On Jul 14, 2007, at 8:56 PM, off_world_beings wrote:
This is the tip of the iceberg of the strange history of Freemasonry. I am not interested in this as a conspiracy theory, but it is some fascinating history.
Fortunately, from the POV of Masonic scholarship--which Europe has several endowed chairs for Masonic research at major universities-- the presentation and arrangements of facts are far from the real truth of the matter, which is much less fanciful, but the truth (being better than fiction) is IMO much more interesting.
For authentic input on the broader Masonic phenomenon going on back then, check out the work of late great scholar Dame Frances Yates like The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment--and if you really want to grasp the origins, The Art of Memory (which is on the ancient art of ars memoria). If you'd like to grasp that such sciences existed in medieval Scotland, read Scottish professor emeritus David Stevenson's The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century, 1590-1710. These are all modern classics.
If you want to grok how Freemasonry helped put an end to the feudal system, check out Born In Blood by Robinson. It also goes on to show how the same principle of universal freedom exemplified by the craft in Europe, was brought to the US.
The great operative (as opposed to speculative) Freemasonic monuments, many became the first universities of the western world which gave rise to the idea of the arts liberale and free education for all.
