The Lost Key: An Explanation of Masonic Symbols

Chapter VII. 83reaching value. But if we are really searchers after truth we willnot discard an explanation merely because it involves some thingswhich we do not ourselves believe.249. The ancients believed that the individual spirit incarnated(was born in the physical world), lived a life and then passed out ofthe physical world into a less material stage of existence where theresults of the experiences here were worked and amalgamated intothe spirit which then, after a period of rest, came back and wasreborn again. Thus the spirit developed or evolved, growing incharacter and powers and capacities as these were trained andfostered by its experiences in the physical world.250. They pictured this continuous journey of the spirit as a spiralwhich goes round and round while at the same time slowlyascending. We do not need to incorporate this into our own belief.We know that the Rite of Circumambulation is the last remnant ofsome sort of Sun worship of ancient times. But we do not thereforehave to become sun worshippers ourselves even though westill retain the circumambulation in our rituals.251. So the Winding Stairs are a symbol of the winding path ofspiritual development as pictured and believed by the ancients andthe three steps symbolize the three worlds through which theancient philosophers considered the spirit to be progressing whilethe five steps allude to or symbolize the five senses by means ofwhich we make progress or learn our lessons in the physical worldand their counterparts (spiritual senses) by which the spiritcontacts the higher worlds. The seven steps symbolize the sevensub worlds into which the ancients believed each of the threeworlds was divided.252. Such is the meaning of the Winding Stairs and the three, fiveand seven steps. It is a very pretty symbology when we understandwhat the ancient philosophers held as their beliefs. We may alter