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emeraldi42| Masonic Dualities

Posted at: 1:54 pm

We as Masons hear the phrase “with every revealment there is a reveilment” all the time. Those us of who study the esoterica of the craft may feel a reverence for the passage in The Emerald Tablet “As above, so below”. We have many symbols that philosophically illustrate the natural duality in man whether it is physical, spiritual or physiological. We learn the importance of balance through the instruction of many degrees that emphasize not only a balance in action, but in thought.

This is one of the reasons I enjoy Freemasonry so much. It provides a learning template to examine the world around me as well as myself. I have learned to “see the other side of things” better. I have learned tolerance and understanding, but most importantly I have learned a valuable method of critical thinking.

A couple of years ago AEdifico and myself were at one of our lodge’s research meetings when we decided to turn the symbiolism of Freemasonry on it’s head just to see if we could logically debate it’s merit. We continued this exercise with many of our Brethren and it turned out to have a great effect on the motivation to examine our ritual. Needless to say we were pleasantly surprised. Our first major project was writing what we call “The Reverse Staircase Lecture” which I will not get into because it can merit a complete research paper on it’s own, but there are other elements that when looked at “through the looking-glass” if you will, provided excellent tools to learning, understanding, teaching and examining the symbolism of Freemasonry. Here is one:

The Mosaic Pavment: We all know the explanation of this one. It’s simplicity is both beautiful and thought provoking. One of the things I though about as I was reading the lecture explanation for this degree was that it is not explicit (in my ritual atleast and I know it varies a little by jurisdiction, but this was my source) which color represents good or evil. Western mentality will intuitively say that black is evil, white is good. This is understandable considering the primordial fear of darkness, etc. While thinking about this I wondered “How do we know that tile is colored black?” If I remember correctly it is because our eyes see every color reflected off the tile except for black, so in essence it is the only color that the tile is not giving off. Anyone who has studied photography may understand this reverse color concept and apply it here. Also, think about the colors of black and white and what they do to light. We know that the color black absorbs light and white reflects it away. So which color should we be emulating? Should we be the receptors of light or reflectors? Which one is evil now? Furthermore, we as men and Masons know that we will always be an apprentice to someone while a master to someone else so it is apparent that both are still necessary (as explained in the lecture) and both are a natural part of life. So the lecture is correct while also leaving it open to other interpretations that illustrate the same concept. Good and evil, white is black, black is white, master and apprentice, as above so below.

There are many more that you can find and experiment with, most notably the ashlars. But I encourage who all to take a piece of symbolism, say the Pillars and find correlating examples of why there are used, by whom, when and why. By doing these types of exercises it will reinforce your Masonic education, introduce you to other systems with similar philosophies and most importantly they are always great discussion pieces with your Brothers. So look at it, find something that’s not explicit and explore the thought, then share it

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