The Worlds of Secrets: Espionage, Intelligence Services, and Ideological Warfare

By Dr. Nicolas Laos – Founder and Grand Master of the Autonomous Order of the Modern and Perfecting Rite of Symbolic Masonry. Author of the book, “The Modern and Perfecting Rite of Symbolic Masonry: A Freemasonic Reformation To the Glory of the Enlightened Humanity and a Movement for a Humanistic World Order, to appear by Trine Day LLC August 2022.

You are kindly advised to read this essay in conjunction with my essay entitled “My Life in Freemasonry,” which was also electronically published by the portal Gnostic Warrior – By Moe Bedard, at the following link: https://www.gnosticwarrior.com/nicolas-laos.html

“This essay, written in the summer of 2022, is part of a larger project that aims to provide the members of our Order with basic knowledge about the history of espionage and the history of esotericism. Both intelligence agencies and esoteric fraternities are institutions for the exchange of symbols and meanings between particular people. Both intelligence agencies and esoteric fraternities engage in searches for objectively valid knowledge. Both intelligence agencies and esoteric fraternities maintain secrets.

Also, secret services and secret societies are often of particular interest to the former and the latter. Many times, intelligence agencies treat esoteric organizations in an instrumentalist and paternalistic way, and one can never understand the history of Western esoteric organizations unless one places them within games of espionage, political and geopolitical rivalries, as well as ideological and religious conflict. For instance, one cannot adequately and correctly understand Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and neo-Templarism unless one places such esoteric organizations in a broader historical context that includes political confrontations, cultural-religious antagonisms, and espionage games.”