Mystic masonry, or, The symbols of freemasonry and the greater ...

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256 Mystic Masonry,
CHAPTER X.
CONCLUSION.
The foregoing pages can justly be called fragments
only of the Secret Doctrine and of the Symbols
of Freemasonry. A systematic treatise on
either of these subjects would necessarily include
the other. The Secret Doctrine is the complete
Philosophy of Masonic Symbolism.
So long as this
philosophy is unknown to the Mason, his symbols
are, to a great extent, dead letters, the work of the
lodge a dumb show beyond its moral precepts, and
the Genius of Masonry for the members of the
Craft is largely the spirit of self-interest, mutual
support, and physical enjoyment or revelry, the
latest embodiment of which is the "Mystic Shrine."
But there are some among the members of the
Craft—and how many time alone can determine
who believe that Masonry means far more than this,
and who have already discerned in its symbols and
traditions something of their real meaning. Many
of these have found partial clues which served to
keep interest alive while searching for plainer mean-