I was asked about the creation account being tied to ritual initiation ceremonies. All the ancient accounts of creation were given in connection with initiations or ceremonial rites. That is true of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Israelites, Babylonians, Hopis, etc. The ritualized explanation of the origin of human life is tied together with the meaning of life, and obligations about how life was to be lived, and what the afterlife will hold. The restored Temple rights are consistent with the most ancient of traditions.
The rites of the Masons have become secular in their evolution. They emerged out of the western esoteric tradition (i.e. hermetecism, meaning Christian Rosicrucianism, Kabbalah, Alchemy, and so on). So I disagree with you that they are not part of the same tradition. They have left the core of the spiritual hermetic tradition behind and have only retained the forms of it and some of its philosopies and morals. But it is certainly intertwined with it in intimate ways. And so, the Endowment emerged out of this same tradition, being a "Joseph Smith Translation" of Masonry as it were, a revealed redaction of the forms of western esotericism, restoring back their true function and true spiritual core.
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