Regeneration

Use in the book

Buck's statement that initiation and regeneration are synonymous supplies the introduction's central proposition. Later descriptions of the Mysteries arrange darkness, death, disclosure, and life into a comparable sequence. A white garment becomes the visible sign of a candidate believed to have been renewed.

Regeneration also governs the interpretation of the temple: the building is completed through the formation of a human being, rather than merely through the acquisition of ceremonial knowledge.

Places to read

1. Original Introduction · Block 9“"Initiation and Regeneration are synonymous terms."”
2. Original Introduction · Block 25… “clear the inward change. To transform means to regenerate, and this comes by trial, by effort, by self -conquest, by sorrow, disappointment, failure, and a daily renewal of the conflict. It” …
3. Masonic Symbolism · Block 54… “the reception of light, was the lesson of Regeneration or Resurrection."”
4. Masonic Symbolism · Block 101… “initiated into the ancient mysteries, he was esteemed regenerate; and he was invested with a white garment and apron as a symbol of his newly attained purity.”

In this edition

Regeneration is retained as the book's technical religious word. Rebirth is an explanatory alternative, not a silently substituted reading.

Reading the argument

The death-and-life sequence can be read as a drama of changed understanding without assuming that every ceremony automatically changes its participant. The author's own insistence on sustained effort prevents the symbol from replacing the work.

regeneration

“regeneration” — 6 occurrences in 6 text blocks: I.9–10, 23; M.45, 72; S.54.

regenerate

“regenerate” — 2 occurrences in 2 text blocks: I.25; S.101.

regenerated

“regenerated” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: F.157.

new birth

“new birth” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: S.105.