TBL Staff

Dr. Roger M. Firestone, 32 KCCH
10159 Turnberry Place
Oakton, VA 22124-2847

"If knowledge is a sacred cow, then our problem is how to milk her without being taken upon the horns."
--Albert Szent-Gyorgi, Nobel Laureate, discoverer of vitamin C

Many candidates complete three, seven, nine or even 32 degrees and feel baffled that they have not received any "real secrets" in their progress through Masonry. Of course, they have received those elements that enable them to prove themselves Masons and thereby be able to claim fraternal assistance and welcome throughout the world, but for many, this does not seem sufficient.

As I see it, this is because they have not developed a real understanding of what the degrees of Masonry are about, at least not early in their Masonic career. I offer the following metaphor: The degrees of Masonry are like a set of keys. The keys open a collection of boxes, but what we find in the boxes are a set of puzzle pieces. To the Mason with the keys remains the task of assembling the pieces.

Sometimes we find that the pieces in a box go together in more than one way to produce more than one picture. Sometimes, the pictures don't tell us very much, until they are placed in conjunction with other pictures from other boxes. And sometimes, one must take the step of mixing together pieces from several of the boxes to form a startling picture that could not have been guessed at by looking at the pieces of each box separately.

Assembling the pieces of the puzzle is the job of research into Masonic philosophy, and it often leads to insights and meanings that cannot be guessed at from a simple examination of the Masonic lectures and degrees in isolation. Real effort is required beyond the ceremonies of the degrees to obtain the knowledge which Masons seek.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This brief article appeared in the short-lived Masonic magazine IHMBRA.