From the book
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
R. Swinburne Clymer · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordGod names divine reality in several theological registers.
- In Ancient Mystic Oriental MasonryThe book employs personal titles, architectural imagery, the language of being, and accounts of immanent life.
- In this editionGod, Deity, and Great All are retained as distinct forms.
- A place to readM.55: … “only embodies the great Philosophical Idea, that the Deity is the Ens, the To on the” …
Meaning
God names divine reality in several theological registers. The Great All is the totality described in the closing metaphysical account, whose parts participate in divine being without separately exhausting it.
Use in the book
The book employs personal titles, architectural imagery, the language of being, and accounts of immanent life. The final Foundation paragraphs explain change through combinations of parts while preserving an immutable divine essence. They then describe a scale of intelligence culminating, in human life, in self-consciousness.
Places to read
- Mystic Masonry · Block 55… “only embodies the great Philosophical Idea, that the Deity is the Ens, the To on the absolute Existence, that of which the Essence is To Exist, the only Substance of Spinoza,” …
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 163… “"Let us come finally to the Levitical doctrines: God is all that exists; every part of all that exists is a part of God, but is not God.”
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 164“199. "Immutable in His essence, God is mutable in His parts, which after having existed under the laws of certain combinations more or less complex, live again under laws of fresh” …
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 165“200. " God being supremely intelligent, every one of the parts which compose Him is endowed with a portion of His intelligence, in virtue of its destiny, whence it follows that” …
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 171… “their compounds, a reunion which would constitute the great All, or God, which, as the Universal Intelligence, would alone have the power of comprehending Itself. But the manner of being, of” …
In this edition
God, Deity, and Great All are retained as distinct forms. The entry does not silently standardize them into a single doctrinal label.
Reading the argument
The compilation's several descriptions should not be forced into one formula. A shared name does not show that the writers agree about personality, substance, creation, or the relation between the whole and its parts.
God
“God” — 87 occurrences in 68 text blocks: I.16–17, 24; D.14; M.1, 3, 16, 30, 38, 54–57, 66; F.39, 50, 64, 67, 70, 75, 89–90, 93, 96, 98, 132, 144, 151, 153, 158, 163–167, 171; S.8–12, 15, 18, 25, 28, 34, 38, 44–45, 47, 52, 71, 77, 83, 89, 111, 113, 125–128, 132, 142, 149–150, 154; R.8; N.184.
Deity
“Deity” — 33 occurrences in 26 text blocks: I.29; D.15; M.45, 51–52, 54–56, 66; S.14, 48, 59, 65, 80–81, 105, 107–108, 111, 115, 125, 127–128, 145–146; N.184.
Great All
“Great All” — 2 occurrences in 2 text blocks: F.165, 171.
Supreme Intelligence
“Supreme Intelligence” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: F.169.