Seeking Light

By: Lane Dossett The Grand Orator of The Grand Lodge of Mississippi, F & AM

In our textbook we are told that the practices of Freemasonry are “so far interwoven with religion as to lay us under obligations to pay that rational homage to Deity which at once constitutes our duty and our happiness.” (P. 41) Albert Pike similarly states in Morals and Dogma that Masons are to practice the “universal, eternal, immutable religion, such as God planted it in the heart of universal humanity,” that “pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father,” “to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

The textbook clarifies this in the officer installation section for the Chaplain by stating that “Freemasonry never has been, is not now, nor will it ever be, a religion.” (P. 116) Pike, again, similarly states in Morals and Dogma that “Masonry neither usurps the place of nor apes religion.” [apes: verb, to copy closely but often clumsily and ineptly].

It has always been easy for me to synthesize these explanations. While Freemasonry offers no salvific component, it directs our attention to a divine creator in a way that men of all faiths can agree and directs us to act accordingly.

On February 4, 2017, I discovered my 18-year-old nephew who had died from suicide. He was a great young man and the most tender-hearted person I have ever known. We were really close. Similar to others that have suffered a traumatic loss, I soon experienced what theologian Richard Foster and others call a “dark night of the soul.” I became spiritually disinterested. I continued to show up for church events and tried to shake it, but neither my heart nor mind were into it for years.

Henry Clausen, former Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, wrote in his book, Clausen’s Commentaries:

“moreover, in the classic phrase, Masonry cannot teach; it can only help us learn. This is done in the course of several developmental stages. But if the initiate becomes locked or lost in progress, Masonry can help them break loose and start forward again on the correct path.”

I suspect that this is an unassuming paragraph easily glossed over by most that have read this, but it is part of my Masonic testimony. Regardless of our age or length of Masonic tenure, we will always be initiates and part of this experiential, initiatic system. Hopefully, our experience did not stop upon becoming Master Masons. I think if we are honest, we all become locked or lost at some point, to some degree, as I did.

In early 2020, an area of Freemasonry perked my curiosity, and I ordered some books to learn more about it. After discussing the topic around Lodges, a trusted Masonic Brother became my unofficial mentor, and my bookshelf quadrupled. Six months later, I looked down at the Book in my lap and realized my dark night was over. Freemasonry did not teach me anything, but it helped me break loose and start forward on the correct path. I was seeking light again.

The word light is mentioned twenty times in our textbook and is used to represent different things, such as the light of the sun (P. 28), shekinah (P. 64), and the Holy Bible (P. 116). To Masons, seeking light can also mean different things, but it almost certainly always fits within a sefirot of the Kabbalistic tree of life, such as divine knowledge (Da’at), wisdom (Chokhmah), and understanding (Binah).

Light can be either direct (Ohr Yashar), as by the sun, or reflected (Ohr Hozer), like the moon. It may come as no surprise that these are both symbols intimately familiar to the Mason. (See picture, P. 12). The Worshipful Master is charged with “spread[ing] and communicat[ing] light and instruction to the brethren of your Lodge” (P. 118), with the assistance of the Wardens (P. 119). After a description of the sun, “for a pattern of imitation,” the Worshipful Master is told to impart light “in like manner.” For an interesting story on the “two great lights” and the diminution of the moon to reflected light, see Talmud Chullin 60b, which also provides instruction for the Jewish lunar calendar versus the modern sun-based calendar. Interestingly to me, our textbook similarly establishes our Masonic calendaring system based upon light, Anno Lucis. (P. 122)

As nearly all Masons may know, the textbook quotes the familiar passage of Genesis 1:1-3: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light: and there was light.” What may be less known is that some Hebrew scholars have ascribed special symbolic meaning to the word used here for light מְאֹרֹת (me’orot), spelled without the vavs, the vowel letters. (See e.g., Likutei Moharan 54:2:10 and 225:1:2). While a detailed description of this meaning is beyond the scope of this writing, it is worth noting that it is said to be related to the theophany event of the light by fire at the tabernacle during the exodus. Zohar 1:12b. Coincidently (or, perhaps, not coincidently), this second scriptural event is also recorded in our textbook, being remarkably chosen out of all of the other biblical events. (P. 64) On a theory of how the primordial light of the first day of creation is alleged to have changed, see Talmud Hagigah 12a(9); Job 38:15; Daniel Matt, Zohar Pritzker Edition Footnotes 636 and 638.

The concept of light is simultaneously both simple and complicated beyond all understanding. To conclude, I am very grateful for how Masonry helped to move me forward again on my path toward more light. While neither my light nor my journey may directly resemble yours, I think the great prism that is Freemasonry leads us all back to the one true source. Contemplative thoughts may include (1) what type of light am I seeking; (2) where am I looking for light, and what am I doing to find it; and (3) am I a source of light to my Brethren?

Lane Dossett

Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi