clergyman said that one should not go out on the streets in the dark because the Freemasons were about.
Lessing was asked if he had discovered anything dangerous to the state or anything else dangerous. No, but [gap in transcription] glad if anything [gap in transcription].
Goethe drew [the] strength for the deepest things from freemasonry [gap in transcript].
Freemasonry is said to be older than humanity because it comes from the light and earth is older than [gap in transcript].
Freemasonry is derived from Adam, because [the] apron is derived from the fig leaf.
Symbols from workshop.
Freemasonry represents a community of people who have the goal of developing.
A Mason is above all committed to improving himself to the point where he is a worthy co-worker in the construction of humanity.
The meaning of life on earth is that we remodel and rework our planet. - More and more, human labor is intervening in our earth.
What will the earth be one day? A building that man completes. And it is the duty of every human being to participate in this building.
Three forces must be built into the construction of the temple, otherwise chaos will result. The three columns on which this temple rests are wisdom, beauty and strength.
Wisdom, when he ennobles his mind.
Beauty, when he ennobles his soul.
Strength, when he ennobles his will.
Therefore, these three columns are considered the foundation of all work.
Building is done on the outside and on the inside - and best of all when these three are built in.
Free masonry is everything that happens with the help of wisdom, beauty and strength.
The correct construction of the earthly temple is meant, not just the inner being of man.
One must understand how the creation of works of art is related to masonry. Imagine the beautiful connection between the building and the soul in a Gothic cathedral in a medieval city.
A true building was one that reflects the fact that wisdom, beauty and strength live in the soul.
The pointed arches are nothing other than the folded hands of the mystic.
The deep ancient intentions come from the place where all human knowledge comes from: from the mysteries.
The principle of learning there was transformation of man.
The goal of these ancient mysteries was the birth of the spiritual man in man.
There are two ways of approaching the truths: through revelation and through bright, clear realization.
Today, theology is the most materialistic. Until the sixteenth century, it was taught that the six days were an astral dream experience of Adam.
The Temple of Solomon is considered the symbol of the great earthly temple.
In Solomon was depicted the priest-king who had come to wisdom through revelation.
In Hiram Abiff [was depicted] the man who had come to wisdom through himself.
The symbols of mathematics and mechanics are taken from dead nature, because man can tame it. He cannot yet tame the living; he can neither produce a plant, nor an animal, nor his own kind from his own power. For this he still needs the revelation of the living forces.
Only the higher nature of man can contribute to progress, the lower must recede.
“We must have places where all the lower nature is silent and only the higher nature speaks.”
The moment the Mason puts on the apron, the lower nature is no longer there – the mason commits himself to this. The entire symbolism of Freemasonry is an allegorical representation of the path that the higher man has to follow, a reflection of inner development.
To be an apprentice means to make up for what our brothers have achieved in the past.
To be a fellow journeyman means to be allowed to live with the old brothers of humanity.
Only a Master is to be allowed to work on the construction of the temple.
Such a ceremony is a reflection of the secrets of the higher worlds themselves.
Theosophy is the inner truth of these ceremonies; it says what these ceremonies show. It has the spirit of these signs and images.
[Possibly a question and answer session from here on out]
The three journeymen: the illusion of personal self, doubt, and superstition.
Man must pass through the various stages of superstition in order to arrive at knowledge. 1906
He must go through the illusion of personal self to achieve selflessness.
Those who delve into every year that Christ Jesus lived have the 33 degrees of Freemasonry.
One needs knowledge to feel compassion – walking in the light.
Only comfort of a higher kind is [it] to shy away from knowledge.
Because the Freemason wanted to see women confined to the family, he excluded them from the lodge.
Something happened on higher planes that made it a necessity for women to be drawn into all ritual work.
The male organism is bound by the forces of life. The forces of vril, the living ones, which will be conquered by women.
Theosophy represents more the studying, ideal side, freemasonry the practical side.
The occult cooperation of man and woman is the future significance of freemasonry. The excesses of the male culture must be held back by the occult powers of women.
Initiation in ancient times and now:
The etheric body was taken out of the body while in a deep trance, like: think of a hand falling asleep; the ether part then visibly hangs out of it. Thus the whole etheric body emerged in the ancient adept, and the impressions of the higher worlds were imprinted in it (as with a seal and stamp).
Now the astral body is worked on so intensely that it transmits the impressions further to the etheric body, and from there to the physical body.
Christian initiation:
1) Washing of the feet: bowing down before everyone through whose humiliation we have risen higher.
2) Flagellation
3) Crown of thorns: accepting every slander, every scorn and mockery with absolute equanimity.