They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humanity; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more, and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountainhead.
Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library]
But those people, they were killing America. They were killing the dream. They were all the Constitution this and the Constitution that. But they cherished only the parts they liked. They didn’t feel it extended to us.
C Robert Cargill, Sea of Rust
You may be interested in The Satanic Temple‘s crowdfunding effort, and righteous experiment in pluralism, to place “a Satanic monument to be erected at the OK State Capitol to complement and contrast the 10 Commandments monument that resides there now.”
That image above is of the proposed monument and was posted by the group in the comments on their social network page which may be of interest, as it features an iconic Baphomet figure.
“We, The Satanic Temple, an established New York City-based religious organization, seek to donate a public monument to Oklahoma’s Capitol Preservation Commission for display upon Oklahoma City’s capitol grounds. As an “homage” to Satan, the purpose of the monument is to complement and contrast the Ten Commandments monument that already resides on the North side of the building.
The existing Ten Commandments monument, donated to the Capitol Preservation Commission in 2009 by Mike Ritze, a representative of the Oklahoma State Legislature and ordained Southern Baptist Deacon, has raised the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who filed suit in August of 2013, noting that, ‘the monument stands alone, with no other monuments or memorials in the immediate vicinity.’ Also of concern to the ACLU is the ‘self-evidently exclusive’ religious message ‘that supports and endorses the faiths and creeds of some churches and sects.’ We believe that in being allowed to place our monument within the proximity of the Ten Commandments monument, we can appease the ACLU’s concerns.
By accepting our offer, the good people of Oklahoma City will have the opportunity to show that they espouse the basic freedoms spelled out in the Constitution. We imagine that the ACLU will also embrace such a response. Allowing us to donate a monument would show that the Oklahoma City Council does not discriminate, and both the religious and non-religious should be happy with such an outcome. Our mission is to bring people together by finding common sentiments that create solutions that everyone can appreciate and enjoy.
We are keenly attune to the need for a public-friendly design and plan is to make our monument an object of play for young children. The Satanic Temple is accepting donations toward the production and placement of this historic and important monument to religious diversity.” [via]
BTW, this is also the group that “performed a ‘Pink Mass’ over the grave of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps Jr.’s mother” [via, also].
Sabazius has posted an update about the full implementation of nominating panel to accept applications to a particular element of Ordo Templi Orientis structure from Liber CXCIV, An Intimation with Reference to the Constitution of the Order, which is to help select volunteers as delegates from the Man of Earth triad, over on his blog at “MOE Delegate Nominating Panel Update“.
“I am pleased to announce that The Man of Earth Delegate Nominating Panel is now fully operational and is accepting applications from O.T.O. initiates of the II° who are interested in volunteering as Man of Earth Delegates to speak on behalf of the entire Man of Earth Triad in accordance with Book 194.
The recently created MOE Delegate Nominating Panel, currently comprising 30 representatives from across the United States, has been diligently working with me to create a seamless selection process of the four Man of Earth Delegates to provide the Man of Earth Triad with a strong voice within Ordo Templi Orientis.
From Book 194: In order that the feelings of the general body may be represented, the Men of Earth choose four persons, two men and two women, from among themselves, to stand continually before the face of the Father, the Supreme and Holy King, serving him day and night. These persons must not be of higher rank than the Second Degree; they must volunteer for this service at the conclusion of that ceremony; and therefore they give up their own prospect of advancement in the Order for one year, that they may serve their fellows. This is then the first lesson in our great principle, the attainment of honour through renunciation. – BAPHOMET XI°” [via]
You may be interested in a new post by Sabazius over on his blog at “A new method of selecting Man of Earth Delegates” about the implementation of a specific part of Liber CXCIV (Book 194), which is one of the O.T.O. specific Libri, also called “An Intimation with Reference to the Constitution of the Order“.
“Heretofore, these Man of Earth Delegates have volunteered directly to the USGL Volunteer Coordinator, who would then pass their information on to me for consideration. However, according to Book 194, the Men of Earth are to ‘choose’ these Delegates. Note also that the closing paragraph of Book 194 states that the system of O.T.O. ‘combines monarchy with democracy.’ There is no other component of the O.T.O. governmental structure that involves democratic election; therefore, the choosing of the MOE Delegates by the members of the Man of Earth Triad would appear to be the sole constitutional opportunity to include an element of ‘democracy’ in our system.
To date, it has appeared impractical to implement any kind of direct election of these Delegates by the members of the Man of Earth Triad, especially given the criteria that their terms are for one year only, there must be four of them, and two must be male and two female. If the Delegates were each to be chosen by open vote of the entire Man of Earth Triad, these criteria would put Grand Lodge in a painful state of perpetual election that would pose essentially insurmountable logistical obstacles. Over the past year, however, we have developed a system that overcomes these obstacles, and fully implements a system permitting the Man of Earth Triad to choose its own Delegates according to Book 194; and the Executive has just formally adopted this system.
The essence of the system involves the creation of an intermediate Nomination Panel—composed exclusively of members of the Man of Earth Triad—to evaluate and nominate volunteer candidates to the National Grand Master General for appointment as Man of Earth Delegates”
The Deeper Symbolism of Freemasonry from The Meaning of Masonry by Walter Leslie Wilmshurst.
“You will thus perceive, Brethren, that the F.C. degree, sometimes regarded by us as a somewhat uninteresting one, typifies in reality a long course of personal development requiring the most profound knowledge of the mental and psychical side of our nature. It involves not merely the cleansing and control of the mind, but a full comprehension of our inner constitution, of the more hidden mysteries of our nature and of spiritual psychology.” [via]
The Deeper Symbolism of Freemasonry from The Meaning of Masonry by Walter Leslie Wilmshurst.
“And hence also it is that the Lodge has seven principal officers, and that a Lodge, to be perfect, requires the presence of seven brethren; though the deeper meaning of this phrase is that the individual man, in virtue of his seven-fold constitution, in himself constitutes the ‘perfect Lodge,’ if he will but know himself and analyse his own nature aright.” [via]