In this practical guide, Mark Stavish details the spiritual lessons and rituals of Freemasonry as a step-by-step path of spiritual development and self-improvement for both Masons and non-Masons, men and women alike.

Contains the complete text of Albert Pikes never-before-published esoteric study of the symbols of Blue Lodge Degrees. Subjects include "The Compasses and the Square", "The Weapons and Blows of the Assassins", "The Three Grips", "The Substitute for the Masters Word", "The 47th Problem of Euclid", "The Truth", "Is the Cable-tow a Symbol?", "Corner Stones", "The Ladder of Jacob", "Tubal Cain", "Shibboleth", and "Solomon and Hiram".

This collection of essays by five notable Masonic scholars, discuses the single most important symbol that Freemasonry has. It covers the antiquity as well as the esoteric symbolism of our most valued vestiture and what is often overlooked by those outside of the fraternity: a simple, square, white, lambskin apron.

Its mysterious symbols and rituals had been used in secret for centuries before Freemasonry revealed itself in London in 1717. Once known, Freemasonry spread throughout the world and attracted kings, emperors, and statesmen to take its sacred oaths. But where had this powerful organization come from? What was it doing in those secret centuries before it rose from underground more than 270 years ago? And why was Freemasonry attacked with such intense hatred by the Roman Catholic church?

Freemasonry, though not a religion, is essentially religious. Most of its legends and allegories are of a sacred nature; much of it is woven into the structure of Christianity. We have learned to consider our own religion as the only inspired one, and this probably accounts for much of the misunderstanding in the world today concerning the place occupied by Freemasonry in the spiritual ethics of our race. A religion is a divinely inspired code of morals. A religious person is one inspired to nobler living by this code. He is identified by the code, which is his source of illumination.

Durant lucidly describes the philosophical systems of such world-famous “monarchs of the mind” as Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Kant, Voltaire, and Nietzsche. Along with their ideas, he offers their flesh-and-blood biographies, placing their thoughts within their own time and place and elucidating their influence on our modern intellectual heritage. This book is packed with wisdom and wit.

In this classic work, Professor George G. M. James methodically shows how the Greeks first borrowed and then stole the knowledge from the Priests of the African (Egyptian) Mystery System. He shows how the most popular philosophers including Thales, Anaximander, Plato and Socrates were all treated as men bringing a foreign teaching to Greece. A teaching so foreign that they were persecuted for what they taught.

The most thorough statement of one of Emerson's recurrent themes, the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his or her own instincts and ideas. It is the source of one of Emerson's most famous quotations, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." This essay is a considered a watershed moment in which transcendentalism became a major cultural movement. An American classic.

Filling a huge gap in our spiritual culture, here - at last - is a comprehensive and elegant translation of the 1854 French masterwork of occult philosophy. The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic reignited the esoteric spiritual search in the West and led to the emergence of Madame Blavatsky, Manly P. Hall, and the New Age revolution.

Drummond's memorable homily on love - the supreme good - retains all its original freshness and vitality in this oral rendition.

Widely quoted and read, his message on love from First Corinthians sold over 12 million copies. Involving God's two greatest commands - to love Him and love one another - this message is just as needed today as it was back then.

Considered to be one of the most important philosophical works of all time, the History of Western Philosophy is a dazzlingly unique exploration of the ideologies of significant philosophers throughout the ages - from Plato and Aristotle through to Spinoza, Kant and the 20th century. Written by a man who changed the history of philosophy himself, this is an account that has never been rivaled since its first publication over 60 years ago.

C. S. Lewis was a profound thinker with the rare ability to communicate the philosophical and theological rationale of Christianity in simple yet amazingly effective ways. God in the Dock contains 48 essays and 12 letters written by Lewis between 1940 and 1963 for a wide variety of publications.

The Cave and the Light reveals how two Greek philosophers became the twin fountainheads of Western culture, and how their rivalry gave Western civilization its unique dynamism down to the present.

Best-selling historian and philosopher Will Durant devoted his entire life to studying the most significant eras, individuals, and achievements of human history. Here is a summation of Durant's work, as he presents the best of world history. Filled with Durant's renowned wit, knowledge, and unique ability to explain events in simple and exciting terms, it is a concise liberal arts education.

Saint Francis of Assisi is one of the most influential men in the whole of human history. This acclaimed biography of Saint Francis examines the life of a pure artist, a man "whose whole life was a poem". Here is the Saint Francis who prayed and danced with pagan abandon, who talked to animals, and who invented the crèche. Yet Francis also acknowledged the mystic responsibility to communicate his divine experience.