Light E-Book

Werner J. Kraftsik

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 104

Beschreibung

The Symbolism of Light plays an important role in Masoniccustoms. Where does this Vocation and the Search for Lightcome from? So what is contained in this Symbol? The latestscientific findings clarify the Question of what Light is andMasons can find out, where their Seasrch for Light leads.

Leseprobe

I dedicate this book to all those who make up my family in my life.

Freemasonry by their nature is as old as civil society. Both could not develop differently from each other. If entirely bourgeois society must be an offspring of Freemasonry. because the flame in the Focal Point is also a discharge of the sun

Source: Ernst and Falk, Masonic Talks

Table of Contents

Prolog

What is Light anyway?

Perception, Meaning and Veneration

Light as electromagnetic Wave

Elohim

What is Absolute?

The Old Charges of 1723!

STOPP

What does the Light teach us?

Epilog

The First Light

References to Sources and Pictures

Prolog

Occasionally it is claimed that there are no coincidences and that everything that happens is predetermined in some way. As a rule, I contradict such general and unprovable statements.

However, there are situations in which I too ask myself why an event that has just happened, a special information or getting to know a person occurs right now, because it - apparently - fits my current personal life situation exactly.

What was my Situation?

I was relatively denominationally oriented through Childhood, school and in the time of my Education. In the beginning I had a rather diffuse feeling that what my Religion Teachers wanted to teach me could not stand up to logical Tests. I was also alienated by the fact that on the one Hand there was constant talk of a "loving God";, on the other Hand the same God threatened with draconian punishments that were to be final, that is, valid for all Eternity.

During my School Time I learned to appreciate the Natural Sciences, which offered me conclusive Explanations for the origin of the Earth and the Plants, Animals and Humans living on it and I realized that our Earth is probably only one of numerous “Worlds" in a Universe that is probably unmanageable for us Humans. First irritations arose from the Statement that the Earth was created in six, or seven Days ago.

Like many boys, I had spent a long and enjoyable in my Childhood playful with Dinosaurs and knew a little bit about the Times they lived in and, above all, when they probably disappeared so relatively suddenly.

One may argue about the causes at the appropriate place - but they died about 65 Million Years ago, and as far as is known, Man was not yet on earth at that time.

In seven Days the Earth was created?

What about the 65 Million Years?

The “Divine Calendar" was explained to me:

In the second letter of Peter, verse 8, writes Peter:

"Let yourself not this one thing escape you, beloved: One day with the Lord is like a Thousand Years, and a Thousand Years are like one Day".

(PS. 90(89),Holy Scripture, Pattloch-Verlag, Aschaffenburg.

Even repeated attempts at Calculation revealed no Agreement, neither with the Time of Extinction, nor with the preceding Times of the Dinosaurs, whose occurrence is dated to a good 230 Million Years.

My doubts were intensified when in the story of creation (Genesis) "Fall of Man"; and the subsequent Expulsion from paradise were described.

It is perhaps presumptuous to make this comparison in the Relationship with a loving God.

But I am sure that my Father would never have punished me so severely for such an Offence, and would have banned me from the Parental Home (Paradise) for all Time. A punishment “forever"; is for me incompatible with infinite Love.

The Fratricide of Abel by Cain led to another - Human - banishment.

What confused me enormously is the Statement that Cain “went east of Eden, away from the Lord's temple and took a Wife there":

Genesis 4,16-17,Holy Scripture Pattloch-Verlag , Aschaffenburg

Where did this Woman suddenly come from?

This question is also not answered.

If one continues to occupy oneself with the contents of the Bible, one realizes that there is something wrong with either the Bible or with the described "God", something that cannot be right, which strengthened and deepened my doubts about the teachings that I have been taught.

The Rules proclaimed there, including the “ divine punishments", are for me records of people who, in the Spirit of the Time, tried to give the emerging Communities rules that would enable them to live together peacefully,

Those who claimed to know the will of God, the Theologians, determined their respective rules, so that Religion, Denomination(s), became the source of many sufferings.

I could not follow these Confessions, because I think the Cause, the Principle of our Existence, is too great for this Principle to demand such narrow Rules and Penalties.

I was and remained a Seeker who continued to search for the Meaning of his Life and the Recognition of the Principle that has created and preserved our Existence to this Day.

A Brother, who I hold in high esteem, pointed me to the book by the Physicist, M. H. Niemz, and “Lucy with –C -, which deals with the whereabouts of the Soul after Death from a Scientific Point of View

There is talk about Light as the Cause - from a physical Point of View - of the Soul, which “returns"; to the primordial Light at the speed of Light and what is to be understood by this Light.

It became particularly clear to me why the > Light < plays an essential, if not the most important role in Masonic Rituals.

For me, the Cause of our Existence can be explained, also from a Scientific Point of View, and I only now have the feeling to fully understand what the Symbolism of Light in the Rituals of the Freemasons, especially the “Scottish Rite", means.

Because I doubt whether the Brothers and Sisters in this covenant feel the same way, this book was written and I hope to give both Suggestions and satisfactory Answers.

Werner J. Kraftsik, January 2020

At the beginning of each Lodge Work, old, traditional Dialogues take place between the Worshipful Master and the Wardener of the Lodge.

These Dialogues, the excerpts quoted now and later, are taken from the Scottish rite by which my Lodge works. They are not just Ritual alternating Dialogs, but point to the meaning and purpose of the work.

So asks the Worshipful Master:

Br. /Sr. Junior (second) Warden, why did you dedicate yourself to Freemasonry?

This one answers:

I was surrounded by darkness and felt a desire to see the Light.

During its Initiation the neophyte is instructed:

Man is blind from the Cradle to the Grave and no matter how hot his longing for the Light of Truth may be he is not able to find it by his own Strength in the stasis of it.

The Culmination of an Initiation is the moment when the initiate is given "the Light!"

The Worshipful Master asks:

Br./Sr. Senior (first) Warden, what do you now demand for the newly initiated Apprentice?

The Senior Warden answers:

The Light, Worshipful Master!

And by removing the blindfold, the Worshipful Master speaks:

In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth, and the Earth was desolate, and Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the Waters, saying:

"Let there be Light!"

And it is in the humility of this sublime Moment that I speak:

Give the free, Truth seeking Man/Woman

The LIGHT!

There is talk of the "Masonic Light"; which, as a symbol, plays an important, if not the most important role in Freemasonry.

Seekers, that is, those who aspire to the Membership of the Covenant, walk in Darkness in search of Light, according to Masonic imagination. With the Initiation, "the Light is given";

A single Lodge is inaugurated by the "introduction of Light"

The opening of the Lodge, the work, is done by lighting the Lights - which are extinguished at the end of the Work.

A working Lodge is "Enlightened";

We speak of the "three great Lights"; which are symbolized by Square, Compasses and the Book of the Holy Law.

The Lights on the Pillars of Wisdom-Strength-Beauty are the "little Lights"; and symbolize the sun as a symbol of Light, the Moon as its Reflection and both as Reflections towards the Members of the Lodge, the Worshipful Master.

We speak of Light Symbolism, which is why the answer to the Question of what Light means to Freemasons must not be profane, but philosophical. So let's ask the Cause and Destination.

What is Light anyway?

Light is a form of electromagnetic Radiation. In a narrower Sense, only those parts of the entire electromagnetic Spectrum are meant that are visible to the Human Eye. In a broader sense, electromagnetic waves of shorter Wavelengths (ultraviolet) and longer Wavelengths (infrared) are also included.

The physical properties of Light are described by various models: In ray optics, the straight-line propagation of Light is illustrated by "Light rays"; In Wave optics the Wave nature of Light is emphasized, which can also explain Diffraction and Interference Phenomena.

Finally, in Quantum Physics, Light is described as a Stream of quantum objects, the Photons (also called "Light particles").

A complete description of Light is provided by Quantum Electrodynamics.

In a Vacuum, Light propagates at the constant Speed of Light of 299,792km/s.

When Light hits Matter, it can be scattered, reflected, refracted and slowed down or absorbed. Light is the adequate sensory stimulus for the Human Eye. The intensity of the Light is perceived as Brightness, the special composition as Color.

Perception, Meaning and Veneration

The lexical Description of what we call Light tries to describe what we perceive daily as different Brightness and Color.

Such an Analysis and the resulting Description of the Phenomenon Light were not available to mankind in general and spiritual people in particular until well into modern Times.

Nevertheless, even in the early Days of Mankind, Light was revered as something Special.

One of the oldest Lawmakers known to us, the ancient Babylonian Hammurabi called himself, around 2,200 B. C, as the spiritual Relative of the Sun, God Shamash and saw himself as a Prince appointed by him to enlighten the People. On an old Found Relief you can see how he receives the Instructions for the People from the hand of the God of Light.

Relief in the upper part of the stele shows Hammurabi before Shamash CC BY 2.5

These "Instructions" result in ethical and cognitive Evaluations:

Light removes the Darkness; from now on, Cognition is possible through seeing Recognition, it is a priori good, opposites such as Light and Dark are recognizable and demand Decisions.

How have people treated this without our present Scientific Knowledge of the Nature and effect and impact of Light?

A series of Cults of Light developed among people all over the World, in which the Light, the Energy of the Central Star, was worshipped as the Cause and Care of Life on Earth by a multitude of Deities through the Personifications of the Sun. Let's take a look at some "old Cultures" on this:

The sun disk Aton in ancient Egypt ,© CC BY 2.5

In India and in the Persian Empire, since the time of the Parthian > MITHRA <; as early as the 14th century, the People worshipped MITHRA in pre-Christian century as God of Light and Sun; not to be confused with the Roman Cult of Mithras, which was worshipped by Roman Soldiers around 60 BC. Chr. and spread to Rome.

Relief to Taq-e Bostan: Investiture Ardashir II with the representation of Mithras behind and Ahura Mazda in front of the Great King of Sassanida © CC BY 2.5

This Deity was regarded as the God of Law and of Covenants and Treaties that is, a Force and Power of Order. He was the Guide to the Right Order ("Asha"; in the religion Zoroastrianism) and also watched over the Cosmic Order, such as the change of Day and Night and the Seasons.

He groomed the virtue of Justice, protected the Believers and punished the Unbelievers.

He was depicted on a Chariot drawn by white Horses.

His Weapons were a silver Spear; he wore golden Armour and was equipped with Arrows, Axes, Clubs and Daggers. His Mace was a Weapon against the Spirit of Evil Angra mainju (Ahriman).

In Ancient Egyptian Mythology RE is the Sun God. For the Egyptians, the Sun itself is God and not part of a Deity created by another Power or Being.