The Lost Key: An Explanation of Masonic Symbols

100The Lost Keythis intuition had been the man’s guide in his conduct and whenthe increasing coarseness of the personality, brought about by theabuse of the sex function, began to interfere with his intuitionalperception, the “designs on the trestle-board” or the intuitiveperception of right and wrong (the moral law ) became less distinctand the race began to lose the spiritual perception of that onenesswhich is the basis of spiritual Love and Selfishness developed.THE THREE RUFFIANS288. The race, being no longer guided by intuition, came under theguidance or the false leadership of Ignorance and these three,IGNORANCE, SELFISHNESS and SENSUALITY caused the completeextinction of the intuitive faculty or the conscious touch with theDivine and from that time on there were no more designs upon thetrestleboard—that is, man was living blindly, ignorant of the Lawswhich govern the Universe.289. Hiram Abif, the architect and Grand Master, symbolizes thatintuitive touch with the Divine and was killed by the three ruffiansof Ignor~nce, Selfishness and Sensuality and his body was buriedin the rubbish of the Temple, the iUs ,and mistakes and sins of thepersonality. Yet there was a possibility of his revival and so thesethree ruffians took his body and buried it in a deep grave, whichsymbolizes the sectarian ,beliefs of the various religions which haveheld the race in bondage, the dogmas of man-made systems which,not knowing the truth, have concocted a theory or maze of theoriesthat have held the race in blindness and slavery as profoundas that of the grave which is used to typify them.290. There was, planted at the head of the grave, a sprig of acacia.This acacia has ahvays been used in symbolic writings to representTRUTH and the meaning is plain. When the race begins to seek andfind the TRUTH regarding the great Natural Laws, the body will befound, the buried body of Hiram Abif the Intuitive Faculty. To