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

Chapter 10 - Conclusion 833
It can be deduced from this fact that there was neither "stability," in allusion
to the name of the lodge, nor unity, because "improvements" do not promote the
idea of universality, since they are always alterations of traditional forms. In the
"Notes on Ritual and Procedure" introducing the Emulation Working, sixth and
revised edition 1980, the question is raised as to whom authority is to be given to
make ritualistic alterations. As the Committee has already mentioned in the
preface 2037 of this edition, "the opportunity has been taken to make any revisions
in the rubric which use has shown to be necessary," and the Committee
concludes that the Grand Lodge alone has the right to change the ritual, since it
was also the Grand Lodge who had "approved and confirmed" the original form
in June 1816.
It may well be thought that our ritual procedures should, periodically, be
brought up to date, but this poses the question as to whom licence is to
be given to make alterations when the original approval came from
Grand Lodge - even if it is not certain what, precisely, was approved.
For this reason the Committee considers that, as a matter of trust, it
should maintain without alteration the complete Ritual forms handed
down to it by its predecessors, and that it is outside its authority to make
any alterations unless officially sanctioned by resolution or acceptance
of Grand Lodge itself. Grand Lodge, obviously, can alter and adjust
a form of ritual which derives its authority from having been
originally approved by Grand Lodge. 2038
Having thus determined the authorization of Grand Lodge, the "Notes on
Ritual and Procedure" continue to explain that some lodges use the permissive
alternative forms of the obligation which were sanctioned by the Grand Lodge in
1964. 2039 Therefore, the reader is presented with both versions (for examples see
Section 7.1.4 on "Emulation Working").
10.3 The Tools, Jewels, and Other Symbols
The image of the temple, and herein included all the corresponding
metaphors drawn from the stonemasons' vocabulary, are the links between all
countries, because they incorporate the universal conception that man as a
builder erects the temple of humanity, he himself being just a little rough stone
that has to be shaped and smoothed in character in order to fit in the holy
structure.
2037 Emulation Working, p. 8.
2038 Ibid, p. 13/14; bold print added.
2039 Cf. ibid, p. 21.