188 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
188 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.X August, 1932 No.8
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TRUTH
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by: Unknown
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It is an odd fact that Freemasonry’s direct teaching in regard to
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Truth is less important than her indirect teaching.
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In the entered Apprentice’s Lecture we learn of Truth as “the
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foundation of every virtue. To be good Men and True is the first
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lesson.” etc. But these teachings regarding the third Principal
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Tenet are of Truth in its narrower and more restricted sense - that
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use of the word as a synonym for sincerity, right dealing, absence of
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deceit, straight forwardness.
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Philosophers distinguish several verities of Truth - logical truth,
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the conformity of reasoning to premises; ontological, metaphysical or
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transcendental truth - the doctrine that the existence of Deity is
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proved by the very idea of his existence; absolute truth - the
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reality behind the appearance or idea.
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These conceptions of Truth have led to the more common use of the
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word, as that which is believed to be so, as distinct from that which
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is known to be opposite of the fact. The witness who swears to tell
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the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth indicates no
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more than his intention to state that which is known to him, believed
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by him; that he will not intentionally deceive. A witness may
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testify to something which is not a fact and be unperjured, provided
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it is a fact to “him.” A man, ignorant of astronomy may truthfully
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testify that the sun moves from east to west between morning and
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night. His testimony is the truth as he knows it. That actually the
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earth moves beneath the sun, while the sun stands still, does not
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make him untruthful.
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The truth is not always easy to define. Some questions have several
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answers, all correct. Other questions cannot be answered, “as
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asked,” correctly. For instance, “how many feet in a mile?” has
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only one true answer: 5,280. But “what two whole numbers added
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together make 5,280” has 2640, answers, “all” correct! “What are the
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“only” two numbers, added together, that result in 5,280” cannot be
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answered correctly, “in the terms in which it is asked,” because
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there are not “only two” numbers, the addition of which so result.
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In mathematics are many conceptions which have no actual truth behind
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them. By the very laws of mathematics, we cannot imagine a square
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root of “minus one.” A root, multiplied by itself, must give the
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number of which it is a root. No number, plus or minus, multiplied
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by itself produces a minus quantity. Yet this very conception of the
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square root of minus one is constantly in use in mathematics, though
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it has no objective existence and no mathematical answer.
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The entered Apprentice Lecture teaches of truth as opposed to deceit,
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truth as a foundation of character, truth in the moral sense. In
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this sense Truth really is the foundation of every virtue. There is
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no justice without truth; there is no philanthropy without truth;
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there can be no self-sacrifice, no bravery, no rectitude - no virtue
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of any kind - without a foundation in that which is sincere and
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honest, as opposed to that which is lying and deceitful.
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This aspect of truth is only part of the Third Principal Tenet. It
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is vitally important, it must be learned, pondered and observed, but
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it compares with the absolute Masonic Truth as compares the moon to
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the sun.
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To grasp the idea of Absolute Truth is not given to many, All
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abstract ideas require real mental labor to formulate. The thought of
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fundamental, unchangeable, inescapable verities behind the form,
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substance and phenomena of life, is not easy. Yet difficulty but
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makes the idea the more precious when it does become a part of a
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Freemason’s mental concepts.
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A manufacturer is to make a table. Before he puts pencil to paper he
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forms an idea of what a table looks like. He reduces this idea to a
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drawing and specification; it then becomes an idea made manifest, so
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that others can understand it. But it is not yet a table. When the
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wood-worker constructs the table from materials, cutting and fitting
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them from the plans, the idea becomes embodied. The table is now all
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three - idea, idea manifest, and idea embodied. To the observer it
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is possessed of form and substance. is hard, varnished, throws a
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shadow, and can support other objects - in fact, a table.
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The Absolute Truth of the table is probably quite different. For all
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its seeming solidity and weight, we know that it is far more space
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than matter. We know that its atoms are composed of electrons,
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whirling at inconceivable speeds about a central proton, and that if
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we could see it as it “really” is, not as it appears to the human
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senses, it would be a collection of bounding, moving, swinging,
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revolving particles of electricity, the force of which, if all were
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suddenly let loose, would be sufficient to wreck a city.
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But not a single scientist can yet even imagine what an electron
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“really” is - the Absolute Truth of it escapes the laboratory.
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Freemasonry is not all concerned with proving the verity of Deity.
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She accepts a Great Architect as Truth. But as we have seen, Truth
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has more than one classification. The Absolute Truth of Deity can no
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more be known to man on earth than the Absolute Reality of the table
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can be realized by those who use it. Our perception of the world and
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life is sense bound. From seeing, hearing , touching, tasting and
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smelling; we reason, think and believe. Many aspects of physical
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things do not touch our five senses - for instance, the speed of the
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electron, the size of the atom. And unimaginable aspects of Deity
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cannot enter our minds, because a finite mind can never comprehend
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that which is infinite.
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Freemasonry teaches that the True Word was lost. She offers a
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substitute. To search for That Which Was Lost is the reason for
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Masonic life. While we know that the search must be as fruitless as
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it must be endless, we find joy and usefulness in the effort, not in
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the results. Important to the Freemason is not the comprehension of
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the idea of the Absolute, but that he seeks it in his conception of
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the Most High.
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The great Freemason, Lessing, said: “Pure Truth is for God alone” -
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phrasing in six words both the impossibility of mortals ever finding
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it, and the reason we should seek it! Cicero, too, knew why we must
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seek. When he said; “our minds possess by nature an insatiable
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desire to know the truth” he uttered a truism, no matter what aspect
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of Truth is considered. Chesterfield capped them both with his
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famous “Every man seeks for truth - God, only, knows who finds it.”
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“Our ancient friend and brother, the great Pythagoras” was poet,
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philosopher and scientist when he stated “Truth is so great a
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perfection that if God would render himself visible to man, he would
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choose light for him body and truth for his soul.”
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Few men are able to tell others of the eternal verities, even if, at
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long last, they win them. To “Tell The Truth,” meaning to state the
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fact or belief as known, is easy. But to tell the Truth unto men is
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like singing music to the tone deaf, teaching differential calculus
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to six year old child, speaking in a language the hearer does not
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understand. He who even thinks he knows the Lost word may never tell
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it - no syllables formed by mortal tongue may speak it. Listen to
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John Ruskin, sage of sages: “Childhood often holds a truth with its
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feeble fingers which the grasp of manhood cannot retain - which it is
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the pride of utmost age to recover.” the very young and the very old
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know that which they cannot tell to us of the middle years. As
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Freemasons, we know a Truth we cannot tell even to the initiate, who
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must find it for himself in the midst of our symbols and our
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teachings.
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The great light holds a thousands truths - and one great Truth.
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Alas, that some are so blinded to the latter that, finding an
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apparent failure of conformity between page and page, they see not
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the Truth behind. Such men cannot sea the water for the waves, or
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find the forest because there are too many trees! A collection of
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books, the Bible has been translated and retranslated. Our Bible has
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come down to us through the hands of thousands of willing, devout
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workers, each with the faults and frailties of mankind. Some copied
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well, some copied ill; some historians were accurate, others allowed
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play to their imaginations. “Of course” in this mighty literature
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are self contradictions; “of course” different prophets, historians,
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singers and inspired leaders saw different aspects of the truths they
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taught, and so taught differently. Recall the story of the two
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knights of old who fought to exhaustion over the color of a shield,
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one saying it was black, the other white. When the contest was over
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they examined the shield together and found one side white and the
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other black. So with these different manners of teaching in the
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Great Light - each teaches the Truth as its writer saw it. The
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“real” truth, the “whole” truth - the “Absolute Truth,” is to be
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found in no verse, chapter or book, but in the Book of Books as a
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whole!
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From the beginning of time man has attempted to visualize that which
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he cannot imagine! He would put into words, write upon paper, limn
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on canvas, shout to the housetops, that which he cannot conceive.
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What is the conventional idea of heaven? Place of Golden Streets,
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flowing with Milk and Honey! Why? Because gold is precious and
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beautiful, and milk and honey good; and hard for the lowly and poor
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to get. Injustice oppressed man for centuries; justice became a
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hope. A just judge, no matter how severe, was far better than an
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unjust judge. Hence we have an early conception of God as a strict,
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stern, implacable judge. Later on - much later - came the idea of a
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merciful judge, a loving, kindly, compassionate father.
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As man has grown and learned, so has his conception of Truth of the
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Great Architect of the Universe grown more beautiful. Will any
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contend that man is perfect? Nay, man humble or exalted, man learned
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or ignorant, man wise or foolish, can not conceive the unthinkable
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majesty and beauty, the stupendous power and glory, the unphraseable
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marvel, which must be the Absolute Truth of the Great Architect.
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The dearest hope of all mankind since the first man cried the birth
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cry, was agonized down the centuries by Job: “If a man die, shall he
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live again?” And the centuries have given a hundred answers.
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Immortality in men’s minds is as different as the men! To some it is
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rest; to others opportunity to do all that life denied them; to some
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it is pleasure; to others it is knowledge; to yet others it is
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formless, ageless, boundless contemplation, the Nirvana of the
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Buddhist. But no thinking man believes that his most glorious
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conception of immortality can compare to whatever may be the Absolute
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Truth of that Magnificent belief.
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Concrete truths are all relative; Absolute Truth is unchanging. We
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think of men as good or bad, moral or unethical, wise or ignorant
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only as compared to others. Absolute goodness, morality and wisdom
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we cannot know here; we cannot know the Absolute Truth of anything.
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“But we may search for it.” We may so order our lives, so read the
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Great Light, so follow the teachings of the ancient Craft that our
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quest of “That Which Was Lost” brings us one step nearer to the
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barrier which forever separates mortal eyes from Immortal Truth.
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That he who quests earnestly and seeks sincerely will, at long last,
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pass that barrier and with his own eyes see that the Absolute is the
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magnificent Truth of Freemasonry.
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“SO MOTE IT BE!”
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