So, let's say for argument's sake, there were reasons upon which I was looking into becoming a Freemason. Reasons besides my conspiratorial aims of world domination obviously.
Growing up with a lot of farmers and 20 minutes away from the city of Cambridge, I grew up surrounded by a lot of Masons, so whilst I never particularly took much of an active interest in it previously, I am aware of probably more than your average joe what it takes to become a Mason.
Freemasonary has the sense to be fairly liberal and interpretative in what it allows as certain requisites for admission, however there are two major sticking points I'm trying to reconcile.
1) I need to believe in a Supreme Being.
Now, as a self identified chaos magician, it's hard to pin down what I believe in any way, and whilst I would definitely consider myself to believe in something bigger, that is not necessarily greater, nor is it necessarily any form of deity. Arguably, the thing I believe in most, is probability, or random chance as a bizzarely unifying force in the universe. I don't really believe in any form of Supreme Being, more some kind of Unifying Force of one kind or another, but I don't exactly believe it has any form of sentience, nor any actual intent of its own in how it arranges the world,. Certainly not any Great Architect that Freemasonary considers as part of its ritual.. Do I believe in something beyond me, or us, or the world? Yes. Could I honestly swear that I believe in a Supreme Being, even with a broad and liberal interpretation of what that might mean? I'm not convinced. Of course, I could always go always go all God complex on them and consider myself the architect of my own destiny... Oh if only it were that simple
2) Were I to reconcile point (1), what would I consider as my Volume of the Sacred Law that I could swear upon?
Basically, being that I'm not about to swear upon a KJV Bible, I need a religious text, that in some way sums up the guiding principles in my life. Naturally if you're a Christian something like a KJV Bible would be a fairly obvious choice. Being a chaos magician this is not easy. Oh sure I have guiding principles, I'm just not sure that they're contained in any text, let alone a religious one. And more to the point, being a chaos magician and all, I can't entirely promise I'll necessarily believe any of them come tomorrow morning, no matter how fundamental they might appear. Given I'm not big on consistent belief in any form of deity or deities, something in the spiritual schools of thought such as Buddhism is likely to prove a more effective starting point. Given chaos magic's rather minor following, heavy emphasis on scientific theory, and general aversion to any kind of dogmatic proscriptions, I hardly think I'm likely to get any of those texts admitted as a Volume of the Sacred Law any time soon. And whilst it would hugely amuse me to chose something like Silver Ravenwolf (Pennsylvania) for shits and giggles, I have to swear on this thing, and whilst I might be happy to change my beliefs as I require, I do believe, for as long as I am required to, and no-one wants to believe the sort of things Silver Ravenwolf (Pennslyvannia) puts in her books. So failing that, erm... suggestions?
EDIT: Have worked out that ideally, the Volume of Sacred Law I need is the Orange Catholic Bible. If anyone can send me a copy that'd be great thanks :P
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