Use of knowledge, Part 1: Pike on Lucifer

One of the most common quotes that conspiracy theorists bring up, and one of the most confusing to Masons is Albert Pike's comments about Lucifer in Morals & Dogma, which go:

Lucifer the Light bearer. Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness. Lucifer the Son of the Morning. Is it he who bears the Light and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble sensual or selfish souls? Doubt it not!

Now, Pike is a scholar of esoteric interpretation of the highest order, so I'm absolutely unqualified to fully unpeel that, and the context from the book and from the degrees is certainly necessary, but here's my personal views just based on the quote alone:

Lucifer the Light bearer.

This is simply a translation of the Latin word, derived from lux ferre which literally means "to bring light". There's no interpretation at all, here.

Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness.

This isn't all that deep, interpretation-wise. It is strange that the spirit of darkness has a name which relates to Light. In the Bible, Light almost always refers to the divine, starting in the very first passage of Genesis.

Is it he who bears the Light

Now Pike is getting into deeper symbolic waters. He's introducing the double meaning of "Light" both in the sense of the Bible and the history of the Western initiatic tradition where Light has generally referred to knowledge and understanding. So, this amounts to (if I can so boldly pare Pike down to modern lingo), "if Lucifer is the light bearer and we talk about Light all the time, WTF?!" and he continues...

and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble sensual or selfish souls? Doubt it not!

Okay, so here's the punchline. You have this idea that knowledge and understanding come with this spirit of darkness. Is that true? Of course it is! Look at any aspect of life from physics to personal relationships. The more you truly understand, the more you are entrusted with potentially harmful capabilities. Physics can give you the key to solving the world's energy problems or building a bomb of horrific potential. Understanding personal relationships can lead you to helping others or to Red Pill-style manipulation of them.

So my own interpretation, here, is:

The Mason is engaged in a quest for knowledge and understanding, but beware: what you bring to that process is your moral compass, and those who fail to apply that compass and seek "feeble, sensual or selfish" ends will undo all of the work that they have done to get there and end up with nothing (being "blind" to the Light).

Doubt it not, indeed.

When he holdeth his peace, is counted wise...

Conspiracy theorists often forget that by speaking out about something that they understand only superficially, they confirm their lack of understanding to the rest of the world. The most common example of this is the assumption that Freemasonry has a single organizational structure either in terms of its governance or the progression of degrees. When I tell them the truth, they are either left speechless or assume that I'm lying because it immediately disarms their entire rationale for despising the Fraternity.

But this is only the most common example. Interpretations of symbols is another common case where conspiracy theory goes off the rails. For example, a recent "Above Top Secret" posting analyzed the art of Freemasonry. Its conclusions were absurd, but it's important to understand why they're absurd. It's not because they're wrong. In fact, an argument could be made that they're not wrong because there's no such thing as "right" when it comes to interpreting Masonic symbolism. At best, one has a better claim to understanding the symbolism if one has been initiated, but that's only because they symbols are intended to relate to the initiatic experience.

So, here are a few examples from that article:

The compass and square ... As we can see the compass (Female) is on top of the square. Indicating that the female is the Stronger of the sexes.

First off, the interpretation of the Compasses (compasses is never singular) as female is arbitrary. I could make an argument that it does represent the female, but it's a thin argument (based on historical associations of circular vs. squared shapes in art). It's certainly not a slam-dunk assertion that this is the correct interpretation of that symbol.

As an example let me provide a second interpretation: the square is a tool for measuring the real world. Is this stone square? Let's check... But the compasses are a tool for measuring intent. You use them on paper to lay out abstracts. The abstract is above the concrete (no pun intended) because this is how we view our metaphysical situation.

That's my interpretation, but it's not "right" either. There is no right interpretation.

The all seeing eye is in actual fact. The Holy See. The Vatican. Because Freemasonry is just another extension of the Vatican.

This one is fairly silly, but I'll point out that this is contradicted by the fact that the Catholic Church has, in the past, sentenced Freemasons to death for their association with the Fraternity and still considers membership in the Fraternity to be a "grave matter" (otherwise known as a "mortal sin," preventing the Mason from receiving communion).

Another side point, the correct name for the "all seeing eye" is actually the "Eye of Providence" and it is not merely a Masonic symbol. Centuries before it was used by Freemasonry it was a symbol of the Christian conception of divine providence. It later became a generic symbol of the omnipresence of deity, and that is why Freemasonry alludes to this symbol.

[In the artwork depicted] The leaves represent fractals.

Fractals are a concept that really were not fleshed out until fairly late in the 20th century, and even their initial introduction as an abstract concept wasn't until the late 19th century. Freemasonry has been around for at least 200 years longer than that, possible 3 or 4, depending on how you measure and which historical evidence to take as indicating the existence of something that could reasonably be called "Freemasonry."

Symbols do not have to have just one meaning. It is what makes them so interesting.

This is the only insightful comment in the article, and yet the author does not appear to understand it...

There are 33 degrees in Freemasonry. Because there are 33 vertebra in the Human spine.

This would be fascinating... but there's a problem. There are many more than 33 degrees in Freemasonry. There are 33 degrees in the Scottish Rite... well, that's not strictly true, but there are 33 numbered degrees. But they're broken up into a sequence that has no mapping to the spine. As a result, I'm inclined to assert that this is a coincidence only, but there's certainly room for allegorical ideas about the spine and the Scottish Rite due to the presence of this coincidence. It just can't be treated as a sole interpretation.

Unfortunately, this is the point at which the author lost their own thread and started trying to interpret the sacred art of various world religions instead of the art of Freemasonry. It's sad, really, because it punctuates what might have been a passable attempt at giving one interpretation of the symbols of Freemasonry with what amounts to a rambling torrent of gibberish ranging from the Apse of St. Peter's Basilica to Levi's Baphomet (not a Masonic figure at all until it was associated with Freemasonry by the Taxil Hoax) to the Swastika to the Yin/Yang to various random examples of sacred geometry.

In general, here's a good rule: Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise. (Proverbs 17:28) If you are not certain that what you know is true, it is best not to say anything, but if you must, do not say it with an air of veracity and authority.

The Eye of Providence, Freemasonry, Illuminati and the Great Seal of the United States of America

Last Supper at Emmaus
Jacopo Pontormo, 1525

There's a great deal of misinformation around the eye in the triangle symbol and what it means. I'd like to clear that up. FIrst off, it's called "The Eye of Providence."

The Eye of Providence inside of a pyramid is not "the Illuminati logo". The symbol of the Illuminati was the Owl of Minerva. The Eye of Providence was a symbol of the Christian notion of divine providence circa the 15th century in art, but was adopted by many different organizations in the 17th and 18th century as a symbol of the omniscience of deity without being specifically of any one religion.

It was in this sense that Freemasonry, not the Illuminati, used the symbol (though, also not as their primary symbol or logo, which was the Square & Compasses), but it did not appear inside of a pyramid. The conflation with the pyramid probably arose from The Great Seal of the United States where the Eye of Providence represents the providence of God with respect to the founding of the nation from 13 individual colonies (hence the 13 stones making up the base of the pyramid). This providence is clearly explained in the Declaration of Independence, where it is clear that one of the most important aspects of the founders' claim to the right of self-rule, in the face of centuries of monarch-lead claims of divine right to rule, was divine providence. But note that the eye is not inside a pyramid on the Great Seal either! It's actually inside of a triangle. We'll get to where the eye started to go in a pyramid later on...

The Great Seal, like many other uses of the Eye of Providence in the 19th century, had little to do with other uses, so much as it generically represented the philosophy of one group (the framers of the early US system of government). Was it used because of Freemasonry's use? Probably not, but we can't know for sure. Freemasonry was one of many groups that routinely used that symbol in the 18th century, and it was probably used more to avoid specifically referring to any one group or philosophy than the opposite.

The eye is routinely associated (by conspiracy theorists as well as well-meaning enthusiasts) with the Eye of Horus, a symbol from ancient Egyptian mythology. The problem with this theory is that there is absolutely no evidence to support it, and the eye as a symbol of the awareness of deity has cropped up in many isolated systems of iconography from Eastern religions such as Hinduism to the Western aboriginal folk art. There is therefore no particular reason to assume that the Eye of Providence had to be based on some previous icon, and there is no evidence to cause us to do so.

So, why are we so convinced that the Eye is a symbol of the Illuminati and that it was displayed inside a pyramid? Well, that all gets to a funny little thing that happened in the 1970s. Robert Anton Wilson published a story called The Illuminatus! Trilogy which was a comedic, science fiction take on just about every brand of conspiracy theory, and it based its titular organization on what had been a relatively obscure bunch mostly of interest to historians for their alleged influence on the later Jacobins: the Bavarian Illuminati. The book developed most of the sorts of memes that we're familiar with today regarding the Illuminati including absurdly broad influence over governments, religions and secret societies; contact with aliens; the whole works!

It also featured on its cover the Eye of Providence inside of a pyramid... probably influenced by the Great Seal.

The Eye of Providence is an important part of the history of post-enlightenment symbolism and it's sad to see so many people ignoring its actual history in favor of comedy/sci fi. I love good sci fi, but I try not to confuse it with history.