The Primordial Spirituality

In the Constitutions of the Free-Masons, Anderson begins by explaining that period of time - and observance - between Noah and the building of the Tower of Babel in which all Humanity spoke the same language, and harmoniously worked towards the same ends. Mackey, in his Symbolism of Freemasonry, points to this legendary period of time as the model for the perfect society for which Freemasonry attempts, by it's philosophy (as distinct from its ceremonies), to make spiritual "Building Stones" out of men.

In this sense, Mackey teaches that there has always been a "Freemasonry"; i.e., a philosophy of the Unity of God and the Immortality of the Soul have been taught throughout the ages by Rites of Initiation and Instruction, often in (apparent) conflict with the exoteric religious teachings & authorities.

Freemasonry is thus a vehicle whereby the individual is taught to find their own understanding of God, through their own explorations and reasonings, independent of canon and dogma. It is only through this Freedom of Thought that any rational spiritual sense can be realized, as anything else would merely be an attempt to appease some human authority wielding religion as a whip and a task-master.