The Lost Keys of Freemasonry - RoseCroix.org.au

going in, and the man inside. The path of human life is governed as all things are bythe laws of analogy, and as at birth we start our pilgrimmage through youth,manhood, and old age, so the spiritual consciousness of man in his cosmic path ofunfoldment passes from unconsciousness to perfect consciousness in the GrandLodge of the universe. Before the initiation of the Entered Apprentice degree can beproperly understood and appreciated, certain requirements must be considered, notmerely those of the physical world but also those of the spiritual world.The Mason must realize that his true initiation is a spiritual and not a physical ritual,and that his initiation into the living temple of the spiritual hierarchy regulatingFreemasonry may not occur until years after he has taken the physical degree, orspiritually he may be a Grand Master before he comes into the world. There areprobably few instances in the history of Freemasonry where the spiritual ordinationof the aspiring seeker took place at the same time as the physical initiation, becausethe t rue initiation depends upon the cultivation of certain soul qualities - anindividual and personal matter which is left entirely to the volition of the mysticMason and which he must carry out in silence and alone.The court of the tabernacle of the ancient Jews was divided into three parts: theouter court, the holy place, and the most Holy of Holies. These three divisionsrepresent the three grand divisions of human consciousness. The degree of EnteredApprentice is acquired when the student signifies his intention to take the roughashlar which he cuts from the quarry and prepares for the truing of the Fellow Craft.In other words, the first degree is really one of preparation; it is a material stepdealing with material things, for all spiritual life must be raised upon a materialfoundation.Seven is the number of the Entered Apprentice as it relates to the seven liberal artsand sciences, and these are the powers with which the Entered Apprentice mustlabor before he is worthy to go onward into the more elevated and advanceddegrees. They are much mistaken who believe that they can reach the spiritualplanes of Nature without first passing through and molding matter into theexpression of spiritual power; for the first stage in the growth of a Master Mason ismastery of the concrete condition s of life and the developments of sense centerswhich will later become channels for the expression of spiritual truths.All growth is a gradual procedure carried on in an orderly, masterly way, asexemplified by the opening and closing of a lodge. The universe is divided into planesand these planes are divided from each other by the rates of vibration which passthrough them. As the spiritual consciousness progresses through the chain, the lowerlose connection with it when it has raised itself above their level, until finally only theGrand Masters are capable of remaining in session, and unknown even to the MasterMason it finally passes back again to the spiritual hierarchy from which it came.Action is the keynote of the Entered Apprentice lodge. All growth is the result ofexercise and the intensifying of vibratory rates. It is through exercise that themuscles of the human body are strengthened; it is through the seven liberal arts andsciences that the human mind receives certain impulses which, in turn, stimulateinternal centers of consciousness. These centers of consciousness, through stillgreater development, will later give fuller expression to these inner powers; but theEntered Apprentice has for his first duty the awakening of these powers, and, like the