The Lost Key: An Explanation of Masonic Symbols

Chapter I. 7explain the meaning of the symbolic actions of the Rituals in aplain, straight-forward, common sense way. You have probablyoften heard it remarked by some brother that he could notunderstand why Masonry has had to veil its lessons, if indeed it hadany, under the cloak of allegory and symbolism and you haveheard, without a doubt, answers given to this most natural andpertinent question. But the answers were so vague and dealt solargely with matters not pertinent to the question that they failedto convince or even to throw the faintest ray of light upon thedarkness. The great fact that symbols repeat upon the subjectivemind lessons which have already been learned, never seemed tooccur to the brothers who undertook the explanation. Nor didthey ever seem to grasu the fact that Masonry was originally aSchool in which lessons were taught verbally and then repeated bymeans of the Symbolism. These things and many others which areat present “mysteries” to the rank and file and even to the leadersof the great Order, will be developed in the course of this presentvolume. As a first step in this explanation we will take up andconsider briefly the nature and function of a symbol.THE SYMBOLISM OF THE AMERICAN FLAG5. You are, of course, familiar with the American Flag, the “Starsand Stripes.” The Flag is a Symbol. It symbolizes, or represents,the country and the power of the country. In a foreign land, raisedover a Consulate, it represents the United States of America andthose in that Consulate are under the “protection of the Flag.” Yetthe Flag, considered merely as a collection of vari-colored pieces ofcloth, could not protect anything. Should a mob, in some foreigncountry, attack the Flag and tear it down and insult it, they wouldnot be offering their insults to the few pieces of cloth whichcompose it. The insults are offered to the symbol of the countryand, through it, to the country itself.