The Old Past Master
by Carl Claudy- 1924
WHY SYMBOLISM?
"I
am puzzled" began the new Master Mason, "over a matter on
which I have vainly sought light among my brethren. None gives me a
satisfactory answer. We are taught that Masonry teaches through
symbols; I want to know why. Why do we not put our truths into plain
words? Why do we employ one thing to stand for another thing? Wouldn't
Masonry be stronger and better if it was plain instead of 'veiling in
allegory' its principles and ethics?"
"Like
so many questions which can be answered regarding Masonry,' answered
the Old Past Master,' this one may have several answers, all correct."
"Well,
what is your answer?" demanded the new Master Mason.
"You
will surely admit without argument," answered the Old Past
Master, "that man is a triple nature; he is physical, mental and
spiritual. He has a body, and senses which bring him into contact with,
and translate the meanings of, the physical world of earth, air, fire
and water, which is about him. He has a brain and a mind, by which he
reasons and understands about the matters physical which he is
surrounded. And he has a "Something Beyond"; you may call it Soul, or
Heart, or Spirit,
or Imagination as you will, but it is something which is allied to,
rather than a part of, reason, and which is connected with the physical
side of life only through its sensory contacts.
"Your
soul or spirit, my brother, comprehends a language which the
brain does not understand. The keenest of minds have
striven to make this mystic language plain to
reason, without success. If you hear music
which brings tears to your eyes and grief or joy to your heart,
you
are responding to a language your brain does not understand and cannot
explain. It is not with your brain that you love your mother,
your child or your wife; it is "Something Beyond"; and the
language with which that love is spoken and
understood is not the language of the tongue.
"A
symbol is a word in that language. Translate that symbol into words
which appeal only to the mind, and the spirit of the word is lost.
Words appeal to the mind; meanings not expressed in words appeal to the
spirit.
"All
that there is in Freemasonry, which can be set down in words on a page,
leaves out completely the spirit of the Order. If we depended on words,
or ideas alone, the fraternity would not make a universal appeal to all
men, since no man has it given to him to appeal to the minds of all
other men. But Freemasonry expresses truths which are universal; it
expresses them in a universal language, universally understood by all
men without words. That language is the language of the symbol, and the
symbol is universally understood because it is the means of
communication between spirits, souls, hearts.
"Indeed,
when we say of Masonry that it is 'universal,' we mean
literally; it is of the universe, not merely of the world. If it were
possible for an inhabitant of Mars to make and use a telescope which
would enable him to see plainly a square mile of the surface of the
earth, and if we knew it, and desired by drawing upon that square mile
a symbol, to communicate with the inhabitants of Mars, we would choose,
undoubtedly, one with as many meanings as possible; one which had a
material, a mental and a spiritual meaning. Such a symbol would be the
triangle, the square or the circle. Our supposed Martian might respond
with a complementary symbol; if we showed him a triangle, he might
reply with the 47th problem of Euclid; if we showed him a circle, he
might set down 3.141659 (the number by which a diameter multiplied,
becomes a circumference). We would find in a symbol a language with
which to begin communication, even with all the universe!
"Naturally
then, we employ symbols here for heart to speak to heart.
Call it soul, mind, spirit, what you will, imagination is its
collection of senses. So we must appeal to the imagination when
speaking a truth which is neither mental or physical, and the symbol is
the means by which one imagination speaks to another. Nothing else will
do; no words can be as effective (unless they are themselves symbols),
no teachings expressed in language can be as easily taught or learned
by the heart as those which come via the symbol through the imagination.
Take
from Freemasonry its symbols and you have but the husk; the kernel is
gone. He who hears but the words of Freemasonry misses its meaning
entirely.
"The
symbol has many interpretations. These do not contradict each
other; they amplify each other. Thus, the square is a symbol of
perfection, of rectitude of conduct, of honor and honesty, of good
work. These are all different, and yet allied. The square is not a
symbol of wrong, or evil, or meanness or disease! Ten different men may
read ten different meanings into a square, and yet each meaning fits
with, and belongs to, the other meanings.
"Now
ten men have ten different kinds of hearts. Not all have the same power
of imagination. They do not all have the same ability to comprehend. So
each gets from a symbol what he can. He uses his imagination. He
translates to his soul as much of the truth as he is able to make part
of him. This the ten cannot do with truths expressed in words. 'Twice
two is equal to four' is a truth which must be accepted all at once, as
a complete exposition, or not at all. He who can understand but the
'twice' or the 'equal' or the 'four' has no conception of what is being
said. But ten men can read ten progressive, different, correct and
beautiful meanings into the trowel, and each be right as far as he
goes. The man who sees it merely as an instrument which helps to bind,
has a part of the meaning. He who finds it a link with operative Masons
has another part. The man who sees it as a symbol of man's relationship
to Deity, because with it he (spiritually) does the Master's work, has
another meaning. All these meanings are right; when all men
know all
the meanings the
need of Masonry will have passed away.
"To
sum up, the reason we must use symbols is because only by them can
we speak the language of the spirit, each to each, and because they
form an elastic language, which each man reads for himself according to
his ability. Symbolism is the only language which is that elastic, and
the only one by which the spirit can be touched.
To
suggest that Masonry use any other would be as revolutionary as
to
remove her Altars, meet in the public square or elect by a majority
vote! In other words, Masonry without symbols would not be Masonry; it
would be but dogmatic and not very erudite philosophy,
of which the world is full as it is, and none of which ever satisfies
the heart!"
