An Initiated Mechanic’s View of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences

By Alex Alexander

This book called an initiated Mechanic’s view of the seven liberal arts and sciences is written for initiated Mechanics. It has been prepared in the spirit of brotherhood for the purpose of shedding forth some light on the liberal arts. In the second Degree of Mechanism, the first part of four degrees belonging to the fellow-craft Mechanics Degrees mention “the study of the liberal arts, that valuable branch of education, which tends so effectually to polish and adorn the mind, is earnestly recommended to your consideration, especially the science of geometry or Mechanism.” But the ritual did not tell the initiated Mechanics what those liberal arts were and the order in which they are structured. These liberal arts (called the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences) had served as the basis for education anciently and throughout the Middle Ages when they were believed to be the sum total of all knowledge that was worth while to a complete education. They were known as “artes liberales” from the Latin “liber” meaning Free. In this sense they were the subjects available to free men and were a contrast from the “artes illiberales”, which were taught for purely economic reasons that a man may earn a living. These arts were the operative arts of the workmen and were considered less desirable educational pursuits. While we have adopted the seven liberal arts and sciences from the Medieval era, they were known in the Pythagorean and Platonic eras. They were arranged in such a way as to show forth a progression in education. The first three liberal arts constituted what was called the trivium; the other four were called the quadrivium. The trivium consisted of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. The trivium the path of three roads and they were the three paths or roads that lead to the truth of Mind. The quadrivium consisted of Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy. The term quadrivium from the Latin “quatuor” mean four, thus the quadrivium was the four path or roads that lead to the truth of Matter. Thus, when one studies targeted subjects, such as those that constitute the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy), precise areas of the brain are exposed to a pattern that enhance the brain’s natural abilities in that region of the brain, thus brain function becomes more orderly, from chaos to order to help accomplish any goal in life. And that is the reason why initiated mechanics are earnestly recommended the studies of the Liberal Arts (or the seven liberal arts and sciences) which tends so effectually to polish and adorn the mind, that cause initiated Mechanics to be more conscious or aware of and responding to their surroundings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665571906

Alex Alexander

Alexis T. Alexander is an initiated master mechanic and a member of the Independent United Order of Mechanics Western Hemisphere Inc. USA, Perseverance Lodge No. 9 in Toronto, Canada. Alexander was born in Diamonds Village, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He immigrated to Canada in his early teens. He studies various philosophies and is a retired aircraft maintenance engineer (AME). After joining the Order in 1990, his search for light or truth within the Order of Mechanics began through the degrees, and within its lore (or teaching) he soon discovered that there were many moral, philosophical, and spiritual truths within the lore of Mechanism, and even the mention of the seven liberal arts and sciences. He pointed out that every initiated mechanic should know what the liberal arts and sciences are, and that if an individual studies them, they will lead to greater awareness of the world in which we live. Mechanics lore taught him to more deeply love all human beings, as well as how to be more kind, just, truthful, and upright in all areas of life. Alexander’s wish is that all good men everywhere should seek membership into the Order of Mechanics, for within its lore lie ways for human development in thoughts, words, and deeds, as well as in morality and spirituality. On another occasion Alexander said “Like the working of a great machine mechanism speaks to a candidate intuition as well as his intellect and invite him to contemplate, to question, to marvel. The six degrees of mechanism lead him beyond the scope of language using symbols and imagery to archive deeper understanding of the fraternity lessons, for many brothers it is this imagery displayed into the art of mechanics education that unlock the true meaning of the craft.”

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© 2022 Alex Alexander. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/12/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-7191-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-7192-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-7190-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022917856

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Cover Graphic: Magic lantern slide 18, The Seven Liberal Arts, c. 1880, Unknown provenance.

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To

all mechanics

seeking light and

truth, may this

work help you on your path to consciousness.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 An Initiated Mechanic’s Observations on the Origin of the Liberal Arts and Sciences

Chapter 2 The True Arrangement of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences

Chapter 3 A Deeper Look into the Seven Liberal Arts

Chapter 4 The Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences: That Valuable Branch of Education

Chapter 5 Music and Its Elements or The Voice of Music

Chapter 6 The Voice of Astronomy

Chapter 7 Studying the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Mechanics Ritual’s Influence on Brain Transformation

Appendix

Bibliography

About the Author

Introduction

The information I have collected and written here is solely for members of the Order of Mechanics brotherhood. To such it is offered in the spirit of fraternity and goodwill. This book has been written with a view to promote a deeper understanding of the meaning and use of the seven liberal arts and sciences. The seven liberal arts and sciences were originally called Liberal (from the Latin word liberalis, meaning free) Arts; they were the studies deemed appropriate for a free man who had so pretensions to culture, they were contrasted with the narrowly practical techniques and manual dexterity which were more suitable to skilled slave. The seven liberal arts were defined by the ancient Romans, who received them from the ancient Greeks, who received them from the ancient Egyptians and others from the Orient, or East. These liberal arts had served as the basis of education throughout the Middle Ages. They were arranged in such a way as to show forth a progression in education. The first three liberal arts constituted what was called the trivium; the other four were called the quadrivium. The trivium consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The term trivium comes from the Latin words "tri, meaning three, and via, meaning roads. Hence grammar, logic, and rhetoric were the three roads that lead to the truth of mind. The quadrivium consisted of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The term quadrivium comes from the Latin words Quatuor, meaning four, and via; thus quadrivium" means the four roads. It was the four roads that lead to the truth of matter. Educationally, the trivium and the quadrivium imparted to the student the seven liberal arts (essential thinking skills) of classical antiquity. The first three of the seven liberal arts and sciences also represent a crossroads, or intersection, where the public meets. We could call it a public square of ancient times, which was where the public met to discuss the usual topics of the day: the weather and harvest. Where four roads converge is the centre of the town or city. We leave the village of three roads and progress to the more advanced level of the city.

A robust mind progresses as if upon roads or paths to the secrets of wisdom or the love of wisdom. A wise man strolls along the paths of science (or knowledge). One of the key intentions to applying the trivium and the quadrivium is to distinguish between reality and fiction.

Training the mind regarding how to think instead of what to think provides a teaching of the art and science of the mind as well as the art and science of matter. Grammar is the systematic method of gathering information and ordering the facts of reality into a consistent body of knowledge. Grammar is the mechanics of language properly identifying and describing information perceived by the five senses. Dialectic, or Logic, is the mechanics of thought and analysis in identifying fallacies or errors in reasoning and removing contradictions. Rhetoric is the mechanism or the application of language in order to persuade. General grammar answers the questions who, what, where, and when regarding any subject. The discovery and ordering of facts of reality constitutes basic systematic knowledge.

Formal Logic answers the why of any of any subject. Discovering the faculty of reason in establishing valid (i.e., no contradictory) relationships among facts is systematic understanding. Classical rhetoric provides the how of any subject. Applying knowledge and understanding expressively constitutes wisdom. In other words, it is systematically useable knowledge and understanding. Furthermore, studying of the seven liberal arts and sciences; influences brain transformation. It appears that the functions associated with the lobes of the cerebral cortex are affected by studying the seven liberal arts and sciences. One explanation for this is that our brains are created with natural affinities. Being natural, these affinities are already wired into our beings. This means that our brains naturally will do what they have affinities towards. The problem with those natural affinities, though, is that what may come naturally does not always get nurtured to maximize its potentials. Hence, this is where specific study comes into play.

When one studies targeted subjects, such as those that constitute the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy), precise areas of the brain are exposed to patterns that enhance the brain’s natural abilities in that region, by simply exposing the chaos of those areas of the brain to light or to the studying of the trivium and the quadrivium; brain function becomes more orderly to accomplish any goals.

By A. Alexander

CHAPTER 1

An Initiated Mechanic’s

Observations on the Origin of

the Liberal Arts and Sciences

It has been said and explained by the adepts of Mechanics that Mechanism is divided into two distinct parts: operative and speculative, or contemplative. The latter and noblest portion declined among some of the descendants of Ham and Japheth when they renounced the worship of the true and living God and degenerated into idolatry.

They cherished, however, the former division amid all the fluctuation of their fortune and diversities of modes of faith and worship. The corruption that gradually debased the moral principle in man did not check his ardour in the pursuit of science or restrain the avidity with which he cultivated wisdom and the love of every useful art. The Egyptians were celebrated for geometry and astronomy, the Phoenicians for the perfection of their arithmetical calculations, the Chaldeans for their knowledge of astronomy, and the Cretans for music. The Antiquities of Freemasonry

The island of Crete, which was planted in the age anterior to Abraham, so far excelled in the cultivation of the fine arts, that man of learning and research, from other countries, visited this people to reap the benefit of their improvements. Under the patronage and genial encouragement of their kings, they excelled not only in music, but also in Medicine, and the arts of civil and social life; they carried the art of working in brass and metals to greater perfection than any nation had done before them; they communicated their knowledge very freely to other nations who applied for it, and even appointed public teachers, whose office was to preserve their acquirements pure and free from sophisticated adulterations. The Antiquities of Freemasonry

These teachers were appointed by an edict of the state, and heavy penalties were imposed on any person who should attempt to give instruction in the sciences without this authority.

Yet, even when mankind had degenerated into perfect religious indifference, and would scarcely acknowledge that God was the Supreme Architect of the Universe, or of the human structure, but deduced the original of all things from a fortuitous concourse of atoms, they still encouraged the fine arts, and advanced them to a high degree of perfection. Hence in the age of Augustus, the most dark and ambiguous with respect to religion was esteemed the brightest era of time with respect to the extent of human learning, and the perfection of human science.

THE SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES, originally invented by [Mechanics], were transmitted almost solely through their indefatigable zeal, before the invention of our way of printing.

These sciences were much cultivated by the idolatrous nations, though they erred in not applying their attainments to the knowledge and worship of the Supreme Creator and Governor of the Universe, which is the only true end of every scientific pursuit.

The study of the seven liberal sciences constituted the usual course of instruction prescribed by philosophers for the higher classes of humankind, and this course was termed encyclopaedia or instruction in a cycle. The high antiquity of these and other philosophical attainments shows the avidity with which our ancient brethren pursued knowledge, even after they had deviated from the true worship of God. The Antiquities of Freemasonry

To trace these sciences back to their origins may be counted an adventurous task. But if, amid the doubtful evidence that remains of these times, we find strong presumptive proof that they were in the exclusive possession of mechanics in the earliest ages of the world, it will show that mechanism is not a negative institution but is of great benefit to humankind.

Furthermore, sacred scriptures stated:

And out of the ground I, the Lord God, formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and commanded that they should come unto Adam, to see what he would call them; and they were also living souls; for I, God, breathed into them the breath of life, and commanded that whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that should be the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but as for Adam, there was not found an help meet for him. And I, the Lord God, caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept, and I took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in the stead thereof; and the rib which I, the Lord God, had taken from man, made I a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said: This I know now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Gen.2:19-23 Hence, from holy scripture we come to an understanding that the first human had the ability to express thoughts and feelings by articulate sounds. Knowing the names of things gives a person the ability to speak and to understand. Thus, we can see and come to an understanding that from the very beginning, humans had the power of speech and understanding. Furthermore, sacred scripture states that before the Great Flood, or Deluge,

A book of remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration; And by them their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled. Moses 6:5-6 And so, we see that write and reading was given to man by the spirit of inspiration and so this points us to grammar the first of the liberal arts.

Grammar teaches the proper arrangement of words, according to the idiom or dialect of any particular people, and that Excellency of pronunciation which enables us to speak or write a language with accuracy agreeably to reason and correct usage. Masonic lecture

It is highly probable that there existed a great variety of dialects before the flood, which would cause some general elements to both useful and necessary for a beneficial intercourse amongst mankind. The migration of Cain into distant parts would separate his family from the rest of the main family of mankind; and the exclusive pursuits in which they were engaged would materially alter the original language: for new wants and new acquirements would demand new names and phrases, which, being adopted from fancy or accident, would in a few years change the character of the language altogether. The Antiquities of Freemasonry The same causes would produce an alteration in the language of every tribe that lived separate from the general settlement of Adam. And repeated migrations doubtless took place, even during the lifetime of that patriarch, from the rapid increase of the human race under the advantages of antediluvian longevity, which, without intercourse, must of necessity produce so many radical changes in the primitive language as to fill the world with new and different dialects as numerous as the tribes who might plant colonies in every part of the habitable globe.

Before the time of Enoch, neighbouring tribes had established social intercourse with each other, which by the invention of boats could be extended to a considerable distance over sea, having for its basis mutual wants and mutual conveniences. The Antiquities of Freemasonry This intercourse rendered some simple medium necessary for the better interpretation of strange languages. An object so desirable became the universal study, and it was at length affected by Enoch, who invented an alphabet to perpetuate sounds and with it adopted some general rules for fixing the character of language. This was grammar, which had indeed been long used before such a science was known in its proper and specific form. Its essence was coeval with language, for the use of speech includes the art of arranging words in such order as to convey an intelligible meaning.

The advent of letters would naturally inspire the idea of converting this faculty into a science; hence, its simplest element may be ascribed to Enoch. This alphabet acquiring increased accessions of grammatical improvement before the translation of Enoch was committed by that excellent patriarch to Methuselah, and by him to Noah, with whom it survived the flood, and it was transmitted by him and his sons to all the generations of the world. Noah carried his alphabet to China, where in the hands of jealous and suspicious people it underwent changes without improvement. With the descendants of Shem, it continued to improve until it arrived at the perfection that the Hebrew dialect so early attainted. The Antiquities of Freemasonry

The Persian language was founded by the son Elam and is evidentially a dialect of Hebrew. The thirteen sons of Joktan carried the same language and alphabet into Arabia, where, unpossessed of literary genius, its inhabitants suffered it to assume a new character that, though nervous and bold, retained its original simplicity. This was the dialect in which the book of Job is said to have been written. By Ham and his son Mizraim, this alphabet was conveyed to Egypt. The ancient wise men of Kemet or Egypt Lovers of wisdom (philosophers) and priests, in the process of time, substituted a form of hieroglyphic alphabetical characters that their attainments might be kept secret from the mass of mankind.

Furthermore, it has been stated by Rev. George Oliver that the Egyptian Cadmus, improving upon the general principles of alphabetical knowledge, conceived the idea of adapting an alphabet peculiar to the characteristic principles of every distinct language. He introduced a new alphabet, consisting of sixteen letters, into Greece, and for this reason, he is considered by many as the inventor of letters.

Moreover, the descendants of Japheth carried the same alphabet and same language into the more remote parts of the world, varying into different shades, as new tribes were formed, and fresh migrations emanated from the colonies planted by the parent stock.

The Greek, the Latin, and the Sanscrit languages bear so great a resemblance to each other, that no philologer could examine them all three without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which perhaps on longer exists. (W. Jones, Asiatic Researches, volume 1.1884)

Rev. George. Oliver states that after the invention of letters, it would not be long before the difference between substances and qualities, action and passion, &., would be marked by some peculiar designation, and this, improving into a system, would define the precise limits of every national language, and an unerring standard would be produced, by which the inequalities of a wild or barbarous dialect might be reduced into symmetry and order. Rev George Oliver. Antiquities of freemasonry1823.

And so, this leads us into Logistical thinking and Rhetoric

Logic teaches us to guide our reason discretionally in the general knowledge of things, and directs our inquiries after truth. It consists of a regular train of argument, whence we infer, deduce, and conclude, according to certain premises laid down, admitted, or granted; and in it are employed the faculties or conceiving, judging, Reasoning and disposing all of which are naturally led from one gradation to another, till the point in question is finally determined. Masonic Lecture

Rhetoric

"Rhetoric teaches us to speak copiously and fluently on any subject; not merely with propriety alone,