Discussion for the 9th -10th degree:
“Good evening, brethren. Welcome to the discussion of the 9th -10th degree. In this combination of two degrees we find the search for the three ruffians, their ultimate capture, trial, and execution.
“In the prologue of the degree we were told that the version of events in these degrees differs from the one portrayed in the traditional US and UK 3rd degree. Here the drama is based on the continental version instead.
“As the current system of degrees has combined the 9th and 10th for portrayal, I believe that a quick separation of the two into their original parts is in order.
“First, the 9th originally was the search for and capture of the ruffians, and the 10th was their trial and execution.
Albert Pike has expanded the scope of the degrees, using allegory in these degrees in which the lessons are concealed. These lessons, while initially concealed, are at one point or another their meaning is announced specifically. As mentioned in earlier discussions, Pike at times is very clear, sometimes not so much, on the lessons he intends to be taught, and in this case he seems to be taking both tacks.
“An excellent quote from M&D for the Ninth – “Masonry is action, and not inertness. It requires its initiates to WORK, actively and earnestly, for the benefit of their brethren, their country, and mankind.” For me, this is the call to action which in the degree is the search for the ruffians.
“From the 10th, same source – “No true Mason scoffs at honest convictions and an ardent zeal in the cause of what one believes to be truth and justice.” And also – “But Masonry teaches, and has preserved in their purity, the cardinal tenets of the old primitive faith, which underlie and are the foundation of all religions.” And finally – “Toleration, holding that every other man has the same right to his opinion and faith that we have to ours; and liberality, holding that as no human being can with certainty say, in the clash and conflict of hostile faiths and creeds, what is truth, or that he is surely in possession of it . . .”. Of that and dedication “to the cause of Toleration and Liberality against Fanaticism and Persecution, political and religious . . .”.
My interpretation is that we must work to end the vices, and allow toleration (my own definition of liberality) to permit and even encourage different points of view. This work then becomes the resolution of the vices in the 10th degree.
In these degrees, KS announces as a proclamation that the three ruffians represent three different vices that affect mankind’s existence. The first declaration is that of Jubelum, who represents Ignorance. The other two are mentioned later and so will be discussed later.
Going back to Albert Pike’s time, the vice of Ignorance and its perils were certainly well-known. Ignorance is mentioned in A Christmas Carol, which was written by Charles Dickens about the same time as Pike joined the Fraternity. You may recall that one of the two children concealed in the Ghost of Christmas Present’s robe was a boy named Ignorance, and he was to be feared more than the girl named Want.
Let’s consider the three vices, in order of their presentation in the degrees.
- First, Ignorance, which can take several forms:
- Pure ignorance, the state of knowing nothing.
- Limited ignorance, of partial knowledge, perhaps controlled by others
- Mistaken ignorance, believing something to be true when it is not,
- And lastly, self-inflicted ignorance, to be closed-minded and unwilling to entertain differing opinions and thoughts.
All four have their individual issues. There may be other forms, but for the purposes of this discussion these four will be considered.
In the first case, pure ignorance can be a blank slate ready to receive anything. To be sure, lack of knowledge about specific information in a given setting does not automatically make one ignorant. I do not view, for instance, persons from a Stone Age tribe to be so. While they might not know how to drive a car or operate an iPhone they most likely have intensive knowledge of their environment, a detailed knowledge of and respect for their ancestors, and an elaborate social order. If you or I were placed in their environment we would be non-functional. Who then and there would be the ignorant one?
I would further suggest that pure ignorance is very rare, as even small children start picking up ideas and social norms very quickly. Let’s proceed on to the next two types.
Limited ignorance is partial knowledge. This may be dictated by a power that wants to suppress a group, such as the banning of teaching of reading and writing to slaves. This limits their ability to think and imagine, and makes them easier to control. The danger for the suppressors is that if the suppressed learn there is more out there, they may have a revolution on their hands. It may also come from a limited opportunity for learning, which has the same effect if perhaps not the intent of achieving the same level of control and malleability.
Mistaken or deluded ignorance comes from believing something that is not true. It may happen by being taught half-truths, misinterpretation/twisting of facts, or deliberate lies as a part of the previous item. Presenting an incorrect version intentionally has been a very effective way of controlling the population.
Both of these types can also result from a lack of opportunity to be taught more, particularly when the educational system fails to or is not permitted to teach rational and creative thinking. Simply knowing facts is not enough. One must be able to think about those facts and come to individual conclusions based on them.
For example: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” – Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany.
As we all know how that turned out, what more can be added here?
Self-inflicted ignorance, that resulting from a “hardening of the attitudes”, might be the worst of all. “I have made up my mind, don’t confuse me with the facts”. This can lead to fanaticism, one of the other two vices represented by Jubelo and Jubela. Fanaticism results in intolerance and a lack of empathy and sympathy towards others. Being able to acknowledge that others have a right to their point of view is absolutely critical to society being able to accommodate diversity of opinions. One would be hard-pressed to see how a democracy is capable of surviving a situation in which fanaticism plays a large role.
An inability to hear or consider constructive criticism can be a result of self-inflicted ignorance. However, the defense of one’s own position and thoughts is not necessarily self-inflicted ignorance. Fervent belief can be coupled with tolerance for other views and differing opinions without compromising one’s own thoughts. In this way fanaticism and intolerance is avoided while still maintaining strong convictions.
In all of these cases, ignorance becomes the enabling step to worse situations. Mr. Dickens was quite correct: Ignorance is indeed a terrible scourge. Let’s proceed on to the other two vices:
- Fanaticism: It is difficult for me to expand much on beyond that which is in other Masonic writings. As such I will proceed on to the third vice of:
- This may be the most difficult of the three vices to consider. Ignorance obviously has issues, Fanaticism results in a host of terrible consequences, but on the surface at least, our society considers Ambition to be not a vice, but a virtue.
Ambition in the present day is to a large extent admired. To say that someone lacks ambition is at least an insult, and most likely intended as harsh criticism. I believe here in this context what Pike is criticizing is not the desire to better one’s spiritual and moral self, but the sort of ambition that blinds its devotees to everything except their final goal (self-induced ignorance?), and all too frequently ends in the deadly sin of greed. A quote related to the dilemma (Wikipedia the source for the quotes):
“So ambitious men, if they find the way open for their rising, and still get forward, they are rather busy than dangerous; but if they be checked in their desires, they become secretly discontent, and look upon men and matters with an evil eye, and are best pleased, when things go backward. Francis Bacon, Essays (1625), “Of Ambition”
A quote from St. Augustine:
The lust for power, which of all human vices was found in its most concentrated form in the Roman people as a whole, first established its victory in a few powerful individuals, and then crushed the rest of an exhausted country beneath the yoke of slavery.
For when can that lust for power in arrogant hearts come to rest until, after passing from one office to another, it arrives at sovereignty? Now there would be no occasion for this continuous progress if ambition were not all-powerful; and the essential context for ambition is a people corrupted by greed and sensuality. St. Augustine, The City of God (c. 400), as translated by H. Bettenson (1972), Book 1, Chapter 31, p. 42
In this example, the ambition is for power, and the more the better.
A critical observation from Bro. Benjamin Franklin: “Ambition has its disappointments to sour us, but never the good fortune to satisfy us. “On True Happiness”, Pennsylvania Gazette, 20 November 1735.
Another like it, as mentioned earlier this ambition frequently ends in greed: “Whoever loves money never has enough.” Ecclesiastes 5:10.
Ambition has the rather nasty habit of never entirely satisfying, as there is always another level just out of reach. A bit too much like a videogame with unending levels: the player must always ultimately lose!
Back to the degrees themselves: While here the three ruffians are dealt with and the death of the Master Hiram is avenged, the three vices with which we must deal are not quite so easily eliminated. As one can see from the contradictions in the Ambition section of this discussion, these are not quite as easily dispensed with as the ruffians were.
These three vices are all around us, and we must do what we can while we can to counteract them. KS says as much in the closing lecture for the two degrees:
“Ignorance. . . was seen as the principal enemy of human freedom. . . The ruffian’s lamp, feebly lighting the cavern, represents the pale light that despotism substitutes for the Light of Truth . . .The other two . . .are symbols of Ambition (which breeds tyranny or despotism), and Fanaticism (from which springs intolerance and persecution).
“In these Degrees you are reminded to become champions over these vices, even
as the Elus succeeded in bringing the murderers of Hiram Abif to justice.”
So mote it be!
Illustrious Bro. Steve Gatton, 33°
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