Masonry, also known as Freemasonry is not what you are probably expecting it to be. With that said here is what I have researched and found about the secret world of Freemasonry.As you can imagine by the name "masonry", freemasonry originated in the medieval times by those who few and proud that worked so well with stone and rock. These skilled craftsmen were in high demand all over the country forcing the church to allow and fund there travels to various regions to put there skills into use. The exact time frame that the masonry world began is uncertain even by the Masonic scholars but it is said that it was forged into a society at these so called "lodges" that were built at the various work si ...view middle of the document...
Latter on, on the road to founding freemasonry two men by the name of Albert Pike, and Albert Mackey are the two names that receive the credit of laying down the first laws of Masonry. These laws were set down sometime after the British revival of Freemasonry in 1717.Freemasonry is not a religion and promotes no doctrine or dogma. Masons call it the "search for light" and in its reference is a quest for knowledge, not salvation. Freemasonry promotes a hope in resurrection, but does not teach a belief about resurrection. The first belief is faith the second is religion.Although the Master Mason, or Third Degree ritual includes references of the soul, Freemasonry makes no imposition on the individual candidate's personal beliefs, nor does it require any of its members to accept any specific teachings regarding resurrection. These rituals make references to "a vital and immortal principal" found within its perishable frame, and it mentions a hope of ascending to "those ethereal mansions above", making me believe that masons believe in some sort of life after death. But these are poetic allusions and do not constitute a doctrine of belief imposed on candidates. If anything, Freemasonry teaches that death is a "mysterious veil which the eye of human reason cannot penetrate," and only supports the hope, not the promise, of resurrection.There have been both masons and non-masons who have misunderstood the Hiramic legend to represent a resurrection or raising from the dead. The key lesson though, is the steadfastness and fidelity of Hiram Abiff before his untimely death. The story of his body being taken from its grave and rebuired is a symbol of his resurection and reincarnation.
