The Lost Keys of Freemasonry - RoseCroix.org.au

5. He must seek to round off all inequalities. He can best do this by balancing hismental and physical organisms through the application and study of the seven liberalarts and sciences.Until he is relatively master of these principles on the highest plane within his ownbeing, he cannot hope spiritually to attract to himself, through the qualities of hisown character, the life-giving ray of the Fellow Craft. When he reaches this point,however, he is spiritually ready to hope for membership in a more advanced degree.The Mason must realize that his innermost motives are the index of his real self, andthose who allow social position, financial or business considerations or selfish andmaterialistic ideals, to lead them into the Masonic Brotherhood have therebyautomatically separated themselves from the Craft. They can never do any harm toFreemasonry by joining because they cannot get in. Ensconced within the lodge, theymay feel that they have deceived the Grand Master of the Universe, but when thespiritual lodge meets to carry on the true work of the Craft, they are disqualified andabsent. Watch fobs, lapel badges, and other insignia do not make Masons; neitherdoes the ritual ordain them. Masons are evolved through the self-conscious effort tolive up to the highest ideals within themselves; their lives are the sole insignia oftheir rank, greater by far than any visible, tangible credential.Bearing this in mind, it is possible for the unselfish, aspiring soul to becomespiritually and liberally vouched for by the centers of consciousness as an EnteredApprentice. It means he has taken the first grand step on the path of personalliberation. He is now symbolized as the child with the smiling face, for with thesimplicity of a child he places himself under the protection of his great spiritualFather, willing and glad to obey each of His commands. Having reached this pointand having done the best it was possible for him to do, he is in position to hope thatthe powers that be, moving in their mysterious manner, may find him worthy toundertake the second great step in spiritual liberation.CHAPTER IVTHE FELLOW CRAFTLife manifests not only through action on the physical plane, but through humanemotion and sentiment. This is the type of energy taken up by the student when hestarts his labors in the Fellow Craft. From youth with its smiling face, he passes on tothe greater responsibilities of manhood.On the second step of the temple stands a soldier dressed in shining armor, but hissword is sheathed and a book is in his hand. He is symbolic of strength, the energyof Mars, and the wonderful step in spiritual unfoldment which we know as FellowCraft. Through each one of us course the fiery rays of human emotion, a greatseething cauldron of power behind each expression of human energy. Like spiritedhorses chafing at the bit, like hounds eager for the chase, the emotional powerscannot be held in check, but break the walls of restraint and pour forth as fieryexpressions of dynamic energy. This great principle of emotion we know as thesecond murderer of Hiram. Through the perversion of human emotions there comes