Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons: Sacred Mysteries, Rituals and Symbols Revealed - Jean-Louis de Biasi 2011

Lost Word
Spirit of Freemasonry

The climax of The Lost Symbol is all about the sacred book and recovering the lost word. Dan Brown felt the importance of this subject as it related to Freemasonry, even likening the reclamation of the lost word to a search for an invisible gate. Even in Freemasonry, the “lost word” continues to be a main concept, but with rare, deep developments.

A sacred book is very often considered as a symbolic text composed of occult sayings. The logic is to imagine a deep meaning to a text given by a divinity. Somehow it seems obvious for esoterists that the hidden meaning of the Bible was lost. The divisions are an illustration of this loss of the divine character. The idolatry of the text demonstrates the loss of the sacred meaning.

Everyone can understand that a sacred text might be a manifestation of the divine that can help humanity to progress, and maybe more. In fact, the book is the materialization of the living word. The Bible emphasizes the power of this word. The creation of the world by the use of the word is the light: “Then God said, ’Let there be light!’ And light began to shine.” This word (and light) is a real creative power. Later in the text, this power is given to Adam, who gives a special word to every animal. Adam, the universal man in the Qabalah, received the ability of the word and the power to give life in using it. Adam was able to work as an auxiliary of God, as a demiurge. After some temptations and mistakes, his father/creator banishes him from Eden without any power. According to the Bible’s myth, we can see here the clear origin of the lost word. It is not a big Masonic secret. Every Christian knows this text. But the connection is sometimes not so obvious.

Figure 21: Jewel of a Master of a Lodge using Egyptian symbols

Freemasons are optimistic. According to their founding myth related in Anderson’s Constitution, it seems that the first humans didn’t completely lose their memory. Something remained in the human subconscious and their unique language was still capable of creating demiurgic miracles. Maybe their incomplete memory was not enough to control these abilities. The story of the Tower of Babel illustrates the moment when God pushed his children away from the divine world. The lost word seems a story of separation, or rejection . . . But as modern science shows, human memory is deeper than expected. As Freemasons have said, some people, wise men and initiates, continued to possess this knowledge and tried to preserve it. Of course, it was necessary to keep this knowledge secret. Humanity has been banished twice from heaven, and you can imagine that initiates keeping this in mind did not want to receive another punishment. At the same time, they kept this secret away from people who were not able to control this power.

The tradition coming from the Bible myth is universal. It can be found in other cultures, like the Egyptian. I spoke about the trick used by Isis to rob the word from Ra. It was the use of its power that allowed Isis to give a new birth to Osiris. This power can be found also in the Ogdoadic Tradition story of the creation.

You remember the cause of Hiram’s death described in the first chapter of this book. It is obvious that a mythic murder like this one has nothing to do with the theft of a password (or even a better salary). It would be simplistic to imagine a coarse explanation like this one for the most important Masonic myth. In fact, and following the origin of the word, the goal of the ruffians was to steal a real demiurgic instrument. The analysis of this act can be explained as a moral allegory, but at the same time can reveal a part of the great stake of every initiate. The consequence in Hiram’s myth was the definitive loss of the word and the introduction of the substitute word.

Freemasons were aware of this loss and began to accept the idea that its quest would be their most important task. Dan Brown is correct when he uses this notion for the plot of The Lost Symbol. But maybe he is wrong when he imagines that Freemasonry still has this secret. With this new myth of the substitute word, Freemasons began a new “quest for the Grail,” which can be called “quest for the lost word.” However, the quest for the Grail has an advantage over the other quest: the knights knew what they were looking for. Freemasonry lost the nature of the word, its use, and its localization. Even more, the goal began to become the quest itself. How and why find a lost word if you don’t know its use? It is very strange to try to find it if you already have one that is enough to work: the substituted one. But Freemasonry continued to be faithful to its heritage. Its rituals and myths kept the footprint of this origin. The “quest for the lost word” kept alive the idea of a truth perhaps divine and now hidden.

The consequence can be seen on three levels: esoteric, exoteric, and Masonic. Let’s begin with the esoteric level. For centuries, some occult researchers, sometimes initiates, understood the true nature of the quest. Their readings of sacred texts, such as the Bible, showed that the word was known at the beginning of humanity. The word(s) was the original language of humanity, allowing connection with our deepest archetypal memory, able to give us original truth and the power to use the divine language confiscated by the creator. Esoterists believed that clues could be found in the symbols of various religious and spiritual traditions, but also in the roots of current human languages. They compared the languages, studied words’ roots, and created interesting esoteric theories. Examples of this quest can be found in the works of St. Yves d’Alveydre or the abbot Johannes Trithemius.

On the exoteric level, people were unaware of these issues, and perception of this lack was present. The limitation created by the multiplicity of languages was seen as a problem for the progress of humanity. Moreover, the difficulty in understanding the true meaning of the languages created a lack of understanding and conflict. The solution was to create a new language avoiding grammatical difficulties in order to provide the best way to communicate. It was the creation of international auxiliary languages. Somehow this is a quest for the lost word as a lost common language, but maybe the real one will be a spontaneous emanation of a global consciousness.

On the Masonic level, Freemasonry finds its own way in this quest—not in the past, nor in the future, but in doing nothing. Freemasonry kept intact the memory of an ancient knowledge veiled by wise men that apparently had their reasons to do so. Every quest must have a purpose, even an old one. As Masonic texts explain in a symbolic way, the original word was the expression of the divine truth.[4]

But we must not confuse a definition with a purpose. Freemasons felt that the word was a major key. To find the solution to this enigma, we must remember the origin of the myths and discover whether there are some connections. As James Anderson said, Egypt was the great land of mysteries and of stone-masons.

The Egyptian Tradition is able to show us the purpose and some uses of the lost word(s). One of the most relevant texts is Book of the Dead, or Coming Forth by Day. The use of questions and answers, the redundancy of sacred words, secret words, passwords, handgrips, etc. can be seen as a leitmotif of Masonic rituals. It’s difficult to imagine and explain a real and coherent origin in a mythic tradition. In the Egyptian sacred book, this initiatic process is present, but with a precise purpose. These dialogues are good examples of this process: “The god Anubis said: ’Do you know the name of this door?’ The scribe Ani said: ’Driven away of Shu is the name of this door.’ Anubis continued: ’Do you know the name of the upper leaf and of the lower leaf thereof?’ The scribe Ani said: ’Lord of right and truth, standing upon his two feet is the name of the upper leaf, and Lord of might and power, dispenser of cattle is the name of the lower leaf.’ Anubis said: ’You can pass, you who know the names.’”[5]

Everyone who has read a Masonic text or experienced an initiation can be amazed by these tales. This is really an initiatic process. Its purpose is the description of an invisible and mystical portal. Dan Brown was right: an invisible gate was really at the center of the quest.

Later in Book of the Dead, the dead person is tested by forty gods, asking him different sacred words, and a password connected with architecture: “’I will not let you enter,’ said the bolt of the door, ’unless thou tell my name.’ ’Weight of the place of right and truth is thy name. I will not let thee pass in by me,’ saith the right post of the door, ’unless thou tell my name.’ ” Later (in Chapter 144), we read that the dead had crossed seven doors with the knowledge of the secret names of the outer and inner guards.

The similarity of these texts is revealing and we are beginning to understand the purpose of the lost word. This is a matter of life or death. The lost word(s) was able to help us to cross into death, to overcome these supreme tests in which our hearts will be weighed and checked as the cornerstone of the masterwork, which is the self. The passwords are vital, and the knowledge given by the sacred book is essential. This book’s title is also translated as The Book of Coming into the Light. As Freemasonry says: “We are in darkness seeking for the light.” The intitiate is or will be in the darkness of death (3rd Degree) looking for the light. He must be able to use the sacred words in order to be raised like Hiram/Osiris.

The quest for the lost word is essential! Freemasonry shows the way, a novelist like Dan Brown intuited the solution, and the tradition gives the esoteric key: being able to use the sacred words found again to overcome death, to come back to heaven, and to reach the highest transformation called apotheosis.