Albert Pike, our most Illustrious Brother, has been much on my mind of late. His work is always a source of enlightenment and inspiration, a tonic for the mind and spirit. Also, it has been some time since I have written about his work and the resources available to help you read and understand it.

Morals and Dogma by Sovereign Grand Commander Albert Pike, 33°. This is the essential book of the Scottish Rite. It is out of print, but you can purchase used copies from the Supreme Council (see ordering information for all the books mentioned here at the end of the article). Also, you can sometimes find copies of Morals and Dogma in used book stores and in antique shops. Morals and Dogma is one of the first survey texts (1871) ever written on religion and philosophy. Pike tried to survey everything in that vast area and make it available in one volume. Seldom has any book been more misunderstood, and anti-Masons are always trying to make it into something it is not. It gets comic at times. Pike will write "Zoroaster taught that..." and the anti-Masons will cry "See, Masonry teaches that...."

The book has a reputation for being hard to read: it isn't easy, but it isn't really hard either. The secret is to approach it as Pike intended. Morals and Dogma isn't some kind of fizzy cola, to be gulped down from a jumbo cup. It is a rare and noble port to be savored slowly, allowing it to fill the mind. It's not a tech manual, in which you can quickly look up how to fix something. It is an exploration of ideas. Most important of all, it was written to be heard, not read silently. The sentences, which can seem hopelessly complicated if you try to read them quickly and silently, fall into their natural cadence and form if you read them aloud. It's amazing how much easier that makes the book to understand. Pike may use more words to say something than we are accustomed to today, but each one of those words is carefully crafted for its sound value and its meaning. Pike isn't interested in giving data; he wants to create understanding. But that's a two-way street.

And there is some very good help available when it comes to understanding Pike. Dr. Rex Hutchens, 33°, G.C. has written, and the Supreme Council has published at low cost, four essential books. As a Scottish Rite Mason, you undoubtedly already have A Bridge to Light, which presents clear, concise descriptions of the meanings of the Scottish Rite Degrees. It and all the following are very good, and I highly recommend each of them.

The most important for your own library is A Glossary to Morals and Dogma. In this book, Dr. Hutchens has provided notes to every reference Pike makes in Morals and Dogma. It's very helpful. Pike assumed his audience had the kind of classical education every school child had during his life, an education now available only to students in a liberal arts program in college. For example, Pike refers to Bagha on page 602. That might throw you (it threw me), but the Glossary tells us that Bagha is "an ancient Vedic deity representative of the wind. It is one of a series of deities signifying the many and varied aspects of nature."

The second book is The Bible in Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma, written by Ill. Hutchens with the Rev. Donald W. Monson, 32°, K.C. C.H. The book traces the quotations and references Pike makes to the Bible and puts the references into context. Again, a first-rate work.

Finally, there is Pillars of Wisdom: The Writings of Albert Pike. In addition to some very helpful introductory essays, Dr. Hutchens has organized the material in Morals and Dogma by topic rather than by Degree. It's a useful approach, because if you want to see what Pike thought about the Druids, for instance, you can turn to an essay on that topic and find Pike's thoughts gathered for you, no matter where in Morals and Dogma they appear. Actually, the book is a good "back door" approach to Pike. Reading Morals and Dogma will probably be easier if you read this book first.

So there they are, the great work itself, and four works which make it more accessible. May you find as much joy, comfort, solace, happiness, hope for the future and love of the past in them as I have.

Editor's Note: For those interested in Albert Pike himself, two excellent biographies are also available: A Life of Albert Pike by Dr. Walter Lee Brown, 33°, $35.00 hardbound, check payable to The Scottish Rite Foundation, SJ, USA, Inc. and Albert Pike: The Man Beyond the Monument, by Jim Tresner, $12.00 hardbound, check payable to The Supreme Council, 33° Also, for a history of the Scottish Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction, consider Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle, by Dr. William L. Fox, 33°, $35.00 hardbound, check payable to The Scottish Rite Foundation, SJ, USA, Inc.

Shipping and handling is included in all prices noted above, but please be sure to make out checks to the appropriate source, as bolded above, for each book requested. For telephone orders, call the Supreme Council at 1–202–232–3579, Ext. 36 or 34.

For credit card purchases ($25.00 minimum and VISA or MasterCard only) call the above number or fax to 1–202–387–1843 with credit card number, expiration date, name on card, and telephone number of Card Holder.

Jim Tresner is Director of the Masonic Leadership Institute and Editor of The Oklahoma Mason. A frequent contributor to the Scottish Rite Journal and its book review editor, Illustrious Brother Tresner is also a volunteer writer for The Oklahoma Scottish Rite Mason and a video script consultant for the National Masonic Renewal Committee. He is the Director of the Thirty-third Degree Conferral Team and Director of Work at the Guthrie Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie, Oklahoma, as well as a life member of the Scottish Rite Research Society, author of the popular anecdotal biography Albert Pike, The Man Beyond the Monument, and a member of the steering committee of the Masonic Information Center. Ill. Tresner was awarded the Grand Cross, the Scottish Rite's highest honor, during the Supreme Council's October 1997 Biennial Session.