THE SHORT TALK BULLETIN
The Masonic
Service Association of
the United States
VOL. 32 JULY 1954 NO. 7
Behind The
Symbol
Archaeologists have discovered many old cities, built on
the ruins of still older cities, which in turn were erected upon the remains of
cities still older. These several cities were built, existed for a time, were
destroyed and forgotten and new cities built above. The artifacts found at the
top are totally different from those found at the bottom of the complete
excavations, as in natural, since the several cities may have been thousands of
years in building, life, destruction and rebuilding.
Many common words
in English must be read in context if they are to be understood, which is one of
the reasons those who speak other languages from birth find English so
difficult. The "good" man may be either the moral man or the physically strong
man. The "good" earth is that which grows crops well, while "good" credit is
trustworthiness of him who possesses it; a "good" game may be either one which
men like to play, or so well played that men like to watch it.
Masonic
symbols are like the many buried cities of Ur of the Chaldees; similar to the
many words which mean different things at different times to different people
when used in different ways. It may be too much to say that all Masonic symbols
have more than one meaning, but it is certainly true that most of those objects
or ideas or practices which we call symbols have at least two and most of them
many meanings.
As a rule only one - and that the simplest-- is described
in the ritual. The rest, the individual brother is supposed to hunt out for
himself.
A large book would be required to list all Masonic symbols and
even suggest the several meanings of each. All that may be attempted here is a
suggestion of the "symbol behind the symbol" in a few of Masonry's pictures. The
word "pictures" here refers to the oft quoted definition of Masonry. "A
beautiful system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols".
The symbol, then, is a picture. But it is not a mirror, which shows only
what stands before it. It is an illustration which has more than one meaning.
The first, and among the most impressive symbols of Masonry to confront
the candidate, to most initiates, is the apron. The candidate is told that it is
"an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason".
What is "innocence",
as the word here is used? Surely not ignorance! The lamb, the baby, the lily are
"innocent", in the sense that they know nothing, especially nothing of evil. but
a man grown - and no male less than a man grown may be a Mason - must know evil
to distinguish the good.
Therefore, "innocence", as taught by the apron
must be other than ignorance.
Originally, the Masonic apron was a skin,
worn to protect both the clothing of the workman and the body beneath the
clothing from injury, and perhaps to provide a pocket in which to carry tools.
The operative apron was not necessarily white. When it gave way to the
smaller and "token" apron of lambskin (because that is a soft and pliable
material), white, the color of "innocence", became associated with the apron.,
It is still associated, but the innocence is that of intent not to do evil, not
of knowledge of evil. The Mason is "innocent" when his heart is gently towards
weakness, chivalrous towards those dependent upon him, tolerate of his fellows'
weaknesses, forgiving of his brethrens' mistakes.
Beneath this is the
really great meaning of the apron; that of the dignity and worth of labor, the
honor of being a workman, the glory of being a contributor to life and living.
Perhaps this attitude toward labor and the laborer which in the early middle
ages were considered mean and of no account, is Masonry's greatest contribution
to a modern philosophy of life. That Mason who reads into his newly acquired
lambskin the thought that it is a badge signifying that it is an honor to do
constructive work, has hold of the symbol behind the symbol" of innocence and
the real value of that which is "more ancient than the Golden Fleece".
In the Entered Apprentice Degree, an initiate learns the importance of
the cornerstone, but so little stress is laid upon it ritualistically that many
remain in ignorance of its principal significance - the "symbol behind the
symbol" which is the necessity of sacrifice in any well ordered life.
The whole subject of cornerstones, cornerstone layings, cornerstone
ceremonies, is bound up in the dreadful "foundation sacrifice" rites of the dark
Ages when superstition ran rife and it was believed that buildings would fall if
not protected by "good spirits" in the Other World. To provide these "good
spirits", human beings were buried alive in hollow cornerstones, there to die a
hideous death by suffocation, that their released spirits might guard the
building to be erected upon the stone, against the evil work of the powers of
darkness.
The rite survives only in the beautiful modern Masonic
ceremony of laying the cornerstones of buildings. We are no longer superstitious
about it, but we still hollow out the cornerstone and place therein small
objects for posterity to see; the list of those who erected the building, coins
of the day, a book, a photograph, a daily newspaper - whatever the imagination
of the committee in charge may suggest.
We have the ceremony; we forget,
most of us, its origin, but in freemasonry he who hunts for the symbol behind
the symbol will find in the emphasis upon the cornerstone the need of sacrifice;
the sacrifice of time, of effort, of thought which all good men in general and
all good Masons in particular must make if they are to play other than a selfish
part in the lives of their communities.
Few Masonic symbols are less
understood - and the fault if that of the ritual and not the philosophy which is
Masonry - than the "certain point within a circle".
Both its derivation
and its real meaning have become obscured with the passage of years and with,
alas, good will but poor execution of the ritual tinkerers - those good men and
true who have altered ritual to "make it nearer to the heart's desire" with the
best of intentions but without much knowledge of what they did.
Masonically, the point within the circle was the beginning of the
process in which the King's Master Mason, overseeing and managing the building
of a great Cathedral, tried the squares of the workmen that they might be true
ninety degree angles.
Every school boy knows the simple geometrical
demonstration, but in days when only the few could read and write, this was the
great secret - the "secret of the square."
Draw a circle. Put a dot upon
it, anywhere. Draw a line through the center of the circle so it crosses the
circle on both sides. Connect the dot with the points where the straight line
crosses the circle. The result is a right angle.
It was thus that the
King's Master Mason tested the wooden squares of his stone Masons. Originally,
"While a Mason kept his tools circumscribed by the point and circle, they could
not materially err". Today the line across has become two; we have added the
Holy Sts. John and the Holy Scriptures and we now circumscribe our passions and
not out tools, thus losing the old significance of the symbol. but the meaning
is still there; the symbol behind the symbol is the need of true tools for our
work, whether the tools be of wood and metal for labor upon material, of science
and wit for work upon the affairs of life.
In other words, the symbol
behind the symbol is the need for standards known to be correct to which to hew,
and a right pattern to follow during all of Masonic life.
"....and they
went up the winding stairs into the middle chamber." (I Kings VI-8)
The
Winding Stairs is one of the great symbols of the Fellowcraft Degree. It has a
hidden, a covered, a buried meaning not easily to be seen without some intensive
looking and not even hinted in the ritual. William Preston, who was more "father
of the ritual" of the Fellowcraft Degree than any other, hoped to make this
ceremony in Freemasonry a vehicle which would create a desire for a liberal
education in those who received it; hence the emphasis upon the liberal arts and
sciences, the orders of architecture, etc.
But philosophers of Masonry
have seen a deeper meaning in the stairs. as the Fellowcraft Degree as a whole
is one of manhood-- as opposed to youth in the Entered Apprentice Degree, and
old age in the Master Mason Degree - they find in the winding stairs that
incentive to courage without which no man successfully combats the evils,
dangers and misfortunes of life.
The point is that the stairs wind.
It does not take courage to climb a straight stair, on which every step
can be seen from the one before and the top is in view from the beginning. If
there are perils on the way on a straight stair, they can be noted and
preparations made.
but on winding stair, but one or two steps ahead are
visible. What is around the corner? to what difficulties or dangers does
progress on an unseen stairway lead?
It takes courage to ascent. The
Angel of Death may stand with sword drawn around the next bend. there may be
lions in the path, difficulties to surmount, dangers to overcome.
Yet
man climbs - aye, he climbs because he is a man, a man grown, a man
self-sufficient, and willing, and able to face what life brings. The Fellowcraft
Degree as a whole is a preparation for successful manhood; nothing within it has
a greater incentive for him who can see with mental eyes the symbol behind the
symbol of the winding stairs, than this thought of the courage a real and whole
man must have if he is to reach the Middle Chamber...
The second great
symbol of the fellowcraft Degree is the letter G. Of its obvious meanings the
degree is sufficiently explanatory. But why the emphasis upon geometry?
"Prove all things - hold fast to that which is good (I Thessalonians
V:21).
There is no such thing as a proof of a belief which has no
evidence; man cannot" prove God" in the same way in which he can "prove" an
algebraic equation. faith is a matter of the heart; geometry is a matter of the
mind. But there is a meeting point where mind and heart touch. And there is a
meeting point where faith and science touch.
The "question of the watch"
has confounded many who have refused to believe in a Creator. It is i possible
for the human mind to believe that a watch can make itself, wind itself. It must
be the work of a man. Inasmuch as it can predict, it must work in accord with
natural laws.
No one who found a watch, going, could be convinced that
it had not been would within thirty-six hours, and had not been put where it was
found by a human agency.
Geometry proves the visible universe to be a
great watch. Geometry can predict the future, just as a watch can predict the
interval of elapsed time before a certain hour. As, obviously, man did not
create the solar system, or the laws by which geometry can predict the eclipses,
the sunrise and sunset, the phases of the moon, the tides, they must have had
another, not a human creator.
Geometry proves that the universe runs
according to law.
Masons name the creator Great Architect of the
Universe. Other men have a thousand different names for Him.
But it is
Geometry which produces the nearest possible "proof" of His existence. Hence the
symbol behind the symbol of the letter G is the scientific demonstration not
only that "order is heaven's first law" but that there is a Creator, name Him as
you will.
One of the many mysteries which Freemasonry presents to those
who love and follow her in the absence of comprehension, on the part of the
many, of the real content of the Master Mason Degree. It is, apparently, being
unable to see the forest because there are so many trees; an inability to see
the ocean because there are so many waves and so much foam!
No greater
ceremony to express man's longing for and belief in immorality has yet been
conceived; no more beautiful mental rainbow has ever arched through the skies of
the mind than "The Search for That Which Was Lost". Yet too many see only the
literal story of the tragedy of Hiram and thus fail to see as their personal own
a vista which has for a far horizon the realization of the dearest hope of all
mankind.
The histories of all peoples reflect a belief in an ancient and
lost Golden Age; an Arcady; a Fairyland; a Lost continent in which all men were
happy and all joys were constant; a place and time of contentment before evil
came to the world.
It is the basis for all the "searches"-- for the hope
of the recovery of the Holy Grail; the wish for a faith which cannot be
undermined; the longing for a certainty about life here and hereafter.
Had we lost merely a word - one or more syllables - how easy to invent
another. but the "word which was lost" is the memory in man's consciousness that
there is a Something Beyond his senses, the knowledge they bring him, his
understanding of the life he lives. It is his longing to possess this again - as
racial memories demonstrate that hie once possessed it - which is Masonically
expressed in The Search.
This is the symbol behind the symbol of the
Master Mason Degree.
Happy the brother - if he exists - who following
this thought, finds his Masonic pot of gold at the end of the rainbow which is
the Lost Word.