The Dark Ages, Freemasons, and Education

I was at University on last Wednesday, during one of my seminars for ‘Education and Social Theory’ we turned to an interesting discussion. It some how linked to Education and its history. We conversed and considered exactly what Freemasonry is, and what their ‘belief policy’ is. One particular comment I remember from another student, is ‘Freemasons worship the Devil!’ Hmm I thought to my self, from what I remember researching several years ago, they do not hold such belief. This fellow student, insisted that it dictated this that and the other. Again, I was thinking to myself “where does this research come from my love?” I remember reading books in the library purely out of boredom and it clearly stated that freemasonry does not dictate what it's members should believe in, only that they hold a belief in a Supreme Being, and once a member of the fraternity they must maintain that belief. Many people also say that Freemasonry is Satanic, makes it's members worship the devil etc, and others argue that it all comes from the misconception, misunderstandings, although admittedly it does not help that a lot of Freemasonry is detailed in Old English where words held different meanings. Who knows which research is right or wrong, I think it is an interesting topic to discuss, especially for me as I don’t actually know much about it. And it’s relation to education and sociology its further intriguing.

We also discussed the Middle ages, also known as the Dark Ages, in the course of this time, through following centuries, most of the population, being working people, were illiterate or had only a rudimentary ability to sign their names, make their "mark" to signify their acceptance, or read simple words. For the duration of this time many Lords i.e. wealthy landowners could read but the ‘Serfs’ which were the working class people, almost as a whole, had never been educated to read. This period in history was named the Dark Ages because of the loss of classical learning due to the many wars, bloodshed, and unrest. From this 16th Century is where the freemasons reach in with their elaborate symbolisms. As we deliberate further during class, it was brought to our attention that illiteracy did not make these Masons stupid or lesser operative Masons in the craft. They were simply working people, taking care of their families, who, by necessity, had to begin working at a very early age, usually from dawn until dusk, 6 days a week and did not have the time or the teachers to gain themselves of the ability to learn to read or of any higher education. Widely known that schools were for the wealthy only, thus the operative Freemason symbols were taught to these stonemasons as a part of their obligation for the betterment of their craft.

We somehow managed to link liberal democracy and modernity into this discussion, wow what a complicated degree! Might I add there is a student in my class who believes we are controlled by a ‘thing’ like an alien force, made me giggle :-D Now that is going into a scientific and a philosophical debate.

I will right to you next week, Good-bye (which by the way is a contraction of "God be with you”) simply interesting isn’t it? xxx