WHEN RELIGION FAILS THE OCCULT FEEDS

Not to qibble but for centuries the argument has been out there for all to consider.  Is occult study the result of religion failing? Add the tincture of time to an occult topic and it becomes safe, even commonplace.  What just happened? Are we smarter? Is that insight?  Have we learned something?  If we expect faith to answer ethical questions of life, we find ourselves drawn to a secular atmosphere- democracy. With all the deceits and conceits of man, whether we will it into existence or cannot see it, it comes.  

Masonry came along at a time when Europe had paid the horrible price of intolerance. But the lessons of those days have faded. We don't think anymore about the Peace of Westphalia that set in motion the world order in place today. Lessons needed to confirm the ethics of a 21st century freemason need contemporary relevance; adding recent history to the conversation prepares the Craft for that day 100 years ahead. The balance we promote- between past, present and future is undoubtedly platonism- metaphysical.  And now, 21st century man, considers a world bereft of gods and devils and looks into the abyss to define the appetite for consciousness unable to lean on superstitions.   Nothing is off the table. It is for a reason that masons have held this middle ground of being and becoming.  What do they see?

The world may be a dangerous jungle but there is a choice whether one lives in fear or not as history repeats itself. Is the mind the safe sanctuary? Even masons acknowledge the existence of the occult in intimate corners in small groups while the very idea continues to upset others, whether we understand a concept, it exists.