The Quest For The Lost Word

The Cornerstone Society has held its annual conference at Freemasons’ Hall, London, entitled Quest for the Lost Word. It was the society’s seventeenth conference and the day’s proceedings took place in the attractive and ambient Temple number 10.
     The Cornerstone Society was originally founded in 1999 for the benefit of all master masons with the encouragement of the then Assistant Grand Master, Lord Northampton.
     The central aim of the Society is to try and encourage masons to gain a greater understanding of Freemasonry’s teachings and mysteries. As such, the Society is primarily interested in the ritualistic, symbolic and spiritual aspects of the Craft, aspects which are all too often neglected by research lodges and academic institutions.
     Following an introduction by the Society’s chairman, George Francis, the first of four speakers, Professor John Grange, took to the stage to speak on the subject of With the Centre: Reflections of a Masonic Pilgrim on a Quest for the Lost Word. As he explained, his presentation was a personal view, the culmination of 40 years in the Craft and he emphasised one very important aspect of Freemasonry’s teachings – self-knowledge. As he reminded the audience, the words ‘Know Thyself’ were carved on the oracular temple at the ancient Greek town of Delphi, and he concluded: “My personal masonic journey or pilgrimage has revealed that the Lost Word is not lost at all, as it is enshrined in our Grand Principles, Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.”
     Miss Pauline Chakmakjian, a Ph.D student at the University of Wales, Lampeter, then spoke on Japanese Spirituality and Esoteric Freemasonry, and drew parallels between Freemasonry and several indigenous religious practices of Japanese society.
     Miss Chakmakjian pointed out that although Japanese society was generally tolerant towards new spiritual traditions and practices, Freemasonry in Japan is relatively small.
     This, she explained, is largely because Japanese people are ignorant of what it is – a problem that was compounded during the Second World War when the country was subjected to a lot of anti-masonic propaganda from Nazi Germany.
     Professor Bro. Thierry Zarcone of the CNRS, Paris, gave a fascinating presentation on Muslim Fascination with Freemasonry, and explained how many members of Islamic tariqats (paths) or Sufi orders enthusiastically embraced Freemasonry in the nineteenth century.
     Professor Zarcone showed several rare photographs of Islamic sheikhs who joined masonic lodges in Turkey and the Balkans, attired in their masonic regalia. These sheikhs, he said, were mainly of the Bektashi Sufi order, an order that was quite similar to Freemasonry in that its meetings were closed to non-members. However, several freemasons were, quite remarkably, admitted to their meetings as guests, such was kindred spirit between the two societies.
     The last speaker was Tom Bergroth, Grand Marshal of the Swedish Order of Freemasons, who spoke on the Swedish Rite. As Bro. Bergroth pointed out, the Swedish Rite has a special place in the pantheon of masonic rites, as it is the culmination of more than two centuries of distinct development.
     The first Swedish lodge was opened in Stockholm in 1735 and during the second half of the eighteenth century, the Swedish Prince, Duke Charles of Södermanland, later King Charles XIII, fashioned Swedish Freemasonry into a new, multiple-degree system.
     Consequently, unlike Freemasonry elsewhere, the Swedish Rite has no separate higher degrees, as all its degrees from 1 to 10 form part of a self-contained system that all of its members are encouraged to pursue.
     The day was then rounded off with a rewarding question and answer session. To find out more about the Cornerstone Society please visit the society’s website at: http://www.cornerstonesociety.com/