3 ms·

Yes, this jumped out at me as a classic disciplinary tactic of cults, along with this: > Morals and Dogma was first of all written for those who have received

Yes, this jumped out at me as a classic disciplinary tactic of cults, along with this: > 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. The reasons Freemasons might want to dissemble around Pike are obvious, given that he is both still given prominent billing in their Washington DC temple and was one of the highest ranking early members of the Ku Klux Klan.

wl 5y ago
Understand that Masonic degrees usually can be divided into a ritual portion and a lecture portion elaborating on the ideas found in the ceremonial. Morals and Dogma contains extra written lectures for an obsolete series of degrees Pike revised in the 1870s. Sure, there's a lot you can take away from the extra lectures, but you're missing a lot of context without knowing the contents of the degrees. The lectures in Morals and Dogma were deemed to be not secret, but the ceremonials were. As a result, a lot more people outside of Masonry are familiar with Morals and Dogma than the ceremonials. These days, you can occasionally find the rituals for sale, but they're rather uncommon. The Supreme Council now publishes Magnum Opus, the first draft of the degrees that would eventually go along with Morals and Dogma. There is no contemporary evidence that Pike was a member of the KKK, only one person making that claim 20 years after he was dead.