The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

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Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols
emblem of wisdom, darting its rays, in the old ritual of the Scottish and Hermetic
degree of Knight of the Sun, and it also figured in the degree Prince of
Jerusalem. Once, it used to be the characteristic color of the Mark Master's
Degree, presumably because this degree used to receive its charters originally
from the Princes of Jerusalem, but, as Mackey says, "it does not seem to have
possessed any symbolic meaning." 577
4.6 Main Masonic Symbols, their Meanings,
and Metaphorical Use in Language
I am no iconoclast in the common sense of the word. I heard a brother
who is high in the councils of Masonry say [...], "All Masonic
symbolism is bunk. Rip it all away and Masonry would be better off."
Never. Keep it. Preserve it intact. Hand it down as it has been handed
down to us. But let us show at least a moderate degree of intelligence in
the process. Let us at least offer an interpretation of the ritual so that our
Master Masons may know what the words mean as well as what the
words are. It is the only way we can truly enrich them - anything less
leave them "Beggars, sitting on bags of gold." 578
In order to show the beggars what they sit on, the following pages will
illustrate and explain several common Masonic symbols, that have not been dealt
with in Sections 4.1 on rooms, 4.2 on working tools, and 4.3 on clothing.
Freemasonry cannot live without symbols. However, as the quotation above
shows, not only profanes, but also brethren of the Craft, sometimes do not know
what to make of them, denouncing them as "bunk." The symbols of Masonry
have one peculiarity - they can be interpreted in different ways. On the one hand,
this creates tolerance, since each Mason is invited to find his own significance.
On the other hand, it makes a true definition of the symbols more difficult. The
advantage of the ambiguous symbolism is that Masonry gains from it a timeless
and universal character:
Die Wirkung des Symbols beruht auf einer psychischen Gleichformung.
Jeder Mensch unterscheidet sich vom anderen, weshalb die Auswirkung
der Auseinandersetzung mit einem Symbol trotz des grundlegenden
Gleichklangs bei allen Menschen verschieden ist. Das Symbol im
engeren Sinne ist auch eines der Hauptelemente für die Zeitlosigkeit
und Internationalität der Freimaurerei und ihrer Unabhängigkeit von
religiösen Überzeugungen. Und schließlich ist sie der eigentliche Grund
für das Wesen der Freimaurerei, die den Bruder nicht verbal, sondern in
577 Cf. ibid, p. 865.
578 Douglas Martin, "Blind Men - Dark Closets - Black Hats," in: The Master Mason (1925), p. 194.