BOOKS Stevan V. Nikolić KNJIGE

The Unfinished Story of Freemasonry

2009-04-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

The excerpt from the book ROYAL ART of Freemasonry by Stevan V. Nikolic read by the author.

ROYAL ART of Freemasonry

2009-04-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

The second edition of the "Royal Art: Three Centuries of Freemasonry" has just been released.

When few years ago I mentioned to a friend of mine about my intention to write a book on Freemasonry, he was very skeptical about the need for yet another book, on the subject so thoroughly researched, and written about, by many. Of course, question regarding my motives for such an endeavor, followed.
I knew then, as I know now, that the book I wanted to write is the one I would like to read. Masonic scholarship was, for a larger part of its history, victim of the circumstances and conditions that existed in the Masonic community worldwide. At the very beginning, three hundred years ago, scholars were struggling with the few available medieval Manuscripts, in order to come to the valid conclusions. Today, authors are drowning in the volumes of accumulated material, trying to separate facts from fiction.
Additionally, division between Anglo- American and French Freemasons, one hundred and thirty years ago, caused by different understandings of Masonic principles, resulted in development of two parallel schools of Masonic thought. Each school was concerned with the study of their own strain of Freemasonry, completely ignorant of the existence and equally valid experiences of the other group.
In this book, I tried to make an overview, as impartially as possible, of many different interpretations of the concept of Freemasonry, its symbolism, teachings, rituals, and history. Nonetheless, I could not escape the temptation of adding my own understandings, particularly in the chapters regarding different traditions and concepts (Three Tradition and two Concepts), and the future of Freemasonry (Dawn of the Third Millennium). After all, the purpose of any scholarship is to add another spark to ever burning flame of human desire of knowledge.
Not claiming to be an authority on the subject, but just a passionate seeker after Truth, I humbly offer my thoughts to curious readers, with intention to provoke their further inquiry on this valuable topic. Some may be impressed and enriched or enlightened, others angered and disturbed, but I hope to leave none indifferent.

The Spring Issue of Freemasons Press

2009-03-11T14:05:00.001-07:00

The Spring Issue of Freemasons Press has been released and is available for purchase on www.amazon.com and www.luxmundipress.info . It has several very good papers. The cover story is "The Purpose of Freemasonry in the modern society" by Stevan V. Nikolic. Richard Martin Young wrote about "The Masonic Lodge and Roman Confraternity", while Dr. Susan Gonzalez is taking us to ancient Egypt in her paper "The Coffin". Other papers are by Peter Clatworthy ( Elias Ashmole and the Warrington Lodge), MIchael Nicholas ( From the West Traveling East), Milica Krkovic ( Prophecy of Master Peter Deunov), and Miguel H. Bronchud ( The Convent of Teruel, the Castle of Mora, and strange Franciscan connection).

This is the third issue of Freemasons Press and it seems that this new periodical is slowly taking its form and its position among publications on Freemasonry.

There were some problems with the distribution of the Winter Issue due to the bad choice of distributor, but we are now back on track and things are running smoothly.

Winter Issue of Freemasons Press has been released

2008-11-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

The Winter Issue of Freemasons' Press has been just released, and it will go to the subscribers by November 29th. In there, readers will find several very interesting papers by prominent masonic scholars from around the world: "Spiritual Alchemy and the Lodge" by Piers Vaughan, "The Way of Transmutation" by Francesco Brunelli, "The Masters Mark" by Miguel H. Bronchud, "Anthropology of God" by Milivoj Gavrilov, "Christianity, Rosicrucians, and Freemasonry" by Milica Krkovic, "Oaths, Oath Taking, and Mental Reservation" by Richard M. Young, and many more.

Stevan V. Nikolic is the author of the Winter issue's cover story: "Women in Freemasonry", as well as of the Editorial: "Masonic Dogmatism".

Single copies of Freemasons Press are available for purchase through http://www.amazon.com/ as well as http://www.freemasonspress.info/

Press Conference at the International Book Fair in Belgrade

2008-11-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

At the Press Conference held on October 23rd at the International Book Fair in Belgrade (Serbia), Stevan Nikolic's new book "The Purpose of Freemasonry" has been presented to the representatives of the Press and to the general public. The Press Conference was organized by the publishers Ellecta International from Belgrade and The Library "Svetozar Markovic" from Zajecar.

Na Pres Konferenciji održanoj 23. oktobra na Sajmu Knjiga u Beogradu, prisutnim novinarima i publici je predstavljena nova knjiga Stevana Nikolića “Smisao slobodnog zidarstva”. Konferencija je organizovana od strane izdavača Ellecte International iz Beograda i Matične biblioteke “Svetozar Marković” iz Zaječara u Klubu Svetskog trgovačkog centra u Beogradu.

Stevan Nikolic's book "The Purpose of Freemasonry" has been published in Serbia

2008-11-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

Stevan Nikolic's new book "The Purpose of Freemasonry" has been translated and published in Serbia by Ellecta International Publishing Company from Belgrade. The Serbian edition has been released on September 11, 2008.

Nova knjiga Stevana Nikolica "Smisao slobodnog zidarstva" je prevedena na srpski jezik i objavljena u Beogradu 11. septembra. Izdavac je "Ellecta International". Knjiga se moze kupiti u knjizari Medijskog centra "Krug" u Trznom centru na Trgu republike (Makedonska 5/II) u Beogradu.

2008-08-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

NEW MASONIC REVIEW

FREEMASONS PRESS

INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL QUARTERLY MASONIC REVIEW

Dear Friends,
The very first - FALL ISSUE of the new and exciting Masonic publication is in print and will be available for distribution by September 1st 2008. In the FREEMASONS PRESS you will find 132 pages of articles and papers on various aspects of Freemasonry written by the prominent Masonic scholars from the USA, England, France, Italy, Spain, and Serbia, as well as views and news from the Jurisdictions worldwide. Please visit our website www.freemasonspress.info and learn more about FREEMASONS PRESS.

Freemasons Press is an Independent International Quarterly Review on Freemasonry and related subjects.
“Independent” means that views and opinions expressed here are not of any Masonic organization or group, nor of the publisher, but solely of individual authors of various papers and articles. Independent also means that publishing of the FP Review is not financed by any of the Masonic organizations or groups but strictly through the subscriptions and donations from the readers.
“International” means that the views, news, articles and papers published in FP Review come from the authors from all over the world. Those papers and articles written in other languages than English are always published in both original language and English translation. International also means that the FP Review is distributed worldwide.
“Quarterly” means that FP Review is published four times a year: September 1st – Fall Issue, December 1st-Winter Issue, Mart 1st-Spring Issue, and June 1st- Summer Issue.Freemasons Press is published by the international group of Freemasons in co-operation with Create Space, a DBA of On-Demand Publishing LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc. The Editor in Chief is Stevan V. Nikolic from New York City, New York, USA. The Individual copies of Freemasons Press Review are available for purchase through the Amazon.com at the price of $16 per copy. The Annual subscription for four issues is $35 and readers can subscribe on-line through

www.freemasonspress.info.
“Review on Freemasonry and related subjects” means that we publish articles and papers on all aspects of Freemasonry: history, philosophy, symbolism, ritual, and current issues and events. We also publish articles on related esoteric subjects like Cabala, Alchemy, Rosicrucianism, Mystery Schools and Tarot.
As Freemasons we believe in freedom of expression. In accepting papers and articles we do not discriminate on basis of Masonic affiliation, understanding of Freemasonry, Masonic grade, race, ethnic or religion origin or gender. The only criterion for publishing an article or paper is the quality of the content of the article and benefits it may have for our Masonic and non-Masonic readers.The purpose and mission of the FP Review comes out of our duty as Freemasons: To work on our self-improvement, to search for that which was lost, to gather that which was scattered, and always, always to stand for the highest ethical values and more than anything-TRUTH.

So, if you would like to join the worldwide family of the FREEMASONS PRESS’ readers and supporters, you can find all necessary subscription information on the www.freemasonspress.info

The Peace of the Rose / The Purpose of Freemasonry

2008-06-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

Our civilization entered the third Millennium under the weight of many problems and contradictions: the environmental crisis with global warming and a lack of renewable energy resources, religious radicalism and terrorism, the widening gap between rich and poor, hunger, new diseases, social security and medical care crises, immigration, consumer debt and out of control bankruptcies out, broken families, islamisation of Europe, dysfunctional public school systems, the rise in crime, the erosion of moral and ethical standards in politics, business and society in general, environmental disasters.
Social as well as political institutions of the modern western societies are not able to give positive answers and solutions for the number of issues pressing today’s human beings. Major religions and sciences, along the lines of the mechanistic Cartesian-Newtonian world view have alienated human beings from their spiritual, moral, and emotional abilities: science was separated from religion, reason from faith, logic from intuition, material from spiritual, natural from supernatural, and secular from sacred. This resulted in the materialistic worldview that promotes science, reason, logic, material, natural and secular, while at the same time completely ignoring and denigrating faith, religion, supernatural, spiritual and sacred.
The only current of western philosophical thought that preserved the natural unity of seemingly opposite ideas was Freemasonry. The practice of Freemasonry will teach us that the Cartesian-Newtonian dichotomy is a false, man- made creation, and that this separation does not exist in nature, in the real world. To understand ourselves and the reality we live in, we necessarily have to marry again scientific and religious truth; for Masonic truth is one and absolute. To get into the deepest parts of our inner Self we have to apply both reason and intuition. Our higher reality is one, and there is no separation between the material and spiritual realms of the higher reality. This unity of opposite methods in reaching absolute answers and results in the sphere of human existance and selfimprovement is typical of Freemasonry.
The ultimate purpose of Freemasonry is the perfection of men and the realization of the higher Self, which would ultimately result in the oneness of humankind. That oneness is here understood as a spiritual unification of all human beings into one global community of true and good individuals liberated from all kinds of prejudices. Great Teachers of Freemasonry: Albert Pike, Albert Mackey, Manly P. Hall, Arthur Waite and many others, all pointed to the fact that all the various religions of the world are on a higher reality one and only one Divine Religion. But Freemasonry is not interested in describing the absolute nature of God as the followers of some religions try to do. Freemasonry understands and accepts that each individual person has a right and need to directly perceive and to experience his own vision of God. The oneness of humankind does not refer to the oneness of the vision, but to the oneness of mutual tolerance and understanding, oneness of Divine Love.
We can use many different examples to validate the concept of Freemasonry. We can talk about quantum physics and latest discoveries in this field. Physicist Fritjof Capra tells us:
“An increasing number of scientists are aware that mystical thought provides a consistent and relevant philosophical background to the theories of contemporary science, a conception of the world in which the scientific discoveries of men and women can be in perfect harmony with their spiritual and religious beliefs.”(The Turning point, page 78).
To learn this fact, Freemasons didn’t have to wait admission to research facilities of the quantum physicists, nor for the volumes of the experimental data on “abnormal” characteristics of subatomic entities. All that Freemasons needed were their Lodge rooms, their Rites and Rituals.
We can also talk about different spiritual and “self-transformational” or “holistic” movements of the twentieth century, that all sprang independently from the very same ideals to which Freemasonry subscribes. All of these various movements are of diverse origins and have quite a different structure than Freemasonry. Nevertheless, the philosophical bases of their teachings are often strikingly parallel to those of Freemasonry. This merely proves two things. First, that the body of the archetypal principles of our subconscious has many different ways to express itself on the conscience level; and second: that the need for the unification of mortal man with the higher Self is more urgent than ever.
We may continue to be ignorant and claim that the mountain of global environmental, economic, political, and social problems is a result of a complex system of objective and subjective factors from many spheres of human existence. Such an understanding is just an expression of the great crisis of the human spirit. We, as material human beings, have become disassociated from our inner beings, from our soul. We cannot find solutions to any of the problems without first improving ourselves. On the other hand, if we complete ourselves, if we come into the true balance with our true higher nature, solutions for the global problems will present themselves in a magically easy and liberating manner.The reason for that is obvious and simple. Solutions for the global issues are within our inner beings. So close but yet so far.
What is man to do? Astronauts are building space stations in earth’s orbit, a man-made spacecraft is about to reach the end of the solar system. The way things are now, we are on the way tof making that spacecraft the only testimony to the existence of the human race. We are on the collision course; not only with each other, but with ourselves and with our environment. Over many centuries men were following the words of various Prophets as the intermediaries between men and God. It is time for each of us to meet God face to face if humanity is to survive. We need to learn how to achieve that. It is not an easy task, but yet it is as simple as plucking the rose...

(from THE PURPOSE OF FREEMASONRY Published by Create Space Inc. June 18th 2008, Trade Paperback, Pages 112, ISBN 1438239467, ISBN-13 9781438239460, Avaliable online from:

http://www.amazon.com/ or http://www.royalart.info/ )

Kraljevska Umetnost

2008-06-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

Umesto zaključka

Kako dati zaključak priči koja nema kraj? Nakon vekova masonskog istraživanja, osećanje da poslednje poglavlje tek treba da se napiše prisutno je kao i uvek. Još uvek smo „u potrazi za onim što je izgubljeno“. U starogrčkoj priči, Ezop na samrti kaže svojim sinovima da je u svom vinogradu zakopao veliko blago. Oni nisu našli zlato ali su, pošto su prekopali vinograd, iduće godine imali bogatu berbu. Postoji paralela između priče o slobodnom zidarstvu i legende o Ezopu. Napisane su hiljade knjiga, date su brojne lekcije, sve u nadi da će se pronaći ono što je izgubljeno. To tek treba naći, ali je, zahvaljujući toj potrazi, otkriveno i sakupljeno mnogo znanja u svim granama učenja.
Neki slobodmi zidari veruju da se naša kraljevska umetnost pojavila s prvim čovekom i da će biti prisutna sve do kraja ljudske vrste. Biti rođen kao ljudsko biće znači imati neotuđivo prravo na čovečnost, da se ponašamo i da se prema nama drugi ponašaju u skladu s tim. Praktikovati masonstvo znači stalno težiti prema najvišim idealima čovečanstva. Slobodni zidari često se ne slažu među sobom oko toga šta predstavlja krajnji rezultat njihove potrage „za onim što je izgubljeno“. Za neke, to je povratak iz palog stanja u prvobitno božansko stanje prvog čoveka Adama Kadmona. Za druge, to je postizanje unutrašnjeg savršenstva i sreće i unapređenje na svim poljima ljudskog postojana. Šta god to bilo, potraga je uvek jedna te ista – putem prosvetljenja naših srca i umova, traganja za apsolutnom istinom, vere u urođeno dobro u čoveku i održanje ljudskog dostojanstva, praktikovanje vrlina i uvek, uvek, ponašanja koje je u harmoniji s celim Stvaranjem.
To nije lak zadatak. On zahteva mudrost i snagu majstora graditelja starih piramida i gotskih katedrala. Zahteva ljubav prema harmoniji i lepoti. Zahteva merenje i odmeravanje naših dela, da budemo pod pravim uglom sa drugima i sa samima sobom. To zahteva upotrebu najboljeg kamena. Najtvrđi kamen za klesanje i oblikovanje je u nama. On je težak od strasti i predrasuda, grub je od loših navika, lomljiv od strahova i zbunjenosti i često je nevidljiv. Većina ljudi ide kroz život ne uviđajući svoju mogućnost i pravo da stvaraju i napreduju. Ali, oni koji se odluče da uzmu dleto i čekić i udare u taj kamen, dobijaju nagradu u vidu hrane koju nam daje učenje, osveženja u postizanju i radosti u otkrivanju. Krajnji ideal majstora graditelja je da napravi savršeni kamen. Odgovornost je ozbiljna, a posledice dalekosežne. Kamenovi koje su pre više vekova isklesali veliki posvećenici kao Sokrat, Platon, Mojsije, Pitagora, Isus, Konfučije i Muhamed još uvek stoje kao kamenovi temeljci građevina koje su oni započeli. Ali, život svakog pojedinca počinje sa novim, grubim kamenom, koji učenik dobrih namera tek treba da otkrije. Svaki učenik ima šansu da postane bolji od svog majstora, a svaki majstor je obavezan da doprinese svoj deo zdanju koje se zove čovečanstvo. Zvuci graditeljskog alata svakog graditelja su kao simfonija stvaranja, koja nas približava Velikom Arhitekti Svemira. Ta božanski inspirisana muzika podiže naša tela, širi naše duše, dodiruje naš duh, i...

(iz knjige "Kraljevska Umetnost" Objavljene Juna 2007, Izdavac Ellecta International Beograd, Mek Povez, 216 stranica, Knjiga se moze kupiti u knjizari Krug u Beogradu i na internetu na:
www.krugcentar.co.yu

Royal Art: Three Centuries of Freemasonry

2008-06-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION

How to conclude a story that does not have an end? After centuries of Masonic scholarship, the feeling that the last Chapter is yet to be written is as present as ever. We are still “in search of that which is lost”. In the old Greek story, Aesop told his sons, before his death, that he had buried a great treasure in his vineyard. They didn’t find gold, but because they dug and stirred the ground around the roots of their vines, they had a rich vintage the following year. The story of Freemasonry is somewhat parallel to Aesop’s Fable. Thousands of books are written and numerous Lectures are given, all in hope of finding that which has been lost. It is yet to be found, but because of the search for it, much knowledge in all branches of learning has been uncovered and accumulated.
Some Freemasons believe that our Royal Art appeared with the birth of the first man and that it will be around till the end of human kind. To be born a human being means having unalienable right to be “Human”- to act and to be treated as such. To practice Masonry means to constantly strive towards the highest ideals of humanity. Freemasons often disagree among themselves what the end result of their quest “for that which is lost” represents. For some it is return from the fall to the original Divine state of the First Man. For others, it is the achievement of the inner perfection and happiness and improvement on all fields of human existence. Whatever it is, the quest is still one and the same: to enlighten our hearts and minds, search for absolute truth, believe in the inherited goodness of man, and maintain human dignity, practice virtues, and always, always endeavor to be in harmony with the whole of Creation.
It is not an easy task. It requires wisdom and strength of the Master Builders of ancient pyramids and Gothic cathedrals. It requires love for harmony and beauty. It requires measuring and weighing our thoughts and actions and being on the square with others and ourselves. It requires use of the best stone. The hardest stone to cut and carve is one within us. It is heavy with passions and prejudice, it is rough with bad habits, and it is brittle with fears and confusions and often is invisible. Most of the people go through life without ever realizing their ability and right to create and improve. But those who dare to take the mallet and the chisel and strike that stone are rewarded with nourishment of learning, refreshment of achieving and joy of discovery. To make a perfect stone is the ultimate ideal of all the Master Builders. The responsibility is serious and consequences far-reaching. Stones cut centuries ago by Great Initiates like Socrates, Plato, Moses, Pythagoras, Jesus, Confucius, and Mohamed are still standing as the foundation stones of edifices they started. But each individual’s life starts with a new rough stone waiting to be discovered by a willing Apprentice. Every Apprentice has a chance to be better than his Master and every Master is obligated to contribute his part to that edifice called Humanity.
The sounds of each Builder’s working tools are like Symphony of Creation that brings us closer to the Great Architect of the Universe. This Divinely inspired music lifts our bodies, expands our souls, touches our spirits, and…

(from Royal Art: Three Centuries of Freemasonry, Published Feb. 2006 by iUniverse, Pages 206, Paperback, ISBN 0595387748, ISBN -13 9780595387748, Available from: