Review
I met Robert Lomas many years ago when I edited and published his first bestseller, which he wrote with Christopher Knight, called The Hiram Key. It was a manuscript with a helter skelter pace and charged with the excitement of making dizzying discoveries and seeing old worlds in new ways. The opening of this new book announces a deep and solemn change in Robert Lomas as a writer and as a man. Something has happened to him.
The enemies of Freemasonry like to see it as a club for men who seek unfair material advantages. Of course it may be the case - who knows? - that some individuals hope for this. But Robert Lomas reveals how the rites and symbolism of Freemasonry are intended to awake, perhaps gently and over time, sometimes suddenly and decisively, any spiritual curiosity, any curiosity about esoteric mysteries that lies inside the individual, however deep, however dormant. New dimensions may open up to him.
This short book contains as clear an account as I have ever read of the gifts and benefits that initiation brings.
--Foreword to The Secret Science of Masonic Initiation by Jonathon Black nee Mark Booth
Product Description
Freemasonry has a deep purpose which can be overlooked in the rush of the modern world. Its ritual says it is a high and serious subject. But how can an individual discover the truths it outlines? How do you become an Initiate and a Master? A new, spiritually-aware generation is asking this question and demanding answers. This book responds in an unexpectedly visual way. Using words and images it leads you through the spiritual stages of Masonic knowledge. The Craft teaches that each new apprentice shall find a teacher to gain instruction.The open Lodge is not the place for instruction but a place for living out truths which should be taught privately by contemplation of symbols. Robert Lomas has spent thirty years as a University teacher, and twenty years studying Freemasonry and its ritual. In this book he shares his personal insight into the Craft, explains his understanding of its ritual and outlines the steps a Mason must take to find self-knowledge. His words are illuminated by the unique symbolic drawings of two masters of Masonic Tracing board design. The purpose of Freemasonry is to help its members become Initiates in the science of Life. If you want to know yourself, then Freemasonry offers a path to that knowledge. It is a spiritual adventure, fit for the athletic and adventurous mind. The Secret Science of Masonic Initiation reveals that path.
From the Publisher
If you are interested in the Masonic ideas which drive the characters of Peter Solomon, Warren Bellamy and Dean Galloway in Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, in this book you will find the Masonic Philosophy of the symbolic search for The Centre explained for the benefit of new members of The Craft.
From the Author
I decided to write this book to restate for a new generation the ancient teachings of Freemasonry concerning the purpose of the quest for that which is lost. It represents my understanding, based on a deep study of the teachings of W L Wilmshurst, of the inspirational purpose of Masonry.
I warn you, however, that unless you are already a Freemason, you might find some of the material strange and hard to understand. - Robert Lomas
I met Robert Lomas many years ago when I edited and published his first bestseller, which he wrote with Christopher Knight, called The Hiram Key. It was a manuscript with a helter skelter pace and charged with the excitement of making dizzying discoveries and seeing old worlds in new ways. The opening of this new book announces a deep and solemn change in Robert Lomas as a writer and as a man. Something has happened to him.
The enemies of Freemasonry like to see it as a club for men who seek unfair material advantages. Of course it may be the case - who knows? - that some individuals hope for this. But Robert Lomas reveals how the rites and symbolism of Freemasonry are intended to awake, perhaps gently and over time, sometimes suddenly and decisively, any spiritual curiosity, any curiosity about esoteric mysteries that lies inside the individual, however deep, however dormant. New dimensions may open up to him.
This short book contains as clear an account as I have ever read of the gifts and benefits that initiation brings.
--Foreword to The Secret Science of Masonic Initiation by Jonathon Black nee Mark Booth
Product Description
Freemasonry has a deep purpose which can be overlooked in the rush of the modern world. Its ritual says it is a high and serious subject. But how can an individual discover the truths it outlines? How do you become an Initiate and a Master? A new, spiritually-aware generation is asking this question and demanding answers. This book responds in an unexpectedly visual way. Using words and images it leads you through the spiritual stages of Masonic knowledge. The Craft teaches that each new apprentice shall find a teacher to gain instruction.The open Lodge is not the place for instruction but a place for living out truths which should be taught privately by contemplation of symbols. Robert Lomas has spent thirty years as a University teacher, and twenty years studying Freemasonry and its ritual. In this book he shares his personal insight into the Craft, explains his understanding of its ritual and outlines the steps a Mason must take to find self-knowledge. His words are illuminated by the unique symbolic drawings of two masters of Masonic Tracing board design. The purpose of Freemasonry is to help its members become Initiates in the science of Life. If you want to know yourself, then Freemasonry offers a path to that knowledge. It is a spiritual adventure, fit for the athletic and adventurous mind. The Secret Science of Masonic Initiation reveals that path.
From the Publisher
If you are interested in the Masonic ideas which drive the characters of Peter Solomon, Warren Bellamy and Dean Galloway in Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, in this book you will find the Masonic Philosophy of the symbolic search for The Centre explained for the benefit of new members of The Craft.
From the Author
I decided to write this book to restate for a new generation the ancient teachings of Freemasonry concerning the purpose of the quest for that which is lost. It represents my understanding, based on a deep study of the teachings of W L Wilmshurst, of the inspirational purpose of Masonry.
I warn you, however, that unless you are already a Freemason, you might find some of the material strange and hard to understand. - Robert Lomas
