On February 17, 1950, James Paul Warburg confidently declared to the United States Senate: "We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent." James Paul Warburg (1896-1969) was the son of Paul Moritz Warburg, nephew of Felix Warburg and of Jacob Schiff, both of Kuhn, Loeb & Company which financed the Russian Revolution through James' brother Max, banker to the government of Germany. A world government is a world without borders, national sovereignty, constitutions, privacy, autonomy, individual liberties, religious freedoms, private property, the right to bear arms, the rights of marriage and family and a dramatic population reduction (two thirds). A world government establishes a slave/master environment where in the state controls everything.
Unfortunately, in the United States, the Establishment's goal of a New World Order is reaching fruition through complacent consent and subversive conquest. America, a Constitutional Republic, is plunging into the satanical New World Order facilitated by the calculated placement of unscrupulous individuals deeply dedicated to the goals of the secret societies they belong to. America, formerly the home of the brave and the free, is currently the home of the people who merely think they are free. None are more enslaved and manipulated than those who mistakenly view themselves as free, therefore rendering them exceptionally vulnerable.
Consent, using mass population management can be achieved by using elements of Hegelian Dialectics. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), the political and social scientist and professor at the University of Berlin from 1817 until his death in 1831, clearly defined his philosophical/political concepts that came to be known as Hegelianism. His ideas are still taught and authors continue to elaborate on his philosophies, though inattentive Americans fail to acknowledge or even distinguish their application in our own society despite the obvious and devastating consequences.
"The philosophy which has dominated the Western world since the mid 19th century can be reduced to one tenet — ultimate peace comes only through conflict... It proposes that a clash between ideologies (thesis and antithesis) is a normal historical phenomenon which always results in compromise (synthesis) that advances civilization to a higher level of order. "Conflict, in other words, is good, and peace is not necessarily desirable (or profitable)." The essence of Hegel's dialectical process is that an idea (thesis) is challenged by its opposite (antithesis) creating a crisis, problem or conflict and the two are ultimately reconciled into a third idea (synthesis) or compromise which includes both. As compromise (synthesis) is achieved the process is incessantly repeated, with synthesis posturing as thesis, for sustained conflict-filled advancement. And like spectators at a tennis match, the populace is so totally distracted by the contrived contentious confrontations that we do not perceive the motives of the entire conflict charade. Government creates a crisis for which the public demands a solution. That solution instigates the changes that the government initially wanted but which the people would have been unwilling to accept. It is Order out of Chaos! Worldwide chaos will lead to worldwide solutions which will establish the New World Order.
Several current crises receiving media attention definitely demand serious scrutiny. Trust me; the government already has the perfect solution for each problem.
Crisis #1: Deliberate destabilization is occurring: well financed demonstrations donning foreign flags, government fines of small business, chaos, high crime rates, eradicated contagious diseases returning, bankrupt hospitals, high welfare burdens, lost American wages, and overcrowded schools are emotionally eviscerating Americans. Minutemen marches and justified activities are ineffective against the floodgate of the Mexican masses. Public demand is high as we witness the seemingly impotent government (thesis) apathetic to the voter's wishes while their usually supportive squad of talk radio show shills and the Fox News faction posture as a very effective opposition (antithesis) purportedly embracing the average citizen's viewpoint against the government.
Solution or synthesis: The completely orchestrated invasion by invitation is essentially the well planned stealthy strategic function of combining the countries of Canada, the United States and Mexico according to the treacherous treaty signed on March 23, 2005, by the top political leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada: Bush, Fox and Martin. Download the CFR associated document, Building a North American Community, Task Force Report 53 for comprehensive details. This invasion enables their goal with additional perks: thousands of additional jobless citizens will be available for perpetual warfare paid by borrowed funds from the international banking cabal. Rampant chaos, assisted by the predicted avian pandemic may necessitate permanent Martial Law or military order (as after 9-11) which may prevent the 2006 and 2008 "elections" from taking place. Those "representatives" loyal to the New World Order would then remain in office, an unlikely circumstance, if our votes actually counted, after their duplicity in this immigration fiasco.
For security, "voters" (people who actually think they have a voice) will settle for the compromise legislation that we were unwilling to accept originally. To prove our legality, we will be amenable to an implanted ID chip. We won't complain too loudly about the incarceration of illegals in those FEMA Concentration Camps. This will make it easier for the government to imprison dissenters, whistleblowers and patriots. What they can do to one person, they can do to multitudes.
Crisis #2: Members of the government-friendly mass media are apparently attempting to provoke public alarm by castigating watchdog journalists who allegedly leak information which might affect our "national security." One popular obedience-trained radio talk show shill suggested subpoenas instead of Pulitzers. William J. Bennett, Neo-con war hawk PNAC member said: "But these people who reveal our secrets, who hurt our war effort, who hurt the efforts of our CIA, who hurt efforts of the president's people — they shouldn't be given prizes and awards for this; they should be looked into — the Espionage Act, the investigation of these leaks."
Journalistic exposés about Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-California), Bush's warrant-less domestic surveillance program and the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal expose government abuse and corruption. Government is accountable to the people, not the other way around. In an attempt to prevent publication of Bush's illegal assault on our privacy "Bush met with Executive Editor Bill Keller and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. to argue against publication." Gagging the press is censorship — typical only in a tyrannical government. Freedom of speech is always lost gradually — unfortunately with the consent of a propagandized frightened populace willing to give up their freedoms for a measure of security.
"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." — Harry S. Truman
Solution or synthesis: Full ramifications of the legislation already in place will unfold, which the unwitting populace will readily accept, with the next contrived crisis or pandemic — the 2007 Intelligence Authorization Act spells total control from just about every major bureaucratic agency. "H.R. 5020 provides strategic and substantial enhancements in funding for critical, world-wide intelligence capabilities, strengthens our overall capabilities, and gives America the modern, lean, mean, agile, and aggressive Intelligence Community it needs."
"Finally, the bill requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to develop a comprehensive overhead architecture program to eliminate waste and ensure rational and coordinated technical programs; improves coordination between the Intelligence Community and military to increase our efforts and effectiveness in the Global War on Terror; and increases House Intelligence and Armed Services coordination to advance common systems and capabilities to fight the Global War on Terror." The "war of terror" is significantly defined as global, the ominous foreshadowing of "perpetual war for perpetual peace." Anti-war advocates will be classified as unpatriotic or worse — probably depicted as traitors via a daily "2-minute hate session." "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
Obviously, there are other crises, orchestrated oppositions, for which Americans are and will demand solutions — premeditated plans that bring us closer to the New World Order. People are demanding a solution to the gas prices which affect every aspect of American life. It isn't just about gas availability for summer vacations. Petitions against profanity from friends and family are wending their way through the Internet asking for a government solution. Hey people, police yourself and your children — turn the television off — read a book! Don't hand the job of parenting to Big Brother! If they can eliminate profanity, they can eliminate anything — religion, etc.
Criminal activity, hyped in the news and exacerbated by numerous CSI style shows, creates the perception of pervasive crime which promotes a general feeling of fear and vulnerability. Some Chicago churches are compensating individuals for turning in their guns. Is this a faith-based initiative — churches collecting guns appears very benign compared to confiscation by uniformed government agents. Gun control is a major step! Only criminals and the government (excuse the redundancy) will have guns — now that is the scariest scenario.
"Our main agenda is to have all guns banned of course. We must use whatever means possible. It doesn't matter if you have to distort facts or even lie. Our task of creating a socialist America can only succeed when those who would resist us have been totally disarmed." Sarah Brady, 1994
It is amazing that the government can predict the pandemic arrival of the avian flu Small business suffers while big multinational agri-business increases. And who knows what is in that vaccine serum — metal, mercury or some other waste product? Collateral benefit: Donald Rumsfeld makes big bucks on Gilead stock.
Is another war on the horizon? Should we preemptively nuke Iran — the threat is whatever the Ministry of Truth and the complicit news media says it is. Collateral benefit: war profits for the Carlyle Group, that well-connected defense contractor and don't forget about Halliburton.
Warrantless domestic surveillance is an affront to our basic Constitutional freedoms but has been going on for decades. The latest incident was intentionally "leaked" to evaluate mass response to a more intense invasion of our privacy. Naïve citizens who aren't "guilty of anything anyway" claim they don't mind if Big Brother listens to their private conversations. "Just keep us safe from those bogeymen terrorists!"
Certainly, there is a massive amount of contrived crises but I hope I made my point regarding thesis, antithesis and synthesis.
To provide the ongoing application of these devilish dialectics individuals from well established covert societies, some more secret than others, finagle their way into powerful positions within the three branches of the federal government. This is accomplished through complicit consent and contrived choice. The quantity of such infiltration is insignificant especially if we consider the "one rotten apple in a basket" concept. Secret societies, the genuine conspiracies, are secret for a reason and they exist despite denials and well-placed "official" counter charges. Activities carried on under the darkness of concealment are most frequently illegal. Secrecy is not essential in the glaring light of day.
Antony Sutton stated: "Secret political organizations can be and have been extremely dangerous to the social health and constitutional validity of a society. In a truly free society the exercise of political power must always be open and known." "Moreover, organizations devoted to violent overthrow of political structures have always, by necessity, been secret organizations. Communist revolutionary cells are an obvious example. In fact, such revolutionary organizations can only function if their existence was secret. In brief, secrecy in matters political is historically associated with coercion. Furthermore, the existence of secrecy in organizations with political ambitions or with a history of political actions is always suspect. Freedom is always associated with open political action and discussion while coercion is always associated with secrecy." We have been brainwashed into believing absolute secrecy is imperative for our national security.
President Kennedy said of Freemasonry: "The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it." President John F. Kennedy — address to newspaper publishers, April 27, 1961
Most of these groups or societies embrace New World Order goals; they include but are not limited to: The Illuminati, Club of Rome, the Bilderbergs, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA), also known as The Chatham House Study Group founded 1919 in Great Britain and its sinister sister the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) founded 1921 in America. The CFR is the largest group. "The plans for these two groups were drawn up at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. The RIIA was largely funded by the Astor family, The Rhodes Trust and certain British banks whilst the CFR was a front for JP Morgan &Co."
"The main purpose of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is promoting the disarmament of U.S. sovereignty and national independence and submergence into an all powerful, one world government." Chester Ward, Rear Admiral and former Navy Judge Advocate 1956–1960 and a CFR member for 15 years. Is his attitude reflective of other military leaders who have also sworn to uphold the Constitution?
Both of these groups were established as proxies for the Rhodes-Milner Group which was founded at All Souls College, Oxford University by diamond tycoon Cecil Rhodes (Rhodesia was named for), inspired by John Ruskin, professor of Fine Arts at Oxford University and Lord Alfred Milner at the end of the 19th century. The Rhodes Scholarships were created as a result of an attachment to the 1902 will of Cecil Rhodes:
"The idea gliding and dancing before our eyes like a willow — a wish at last frames itself into a plan. Why should we not join (or form as other writers have interpreted Rhodes' handwriting) a secret society with but one object: the furtherance of the British Empire, for the bringing of the whole uncivilized world under British rule, for the recovery of the United States, for the making the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire."
Monday, May 29, 2006
A Freemason's 33rd Degree Initiation by Jim Shaw
INTO THE LIGHT
The hurricane came and went without any harm to us. But the one within me continued to gather force. It seemed strange, from my point of view, for all the people around me seemed calm. Even the doctor was no longer speaking much to me about the Lord, for I wasn't seeing him regularly. Bonnie was quietly supportive, but we really didn't say much about it. Mike and my other friends went on with life. It was "business as usual" around me, but definitely not that way inside of me.
THE HIGHEST MASONIC DEGREE
Easter was approaching and one quiet morning I was at home recuperating from the second operation when the doorbell rang. It was a special delivery letter from the Supreme Council in Washington, notifying me that I had been selected for the 33rd Degree.
I could hardly believe it was true! This honor is one most Masons never even think of receiving. It was too much, too far out of reach, beyond limits of reality. It was unreal to think I had actually been selected. It was an honor just to be considered for this ultimate degree and I had actually been selected, chosen by that small and powerful group, the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree.
I called Bonnie to share the good news with her. In talking with her, I surprised myself by asking her if she thought I should accept it "What a strange thing to ask her," I thought. But before I could contemplate it she said, "Why, sure you should accept it. You have worked so hard for so long to get there - by all means you should accept it."
So I returned my acceptance immediately and began making plans for the trip.
I MADE IT ON MY OWN
With plenty of time to reflect, I thought about my long climb up the mountain of Masonry in search of light. I thought about the odds against anyone's ever making it to the 33rd Degree. I realized that in my case the odds have been even greater. I had made it by hard work and dedication alone. Some men have an edge on selection because of their wealth, political power or prominence. I had none of these.
Like the day I had carried the man all the way to the top of "Shaw Hill" between Camp Butner and Raleigh, I had made it to the top of the Masonic mountain because I was willing to make the effort required and refused to quit. Thinking of this, I felt particularly good about it and wished my mother could know.
I had come a long way since leaving the front gate that terrible day so many years ago. I had come the distance with no help from Uncle Irvin. Who would have thought that the lonely walk, begun so many years ago by that frightened 13-year-old boy, would have led to this point? I had reached the pinnacle - made it all the way to the top.
Some of the most prominent and influential men in the world would undoubtedly be there to participate when I was given this ultimate degree - for me - little Jimmy Shaw, who had gone to work at age five and made it alone since age 13. They would be there to give the 33rd Degree to me. It was really a bit difficult to take it all in.
3 DAYS AT THE MOUNTAIN TOP
In order to receive the 33rd Degree it was necessary to go to Washington. D.C. The initiation and related functions were to last three days.
Since Bonnie could participate in practically none of the things I would be doing each day, she decided not to go along. We were both excited as I made preparations to leave. But I was not as excited as I expected to be. The edge was taken off the excitement because, in me, it was mixed with a considerable amount of conviction. Way down deep there was a growing restlessness, an increasing conflict, produced by the things the doctor had been sharing and by all the Scripture I had been reading. Preparing to receive this "ultimate honor" was not as thrilling as it might otherwise have been.
ARRIVING AT THE HOUSE OF THE TEMPLE
I flew into Washington National Airport and took a taxi to the House of the Temple on Northwest 16th Street. Upon arriving at the Temple I was met by a receptionist who asked if I were there to receive the 33rd Degree. I was surprised to find a women in those sacred Masonic precincts, but said that I was and showed her my letter from the Supreme Council. She then told me that in order to receive the degree, I would be expected to make a "minimum donation" of a very large amount of money (at least it was a "very large" amount for me). This took me completely by surprise for there had not been a word about any such "minimum donation" in the letter sent me by the Supreme Council. I didn't carry that much money with me and had left my checkbook at home but was able to borrow the money from one of the other men and gave it to her. We candidates were all unhappy about this unpleasant surprise and grumbled to one another about it, but were not unhappy enough to forsake the degree over it. We were too close to the "top of the mountain" to turn back at that point.
THE TEMPLE ITSELF
The House of the Temple is quite impressive - a bit awesome, really. Standing large, grey and silent on the east side of Northwest 16th Street, between "R" and "S" Streets, it looms very wide and tall from the curb. There is a huge expanse of granite pavement in front of it, including three levels of narrowing steps as the entrance is approached. Flanking the entrance are two Sphinx-like granite lions with women's heads, the neck of one entwined by a cobra and decorated with the "ankh" (the Egyptian symbol of life and deity).
Adorning the neck and breast of the other is an image of a women, symbolic of fertility and procreation. In the pavement, just in front of the tall bronze doors, are two Egyptian swords with curved, serpentine blades and, between the two swords, brass letters, set into stone, saying, "The Temple of the Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third and Last Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite."
Over the tall, bronze doors, cut into the stone, is the statement, "Freemasonry Builds Its Temples in the Hearts of Men and Among Nations." (1)
High above the entrance, partially concealed by stone columns, is an elaborate image of the Egyptian sun god, backed with radiating sun and flanked by six large, golden snakes.
Inside is elegance: polished marble, exotic wood, gold and statuary. There are offices, a library, dining room, kitchen, Council Room, "Temple Room" and a large meeting room. This room is like a luxurious theater, rather elegantly furnished and decorated.
The ceiling is dark blue, with lights set into it to give the appearance of stars. These lights can even be made to "twinkle" like stars in the sky. There is a stage, well-equipped, and it is all very nicely done. But the thing that is most noticeable is the way the walls are decorated with serpents. There are all kinds; some very long and large. Many of the Scottish Rite degrees include the representation of serpents and I recognized them among those decorating the walls.
It was all most impressive and gave me a strange mixture of the sensations of being in a temple and in a tomb - something sacred but threatening. I saw busts of outstanding men of the Rite including two of Albert Pike, who is buried there in the wall.
INTERVIEWED BY THE SUPREME COUNCIL
The first day was devoted to registration, briefings and interviews. We were called into one of the offices, one at a time, and interviewed by three members of the Supreme Council.
When my turn came I was ushered into the office and seated. The very first question I was asked was, "Of what religion are you?" Not long before this I would have answered with something like, "I believe the Ancient Mysteries, the 'Old Religion,' and I believe in reincarnation." However, without thinking at all about how to answer, I found myself saying, "I am a Christian."
Then, to my sup rise and theirs, I asked them, "Are you men born again?" The man in charge quickly stopped me by saying, "We're not here to talk about that - we are here to ask you questions."
After they sent me back out I sat down and thought about it. When the next man came out, I asked him, "Did they ask you if you are a Christian?" He said, "Yes, they did."
"What did you tell them?" I asked, and he replied, "I told them 'Hell no, and I never intend to be!'"
Then he said a strange thing to me, "They said I'm going higher," and he left through a different door, looking pleased.
BECOMING A SOVEREIGN GRAND INSPECTOR GENERAL
The second day was the day of the actual initiation, held in the theater-like meeting room. Those of us who were receiving the degree were seated and the ceremony was "exemplified" (acted out in full costume) before us, in the same way that we had performed the lesser degrees of the Scottish Rite all those years. The parts in the exemplification were played by men of the 33rd Degree.
The representative candidate was dressed in black trousers, barefooted, bareheaded and draped in a long, black robe that reminded me of a very long, black raincoat. He had a black cable tow around his neck but was not hoodwinked. During the initiation he was led around the stage, conducted by two men with swords, as the degree was performed for us.
Instructions and signs were given. Upon the altar were four "holy books" (the Bible, the Koran, the Book of the Law and the Hindu Scriptures). At one point the "candidate" was told to kiss the book "of your religion" and, representing us all, he leaned forward and did so. I remembered the First Degree initiation, when I was told to kiss the Bible, and at that moment something came full cycle. It was the final such kiss to be a part of my life.
WINE IN A HUMAN SKULL
When it was time for the final obligation we all stood and repeated the oath with the representative candidate, administered by the Sovereign Grand Inspector General. We then swore true allegiance to the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, above all other allegiances, and swore never to recognize any other brother as being a member of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry unless he also recognizes the Supreme authority of "this Supreme Council".
One of the Conductors then handed the "candidate" a human skull, upside down, with wine in it. "May this wine I now drink become a deadly poison to me, as the Hemlock juice drunk by Socrates, should I ever knowingly or willfully violate the same" (the oath).
He then drank the wine. A skeleton (one of the brothers dressed like one - he looked very convincing) then stepped out of the shadows and threw his arms around the "candidate." Then he (and we) continued the sealing of the obligation by saying, "And may these cold arms forever encircle me should I ever knowingly or willfully violate the same."
The Sovereign Grand Commander closed the meeting of the Supreme Council "with the Mystic Number," striking with his sword five, three, one and then two times. After the closing prayer, we all said "amen, amen, amen," and it was over.
PROMINENT MEN TOOK PART
There were some extremely prominent men there that day, including a Scandinavian King, two former presidents of the United States, an internationally prominent evangelist, two other internationally prominent clergymen, and a very high official of the federal government, the one who actually presented me with the certificate of the 33rd Degree. Some made only brief appearances; others stayed much longer. However, they didn't do much mixing or socializing with us, except for those whom they already knew. Even though these celebrities weren't extremely "brotherly," it was still quite an experience for me just to be associated with them. It was easily the largest gathering of such prominent and influential men of which I have ever been a part.
The third day there was a banquet to celebrate our becoming "Grand Inspectors General. 33rd Degree." The banquet was a little anticlimactic, at least for me, and I was anxious to get it over with so I could return home. It was good to be a 33rd at last. But it wasn't as exciting or fulfilling as I had thought it would be during all those years in the Craft. I guess this was because of the profound changes going on down deep within me.
I returned home as soon as the 33rd Degree award and related social functions were finished, for it was time for my next appointment with the doctor. After he had examined my eyes he said they were healing fine, that he felt good about the way they were looking, and as usual he spoke with me about the Lord. I told him that I planned to come to his church the next Sunday and that I had been reading the Bible.
Obviously pleased, he said, "Good. Keep studying, and your sight will soon be much better." By this time I knew what he meant - he was speaking of my spiritual sight.
MAUNDY THURSDAY
In the Scottish Rite the Thursday before Easter, "Maundy Thursday," is an important day. On this day we always performed a special service of Communion in the local Scottish Rite Temple. At this time I was Wise Master in the Chapter of Rose Croix and it was my job to preside over the exemplification (dramatization) of the ceremony. I had done this many times and was known for my knowledge of the service and for "doing a good job" of putting it on.
THE WORDS HAD MEANING NOW
On Thursday evening we gathered at our home Temple and dressed for the ceremony. It was always a most solemn occasion and seemed a little awesome, even to those of us who had done it many times.
Dressed in long, black, hooded robes, we marched in, single file, with only our faces partly showing, and took our seats.
There was something very tomb-like about the setting. The silence was broken only by the organ, playing mournfully in the background, and there was no light except for the little that came through the windows. After the opening prayer (from which the name of Jesus Christ was conspicuously excluded), I stood and opened the service.
As I had done so many times before, I said, "We meet this day to commemorate the death of our 'Most Wise and Perfect Master,' not as inspired or divine, for this is not for us to decide, but as at least the greatest of the apostles of mankind."
As I spoke these words that I had spoken so many times before, I had a strange and powerful experience. It was as if I were standing apart, listening to myself as I spoke, and the words echoed deep within me, shouting their significance. They were the same words I had spoken so many times before, but had meaning for me now. They made me sick, literally ill, and I stopped.
The realization of what I had just said grew within me like the rising of a crescendo. I had just called Jesus an "apostle of mankind" who was neither inspired nor divine! There was a silent pause that seemed to last a very long time as I struggled with a sick smothering within.
When I was finally able, I continued with the service and we gathered around a large table across the room in marching order. The table was long, shaped like a cross, and covered with a red cloth which was decorated down the center with roses.
A BLACK COMMUNION
Once we were assembled at the table, I elevated (lifted high) the plate of bread, took a piece, put my hand on the shoulder of the man in front of me, gave him the plate and said, "Take, eat, and give to the hungry."
This continued until all had partaken of the bread. Then I lifted up the goblet of wine, took a sip, and said, "Take, drink, and give to the thirsty."
Again, this continued until all had partaken of the wine.
Then I took the bread, walked over to the first row of spectators and served it to the man previously chosen for the honor of representing the rest of the Lodge
As I handed it to him I again said, "Take, eat, and give to the hungry."
In like manner I served the wine to him saying, "Take, drink, and give to the thirsty," and he sat down.
After this we took our places at the table shaped like a cross and sat down. The setting was dark, our long, sweeping robes were solid black, our faces nearly concealed in the hoods, and the mood was one of heavy gloom. The Christ-less prayers and the hymns we sang fit right in. The one word that would describe the entire event would be "black." It was, indeed, a Black Communion - a strange Black Mass.
EXTINGUISHING THE CANDLE
There was a large Menorah (candlestick with seven candle holders) in the center of the room, with seven candles now burning.
Standing again, I said, "This is indeed a sad day, for we have lost our Master. We may never see him again. He is dead! Mourn, weep and cry, for he is gone."
Then I asked the officers to extinguish the candles in the large Menorah. One by one they rose, walked to the center of the room, extinguished a selected candle and left the room.
Finally, with only the center candle still burning, I arose, walked sadly to the Menorah and extinguished the last candle - the candle representing the life of Jesus, our "Most Wise and Perfect Master." We had dramatized and commemorated the snuffing out of the life of Jesus, without once mentioning his name, and the scene ended with the room in deep silent darkness. I walked out of the room, leaving only the darkness and the stillness of death.
Once again, the single word best to describe it would be "black."
All through the service I was shaking and sick. I have never felt so sad. I had stumbled over the words but, somehow, I made it to the completion of the ceremony and went back to the dressing room. I still didn't know much about praying but felt that I had been sustained by the Lord through it all.
THE FINAL PARTING
Back in the dressing room we hung up our black, hooded robes, put our street clothes back on and prepared to leave. Less than two hours had passed since I arrived. But what had happened in that period of time had changed my life forever.
Still sick in my heart, I changed clothes without a word to anyone. The others asked me what was wrong. But I couldn't reply.
They reminded me that I had acted as Wise Master so many times before, that I was known for my smooth performance of it, and they asked what had gone wrong.
I was choking on the awful reality of what we had said and done, the way we had blasphemed the Lord, and the evil, black mockery we had made of His pure and selfless death. With weeping welling up within me. I could only shake my head in silence and walk out.
Mike was waiting for me at the door, expecting to get a ride home, and he asked, "What's the matter, Jim? Are you sick?"
Finally able to speak, I quietly replied, "No, Mike, I'm just sick of all this."
"IT ISN'T RIGHT"
I started down the wide steps in front of the large Scottish Rite Temple, realization and conviction growing within me, reached the bottom step and stopped. Turning around, I looked back at the huge, granite building and slowly studied the words, carved in the stone across the top of the entrance: "ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE OF FREEMASONRY."
Something came clearly into focus in my understanding and I made a decision. This crisis point in my life, one which had required so many years for me to reach, passed in seconds. The truth was revealed and the choice was made - a choice that would be the difference between darkness and light, death and life, one that would last for eternity. Looking up at those words I had walked under so many times, words of which I had been so proud, I spoke to myself out loud. It was as if I were the only man in the world as I heard myself say, slowly and deliberately, "It isn't ancient, it isn't Scottish, it isn't free, and it isn't right!"
INTO THE LIGHT
I turned away and walked into the parking lot, knowing that I would never return. As I walked into the deepening darkness of that springtime night, I was walking into the growing light of the living God. As the natural darkness closed around me, the supernatural light welled up within me. With every step I took, as the Temple receded behind me, I was more free.
"I will never return," I thought with each step. "I will never return, I will never return...."
The decision was made, the die was cast. From that night onward I would serve the true and living God, not the Great Architect of the Universe. I would exalt and learn of Him, not Osiris, Krishna or Demeter. I would seek and follow Jesus, not the will--the-wisp of "hidden wisdom."
I was walking, after such a long time, out of the darkness and into the light.
Footnote
1 This statement is an interesting contradiction with the Temple it adorns, as well as with the thousands of other such Masonic temples built around the World at a total cost of many billions of dollars.
A PERSONAL WORD FROM JIM
As this true story is closed, I would be greatly remiss if I did not make it clear that in my pre-Christian life I truly loved Freemasonry. I loved the men with whom I was associated in the Lodge and the men with whom I worked so hard in the degrees and bodies of the Scottish Rite. Most of all, I was so very sure that I was doing what was right and pleasing in the sight of the Great Architect of the Universe.
Never in all my years of dedicated service to Masonry did anyone in the Lodge witness to me about the love and saving grace of Jesus. The Lodge attended a church once each year as a group. Each time the pastor (who was himself a Mason) would introduce us to the congregation and then exalt the Craft, telling them about all our wonderful works. We usually left the church thinking of how wonderful we were and feeling sorry for all those in the church who were not Masons, participating in all our good deeds.
After having been witnessed to by my ophthalmologist for some time I read those simple, wonderful words of Jesus, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life." These words, so short and so sweet, went right through my heart. I looked in the Bible for more and I found blessed assurance everywhere I looked. Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, really loved me as a real Brother! He will do the same for you.
The hurricane came and went without any harm to us. But the one within me continued to gather force. It seemed strange, from my point of view, for all the people around me seemed calm. Even the doctor was no longer speaking much to me about the Lord, for I wasn't seeing him regularly. Bonnie was quietly supportive, but we really didn't say much about it. Mike and my other friends went on with life. It was "business as usual" around me, but definitely not that way inside of me.
THE HIGHEST MASONIC DEGREE
Easter was approaching and one quiet morning I was at home recuperating from the second operation when the doorbell rang. It was a special delivery letter from the Supreme Council in Washington, notifying me that I had been selected for the 33rd Degree.
I could hardly believe it was true! This honor is one most Masons never even think of receiving. It was too much, too far out of reach, beyond limits of reality. It was unreal to think I had actually been selected. It was an honor just to be considered for this ultimate degree and I had actually been selected, chosen by that small and powerful group, the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree.
I called Bonnie to share the good news with her. In talking with her, I surprised myself by asking her if she thought I should accept it "What a strange thing to ask her," I thought. But before I could contemplate it she said, "Why, sure you should accept it. You have worked so hard for so long to get there - by all means you should accept it."
So I returned my acceptance immediately and began making plans for the trip.
I MADE IT ON MY OWN
With plenty of time to reflect, I thought about my long climb up the mountain of Masonry in search of light. I thought about the odds against anyone's ever making it to the 33rd Degree. I realized that in my case the odds have been even greater. I had made it by hard work and dedication alone. Some men have an edge on selection because of their wealth, political power or prominence. I had none of these.
Like the day I had carried the man all the way to the top of "Shaw Hill" between Camp Butner and Raleigh, I had made it to the top of the Masonic mountain because I was willing to make the effort required and refused to quit. Thinking of this, I felt particularly good about it and wished my mother could know.
I had come a long way since leaving the front gate that terrible day so many years ago. I had come the distance with no help from Uncle Irvin. Who would have thought that the lonely walk, begun so many years ago by that frightened 13-year-old boy, would have led to this point? I had reached the pinnacle - made it all the way to the top.
Some of the most prominent and influential men in the world would undoubtedly be there to participate when I was given this ultimate degree - for me - little Jimmy Shaw, who had gone to work at age five and made it alone since age 13. They would be there to give the 33rd Degree to me. It was really a bit difficult to take it all in.
3 DAYS AT THE MOUNTAIN TOP
In order to receive the 33rd Degree it was necessary to go to Washington. D.C. The initiation and related functions were to last three days.
Since Bonnie could participate in practically none of the things I would be doing each day, she decided not to go along. We were both excited as I made preparations to leave. But I was not as excited as I expected to be. The edge was taken off the excitement because, in me, it was mixed with a considerable amount of conviction. Way down deep there was a growing restlessness, an increasing conflict, produced by the things the doctor had been sharing and by all the Scripture I had been reading. Preparing to receive this "ultimate honor" was not as thrilling as it might otherwise have been.
ARRIVING AT THE HOUSE OF THE TEMPLE
I flew into Washington National Airport and took a taxi to the House of the Temple on Northwest 16th Street. Upon arriving at the Temple I was met by a receptionist who asked if I were there to receive the 33rd Degree. I was surprised to find a women in those sacred Masonic precincts, but said that I was and showed her my letter from the Supreme Council. She then told me that in order to receive the degree, I would be expected to make a "minimum donation" of a very large amount of money (at least it was a "very large" amount for me). This took me completely by surprise for there had not been a word about any such "minimum donation" in the letter sent me by the Supreme Council. I didn't carry that much money with me and had left my checkbook at home but was able to borrow the money from one of the other men and gave it to her. We candidates were all unhappy about this unpleasant surprise and grumbled to one another about it, but were not unhappy enough to forsake the degree over it. We were too close to the "top of the mountain" to turn back at that point.
THE TEMPLE ITSELF
The House of the Temple is quite impressive - a bit awesome, really. Standing large, grey and silent on the east side of Northwest 16th Street, between "R" and "S" Streets, it looms very wide and tall from the curb. There is a huge expanse of granite pavement in front of it, including three levels of narrowing steps as the entrance is approached. Flanking the entrance are two Sphinx-like granite lions with women's heads, the neck of one entwined by a cobra and decorated with the "ankh" (the Egyptian symbol of life and deity).
Adorning the neck and breast of the other is an image of a women, symbolic of fertility and procreation. In the pavement, just in front of the tall bronze doors, are two Egyptian swords with curved, serpentine blades and, between the two swords, brass letters, set into stone, saying, "The Temple of the Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third and Last Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite."
Over the tall, bronze doors, cut into the stone, is the statement, "Freemasonry Builds Its Temples in the Hearts of Men and Among Nations." (1)
High above the entrance, partially concealed by stone columns, is an elaborate image of the Egyptian sun god, backed with radiating sun and flanked by six large, golden snakes.
Inside is elegance: polished marble, exotic wood, gold and statuary. There are offices, a library, dining room, kitchen, Council Room, "Temple Room" and a large meeting room. This room is like a luxurious theater, rather elegantly furnished and decorated.
The ceiling is dark blue, with lights set into it to give the appearance of stars. These lights can even be made to "twinkle" like stars in the sky. There is a stage, well-equipped, and it is all very nicely done. But the thing that is most noticeable is the way the walls are decorated with serpents. There are all kinds; some very long and large. Many of the Scottish Rite degrees include the representation of serpents and I recognized them among those decorating the walls.
It was all most impressive and gave me a strange mixture of the sensations of being in a temple and in a tomb - something sacred but threatening. I saw busts of outstanding men of the Rite including two of Albert Pike, who is buried there in the wall.
INTERVIEWED BY THE SUPREME COUNCIL
The first day was devoted to registration, briefings and interviews. We were called into one of the offices, one at a time, and interviewed by three members of the Supreme Council.
When my turn came I was ushered into the office and seated. The very first question I was asked was, "Of what religion are you?" Not long before this I would have answered with something like, "I believe the Ancient Mysteries, the 'Old Religion,' and I believe in reincarnation." However, without thinking at all about how to answer, I found myself saying, "I am a Christian."
Then, to my sup rise and theirs, I asked them, "Are you men born again?" The man in charge quickly stopped me by saying, "We're not here to talk about that - we are here to ask you questions."
After they sent me back out I sat down and thought about it. When the next man came out, I asked him, "Did they ask you if you are a Christian?" He said, "Yes, they did."
"What did you tell them?" I asked, and he replied, "I told them 'Hell no, and I never intend to be!'"
Then he said a strange thing to me, "They said I'm going higher," and he left through a different door, looking pleased.
BECOMING A SOVEREIGN GRAND INSPECTOR GENERAL
The second day was the day of the actual initiation, held in the theater-like meeting room. Those of us who were receiving the degree were seated and the ceremony was "exemplified" (acted out in full costume) before us, in the same way that we had performed the lesser degrees of the Scottish Rite all those years. The parts in the exemplification were played by men of the 33rd Degree.
The representative candidate was dressed in black trousers, barefooted, bareheaded and draped in a long, black robe that reminded me of a very long, black raincoat. He had a black cable tow around his neck but was not hoodwinked. During the initiation he was led around the stage, conducted by two men with swords, as the degree was performed for us.
Instructions and signs were given. Upon the altar were four "holy books" (the Bible, the Koran, the Book of the Law and the Hindu Scriptures). At one point the "candidate" was told to kiss the book "of your religion" and, representing us all, he leaned forward and did so. I remembered the First Degree initiation, when I was told to kiss the Bible, and at that moment something came full cycle. It was the final such kiss to be a part of my life.
WINE IN A HUMAN SKULL
When it was time for the final obligation we all stood and repeated the oath with the representative candidate, administered by the Sovereign Grand Inspector General. We then swore true allegiance to the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, above all other allegiances, and swore never to recognize any other brother as being a member of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry unless he also recognizes the Supreme authority of "this Supreme Council".
One of the Conductors then handed the "candidate" a human skull, upside down, with wine in it. "May this wine I now drink become a deadly poison to me, as the Hemlock juice drunk by Socrates, should I ever knowingly or willfully violate the same" (the oath).
He then drank the wine. A skeleton (one of the brothers dressed like one - he looked very convincing) then stepped out of the shadows and threw his arms around the "candidate." Then he (and we) continued the sealing of the obligation by saying, "And may these cold arms forever encircle me should I ever knowingly or willfully violate the same."
The Sovereign Grand Commander closed the meeting of the Supreme Council "with the Mystic Number," striking with his sword five, three, one and then two times. After the closing prayer, we all said "amen, amen, amen," and it was over.
PROMINENT MEN TOOK PART
There were some extremely prominent men there that day, including a Scandinavian King, two former presidents of the United States, an internationally prominent evangelist, two other internationally prominent clergymen, and a very high official of the federal government, the one who actually presented me with the certificate of the 33rd Degree. Some made only brief appearances; others stayed much longer. However, they didn't do much mixing or socializing with us, except for those whom they already knew. Even though these celebrities weren't extremely "brotherly," it was still quite an experience for me just to be associated with them. It was easily the largest gathering of such prominent and influential men of which I have ever been a part.
The third day there was a banquet to celebrate our becoming "Grand Inspectors General. 33rd Degree." The banquet was a little anticlimactic, at least for me, and I was anxious to get it over with so I could return home. It was good to be a 33rd at last. But it wasn't as exciting or fulfilling as I had thought it would be during all those years in the Craft. I guess this was because of the profound changes going on down deep within me.
I returned home as soon as the 33rd Degree award and related social functions were finished, for it was time for my next appointment with the doctor. After he had examined my eyes he said they were healing fine, that he felt good about the way they were looking, and as usual he spoke with me about the Lord. I told him that I planned to come to his church the next Sunday and that I had been reading the Bible.
Obviously pleased, he said, "Good. Keep studying, and your sight will soon be much better." By this time I knew what he meant - he was speaking of my spiritual sight.
MAUNDY THURSDAY
In the Scottish Rite the Thursday before Easter, "Maundy Thursday," is an important day. On this day we always performed a special service of Communion in the local Scottish Rite Temple. At this time I was Wise Master in the Chapter of Rose Croix and it was my job to preside over the exemplification (dramatization) of the ceremony. I had done this many times and was known for my knowledge of the service and for "doing a good job" of putting it on.
THE WORDS HAD MEANING NOW
On Thursday evening we gathered at our home Temple and dressed for the ceremony. It was always a most solemn occasion and seemed a little awesome, even to those of us who had done it many times.
Dressed in long, black, hooded robes, we marched in, single file, with only our faces partly showing, and took our seats.
There was something very tomb-like about the setting. The silence was broken only by the organ, playing mournfully in the background, and there was no light except for the little that came through the windows. After the opening prayer (from which the name of Jesus Christ was conspicuously excluded), I stood and opened the service.
As I had done so many times before, I said, "We meet this day to commemorate the death of our 'Most Wise and Perfect Master,' not as inspired or divine, for this is not for us to decide, but as at least the greatest of the apostles of mankind."
As I spoke these words that I had spoken so many times before, I had a strange and powerful experience. It was as if I were standing apart, listening to myself as I spoke, and the words echoed deep within me, shouting their significance. They were the same words I had spoken so many times before, but had meaning for me now. They made me sick, literally ill, and I stopped.
The realization of what I had just said grew within me like the rising of a crescendo. I had just called Jesus an "apostle of mankind" who was neither inspired nor divine! There was a silent pause that seemed to last a very long time as I struggled with a sick smothering within.
When I was finally able, I continued with the service and we gathered around a large table across the room in marching order. The table was long, shaped like a cross, and covered with a red cloth which was decorated down the center with roses.
A BLACK COMMUNION
Once we were assembled at the table, I elevated (lifted high) the plate of bread, took a piece, put my hand on the shoulder of the man in front of me, gave him the plate and said, "Take, eat, and give to the hungry."
This continued until all had partaken of the bread. Then I lifted up the goblet of wine, took a sip, and said, "Take, drink, and give to the thirsty."
Again, this continued until all had partaken of the wine.
Then I took the bread, walked over to the first row of spectators and served it to the man previously chosen for the honor of representing the rest of the Lodge
As I handed it to him I again said, "Take, eat, and give to the hungry."
In like manner I served the wine to him saying, "Take, drink, and give to the thirsty," and he sat down.
After this we took our places at the table shaped like a cross and sat down. The setting was dark, our long, sweeping robes were solid black, our faces nearly concealed in the hoods, and the mood was one of heavy gloom. The Christ-less prayers and the hymns we sang fit right in. The one word that would describe the entire event would be "black." It was, indeed, a Black Communion - a strange Black Mass.
EXTINGUISHING THE CANDLE
There was a large Menorah (candlestick with seven candle holders) in the center of the room, with seven candles now burning.
Standing again, I said, "This is indeed a sad day, for we have lost our Master. We may never see him again. He is dead! Mourn, weep and cry, for he is gone."
Then I asked the officers to extinguish the candles in the large Menorah. One by one they rose, walked to the center of the room, extinguished a selected candle and left the room.
Finally, with only the center candle still burning, I arose, walked sadly to the Menorah and extinguished the last candle - the candle representing the life of Jesus, our "Most Wise and Perfect Master." We had dramatized and commemorated the snuffing out of the life of Jesus, without once mentioning his name, and the scene ended with the room in deep silent darkness. I walked out of the room, leaving only the darkness and the stillness of death.
Once again, the single word best to describe it would be "black."
All through the service I was shaking and sick. I have never felt so sad. I had stumbled over the words but, somehow, I made it to the completion of the ceremony and went back to the dressing room. I still didn't know much about praying but felt that I had been sustained by the Lord through it all.
THE FINAL PARTING
Back in the dressing room we hung up our black, hooded robes, put our street clothes back on and prepared to leave. Less than two hours had passed since I arrived. But what had happened in that period of time had changed my life forever.
Still sick in my heart, I changed clothes without a word to anyone. The others asked me what was wrong. But I couldn't reply.
They reminded me that I had acted as Wise Master so many times before, that I was known for my smooth performance of it, and they asked what had gone wrong.
I was choking on the awful reality of what we had said and done, the way we had blasphemed the Lord, and the evil, black mockery we had made of His pure and selfless death. With weeping welling up within me. I could only shake my head in silence and walk out.
Mike was waiting for me at the door, expecting to get a ride home, and he asked, "What's the matter, Jim? Are you sick?"
Finally able to speak, I quietly replied, "No, Mike, I'm just sick of all this."
"IT ISN'T RIGHT"
I started down the wide steps in front of the large Scottish Rite Temple, realization and conviction growing within me, reached the bottom step and stopped. Turning around, I looked back at the huge, granite building and slowly studied the words, carved in the stone across the top of the entrance: "ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE OF FREEMASONRY."
Something came clearly into focus in my understanding and I made a decision. This crisis point in my life, one which had required so many years for me to reach, passed in seconds. The truth was revealed and the choice was made - a choice that would be the difference between darkness and light, death and life, one that would last for eternity. Looking up at those words I had walked under so many times, words of which I had been so proud, I spoke to myself out loud. It was as if I were the only man in the world as I heard myself say, slowly and deliberately, "It isn't ancient, it isn't Scottish, it isn't free, and it isn't right!"
INTO THE LIGHT
I turned away and walked into the parking lot, knowing that I would never return. As I walked into the deepening darkness of that springtime night, I was walking into the growing light of the living God. As the natural darkness closed around me, the supernatural light welled up within me. With every step I took, as the Temple receded behind me, I was more free.
"I will never return," I thought with each step. "I will never return, I will never return...."
The decision was made, the die was cast. From that night onward I would serve the true and living God, not the Great Architect of the Universe. I would exalt and learn of Him, not Osiris, Krishna or Demeter. I would seek and follow Jesus, not the will--the-wisp of "hidden wisdom."
I was walking, after such a long time, out of the darkness and into the light.
Footnote
1 This statement is an interesting contradiction with the Temple it adorns, as well as with the thousands of other such Masonic temples built around the World at a total cost of many billions of dollars.
A PERSONAL WORD FROM JIM
As this true story is closed, I would be greatly remiss if I did not make it clear that in my pre-Christian life I truly loved Freemasonry. I loved the men with whom I was associated in the Lodge and the men with whom I worked so hard in the degrees and bodies of the Scottish Rite. Most of all, I was so very sure that I was doing what was right and pleasing in the sight of the Great Architect of the Universe.
Never in all my years of dedicated service to Masonry did anyone in the Lodge witness to me about the love and saving grace of Jesus. The Lodge attended a church once each year as a group. Each time the pastor (who was himself a Mason) would introduce us to the congregation and then exalt the Craft, telling them about all our wonderful works. We usually left the church thinking of how wonderful we were and feeling sorry for all those in the church who were not Masons, participating in all our good deeds.
After having been witnessed to by my ophthalmologist for some time I read those simple, wonderful words of Jesus, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life." These words, so short and so sweet, went right through my heart. I looked in the Bible for more and I found blessed assurance everywhere I looked. Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, really loved me as a real Brother! He will do the same for you.
-Jim Shaw-
Monday, May 22, 2006
What Do You Think Of The Da Vinci Code? Who Cares?
People programmed to discuss mass marketed fiction
South Korean Christians protest the Da Vinci Code.The Da Vinci code is the latest salvo in mass marketed conspiratorial junk that creates a counterfeit cultural zeitgeist and diverts focus from the real conspiratorial agendas that are unfolding before our own eyes not on a movie screen or a fictional paperback but in reality.
The main theme of this work of fiction that many frivolous fools have chosen to take as fact, is that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and fathered a child. This is based on one sentence from a heretical Gnostic gospel from the mid-second century in which it is claimed Jesus kissed Mary Magdalene (that proves it for me).
Bill Barnwell's excellent summary debunks the myths promulgated by the movie and the book.
Despite the utter vacuum of credibility the film holds, the cultural zeitgeist has dictated that you have to waste time acquiring detailed knowledge of this issue and be able to express an opinion on it.
Don't bother.
To steal a gag from the late Bill Hicks, "piece of shit, walk away."
By promulgating an unceasing drumbeat of attention, the establishment has programmed people into obsessing about this bile.
Don't waste your time debating this garbage with anyone, refuse to even address the matter other than to tell them it is the latest bread and circus act to follow Michael Jackson and the Raelians and should be vehemently dismissed by anyone with more than two functioning brain cells.
The individuals that flap their gums until kingdom come about secret societies running everything around the time of Jesus are usually loathe to entertain such a notion that it could be happening today. People are receptive to mass marketed conspiracy theories mired in fiction but don't you dare for a second suggest there could be a real conspiratorial agenda unfolding all around us, that's just crazy!
Rather than embrace their responsibility to truly understand the architecture of power that controls their own life these imbeciles would much rather bury their head in Holy Blood, Holy Grail or Harry Potter because deep down they know it's just fiction.
They would rather tease themselves with the imaginary monster in the cupboard while turning their head away from the stomping elephant in the living room. This childish mentality is the reason why the vast majority remain as spectators in life, forever dazzled by the latest trend and distracted from becoming truly engaged in something that really matters.
This movie acts as a steam valve to distract people's gut concerns about shadowy entities controlling world events in reality today. What does this tell us about how the culture creators channel our natural human curiosity into dead end debates and contrived cul-de-sacs?
Sunday, May 14, 2006
The Real Story On Opus Dei
The Real Story On Opus Dei
He is obsessively loyal to his superiors, believes in the power of pain and commits murder for the glory of God. Silas, the hooded albino in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, is certainly one of the more bizarre figures of recent popular literature. Now the blockbuster novel's murderous monk is about to find new life on a blockbuster screen. Next month, Sony Pictures unwraps its long-awaited film version of Brown's endlessly popular bestseller. Directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, The Da Vinci Code opens worldwide on May 19. And with the shadowy Silas and his sinister superiors back in the spotlight, the Opus Dei controversy will get a whole new shot in the arm.
In Brown's thriller, Silas and some of the other 'bad guys' are identified as members of the real-life Roman Catholic organization, Opus Dei (Latin for "the work of God"), a crucial plot point. Even before his prologue, on a page he labels "Fact," Brown describes Opus Dei as "a deeply devout Catholic sect that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brainwashing, coercion and a dangerous practice known as 'corporal mortification.'" He points out, correctly, that the U.S. home of Opus Dei recently opened its $47-million national headquarters in New York City. Then he kicks off his story of mystery, murder and mayhem, with Opus Dei at the centre. Three pages into the narrative, as Silas ensures a victim's death will be slow and agonizing, he says, "Pain is good, monsieur." If you're one of the world's 87,000 devout conservative Catholics who belong to Opus Dei, that has to hurt.
Right? Isabelle St-Maurice just laughs. The Montreal-based director of Opus Dei's Canadian press office prefers to see The Da Vinci Code as a marketing tool. "It's free publicity," she says. "So many people have begun to ask questions and want to know about us, so we give them the information. We explain the reality of Opus Dei. It's a good opportunity. "That approach reflects Opus Dei's position internationally. The organization's website (www.opusdei.org), which had more than three million visitors last year, has just launched a renovated version that is modern, comprehensive and user-friendly. The sophisticated educational outreach even devotes a section to Brown's bestseller, in an effort to correct what it says are inaccuracies in both theology and the depiction of the organization. ("It would be irresponsible to form any opinion of Opus Dei based on The Da Vinci Code," it states flatly.) The website, which went online a decade ago, is available in specific national versions (including opusdei.ca) and 22 languages. Through it, the organization says, it receives thousands of e-mail queries. "Everything is open and on the website," notes St-Maurice, a member of Opus Dei for 36 years. The 51-year-old former music teacher is a "numerary," a member who lives in a special Opus Dei residence and practises celibacy and corporal self-punishment. Thirty per cent of the organization's members are either numeraries or "associates" (priests), while the remaining 70 per cent -- "supernumeraries" -- consists mostly of married people. There is also a layer of participants called "co-operators," who like the Opus Dei message and support it through prayer, participation in activities and financial contributions. But co-operators are not actual members of Opus Dei, and some of them are not even Catholic.
He is obsessively loyal to his superiors, believes in the power of pain and commits murder for the glory of God. Silas, the hooded albino in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, is certainly one of the more bizarre figures of recent popular literature. Now the blockbuster novel's murderous monk is about to find new life on a blockbuster screen. Next month, Sony Pictures unwraps its long-awaited film version of Brown's endlessly popular bestseller. Directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, The Da Vinci Code opens worldwide on May 19. And with the shadowy Silas and his sinister superiors back in the spotlight, the Opus Dei controversy will get a whole new shot in the arm.
In Brown's thriller, Silas and some of the other 'bad guys' are identified as members of the real-life Roman Catholic organization, Opus Dei (Latin for "the work of God"), a crucial plot point. Even before his prologue, on a page he labels "Fact," Brown describes Opus Dei as "a deeply devout Catholic sect that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brainwashing, coercion and a dangerous practice known as 'corporal mortification.'" He points out, correctly, that the U.S. home of Opus Dei recently opened its $47-million national headquarters in New York City. Then he kicks off his story of mystery, murder and mayhem, with Opus Dei at the centre. Three pages into the narrative, as Silas ensures a victim's death will be slow and agonizing, he says, "Pain is good, monsieur." If you're one of the world's 87,000 devout conservative Catholics who belong to Opus Dei, that has to hurt.
Right? Isabelle St-Maurice just laughs. The Montreal-based director of Opus Dei's Canadian press office prefers to see The Da Vinci Code as a marketing tool. "It's free publicity," she says. "So many people have begun to ask questions and want to know about us, so we give them the information. We explain the reality of Opus Dei. It's a good opportunity. "That approach reflects Opus Dei's position internationally. The organization's website (www.opusdei.org), which had more than three million visitors last year, has just launched a renovated version that is modern, comprehensive and user-friendly. The sophisticated educational outreach even devotes a section to Brown's bestseller, in an effort to correct what it says are inaccuracies in both theology and the depiction of the organization. ("It would be irresponsible to form any opinion of Opus Dei based on The Da Vinci Code," it states flatly.) The website, which went online a decade ago, is available in specific national versions (including opusdei.ca) and 22 languages. Through it, the organization says, it receives thousands of e-mail queries. "Everything is open and on the website," notes St-Maurice, a member of Opus Dei for 36 years. The 51-year-old former music teacher is a "numerary," a member who lives in a special Opus Dei residence and practises celibacy and corporal self-punishment. Thirty per cent of the organization's members are either numeraries or "associates" (priests), while the remaining 70 per cent -- "supernumeraries" -- consists mostly of married people. There is also a layer of participants called "co-operators," who like the Opus Dei message and support it through prayer, participation in activities and financial contributions. But co-operators are not actual members of Opus Dei, and some of them are not even Catholic.
Supernumeraries, numeraries and associates share the organization's driving credo that each of life's activities, at work and at home, is an occasion for holiness and good works. That principle has been at the core of Opus Dei since it was founded in Spain by Josemaria Escriva in 1928. The conservative organization and its founder were close to the heart of the equally conservative Pope John Paul II. The late Pope oversaw the canonization of Escriva in 2002, 17 years after the Spanish priest's death. St-Maurice says there is nothing on the outside to distinguish a member of Opus Dei from anyone else. "But inside, there is a light. We just try to be closer to God in our daily lives. "When she was growing up in Valleyfield and Quebec City, St-Maurice says she was influenced but never coerced by her parents, who were Opus Dei supernumeraries. "They helped us to live our faith, but in freedom. "It sounds so sunny -- the devotion, the camaraderie, the essential goodness of the goal -- that the vitriol Opus Dei also generates seems puzzling. But there's no denying that, outside the loving circle of its adherents, Opus Dei does not gladden all hearts. In fact, it inspires emotional responses ranging from mixed and wary to outright hostile. Dianne DiNicola heads a Massachusetts-based international group called ODAN (Opus Dei Awareness Network) that has existed for more than 14 years to warn people about the organization. The group was founded by a number of families who, like DiNicola, had had life-altering negative experiences with Opus Dei. Many were parents who had seen sons and daughters become different people, increasingly estranged from their families. "All of us were practising Catholics, and we were so wounded by the organization. "Today ODAN, a registered non-profit organization staffed entirely by volunteers, operates a comprehensive website (www.odan.org) and acts as a conduit for the cautionary testimonials of thousands of former Opus Dei members and their families throughout North and South America, Europe and Australia. Two other organizations operating in Spanish and Portuguese have the same mission. Even within the clerical ranks of the Catholic Church (John Paul designated Opus Dei a "personal prelature" in 1982, which means it is answerable only to the Vatican), it is viewed by many with more than a little apprehension. The late Cardinal Basil Hume, for instance -- Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales -- was openly critical of what he described as the group's unacceptable behaviour, particularly its infiltration of organizations. And liberal Catholics mistrust its aggressive and extreme ideological and religious conservatism. "Opus Dei does not see a dynamic relationship between faith and contemporary perspectives," says David Perrin, diplomatically. Perrin, an Oblate priest and professor in the faculty of theology at Ottawa's Saint Paul University, is one of those liberal Catholics. "God is calling us to love him," says St-Maurice simply, as if that were all you have to know about Opus Dei. But the taint of some associations, facts and images is difficult to erase. Although not a political man, Escriva did make comments interpreted as sympathetic to dictators such as Spain's Francisco Franco, who had several cabinet ministers belonging to Opus Dei. The organization's critics have accused it of cosiness with other suspect figures, such as dictators Antonio Salazar of Portugal and Juan Peron of Argentina. Opus Dei has defended itself against such charges by suggesting that the historical evidence for them is either misinterpreted or out of context. Even today, liberals are unhappy with the organization's possible influence in upper secular circles, such as the United States Supreme Court, where justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas have been linked to it. Opus Dei's website says it "would like to dispel once and for all the rumours that (former FBI chief) Louis Freeh, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Mel Gibson are members." But critics maintain there are connections, even without membership. Freeh was said to have sent his son to an Opus Dei school, and Scalia's son is an Opus Dei priest. They don't have to be formal members of Opus Dei, observes DiNicola, to share their mindset. She points out that Cherie Blair, wife of the British prime minister, attended an Opus Dei event. "Opus Dei is very good at going to people of influence and promoting their own agenda. And sometimes these people don't even know they're doing Opus Dei's bidding. "That happens as well at the level of the "co-operators," she says, who are described as "supporters" of Opus Dei's work. "Define what 'support' means," she says. "You have to ask them very specific questions to get any real answers. I think Opus Dei uses the co-operators for its agenda, and they ask them for money. I talked with one man, a former co-operator, who told me he finally saw through it, and it just turned him off. "The organization has more unsavoury associations. Twenty-five years ago, when a scandal erupted involving the Vatican Bank -- complete with charges of money laundering and the suspicious death of bank chairman Roberto Calvi -- the Opus Dei name came up in possible affiliations with the principals.
More recently, there was the case of Robert Hanssen, likely filed deep in the organization's "Bad Apples" folder. Hanssen was an FBI agent sentenced in 2002 to life imprisonment for spying. For $1.4 million, plus diamonds, he had sold U.S. state secrets, including details of national security, to Russia. A vociferous conservative who told a friend that anyone who voted for Al Gore should be shot, Hanssen was also revealed during the investigation to be obsessed with pornography, going so far as to install a hidden camera in his bedroom to film himself and his wife having sex, and sharing the video with a friend.
Invariably described as "a devout Catholic," Hanssen was also a devout member of Opus Dei. One of the powerful Opus Dei characters who flits darkly through Brown's famous piece of fiction mentions Hanssen, referring to him as "the ultimate embarrassment."
Other facts are undeniable. Opus Dei is an ultra-conservative organization. It is wealthy and secretive. It is international, operating in more than 60 countries with more than 87,000 members, and it does wield influence at the highest Vatican levels. And a good number of its members do wear the cilice (a tight barbed chain) against their skin, take cold showers regularly and whip themselves with a nasty little corded device they call the Discipline.
By the popular standards of the modern world, that makes Opus Dei look pretty weird. But does it make them bad?
Ask Isabelle St-Maurice if Dan Brown got anything right about Opus Dei when he wrote The Da Vinci Code, and she thinks hard. "Well," she says slowly, "he spelled it right."
St-Maurice says she read the book strictly for its entertainment value. "You have fun reading it, because it's a thriller. But it's fiction. It's not something that sticks."
What she found disturbing was the fact that Brown's obvious research is so mixed up with his created material that people can confuse the fact and fiction far too easily. And she didn't much care for its theology.
Dianne DiNicola, 63, didn't much care for the theology, either. Still a practising Catholic, she was bothered by the questions the novel raised about the divinity of Jesus. But she found one thing in The Da Vinci Code absolutely spot-on.
"The blind obedience in Opus Dei -- that's true. In Opus Dei, there's no free will, really. They're proselytized and recruited aggressively and worked on."
DiNicola speaks from personal experience. Her daughter Tammy was a recruit.
Today, at 38, Tammy is the mother of three sons and a small-business owner with her husband. But as a fresh high-school graduate from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, away from home to attend Boston College, a respected Catholic university, she was essentially ripe for the picking.
Befriended by an Opus Dei member, she was eventually convinced to join the organization. She didn't tell her parents, because it was suggested to her that she should not.
"We began to see a personality change in Tammy," says her mother. "She had always been so happy-go-lucky, and now she was not. We had always communicated, and now she didn't. It was as if her life was being controlled."
DiNicola says Tammy's mail was being read, and she was coming home less and less, participating in fewer and fewer family activities. "It was as if she had died."
By now, DiNicola and her husband Carlo knew that Tammy had joined something called Opus Dei. Both active Catholics, they tried unsuccessfully to get help from their church. "But they didn't understand, and Opus Dei had a lot of influence anyway."
Eventually, they heard about "exit counselling" -- sessions designed to help people out of an organization they feel powerless to leave -- and convinced Tammy to go, a strategy that finally released her.
The DiNicolases had known nothing about Opus Dei before their youngest child went off to college, but learned a great deal about it in time and through bitter experience. They realized they were not alone when they came across another family who had experienced something similar. In 1991, the DiNicolases and a group of 50 other people -- mostly parents and former Opus Dei members -- formed ODAN. In the years since, they have been contacted by former members and their families from around the world, as well as priests, campus ministers and others who have had direct contact with Opus Dei. They were even cited in The Da Vinci Code.
The ODAN site is filled with information and often shattering testimonials about everything from perceived emotional manipulation and mind control, to habits of secrecy, to details of corporal self-mortification.
"We just wanted to tell the world about Opus Dei's questionable practices," says DiNicola. And so they have. If Opus Dei is being swamped with requests for information since the publication of Dan Brown's novel, so too is ODAN.
Among the most dramatic of those questionable practices -- certainly the one that gets the most ink -- is the personal corporal punishment. Opus Dei's official line these days is to downplay it, describing it as no more severe than a small denial of comfort.
"It should just be called a sacrifice, really," says St-Maurice, who admits to wearing the cilice. "It's just something that bothers." Numeraries, the nearly 30 per cent of the organization who have chosen a dedicated life of celibacy, are the Opus Dei members expected to practise the corporal mortification that includes cold showers, kissing the floor first thing in the morning, silences, fasting, the cilice and self-flagellation with the Discipline.
"When I first started watching them," says DiNicola, "they denied practising self-mortification. Now they say it exists, but it's up to the individual. And that is not true. We've been contacted by thousands of former members, and I've not heard one individual who's been in Opus Dei say that there was any free choice involved in self-mortification."
There is certainly no doubt that the practice was very much part of the spiritual life of their founder, who was said to have left his blood in streaks on the walls and floors after his self-flagellation. In his published memories of Escriva, Bishop Javier Echevarria, the current prelate of Opus Dei since 1994, describes the "severe corporal penances" willingly undertaken by the organization's saintly founder.
David Perrin of Saint Paul University points out that, abhorrent as it appears today, the practice was not unknown in the Roman Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council. That council, which opened in 1962, brought the fresh air of reform to the Church, including the suggestion that corporal self-punishment was no longer to be encouraged. Until that time, many congregations of priests, brothers and nuns had the practice on their books, even if they were no longer doing it.
But Perrin questions its purpose today. "What kind of holiness does it reflect? What kind of duality?" Since Vatican II, he says, there has been a greater appreciation of corporality and the idea that the integrated wholeness of a person -- body, mind, sexuality -- plays a role in the journey toward holiness. The ancient notion of dichotomy, that the material is bad and the spiritual good, stems from the Church's earliest days, he says. But it no longer fits.
"Two thousand years later, does it make any sense to separate those two things, which is what is suggested by this flagellation? Does corporal punishment make sense, or is the cosmology behind it defective? We in the broader, mainstream Roman Catholic Church today no longer find that acceptable or even helpful. We have a more holistic sense of ourselves."
Perrin says he can't even imagine where you'd find a cilice. "You could try Desmarais & Robitaille here in Ottawa for church supplies," he jokes, "but I suspect you won't find one."
DiNicola says she's heard that the cilices and Disciplines are specially made for Opus Dei by a convent of Spanish nuns.
There are also other things about Opus Dei that disturb mainstream Catholics. The organization has been criticized by less conservative elements for its rigidity. While many in today's Church are calling for openness, debate, reform and an acknowledgement that the Church must exist in the contemporary world even as its core values transcend it, Opus Dei's traditional inflexibility is viewed as a stumbling block to any kind of progress.
There is no question that the organization has members operating at the highest Vatican levels, suggesting ultra-conservative influences on policy. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, for instance -- director of the Vatican Press Office under John Paul II and re-appointed by the current Pope -- has been called the most visible representative of the Church in Rome after the Pope. Navarro-Valls has been a numerary of Opus Dei (that is, one of those who commit to celibacy and self-mortification) since the 1970s.
Perrin gives full credit to Opus Dei for its founding principle -- the notion that all individuals, both lay people and clerics, have the same access to holiness -- which he says was, in 1928, ahead of its time.
But he does take issue with other aspects of the organization. He wonders about its "personal prelature" status, which makes it exceptional and removes it from the authority of the local church. He finds its practice of leadership overly clerical, with power and influence in the hands of its priests, rather than the laity it was founded to empower. He thinks the role of women in Opus Dei is suspect. (The organization preaches equality, but is adamant about separate, and clearly defined, roles based on gender.) He questions its openness to dialogue with other religions. He is uncomfortable with the depth of Opus Dei's conservatism, which does not allow for the kind of discussion currently going on in the larger Church, where a number of traditional elements -- the role of women, for example -- are being debated and re-examined.
Nor does its obsessive secrecy serve it well, Perrin says. "Opus Dei does have well-defined initiation practices, and what those are tend to be kept on the quiet. When things aren't divulged, we fill them in with all kinds of information or fantasies."
He also acknowledges the charge made by some people that Opus Dei is power-hungry. "I really don't know. But they do tend to set themselves up close to prestigious universities -- and who goes to prestigious universities? The wealthy. Extrapolate that further, and you have people with influence and position and power. Obviously, if you can recruit those kinds of people, you're going to achieve that kind of presence in the world."
That presence is found in some surprising places, too. Ottawa's Justina McCaffrey, wedding-dress designer to the internationally rich and famous, has said that both she and her husband are Opus Dei members.
In fact, the aggressiveness of Opus Dei's recruiting has been the subject of strong criticism for some time. In a 1995 article on Opus Dei in America, a Catholic weekly magazine, Jesuit priest James Martin interviews Russell Roide, another Jesuit priest and the former director of campus ministry at Stanford University. After students flooded his office with complaints, Roide contacted Opus Dei and asked them to be less aggressive. When they weren't, he banned them from the campus. After that, he told Martin, they became "subtle and deceptive."
The official line from Opus Dei is that they are not aggressive and that "recruiting" only happens when people are willing. But as Martin notes in the same article, Escriva emphasized it. "In the internal magazine, Cronica, he wrote in 1971: 'This holy coercion is necessary, compelle intrare, the Lord tells us.' And, 'You must kill yourselves for proselytism.'"
The organization says it has 600 members in Canada and 3,000 in the U.S., but DiNicola questions the numbers.
"Twenty years ago, they were saying they had 3,000 members, and today they're still saying 3,000. I know a huge number of numeraries leave, but not the supernumeraries. These are families with kids. A lot of those kids are then recruited to become numeraries."
Whether or not they exist as proselytizing opportunities, there are numerous Opus Dei-run venues throughout Canada and the U.S. Apart from the Opus Dei centres, there are educational institutions, educational and social programs, student residences (including Parkhill and Valrideau in Ottawa, for men and women respectively), retreat houses, conference centres, summer camps and even some Catholic parishes and chaplaincies. Perrin frames the question of the day. "Is all of that scary for some people? I guess it is."
Scary or not, one thing is certain. The staggering popularity of The Da Vinci Code, as a bestselling book and soon as a box-office film, has shone an unprecedented spotlight on Opus Dei in ways the organization never envisioned. While the image has been the antithesis of flattering, Opus Dei seems to have adopted the time-honoured principle that has served so many spotlight subjects so well.
As long as they spell your name right.
Since the novel appeared in 2003, says St-Maurice, Opus Dei has been deluged with expressions of interest. Still, it's too early to say if that interest will translate into increased membership.
"It's a vocation," she says. "It goes slowly." The person who shows interest in Opus Dei must develop an understanding of the organization, the life commitment it requires and his or her suitability within that. It doesn't happen overnight.
Ask St-Maurice about the impact of The Da Vinci Code on membership, and she laughs.
"Maybe I will call you in three years."
In the meantime? "We say to Dan Brown, thank you very much."
Dianne DiNicola's view is darker. "Opus Dei had a horrible reputation way before The Da Vinci Code. Now they're putting on this big PR campaign. I think they're worried they're going to be found out."
May Day(Labour's Day) And The Influence Of Illuminati
May Day(Labour's Day) And The Influence Of The Illuminati
“Just how significant is the impact of leftists within the illegal immigration movement? It is no accident that they chose May 1 as their day of demonstration and boycott. It is the worldwide day of commemorative demonstrations by various socialist, communist, and even anarchic organizations.”
- Lou Dobbs, Radical groups taking control of immigrant movement
"On May 1, the world working class displays its strength in demonstrations and strikes," explains communist writer Andy McInerney in the Spring 1996 issue of Liberation & Marxism. "May Day — International Workers' Day — is a reminder to the ruling classes that their days are numbered.... From 1919 onward, the success of May Day in the United States would depend on the success of the communist movement."
- William F. Jasper, Why May Day?
Secret societies do nothing without multiple layers of esoteric meaning; symbolism is of vital importance. It was in this tradition that Adam Weishaupt founded the Illuminati on May 1st, 1776. When we look at the doctrine of the Illuminati, it becomes clear that the choice of May Day for its birth was no coincidence.
Weishaupt was well aware of the pagan celebrations that had been practiced for thousands of years on the first of May—which were maintained in some form up to Weishaupt's time, and still continue to this day. Beltane, as it is known in the British Isles, marks "the midpoint in the Sun's progress between the vernal equinox and summer solstice." The etymology of the word means "bright fire", "bale-fire" or "Baal's fire". The festivals on May 1st literally stem from a form of sun and fire worship.
“Beltane is one of the four Celtic Fire festivals, and is probably the second most important festival next to Samhain. Beltane is primarily a sun festival and was performed during the day. The most important part of Beltane was the kindling of the fires. The Irish Celts would extinguish their fires the night before and would eat a cold meal to insure that all fires were out. Then they would attend the ceremony, returning with an ember to once more start their fires. The fire festival later evolved into the Celts driving their cattle through two fires to purify the herd. This was done to insure good health of the cattle for the coming year. Modern day pagans will jump over the Beltane fires, though very few actually know why they do so.”
- Gordon Ireland, Beltane - May 1 or May Day
“Beltane, in Irish, or Bealtuinn Scottish Gaelic. The original meaning is 'Bel's Fire' which designates it as one of the major Fire Festivals. Bel is sometimes refered to as the God of 'Light.' He is also known as Beli or Belinus and may be traced to the Middle Eastern god Baal. Some Beltane customs are also very similar to the old Roman feast of flowers, the Floriala.”
- Beltane [Mayday, Cetsamhain, Walpurgisnacht]
A few days prior to Bealtine season, every flame was ordered extinguished, to be relighted on the first of May by holy fire drawn directly from the sun. Of fire-worship Toland observes:
“On May-day the Druids made prodigious fires on these cairns, which being every one in sight of some other could not but afford a glorious show over a whole nation. These fires were in honor of Beal, or Bealan, Latinized by the Roman writers into Belanus, by which name the Gauls and their colonies understood the sun, and therefore, to this hour, the first of May is, by the aboriginal Irish, called la Bealtine, or the day of Belan’s fires. May-day is likewise called la Bealtine by the Highlanders of Scotland, who are no contemptible part of the Celtic offspring. So it is with the Isle of Man: and in Armorica a priest is called Belee, or the servant of Bel, and the priesthood Belegieth.”
- Eliza Burt Gamble, The God-Idea of the Ancients (or Sex in Religion)
There's two reasons why May 1st was chosen as the founding of the Order of the Illuminati. The first being that fire worship was central to the celebrations on that day. And likewise, fire-worship was to be the basis of the highest mysteries of the Illuminati. Weishaupt had written to his devoted disciple Zwack, that he is "warming up the old system of the Ghebers and Parsees ..."
“The allegory in which the Mysteries and Higher Grades must be clothed is Fire Worship and the whole philosophy of Zoroaster or of the old Parsees who nowadays only remain in India; therefore in the further degrees the Order is called 'Fire Worship' (Feuerdienst), the 'Fire Order,' or the 'Persian Order' - that is, something magnificent beyond all expectation.”
- Adam Weishaupt, translated by Nesta Webster, in Secret Societies and Subversive Movements, p. 201
The second reason for the founding date of May 1st relates to the fact that in communications between members of the Order, the word Illuminati was to be symbolized by a point within a circle: ☉. This has always represented the sun, probably before writing was even invented, and the Egyptians used it thousands of years ago as the Hieroglyphic symbol for the sun-god Ra. The May Day festivals were an enactment of both sun and fire worship; so May 1st—giving the overt symbolism of the Order—was a perfect day (symbolically) for the founding of the Illuminati. The connection between the point within a circle and May Day celebrations is also manifested by the practice surrounding the Maypole.
La Marseillaise
The song that eventually rallied revolutionaries, and became the national anthem of France, originated with a member of the Illuminati: Philippe-Frédéric Baron von Dietrich (1748-1793), code name Omarius. Dietrich was the Mayor of Strasbourg in 1790, 1791 and 1792. He was a victim of the French Revolutionary Reign of Terror, and guillotined on December 29th, 1793 in Paris. He was replaced by Eulogius Schneider (Jacobin and Illuminist, public accuser before the revolutionary tribunal) who became the tyrant of Strasbourg and the conductor of public executions.
In 1792, as news reached Strasbourg of the German Monarchs' declaration of war on Revolutionary France, Dietrich commissioned a young engineer, Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, to write a patriotic song to rally the people: Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin (War song for the Rhine Army). The revolutionaries, however, adopted the song for themselves, calling it La Marseillaise. The significance of this anthem is that it became the battle cry for French revolutionaries in the 18th century, the 1848 French Revolution as well as future communists and anarchists. In Chicago, the Haymarket Square rioters of 1886, for instance, sang the song during the first May Day workers' rally. As Oscar Ameringer declared: "Only red flags were carried in that first May Day parade, and the only song we sang was the 'Arbeiters Marseillaise,' the battle cry of the rising proletariat. Even the May Day edition of the Arbeiter Zeitung was printed on red paper."
International Workers' Day
It was that first May Day protest which is commemorated by Unions, Communists and Anarchists worldwide as Labor Day or International Workers' Day. The Marseillaise was sung that day in Chicago, and the Red Flag was flown. The strikes continued and on May 4th there was a tragedy: an anarchist threw a makeshift bomb into a crowd of police, killing one officer instantly while seven more later died of injuries. The police opened fire wounding twelve protesters and killing four.
All this is a part of history and there is much information on the web about the Haymarket Massacre, the subsequent arrest and execution of the "Haymarket Martyrs", etc. But why was May 1st chosen for the strikes in the first place?
It was no accident that the illegal immigration movement chose May Day for their demonstrations. Likewise, it is clear to me that the date adopted for the 1886 protests was no accident either. In our time, as before, the chosen date is a symbolic gesture.
On the surface May 1st, 1886 seems to have been chosen arbitrarily. As the story goes, in 1884 the U.S. Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions:
...passed a resolution which asserted that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886, and that we recommend to labor organizations throughout this district that they so direct their laws as to conform to this resolution".
- May Day - Labor Day
Employers refused the ultimatum.
“On May 1, 1886, workers took to the streets in a general strike throughout the entire country to force the ruling class to recognise the eight-hour working day. Over 350,000 workers across the country directly participated in the general strike, with hundreds of thousands of workers joining the marches as best they could.”
- MIA: Encyclopedia of Marxism: Glossary of Events (May Day)
The U.S. Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions began in 1881 and stemmed from the British Trade Unions. The US branch was co-founded by Samuel Gompers, and he was in charge of the committee that decreed the May 1st ultimatum. Gompers was born in England in 1850, and was "heavily influenced by Karl Marx".
“... a student of socialism. With colleagues like P.J. McGuire, Hugh McGregor, Adolph Strasser, and J.P. McDonnell (all of whom would become longtime associates) he participated in meetings of the International Workingmen's Association, the Economic and Sociological Club, and the Workingmen's Party of the United States.”
- Who was Samuel Gompers, Anyway?
Not only was Gompers attending meetings of Karl Marx's communist International Workingmen's Association (First International); he was also initiated into its inner circle, Die Zehn Philosophen, in 1873. This inner core of "ten philosophers" can be likened to a society within a secret society, as was the modus operandi of the Illuminati itself. Gompers—an "Areopagite" in the first international communist movement—would be the guiding hand, less than 10 years later, in the decision to mobilize the "proletariat" into action on the sacred Illuminati date of May 1st.
Socialists today would have you believe that the Haymarket riots were the catalyst for the 8-hour workday, when in actuality all that the violence accomplished was to delay the implementation of workers' rights: "The Haymarket Riot branded as 'radical' the eight-hour-day movement and diminished popular support for organized labor."
Similar staged agitation, with identical Hegelian consequences, was witnessed in Gompers' native England during the middle of the 1800s:
Nearly the whole of the loss arising from strikes fell on the innocent and industrious labourers, willing and anxious to work, but deterred from doing so by the threats of the unions, and the dark menaces of an unknown committee. The mode in which these committees acquire such despotic authority is precisely the same as that which made the Committee of Public Safety despotic. Terror—terror—terror
[...]
It began to be common talk that among trades associations there was systematic terrorizing of the worst kind, and that a Vehmgericht more secret and more grim than any known to the middle ages was issuing its sentences in many of our great industrial communities.
- Quoting Archibald Alison and Justin McCarthy, in Nesta H. Webster's World Revolution: The Plot Against Civilization, p. 126.
Nesta Webster recounts how, "during the years of 1834 to 1860," grievances broke out in Scotland and England with hitherto unknown ferocity. Uncooperative workers were murdered and their houses burnt down.
“The truth is clearly that Illuminism, following its usual course of insinuating itself into every organization framed for the benefit of humanity, and turning it to an exactly opposite purpose, was using Trade Unionism, which had been designed to liberate the workers, for their complete enslavement.” (Ibid., p. 126)
“Just how significant is the impact of leftists within the illegal immigration movement? It is no accident that they chose May 1 as their day of demonstration and boycott. It is the worldwide day of commemorative demonstrations by various socialist, communist, and even anarchic organizations.”
- Lou Dobbs, Radical groups taking control of immigrant movement
"On May 1, the world working class displays its strength in demonstrations and strikes," explains communist writer Andy McInerney in the Spring 1996 issue of Liberation & Marxism. "May Day — International Workers' Day — is a reminder to the ruling classes that their days are numbered.... From 1919 onward, the success of May Day in the United States would depend on the success of the communist movement."
- William F. Jasper, Why May Day?
Secret societies do nothing without multiple layers of esoteric meaning; symbolism is of vital importance. It was in this tradition that Adam Weishaupt founded the Illuminati on May 1st, 1776. When we look at the doctrine of the Illuminati, it becomes clear that the choice of May Day for its birth was no coincidence.
Weishaupt was well aware of the pagan celebrations that had been practiced for thousands of years on the first of May—which were maintained in some form up to Weishaupt's time, and still continue to this day. Beltane, as it is known in the British Isles, marks "the midpoint in the Sun's progress between the vernal equinox and summer solstice." The etymology of the word means "bright fire", "bale-fire" or "Baal's fire". The festivals on May 1st literally stem from a form of sun and fire worship.
“Beltane is one of the four Celtic Fire festivals, and is probably the second most important festival next to Samhain. Beltane is primarily a sun festival and was performed during the day. The most important part of Beltane was the kindling of the fires. The Irish Celts would extinguish their fires the night before and would eat a cold meal to insure that all fires were out. Then they would attend the ceremony, returning with an ember to once more start their fires. The fire festival later evolved into the Celts driving their cattle through two fires to purify the herd. This was done to insure good health of the cattle for the coming year. Modern day pagans will jump over the Beltane fires, though very few actually know why they do so.”
- Gordon Ireland, Beltane - May 1 or May Day
“Beltane, in Irish, or Bealtuinn Scottish Gaelic. The original meaning is 'Bel's Fire' which designates it as one of the major Fire Festivals. Bel is sometimes refered to as the God of 'Light.' He is also known as Beli or Belinus and may be traced to the Middle Eastern god Baal. Some Beltane customs are also very similar to the old Roman feast of flowers, the Floriala.”
- Beltane [Mayday, Cetsamhain, Walpurgisnacht]
A few days prior to Bealtine season, every flame was ordered extinguished, to be relighted on the first of May by holy fire drawn directly from the sun. Of fire-worship Toland observes:
“On May-day the Druids made prodigious fires on these cairns, which being every one in sight of some other could not but afford a glorious show over a whole nation. These fires were in honor of Beal, or Bealan, Latinized by the Roman writers into Belanus, by which name the Gauls and their colonies understood the sun, and therefore, to this hour, the first of May is, by the aboriginal Irish, called la Bealtine, or the day of Belan’s fires. May-day is likewise called la Bealtine by the Highlanders of Scotland, who are no contemptible part of the Celtic offspring. So it is with the Isle of Man: and in Armorica a priest is called Belee, or the servant of Bel, and the priesthood Belegieth.”
- Eliza Burt Gamble, The God-Idea of the Ancients (or Sex in Religion)
There's two reasons why May 1st was chosen as the founding of the Order of the Illuminati. The first being that fire worship was central to the celebrations on that day. And likewise, fire-worship was to be the basis of the highest mysteries of the Illuminati. Weishaupt had written to his devoted disciple Zwack, that he is "warming up the old system of the Ghebers and Parsees ..."
“The allegory in which the Mysteries and Higher Grades must be clothed is Fire Worship and the whole philosophy of Zoroaster or of the old Parsees who nowadays only remain in India; therefore in the further degrees the Order is called 'Fire Worship' (Feuerdienst), the 'Fire Order,' or the 'Persian Order' - that is, something magnificent beyond all expectation.”
- Adam Weishaupt, translated by Nesta Webster, in Secret Societies and Subversive Movements, p. 201
The second reason for the founding date of May 1st relates to the fact that in communications between members of the Order, the word Illuminati was to be symbolized by a point within a circle: ☉. This has always represented the sun, probably before writing was even invented, and the Egyptians used it thousands of years ago as the Hieroglyphic symbol for the sun-god Ra. The May Day festivals were an enactment of both sun and fire worship; so May 1st—giving the overt symbolism of the Order—was a perfect day (symbolically) for the founding of the Illuminati. The connection between the point within a circle and May Day celebrations is also manifested by the practice surrounding the Maypole.
La Marseillaise
The song that eventually rallied revolutionaries, and became the national anthem of France, originated with a member of the Illuminati: Philippe-Frédéric Baron von Dietrich (1748-1793), code name Omarius. Dietrich was the Mayor of Strasbourg in 1790, 1791 and 1792. He was a victim of the French Revolutionary Reign of Terror, and guillotined on December 29th, 1793 in Paris. He was replaced by Eulogius Schneider (Jacobin and Illuminist, public accuser before the revolutionary tribunal) who became the tyrant of Strasbourg and the conductor of public executions.
In 1792, as news reached Strasbourg of the German Monarchs' declaration of war on Revolutionary France, Dietrich commissioned a young engineer, Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, to write a patriotic song to rally the people: Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin (War song for the Rhine Army). The revolutionaries, however, adopted the song for themselves, calling it La Marseillaise. The significance of this anthem is that it became the battle cry for French revolutionaries in the 18th century, the 1848 French Revolution as well as future communists and anarchists. In Chicago, the Haymarket Square rioters of 1886, for instance, sang the song during the first May Day workers' rally. As Oscar Ameringer declared: "Only red flags were carried in that first May Day parade, and the only song we sang was the 'Arbeiters Marseillaise,' the battle cry of the rising proletariat. Even the May Day edition of the Arbeiter Zeitung was printed on red paper."
International Workers' Day
It was that first May Day protest which is commemorated by Unions, Communists and Anarchists worldwide as Labor Day or International Workers' Day. The Marseillaise was sung that day in Chicago, and the Red Flag was flown. The strikes continued and on May 4th there was a tragedy: an anarchist threw a makeshift bomb into a crowd of police, killing one officer instantly while seven more later died of injuries. The police opened fire wounding twelve protesters and killing four.
All this is a part of history and there is much information on the web about the Haymarket Massacre, the subsequent arrest and execution of the "Haymarket Martyrs", etc. But why was May 1st chosen for the strikes in the first place?
It was no accident that the illegal immigration movement chose May Day for their demonstrations. Likewise, it is clear to me that the date adopted for the 1886 protests was no accident either. In our time, as before, the chosen date is a symbolic gesture.
On the surface May 1st, 1886 seems to have been chosen arbitrarily. As the story goes, in 1884 the U.S. Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions:
...passed a resolution which asserted that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886, and that we recommend to labor organizations throughout this district that they so direct their laws as to conform to this resolution".
- May Day - Labor Day
Employers refused the ultimatum.
“On May 1, 1886, workers took to the streets in a general strike throughout the entire country to force the ruling class to recognise the eight-hour working day. Over 350,000 workers across the country directly participated in the general strike, with hundreds of thousands of workers joining the marches as best they could.”
- MIA: Encyclopedia of Marxism: Glossary of Events (May Day)
The U.S. Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions began in 1881 and stemmed from the British Trade Unions. The US branch was co-founded by Samuel Gompers, and he was in charge of the committee that decreed the May 1st ultimatum. Gompers was born in England in 1850, and was "heavily influenced by Karl Marx".
“... a student of socialism. With colleagues like P.J. McGuire, Hugh McGregor, Adolph Strasser, and J.P. McDonnell (all of whom would become longtime associates) he participated in meetings of the International Workingmen's Association, the Economic and Sociological Club, and the Workingmen's Party of the United States.”
- Who was Samuel Gompers, Anyway?
Not only was Gompers attending meetings of Karl Marx's communist International Workingmen's Association (First International); he was also initiated into its inner circle, Die Zehn Philosophen, in 1873. This inner core of "ten philosophers" can be likened to a society within a secret society, as was the modus operandi of the Illuminati itself. Gompers—an "Areopagite" in the first international communist movement—would be the guiding hand, less than 10 years later, in the decision to mobilize the "proletariat" into action on the sacred Illuminati date of May 1st.
Socialists today would have you believe that the Haymarket riots were the catalyst for the 8-hour workday, when in actuality all that the violence accomplished was to delay the implementation of workers' rights: "The Haymarket Riot branded as 'radical' the eight-hour-day movement and diminished popular support for organized labor."
Similar staged agitation, with identical Hegelian consequences, was witnessed in Gompers' native England during the middle of the 1800s:
Nearly the whole of the loss arising from strikes fell on the innocent and industrious labourers, willing and anxious to work, but deterred from doing so by the threats of the unions, and the dark menaces of an unknown committee. The mode in which these committees acquire such despotic authority is precisely the same as that which made the Committee of Public Safety despotic. Terror—terror—terror
[...]
It began to be common talk that among trades associations there was systematic terrorizing of the worst kind, and that a Vehmgericht more secret and more grim than any known to the middle ages was issuing its sentences in many of our great industrial communities.
- Quoting Archibald Alison and Justin McCarthy, in Nesta H. Webster's World Revolution: The Plot Against Civilization, p. 126.
Nesta Webster recounts how, "during the years of 1834 to 1860," grievances broke out in Scotland and England with hitherto unknown ferocity. Uncooperative workers were murdered and their houses burnt down.
“The truth is clearly that Illuminism, following its usual course of insinuating itself into every organization framed for the benefit of humanity, and turning it to an exactly opposite purpose, was using Trade Unionism, which had been designed to liberate the workers, for their complete enslavement.” (Ibid., p. 126)
Thursday, May 11, 2006
V for Vandetta : The Real Story
V for Vandetta : The Real Story
Culture and resistance to imperialism
You know something is up when a film like V for Vendetta is a box office hit. Adapted from a series of graphic novelettes (i.e., comic books) written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd, the plot is set in a dystopian future Britain where "the Party" rules, dissidents are rounded up, the Koran is banned, and the threat of terrorism keeps the ruling elite firmly entrenched in power. From his underground lair, "V" is a kind of futuristic Scarlet Pimpernel, who strikes out at the regime – destroying the Old Bailey in a spectacular pyrotechnic display – while reciting sonnets from Shakespeare and wooing a beautiful girl whose fate has been delivered into his gloved hands. He wears a mask – a sardonic visage reminiscent, at least in my mind, of Cyrano de Bergerac – and as the plot unfolds so does the origin of his vendetta against the Powers That Be: he was tortured and disfigured by the regime's renditioners. As he kills those responsible for his agony, one by one, the viewer is led toward the denouement: a reenactment of the Guy Fawkes legend, in which the modern-day incarnation of that early-17th-century English subversive succeeds in blowing up Parliament and sparking a revolution.
The right wing hates this movie, and it isn't hard to see why: it explodes all their pretensions about being the party of "freedom," and it pretty clearly parallels the hypocritical cant of the War Party as it pretends to battle "terrorism" while engaging in a campaign of state terrorism that far surpasses anything a small band of amateurs could possibly hope to dish out. They must find particularly galling a subplot in which evidence emerges that a deadly series of biowarfare attacks attributed to "religious fanatics" (and we don't mean George W. Bush and Jerry Falwell) turn out to be the work of a sinister cabal inside the government – the perfect excuse for a crackdown. All of this – economic collapse, political turmoil, the dictatorship of "the Party" – is clearly identified in the film as the product of a series of wars, stretching from Iraq to Syria to Iran and beyond. I was particularly intrigued by references to "the former United States of America," and hints of a future history in which imperialism has drained the once mighty U.S. until it is a pitiful husk of its former self, crippled by economic dislocation and embroiled in civil war.
You would think that the Brits, themselves victims of imperial overstretch, would sympathize with "the colonies," but the anti-Americanism of "the Party" is virulent – and that is a clever touch indeed. We are treated, early on, to a display of the most vulgar Yankee-bashing by a Rush Limbaugh-type bloviator, "the Voice of London," a preening, braying, drugged-out shill who barks out government propaganda over the British Television Network (BTN). He sneers at the "Yanks" who "had everything" and then, in a mere 20 years or so, gave in to softness, liberalism, and appeasement and "lost it all." The sound of gloating in his snarl and the vicious hostility in his voice as he rails against an offer of American aid makes a real point about the kind of nationalist vaunting represented by "the Party": it doesn't allow for any international rivals. Every competing center of power is a threat, and when a competitor goes down one is expected to kick him in the teeth. Those weak-willed Americans, they thought they had it all: but they didn't have the stuff of which real empire-builders are made. There is a faint echo, here, of Niall Ferguson's contempt for our lack of the proper Anglo-Saxon imperial instinct, as well as a unique twist on the War Party's favorite charge of "anti-Americanism."
Another skillful touch is the evocation of the end of the Soviet empire as the regime of "the Party" dissolves. "Remember, remember the fifth of November": Guy Fawkes Day in England and the date chosen by "V" as the day his own personal insurrection is scheduled to become more generalized. As thousands gather in front of Parliament in response to his call, all garbed in "V"-style masks and flowing black capes, and move toward the massive legions of "the Party," one thing is clear: the regime has been decapitated. The gendarmes receive no order to move: the government's response to a full-scale revolt is complete paralysis. The crowd cuts through the wall of steel thrown up around Parliament, like one of "V"'s whirling knives slicing the throats of his adversaries. "The Party" is finished.
There was an attempt to demonize this film because it supposedly "advocates terrorism," but that fell flat when it became a box office hit – did the neocons and their fellow red-state fascists really mean to be saying that the movie-going American public is pro-terrorist? Clearly, the regime depicted in the movie deserves to be overthrown, and that lesson is eventually learned by the female lead (Natalie Portman), who spends a lot of time arguing with "V" over the morality of righteous murder. As he hunts down and knocks off his torturers, leaving a single red rose on the corpses as a sign of his authorship, "V" has to listen to her whining and caviling until he subjects her to a simulated imprisonment in the regime's torture chambers (which her parents actually endured), and she – finally! – generates the requisite amount of rage to understand the meaning of justice. The two of them become a team of moral avengers, roles that evoke the origin of this script in the comic book genre. The movie version renders these characters in full, multidimensional reality while retaining the larger-than-life symbolism redolent of the graphic novel form. And the acting ain't bad, either…
Go see V for Vendetta, and remember this: by supporting a work of art that embodies your political and philosophical values, you are helping to fight the cultural rot that the War Party feeds on. There is a scene in the movie when Natalie Portman is going about her job at the BTN and passes a security guard watching some ridiculous "reality" show. She asks, "How can you watch that trash?" The contempt in her voice is clearly that of the authors of this script, who are acutely aware of the political consequences of entertainment as cultural "soma."
Alternately, a key moment as the anti-regime revolution gathers force is the rebellion of a BTN celebrity, who turns his show into a satire of the high chancellor (waspishly and brilliantly played by John Hurt). The catalytic revolutionary moment occurs when the public stops believing the lies of the regime – a moment V for Vendetta brings closer to realization in our own world. The value of the media as a political weapon is clearly understood by the makers of this movie, and they utilize it to make their effort a resounding success.
I have to add that V for Vendetta seems to be part of a larger trend in which political analysis of a "subversive" sort is once again becoming embedded in popular culture, not only in the movies but in song lyrics – particularly rap music. Now, I'm no fan of Eminem or Public Enemy – this guy is more my style – but I'm glad to see that song lyrics are now becoming concerned with something more than odes to sex, drugs, and a relentless narcissism.
In his famous essay "The End of History," Francis Fukuyama predicted that the arts would degenerate, under a regime of global American hegemony, into something that Alexandre Kojeve, his mentor, likened to "the buzzing of bees." "In the post-historical period," wrote Fukuyama, "there will be neither art nor philosophy, just the perpetual caretaking of the museum of human history." And indeed this has seemed to be the case, recently, particularly in the field of music, where the cult of sensuality has seduced Americans away from anything that might upset the Regime too much – except for an occasional reprimand from the FCC for a too-brazen display of sexuality.
In short, I am thrilled to learn, via this movie and other cultural phenomena, that history has apparently not ended, at least in the cultural sense – and for that we should all breathe a sigh of relief.
Culture and resistance to imperialism
You know something is up when a film like V for Vendetta is a box office hit. Adapted from a series of graphic novelettes (i.e., comic books) written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd, the plot is set in a dystopian future Britain where "the Party" rules, dissidents are rounded up, the Koran is banned, and the threat of terrorism keeps the ruling elite firmly entrenched in power. From his underground lair, "V" is a kind of futuristic Scarlet Pimpernel, who strikes out at the regime – destroying the Old Bailey in a spectacular pyrotechnic display – while reciting sonnets from Shakespeare and wooing a beautiful girl whose fate has been delivered into his gloved hands. He wears a mask – a sardonic visage reminiscent, at least in my mind, of Cyrano de Bergerac – and as the plot unfolds so does the origin of his vendetta against the Powers That Be: he was tortured and disfigured by the regime's renditioners. As he kills those responsible for his agony, one by one, the viewer is led toward the denouement: a reenactment of the Guy Fawkes legend, in which the modern-day incarnation of that early-17th-century English subversive succeeds in blowing up Parliament and sparking a revolution.
The right wing hates this movie, and it isn't hard to see why: it explodes all their pretensions about being the party of "freedom," and it pretty clearly parallels the hypocritical cant of the War Party as it pretends to battle "terrorism" while engaging in a campaign of state terrorism that far surpasses anything a small band of amateurs could possibly hope to dish out. They must find particularly galling a subplot in which evidence emerges that a deadly series of biowarfare attacks attributed to "religious fanatics" (and we don't mean George W. Bush and Jerry Falwell) turn out to be the work of a sinister cabal inside the government – the perfect excuse for a crackdown. All of this – economic collapse, political turmoil, the dictatorship of "the Party" – is clearly identified in the film as the product of a series of wars, stretching from Iraq to Syria to Iran and beyond. I was particularly intrigued by references to "the former United States of America," and hints of a future history in which imperialism has drained the once mighty U.S. until it is a pitiful husk of its former self, crippled by economic dislocation and embroiled in civil war.
You would think that the Brits, themselves victims of imperial overstretch, would sympathize with "the colonies," but the anti-Americanism of "the Party" is virulent – and that is a clever touch indeed. We are treated, early on, to a display of the most vulgar Yankee-bashing by a Rush Limbaugh-type bloviator, "the Voice of London," a preening, braying, drugged-out shill who barks out government propaganda over the British Television Network (BTN). He sneers at the "Yanks" who "had everything" and then, in a mere 20 years or so, gave in to softness, liberalism, and appeasement and "lost it all." The sound of gloating in his snarl and the vicious hostility in his voice as he rails against an offer of American aid makes a real point about the kind of nationalist vaunting represented by "the Party": it doesn't allow for any international rivals. Every competing center of power is a threat, and when a competitor goes down one is expected to kick him in the teeth. Those weak-willed Americans, they thought they had it all: but they didn't have the stuff of which real empire-builders are made. There is a faint echo, here, of Niall Ferguson's contempt for our lack of the proper Anglo-Saxon imperial instinct, as well as a unique twist on the War Party's favorite charge of "anti-Americanism."
Another skillful touch is the evocation of the end of the Soviet empire as the regime of "the Party" dissolves. "Remember, remember the fifth of November": Guy Fawkes Day in England and the date chosen by "V" as the day his own personal insurrection is scheduled to become more generalized. As thousands gather in front of Parliament in response to his call, all garbed in "V"-style masks and flowing black capes, and move toward the massive legions of "the Party," one thing is clear: the regime has been decapitated. The gendarmes receive no order to move: the government's response to a full-scale revolt is complete paralysis. The crowd cuts through the wall of steel thrown up around Parliament, like one of "V"'s whirling knives slicing the throats of his adversaries. "The Party" is finished.
There was an attempt to demonize this film because it supposedly "advocates terrorism," but that fell flat when it became a box office hit – did the neocons and their fellow red-state fascists really mean to be saying that the movie-going American public is pro-terrorist? Clearly, the regime depicted in the movie deserves to be overthrown, and that lesson is eventually learned by the female lead (Natalie Portman), who spends a lot of time arguing with "V" over the morality of righteous murder. As he hunts down and knocks off his torturers, leaving a single red rose on the corpses as a sign of his authorship, "V" has to listen to her whining and caviling until he subjects her to a simulated imprisonment in the regime's torture chambers (which her parents actually endured), and she – finally! – generates the requisite amount of rage to understand the meaning of justice. The two of them become a team of moral avengers, roles that evoke the origin of this script in the comic book genre. The movie version renders these characters in full, multidimensional reality while retaining the larger-than-life symbolism redolent of the graphic novel form. And the acting ain't bad, either…
Go see V for Vendetta, and remember this: by supporting a work of art that embodies your political and philosophical values, you are helping to fight the cultural rot that the War Party feeds on. There is a scene in the movie when Natalie Portman is going about her job at the BTN and passes a security guard watching some ridiculous "reality" show. She asks, "How can you watch that trash?" The contempt in her voice is clearly that of the authors of this script, who are acutely aware of the political consequences of entertainment as cultural "soma."
Alternately, a key moment as the anti-regime revolution gathers force is the rebellion of a BTN celebrity, who turns his show into a satire of the high chancellor (waspishly and brilliantly played by John Hurt). The catalytic revolutionary moment occurs when the public stops believing the lies of the regime – a moment V for Vendetta brings closer to realization in our own world. The value of the media as a political weapon is clearly understood by the makers of this movie, and they utilize it to make their effort a resounding success.
I have to add that V for Vendetta seems to be part of a larger trend in which political analysis of a "subversive" sort is once again becoming embedded in popular culture, not only in the movies but in song lyrics – particularly rap music. Now, I'm no fan of Eminem or Public Enemy – this guy is more my style – but I'm glad to see that song lyrics are now becoming concerned with something more than odes to sex, drugs, and a relentless narcissism.
In his famous essay "The End of History," Francis Fukuyama predicted that the arts would degenerate, under a regime of global American hegemony, into something that Alexandre Kojeve, his mentor, likened to "the buzzing of bees." "In the post-historical period," wrote Fukuyama, "there will be neither art nor philosophy, just the perpetual caretaking of the museum of human history." And indeed this has seemed to be the case, recently, particularly in the field of music, where the cult of sensuality has seduced Americans away from anything that might upset the Regime too much – except for an occasional reprimand from the FCC for a too-brazen display of sexuality.
In short, I am thrilled to learn, via this movie and other cultural phenomena, that history has apparently not ended, at least in the cultural sense – and for that we should all breathe a sigh of relief.
Secrets of The Freemasons : Do they control the world?
| Secrets of The Freemasons : Do they control the world? |  |
| Having tackled the secretive Catholic conservative group Opus Dei, Dan Brown says he's writing his next book about the Freemasons. The Freemasons say they are simply a fraternity that aims to make good men better and to support each other. Because they are essentially secret, however, groups such as the Freemasons can stir all kinds of theories. The all-seeing eye atop the pyramid on the $1 bill is a Masonic symbol. Some say that some of the great American buildings have Masonic symbols incorporated into their architecture. Many of our Founding Fathers, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and John Hancock, were Freemasons. There are currently 1.7 million members, though membership has been declining since 1960. Some conspiracy theorists say that the Freemasons, or Masons, have designs on government control. "The thing people think about when they think of Masonry is secrecy. They think of this hidden order that they know almost nothing about," said Steven C. Bullock, author of "Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order." The Freemasons have a 500-year history. Originally, they were stonemasons who built the great cathedrals of Europe. "They traveled widely, because a town would have a church built maybe once every hundred years," said Margaret Jacob, author of "The Origins of Freemasonry: Facts and Fictions." "As they traveled, they had secret passwords and signs so when they came into a town and said, 'I'm a stonemason, I want to work,' they had to be able to prove they were a member of the guild." S. Brent Morris, who is, among other things, a 33-Degree Mason, master of the royal secret and managing editor of the Scottish Rite Journal, said that although Freemasonry was not a religion, it had overarching religious principles that were part of Masons' rich traditions. "The Freemasons did something very radical 300 years ago. We said that men can agree that God exists and he compels them to do good in their life and we can stop all religious discussion at that point and go out and do good and help mankind. So Freemasons invite any believer in God to join them." Morris said Freemasons displayed a Bible, a Koran and a Torah on their altar. Another powerful symbol of the tradition is the sword carried by the grand sword bearer of the Supreme Council, the highest order within the Freemasons that meets every few years. Yet the society was so closed centuries ago, is so closed still, that the penalty for revealing Freemason secrets is supposed to be gory death. Richard E. Fletcher, the executive secretary of the Masonic Service Association of North America, said that the Freemasons was not an enigmatic organization. Things like secret handshakes date back centuries. "The handshakes are a throwback to our early days when Freemasonry was related to actual builders and stone," he said. "That is how they prove they are a guild member, because most were illiterate." Although there were once anti-Masonic political parties and early 19th-century President John Quincy Adams called the Freemasons a power-hungry "boa constrictor" of an organization, Fletcher said Freemasonry had always been about improving oneself. The nature of the self-reflective process is private, he said, and many people mistake that for secrecy. "While he is being challenged to look inward at himself as a person, he is going to have to self-reflect, contemplate, think. This can't be done in a public forum," he said. "We are pledging ourselves to become better people in our home, in our churches, in all walks of life." Throughout the centuries, the Freemasons evolved into a wide-ranging, worldwide fraternity with many members having considerable power and influence. In this country, that influence has sometimes reached all the way into the White House. Fourteen of 43 presidents have been Freemasons. "More than one-third of the presidents belonged to the fraternity, so this is a substantial tradition of politicians being involved in Masonry, so there are fears at times in American history that Masons are too involved in politics," Bullock said. There are all kinds of stories: that Masons wanted to control a government and thus were behind the American Revolution. Some claim that the Masons killed President Kennedy. "These are terrific stories. They're yarns. There is not, however, a shred of historical evidence to back them up," Jacob said. "Their grand secret is that they have no secret," Bullock said. "They're claiming that they're hiding something, but really part of the point is to pretend that you're hiding something." Still Brown can have a field day in his next book. After all, how did a Masonic symbol — if it is a Masonic symbol — wind up on American $1 bill? Some critics point to these conspiracy theories and group secrets as reasons for the drop off in Mason membership, but Morris said other organizations were experiencing a similar problem. "It's also diminished in virtually every voluntary organization in the United States," Morris said. "When you look at all the organizations declining in membership and participation, I think you can't point to the Masonic traditions." |
Saturday, May 06, 2006
The Malaysian Freemasonry Background
The Malaysian Freemasonry Background
It all started in the year 1874, the bloody year where the Sultan of Perak was forced to accept a British Resident by the name of J.W.W. Birch, which later was killed in Pasir Salak. The Pangkor Treaty is not only the beginning of the British imperialism in
By the year 1900, all the states in
In my opinion, we did get our independence in 1957. But that is from the British Imperialist, not the Freemasons. And we really think that is good news. A brief explanation might break the ice. Freemason is a very-very old movement founded by the Jews to regain their so called Jews land and to rebuild Haikal Sulaiman(
The British Government grants us freedom only when the Freemasonic ideology and system is planted deep inside our minds. Secularism and democratic government is all actually comes from the Freemasons. In fact, we followed everything listed by Lord Reid in his report, which is actually a British guideline in order to keep a Freemasonic government in
I remembered the one story that I thought was just made up a while ago. The story is about a Jews settlement in my hometown,
When Francis Light came to
Different with our neighbor,
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