This book is about death and about the ways in which it can be thought about and approached. Freemasons definitely believe in something beyond the realms of this life. Our ritual tells us clearly that within these 'perishable frames' that actuate us, there dwells a divine, immortal principle that survives beyond the grave. It is our great work to apply our reason to look beyond the different iterations of truth that religions embody and search for the greater Truth that lies behind them.
In doing so, we are not, of course, completely and automatically freed from our fear of death, but, with practice, we can learn to approach it with open minds and open hearts, trusting in the process as yet another step on our path to perfection and union with our Source.
The Master Mason degree in Freemasonry calls on us to consider, in a very real and immediate sense, the implications of our mortality. It offers us a framework within which to live our lives in such a way that, when the end comes, we can step into it knowing that we have done all that we could to make ourselves better people and the world a better, kinder place for us having been in it for a short while.
