A bum I met in the subway...

Originally posted by Trinityman

Originally posted by AdamL
Also, none of the research I've done on Freemasonry ever mentioned a Masonic letter "A". Or was he substituting the square and Compass for the letter "A"? Guess it kinda looks like one. Any Masons here that can enlighten us on if there is a letter "A" used in Masonic symbols?

I mentioned this in my post above. I've never heard of it.

Yeah, I wrote my reply before reading all the other ones first. Bad habit. Thanks for the info!

I'm not exactly positive he even said it was masonic police but he surely said it was masons who caused him to be where he is. Here is a quote from the book about the special 'A' they will make.

"One claim is that masonic officers taking exams will make some kind of mark on their paper to indicate their affiliation to the Brotherhood. The most commonn, it is alleged, is the age-old masonic code of writing a capital 'A' in the form of the brotherhood's Square and Compasses symbol, thus: ALPHA (book shows the word with the A having a v through center instead of a straight line)

This will be meaningless to a non-masonic examiner but will be immediatly recognized by a fellow Mason. The other allegation, made by scores of officers of all ranks, is that masonic promotion boards sometimes slip masonic references into their conversations when interviewing. If the candidate for promotion respeonds correctly, it is said, his chances are immediately elevated."

[edit on 3/9/2007 by Amazon Lights]

Don't worry man, that bum just took advantage of you in a period in which you were attracted towards measonry and all that kind of things. Maybe he got into a few books, or stuff, and he just wrote it to look like a super God left alone in a subway station, just not to face reality

Hi Amazon

I read 'The Brotherhood' a few years ago and was very disappointed. There were many many factual inaccuracies about freemasonry, and it seemed to be written by a man with a grudge.

I believe Stephen Knight has made the leap that many others have made - equating 'freemasons' with 'freemasonry'. He put 2 and 2 together to make 5. He also sought out opinion to bolster his theory that the English police was overrun with corrupt masons, and he came across a man called James Todd who is behind an organization called VOMIT (Victims of Masonic Ill Treatment). My intention was to link you to the website but it's gone.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that the special 'A' may have been just made up by him or one of his 'sources'. I've absolutely never heard of such a thing, and the freemasons I know have many many ways of identifying themselves to other freemasons without resorting to such obscure tactics.

And, notwithstanding the fact that most masons are too old to be doing exams, it is expressly against masonic tenets to cheat or assist someone else to cheat (particularly a mason). If it happened the way Knight says, it happened in spite of masonry not because of it.

You can read more about The Brotherhood here.

I'm sure the simplest explanation, like always, is correct here. He was a former conspiracy theorist who was heavily immersed in anti-masonic rhetoric. He was passes up for promotions time and time again and eventually became convinced of a conspiracy of a secret brotherhood involving even the police who framed him.

In order to get a few sympathy dollars from passers-by, he inserted a secret masonic symbol into his cardboard sign hoping to draw the attention of the many inquisitive people who also happened to have recently purchased a book on freemasonry. As there are obviously millions of potential "marks" who would have just read the chapter about the "A-Compass/Square" he was sure to arouse their curiosity (and perhaps some spare change) after telling these fellow conspiracy nuts about his brush with the Brotherhood, and how they ruined his life.

Almost a perfect plan... almost.

Anyways here is that "A" shape which does not exist on a sculpture.

Originally posted by Trinityman

Anyway, what I'm saying is that the special 'A' may have been just made up by him or one of his 'sources'. I've absolutely never heard of such a thing, and the freemasons I know have many many ways of identifying themselves to other freemasons without resorting to such obscure tactics.

I've studied various Masonic rituals from all over the world and I've never heard of it either. I've never read Knight's book, but it sounds like it has the all the credibility of one of those clas-sicks by Schnoebolen or Jack Chick.

Perhaps the homeeless gentelman in an attempt to make his story sound believable had remembered the A:A of Crowley from reading or word of mouth or whatever and just threw the A out there. Anyway entertaiing story, but homeless people= often crazy, fanatical antimasons= often crazy.

Originally posted by ViolatoR
He was a former conspiracy theorist who was heavily immersed in anti-masonic rhetoric. He was passes up for promotions time and time again and eventually became convinced of a conspiracy of a secret brotherhood involving even the police who framed him.

[edit on 10-3-2007 by In nothing we trust]

I worked with the homeless for several years - and a lot of them will regale you with wild and fanciful stories of secret societies, conspiracies and even unseemingly improbable math problems.

I've never been able to figure out why this behavior is so widespread in certain circles, but I'm really never in a position to judge these people. For them, it's real - their stories are real - however unbeleivable it may seem to me.

It's a wide spread phenomenon in several major US cities. But wahtever the matter is, there are a lot of homeless people sharing the same themes in their stories.



[edit on 10-3-2007 by GENERAL EYES]