The Old Past Master
by Carl Claudy- 1924
DO YOU STUDY
GEOMETRY?
"I
bought me a high school geometry the other day" confessed the
Very New Mason to the Old Past Master, sitting on the benches waiting
for the Worshipful Master to call the lodge to labor. "I was so much
impressed
with what I learned of its importance to Masons, during the Fellowcraft
Degree, that I determined to go back to my school days and try again.
But I am much discouraged."
"Why
so?" asked the old Past Master, interested. "I recall
geometry as rather an interesting subject. I don't suppose I could do a
single original now, it's been so many years.... I don't know when I
have looked in
one!"
"Why, you
surprise me! I thought all good Masons must know geometry.
We are taught.... how does it go?.... something about a noble
science...."
his voice trailed off in silence.
"'Geometry,
the first and noblest of the sciences'" quoted the
Old Past Master, "' is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry
is
erected.
By
geometry, we may curiously trace Nature through her various windings,
to her most concealed recesses. By it we may discover the wisdom and
the goodness of the Grand Artificer of the universe and view with
delight the proportions which connect this vast machine.'"
"Yes,
that's it!" agreed the Very New Mason. "And there is a
lot more, isn't there?"
"A
whole lot!" smiled the Old Past Master, in agreement.
"Well,
then, why doesn't a well informed Mason have to be a
geometrician?"
"There
is certainly no reason why a good geometrician shouldn't be a
good Mason," answered the Old Past Master, "but no reason why a man
who doesn't know geometry shouldn't be a good Mason.
"You
see, my son, we hark back a great many years in much of our lectures,
to a time when knowledge was neither so great nor so diversified as
now. William Preston, the eminent Masonic student, scholar, writer, who
lived and wrote in the latter part of the eighteenth century, conceived
the idea of making the degrees in general, and the Fellowcraft degree
in particular, a liberal education! A 'liberal education' in those days
was comprised within what we still call, after Preston, the 'seven
liberal arts and sciences.' In those days any mathematics beyond
geometry was only for the very, very few; indeed, mathematics were
looked upon rather askance by the common men, as being of small use in
the world, save for engineers and designers and measurers of land.
"But
Preston, if his lectures are no longer the real 'liberal education'
which he planned, and which, in the form of his lectures modified by
Webb (and somewhat tinkered with by various authorities and near
authorities who at times have kept the husk and let the kernel escape!)
builded better than he knew. For we may now justly and honorable take
'geometry' to mean not only the science of measurement of surface and
area and the calculation of angles and distances, but to mean all
measurement. And to study measurement, my son, means to study science,
for all science is but measurement, and by that measurement, the
deduction of laws and the unravelling of the secrets of nature.
"I
do not understand geometry anymore; it is long since I studied it.
But I do study, and do try to keep my mind awake and always filling, if
never full. It is true that to many a Mason the study of geometry
itself would be a grand mental discipline and thus greatly improve his
mind. But I do not think we are to take this admonition literally, any
more than we are to accept literal interpretations for other wordings
in our ritual. We meet upon the level, in Masonry, and we act upon the
square. But that does not mean that we put our feet upon a carpenter's
level, or sit upon stone masons' squares while we 'act.' The words are
symbols of thoughts. I take the admonition to study geometry as a
symbol of a thought, meaning that a Mason is to educate himself, to
keep his mind open, to keep it active, to learn, to think, to develop
his reason and his logic, the he may the better aid himself to know
himself and his work to aid his fellowmen.
"Even
Preston, literal-minded as he was, and focusing all his
attention as he did, upon ritual and teaching by it and a formalism
which is not yet outworn in our ranks, had a vision of what
geometry might mean beside the mathematical science of angles.
For.... how does it go? In our charge to a Fellowcraft, we say
"Geometry, or Masonry, originally synonymous
terms, being of a divine and moral nature, is enriched with
the
most useful knowledge, while it proves the wonderful
properties of
nature, it demonstrates the more important truths of morality.'
"It
should be obvious that a study of mathematics of any kind
cannot demonstrate morality unless it is considered a symbol
as
well as a science.
As
we are thus told in so many words to use geometry as a symbol, we may
well agree with Pike, who wrote learnedly to prove a Mason's inherent
right to interpret the symbols of Freemasonry for himself. To me,
geometry is a symbol of science, and one which I should use to impress
upon myself the need of something else. To a Mason who had had few
educational advantages, the word might mean its literal sense, and he
be greatly benefitted by a close study of the book which discourages
you.
"I
do not attempt, my brother, to force upon you my understanding, or
to quarrel at all with those Masons who find a different interpretation
of the geometry which is Masonry as we understand it. I do but give you
my ideas for whatever use they may be to you, and so you will not be
discouraged in what is a praiseworthy attempt to profit by the Masonic
lectures. Do you recall the end of the charge you received as a
Fellowcraft?"
"I....
I.... I am afraid I don't, just exactly...."
"It
runs this way," smiled the Old Past Master. "....'in
your new character it is expected that you will conform to the
principles of the Order by steadily persevering in the practice of
every commendable virtue.' If you study the 'principles of the Order'
you will, indeed, be learning Masonic geometry."
