Pieces of the Puzzle
by Roger
M. Firestone, 33 KCCH
rfire@jtan.com
http://mastermason.com/rfire
"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.