Oakey Dokey wrote:For an example, different types of Masonic practice believe that it is founded from the builders of the second Solomon temple, others from the Tower of Babel (Israel's imprisonment and slavery in Babylon). The history time-lines are also skewed such as the lineage unbroken from before the great flood (of Noah) to David and the first temple, even though there are in some cases obvious gaps. The most interesting point is that the story they tell is more important to their ideology than the accuracy.
This is where things start to break down, or at least for me as I'm not adept at seeing symbolism above facts, so find great difficulty in understanding why such an eastern way of doing things is prevalent today amongst the learned and influential of Western culture.
The history and meaning of Freemasonry is obscure and difficult to understand even for practising masons. Part of the confusion comes from the orthodoxy of the United Grand Lodge of England i.e. the UGLE has its own Creation Myth, and the official history is that UK Freemasonry started 24 June 1717 etc etc. Most masons are happy with that and treat their Lodges just as fraternal dining clubs that also do good via charity fund-raising. Some are more curious and wonder what all the symbolism means, and take up what masonic ritual asks them to do. i.e. to study The Seven Liberal Arts, the hidden mysteries of nature and science, and to search for the Lost Secrets. In doing so, a few masons like Robert Lomas and Michael Baigent have written extensively. See The Hiram Key etc. Which is a bit awkward for UGLE as it points out all kinds of anomalies in the official history.
There are some connections of interest to Megalithic-minded folks. I'd suggest Hiram of Tyre as a starting point. It was from Tyre that King Solomon is said to have got the megalithic engineering skills to build his temple. Tyre was an important Phoenician city, and a hub of their trading empire.