The Power Of the Spoken Word!

Did I ever tell you my theory on the powers of humanity before written language was formed? No, I don't think I did. Well, I'll tell you now, and you can shoot it down if you like, everyone has their own opinion and most are wrong. I use the power of reason to fashion my arguments, but it's increasingly difficult to find rational people capable of reasoned thinking anymore. Why is it that folk are willing to accept any scientific theory thrown at them if it comes from a "reputable" source? It's the guys who can think outside the box, the so called crackpots, who make the major breakthrough's, and it's only generations later that they're accepted as geniuses.

Anyway, I'm no genius, but here goes. Clearly before written language appeared, oral traditions and histories were the key to civilization. I suspect that in places such as Egypt and South America, priesthood's held sway over the people, and to concentrate and magnify their powers, the spoken word when used correctly, particularly in secret rites, took on magical properties.

The dilemna we're dealing with here, is a positive shift from right-brain to left-brain thought patterns with the development of writing. I believe that before writing, socities influenced by the spoken word alone, thought in an entirely different way. Being able to think in a very different way also means being able to do things that you wouldn't otherwise. I believe that such people would have been deeply empathetic, intuitive and instinctive and far more able to develop powers of animal kinship, psychic powers, and possibly tele-kinetic powers.

You think I'm talking absolute nonsense, but I'm not entirely making this up. There is much evidence to suggest that such things are true. For instance, we know little about the power of sound in ancient times, but clearly the Egptians knew secrets long since lost. Ancient texts allude to large scale construction projects, where they placed a sacred hieroglyph on a papyrus leaf, under a block, and upon a certain note being intoned by a group of individuals, the rock would fly through the air to it's desired location. I'm not going to tell you any more, find out for yourself!

The Inherited Ritual of Modern Freemasonry!

What is known about the rituals of the Knights Templar? Very little really, we know what they were accused of when the order was condemned by Phillip the fair and the Pope Clement (who Phillip had in his pocket), but those accusations were probably largely spurious and so tell us nothing in effect. It had been suggested that the rituals of the Knights Templar were a precursor for modern Freemasonry, and that may well be the case, as there are several factors which commend the suggestion. Alternatively we must also consider the purported Operative guild origins of Freemasonry, an idea largely prevalent in England, and which may simply be a device whereby the Grand Lodge of England can claim that Freemasonry originated in that country (which clearly it didn't!).

The Knights Templar had 3 ordinary grades within the order: Squire, Sergeant and Knight, like the three degress in Freemasonry: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft amd Master Mason. But these can be equally equated to the traditional craft roles of: Apprentice, Journeyman and Master.

But why stop with the Knights Templar, where did their rituals originate? surely the subject matter of Masonic rituals is Old Testament anyway, so why not look further back? The Knights Templar were accused of including in their rituals, certain practices which were akin to Catharism, which in turn had inherited those ideas from earlier Gnosticism, which leads us back to Jesus. But surely Jesus wasn't a Freemason I hear you say? Hmmm, well the raising of Lazarus from the dead seems decidedly like the ritual of the 3rd Degree in modern Freemasonry, when viewed subjectively, and Jesus own resurrection was essentially the same ritual again.

Following the route back through Jesus who had connections with several fairly diverse sects, a path can be traced back to the Israelite exodus from Egypt, led by Moses who had been initiated into the secrets of the Egyptian High Priests. Safe to say, that Moses took what he had learned and adapted it into something new and unique, but surely much of the secret rituals he had learned would have been preserved by him and practised within the High Priesthood of the new Judaic religion.

So, it's possible to conclude that elements of sacred ritual have been preserved since ancient times and permeated down through the ages till the present day. The modern rituals have probably lost all of the substance and intent which was implied originally, having been distilled down to a fraction of the original and adapted to suit many differnt agendas, but a clear lineage is a possibility!