Quote#World
An unseen and infinite presence is here; a sense of something greater…
Quote byAlbert Pike · 1809–1891
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. XXII : Grand Master Architect, p. 191.
English (original)
An unseen and infinite presence is here; a sense of something greater than we possess; a seeking, through all the void wastes of life, for a good beyond it; a crying out of the heart for interpretation; a memory of the dead, touching continually some vibrating thread in this great tissue of mystery.
— Albert Pike
More from Albert Pike
Though Masonry neither usurps the place of, nor apes religion, prayer is an essential part of our ceremonies.
Less glory is more liberty. When the drum is silent, reason sometimes speaks.
Force, unregulated or ill-regulated, is not only wasted in the void, like that of gunpowder burned in the open air, and steam unconfined by science; but, striking in the dark, and its blows meeting only the air, they recoil, and bruise …
To attack the citadels built up on all sides against the human race by superstitions, despotisms, and prejudices, the Force must have a brain and a law. Then its deeds of daring produce permanent results, and there is real progress.
The two great motors are Truth and Love.
The unknown is an ocean, of which conscience is the compass. Thought, meditation, prayer, are the great mysterious pointings of the needle.