Founding ‘Mystics’
Is it time we identify and acknowledge the Founder’s Spiritual Wisdom? Is it time to ‘Make Deism Great Again’?
“Founding Mystics” by Christopher Naughton in Venture Inward
The Founders’ adherence to esoteric principles and non-traditional theology are more closely aligned with the metaphysical and mystical insights than conventional religion— and the Nation would do well to reawaken to those ideals in its time of need.
“Yes, we have those suggestions here as to problems which confront American people today, and what individuals or groups may do as respecting same. The ideals, the purposes that called the nation into being are well. It might be answered by saying that there needs to be on the part of each man, each woman, the adhering to those principles that caused the formulating of the American thought.
—Edgar Cayce READING 3976-24
“This is a Christian Nation.”
“The founders were atheists.”
“Our founding fathers and mothers weren’t particularly religious, one way or the other.”
These memes ring down through the ages. As America finds itself in a new polarized age, it is time to re-visit and clarify— now more than ever— the deeply-held spiritual beliefs of our Founders. Their wisdom begs to be recycled through the consciousness of America. Because, to echo Edgar Cayce, we may be straying from “adhering to those principles that caused the formulating of American thought.”
While many extol the notion that the Founders were “religious men,” that they were “Christian” and forged such a nation, these are misapplied notions. Almost to a person, they were steadfastly opposed to the idea of “a Christian nation.” Steven Waldman, founder of BeliefNet (as well as the former Newsweek editor-in-chief and a journalist for US News & World Reports) says it succinctly: “America owes its religious freedoms to men and women with unorthodox views of God.”
Make no mistake: most of the Founders followed a spiritual path.[1] Their deepest ideals and principles as revealed in their inspired documents and action are rooted, I would contend, in an esoteric philosophy that extends well past traditional or even metaphysical European influences, to a primordial spirituality echoing back to ancient Egypt. One that is often cited in the Edgar Cayce readings.
These men— and women— understood America is more an idea than a place. Their own ancestors, escaping the bonds of a European monarchical authoritarianism, its tribalism, its pedantic religious dictates, sought the free air of a new land, unrestrained by convention, where they could think, believe and act freely.
Largely, it was fueled by a consciousness grounded in esoteric philosophies that often transcended religion itself: Deism, Unitarianism, Freemasonry, Quakerism, Rosicrucianism. These perspectives often saw the leveling of all religions, mostly seeing them as ‘different paths to the mountaintop.”
Or would that be to the apex of the pyramid?
The Mystic and The American Soul
In reality, all mystics declare, our True Nature is God, Brahman, Buddha-Nature, the Tao, or Consciousness Itself.- The Mystical Core of the Great Traditions
- Center for Sacred Sciences
Were the Founders’ “mystically” inclined”? I’ll admit the word and the concept comes with a lot of baggage. It also depends on your definition.
I’ll start with a notion from a “non-Founder” but great American nonetheless: Albert Einstein suggests “a human being is a part of a whole called by us ‘the universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.”
Perhaps a mystic senses the Oneness of all consciousness.
“Mystics tell us a different story through the ages - the possibility of being personally connected to divinity” suggests author Cara Herbet. Mystics feel that personal growth toward the universe’s ultimate plan must come from within. It cannot be dictated or ordered. Mystics value internal growth; rituals and traditions are meant to trigger internal insight and transformation, not to appease a higher power. The mystic values intuition [and is] uncomfortable with (religious) hierarchies.[2]
For mystics, the world is expansive and magical yet also intricately and undoubtedly connected. There is a greater fundamental power that moves every action and decision toward the accomplishment of a greater plan.
There was a time when mystics were shuttered away as shamans, sufis, Monks and Sadhus. Perhaps speaker/author Caroline Myss best defines mystics in modern ages— “they are not cloistered. They are active in the world, participating in daily activities and yet take the time to be away from the world— the silent time in contemplation or a walking meditation.”[3]
The spirituality of some of our earliest settlers, e.g. William Penn and the Quakers “burned with a strangely intense light: that of the inner life; silence, conscience.” [4] This merged fluidly with many of the founding fathers’ affiliations with Freemasonry. In his The American Soul, Jacob Needleman writes “does America have a hidden mystical core?” He cites a ‘strong current of communal mysticism that took root in early colonial America,’ especially in communities in and around Philadelphia.[5]
Benjamin Franklin published the books of Johann Conrad Biessel, who founded Ephrata in Pennsylvania, the first Rosicrucian community in the New World. Franklin visited there frequently and brought gifts.[6] “This community was a focus for the spreading of the ‘Ageless Wisdom’ in America, and after its disbanding, most of its metaphysical library passed into Franklin's keeping.”[7] George Washington was also a friend of the community and released a prisoner at the request of one of its leaders, Peter Miller.[8]
Many of the ideals Americans now considered definitive of our nation were introduced and developed by these mystical communities…. For example the ideas of human equality and independence in these communities are rooted in the notion that God or "the inner light," exists within every human being, the aim of life revolves around the endeavor and the necessity for every man or woman to make conscious contact with this inner divine force. This interior divinity, in William Penn's language, "the inner Christ"– as the source of true happiness, intelligence and moral capacity… is meant to be the guide and ultimate authority in the conduct and assessment of our lives and obligations.[9]
Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America and oft-time speaker at A.R.E conferences, suggests the Founders had a metaphysical bent leading them to seek “direct contact with spirit and the spirit world, without an intermediary religion or religious figure. That is, direct contact with the sacred outside of any prescribed religion.”
“Some Symbol That Represents…America ”
“The truth maketh one free. Just as man has done throughout the ages, so in the present, as one takes those of the various nations as have seen the light and have, through one form or another, sought to establish as the idea of that nation, of that people, some symbol that has and does represent those peoples in those days of the fathers of the present land called America.”
—Edgar Cayce Reading (3976-29)
Perhaps the essence of that Cayce reading can be summed up in this symbol:
This freemason-inspired symbol is the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States. According to progressive radio talk personality and author Thom Hartmann ‘the eye atop the Egyptian pyramid, is a design handed down by our Christian-mystic founding fathers.” Corrinne McLaughlin, author of Spiritual Politics with the Center for Visionary leadership, says the reverse of the Great Seal “is a powerful symbol of the soul of America.” It has its roots in European Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry: the All Seeing Eye of God (architect of the universe), Providence, sits atop the pyramid. Above and below are the words Annuit Coeptus (“God Favors Our Undertakings”) and Novus Ordo Seclorum (“New Order of the Ages).”
According to Horowitz, the Founder’s preoccupation with ancient Egyptian symbolism— from obelisks to pyramids to the eye of Horus— bespeaks of one root source or origin. The focus of their philosophy extended to “a primordial root spirituality hearkening to ancient Egypt.” Perhaps that is why Masons of the 18th century adopted and adapted such symbology.
Throughout the Cayce readings there are numerous references to ancient Egypt, the Great Pyramid and to the Masonic Order. According to the readings, Cayce himself had been Ra Ta in a previous life, responsible for building the Great Pyramid. That structure was not a tomb but…
…was the building of this that was to be the hall of the initiates of that sometimes referred to as the White Brotherhood. In this same pyramid did the Great Initiate, the Master, take those last of the Brotherhood degrees with John, the forerunner of Him, at that place.
—Edgar Cayce READING 5748-5 June 1932.
Cayce’s readings indicate that Jesus and John the Baptist, members of the Essene “Whte Brotherhood” entered the pyramid as an act of initiation. If indeed the Great Pyramid is an actual or symbolic force behind the awakening of such wisdom, is it surprising that the Founders would employ Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism iconography that extends back to its Hermetic origins?
The early masonic influence on the Founders’ thinking cannot be underestimated. At least eight and as many as thirty signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons, including Benjamin Franklin and John Hancock. George Washington was initiated into the Masonic Lodge of Fredericksburg, VA. A.R.E. speaker and author John Van Auken indicates that of the 39 signers of the United States Constitution, 28 were high degree Masons. Fourteen presidents were openly Freemasons; nine more have been suspected of being Masons.
At the time of America's founding, the Masonic lodges were very different from the social clubs they’ve become today. They had a strong metaphysical orientation, which developed common values and purposes among members, as well as deep bonds of loyalty. The traditional secrecy preserved in Masonic lodges allowed members to communicate and organize the American Revolution with little fear of exposure. Several significant non-American contributors to the revolution were also Masons, such as the Marquis de Lafayette of France
The structure of the U.S. Constitution was based on Masonic ideals, and the federalism created by the Constitution is identical to the federalism of the Grand Lodge system of Masonic government created in 1723, as well as to that of the Iroquois Confederacy.
Cayce certainly saw Masonic influences at the core of American exceptionalism and the basis for which a ‘new world order’ in the affairs of men would be established after the Second Great War of the 20th century:
“Americanism, with the universal thought that is expressed and manifested in the brotherhood of man into group thought, as expressed by the Masonic Order, will be the eventual rule in the settlement of affairs in the world. Not that the world is to become a Masonic order, but the principles that are embraced in it will be the basis upon which the new order of peace is to be established.... When these things are considered, then, it is self-evident that individuals should be up and doing.”
—Edgar Cayce READING 1152-11)
Cayce even suggested that the Essenes, the ancient Judaic sect that prepared the way for the Master Jesus, employed a hierarchy that would be similarly employed later by the Masonic Order.
Roots: “America, the New Atlantis”
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
- Benjamin Franklin.
On a recent visit to Monitcello, I had the great satisfaction to see who Thomas Jefferson’s mentors were: enshrined on canvas or in sculpture in Thomas Jefferson’s home in Monticello, Virginia, are his three greatest influences: Newton, Locke and Bacon.
While Isaac Newton’s influence on Jefferson is largely scientific in nature, he greatly admired John Locke’s egalitarian approach to religion. Locke insisted that Muslims and all others who believed in God be tolerated in England. Campaigning for religious freedom in Virginia, Jefferson followed his idol, demanding recognition of the religious rights of the "Mahamdan," the Jew and the "pagan."
But perhaps Jefferson’s greatest inspiration may be traced back to Sir Francis Bacon. Long before the nation’s founding, he penned a curious text “America— the New Atlantis.” Known as the "Father of Modern Science," Bacon is thought by many researchers to be the founder of modern Freemasonry and the head of the Rosicrucian Order, a secret metaphysical society which taught the inner laws of nature, spiritual principles for self-transformation, and keys for creating a better world. Rosicrucianism, “a highly mystical, metaphysical order, tracing its roots to Ancient Egypt…uses allegory in the building of the human soul: each incarnation is polishing a stone placing it in the soul temple.” By degrees the human soul is to become loving and kind, with clear understanding, [whereby] action becomes charity and service to others… [the] ego dies so something better can be born.”
There are many intriguing hints that Thomas Jefferson was a Rosicrucian (the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross) as evidenced by a secret code he used that was known only to high initiates of the order and the fact that he designed the building of the University of Virginia in a pattern relating to a Kabbalistic metaphysical design. In any event he was an ardent proponent of Unitarianism saying “ it is my hope that every young man now living [in the United States] shall become a Unitarian.”
Yet Jefferson’s private beliefs may never be fully understood. In his letters to Benjamin Rush he called himself a Christian, but questioned the divinity of Jesus. He crafted the Jefferson Bible by taking a knife to existing scripture: excising passages in the four gospels of the new testament the miracles of turning water into wine, walking on water and the resurrection. It did highlight Jesus, however, as the greatest moral teacher known to humankind.
Whatever his personal beliefs, Jefferson made certain that he would be remembered for spiritual conscience: as our third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, he invoked the Supreme Being three times in that timeless, inspired document. When he wrote his epitaph, he judged his Virginia Statute for Religious Liberty above all of his other achievements, except for his authoring of the The Declaration of Independence.
George Washington was a vestryman in a Virginia Episcopal church and his wife Martha was very religious. That may have been the extent of his conventional Christianity. Despite all of the paintings to the contrary, Washington was not known to kneel to pray and after the revolution, never took communion. He did not refer to Jesus in his public speeches and most often referred to God as “Providence” which was not a biblical term. On his deathbed there was plenty of time to call on a minister but none were called.
Toward the end of his term as President, a group of clerics wrote Washington, requesting he respond to their questions, including one to publicly declare his Christianity. He skipped right over that part. For that, Jefferson called him “the sly fox.”
When it came to matters of spirit, Benjamin Franklin, did not follow the script. He openly admired George Whitfield’s evangelizing and he kept a Bible in the top drawer of his desk at all times. But he was a Unitarian, believed in reincarnation and touted astrology in his Poor Richard’s Almanac.
From Franklin’s autobiography:
"Some books against Deism fell into my hands. it happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist.”
“I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that he made the world, and govern'd it by his Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; I esteem'd the essentials of every religion; and being to be found in all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all….”
Franklin’s inspiration and pragmatism “magically” got things done for the cause of the Revolution and later, the budding republic, leading some to call him “America’s Merlin.”
John Adams was not a Mason, but his deistic roots are undeniable. Refuting Calvinistic, Catholic and other Christian orthodoxy, he proclaimed “I refuse to accept that one bite from a damned apple the whole human race, without any actual crimes committed by any of them. Eventually Adams joined a liberal Unitarian church which emphasized Christ’s teachings rather than his divinity.
“Make Deism Great Again”
“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”
—John Adams
The Founders were not big on churches or established religions— I contend that perhaps that is why they were more comfortable with esoteric enclaves associated with freemasonry, unitarianism and deism— mindsets that eschewed any particular dogma or an exclusive path to God.
“At best, most of the revolutionary gentry only passively believed in organized Christianity and, at worst, privately scorned and ridiculed it.” Many of them doubted the divinity of Jesus. What I take from this they thought him no more or less a god in utero than any man.
Franklin's "main difficulty with established religion...had to do with its incapacity to help individuals be of service to each other and its tendency to set people against each other, rather than to support the formation of community.”
Jefferson believed similarly. His Virginia’s Statute of Religious Freedom, which served as a model for the First Amendment, “meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mohammeden, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination.” He specifically wished to avoid the dominance of a single religion.
In the Treaty of Tripoli (with the Barbary Pirates) during Jefferson’s term in 1807, the United States declared:
“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
—From the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS By JAMES H. HUTSON
Perhaps the foregoing should not be so surprising given that it was written by men who were responsible for the Establishment Clause enshrined in our First Amendment, that is four distinct elements directly related to religion, spirituality and conscience. Commentary provided by current U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in italics, below
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; the government shall not create an official religion, therefore it cannot control what goes on in your mind and heart;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; the government cannot control the expression of what comes out of your mouth;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble; the government cannot prohibit the congregating of people to share the expression of ideas;
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The ability of the people to speak their truth to power.
Not only does the the First amendment prohibit the establishment of any state religion, it guarantees the right of conscience and its free expression therefof.
What consciousness elicited the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Perhaps Deism's greatest legacy may be the principle of religious and spiritual tolerance, written into our most inspired documents.
Spiritual*
*not religious
“A mystic meets on the point of agreement.”
- Alan Cohen
Terms such as “mystic,” “metaphysical,” and “occult” are hard to pin down. If I had to guess, I suppose evangelical Christians and atheists would argue that the Founders could not possibly have been mystics or mystically-influenced. There’s certainly no evidence that these men or women were cloistered away, meditating hours a day, recognizing the divinity in their fellow man. Certainly they were not that kind of mystic.
But there is more than enough evidence to suggest that the kind of inner-directed, all-inclusive spirituality that they envisioned and practiced, shaped their desire for a nation free of a state religion, a nation where diverse spiritual expression was tolerated and encouraged.
In mysticism there is no “thou shalt” and “thou shall not.” It is oneness. It is unity. A mystic recognizes the Oneness of Life. In that regard, especially when it came to diverse religious expressions, the Founders played no favorites. For that very reason alone, a mystic-like view of the world appears to be indigenous to the Founders’ thinking.
Much like Deism, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, the works and philosophy of Edgar Cayce are neither the foundation of a church nor any established religion. This was actually first and foremost in Cayce’s mind, both in and out of trance— he did not wish for ARE to become a religion. He suggested that people take the value of the readings back to their churches. Edgar, and later his son Hugh Lynn, taught Sunday school. Cayce was clear, there was nothing dogmatic about his work: if the readings or Search for God material did not benefit you or make you a better person, “you should not have anything to do with it.”
In the coming years, I believe two spiritual memes are racing down the track of humanity, especially in this nation, and they will converge: Divine Potential Spirituality and Sin-Redemption Religion.
This, to me, is the next revolution in American consciousness. Is America’s next Great Awakening grounded more in our inner being, to the divine in each of us? Is this what Cayce meant by “formulating to the principles of American thought”? We hear the refrain: We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Today, this is the cornerstone of the “Spiritual, not religious” movement.
And I would like to think that if many of the Founders were present today, this mystical approach to Providence, to God, to All That Is— would give them great comfort for the future of this Great Nation that they have created.
[1] The Founders’ Faith http://lehrmaninstitute.org/history/the-founders-faith.html#intro
[2] Cara Herbert, Gaia “Am I a Mystic?” https://www.gaia.com/article/am-i-a-mystic-10-signs
[3] Sacred Contracts of America, Caroline Myss, forward.
[4] The American Soul, Jacob Needleman, p. 187.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Julius F. Sache, “The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania” in The Franklin Papers, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1966), pp. 323-325.
[7] Corinne Heline, America’s Invisible Guidance, (Los Angeles, CA: New Age Press, 1949) p. 16.
[8] E. G. Alderfer, The Ephrata Commune (Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburg Press: 1985).
[9] Op.Cit, The American Soul, p.43.