Explaining Our Symbolism

Can we do it?

I think it is fair to say that Freemasonry, without its symbolism, wouldn’t be Freemasonry at all. The symbolism is at the very heart of our Ancient Craft, and the study of that symbolism should properly be the avocation of every Mason.

Recently one of my Lodges hosted a small birthday party for one of our most valued members, and during that party a couple of new Masons came up to me with questions about our symbolism. One of them is a fairly new Master Mason, the other a recent Entered Apprentice.

Their question was about the symbol of the Forget Me Not.

Photo by Dominik Scythe on Unsplash

If you are interested, I’ve written about this symbol in the past here:

The Forget Me Not

I told them the story behind it, how it became a Masonic symbol, and gave them my opinion about the factual or mythical nature of the story.

Our discussion then turned to much deeper symbolism. Our Masonic Lesser Lights, some related symbolism within fringe Masonry, and how those symbols could have come into Freemasonry from older historical practices.

At the recent Conference of Grand Masters, there was discussion about the importance of having a solid ‘elevator speech’ ready to mind for when a non Mason asks us about our Craft. Ideally, a really short answer that might intrigue them enough to ask more.

I think that is an excellent practice, even though I am truly awful at explaining Freemasonry to a non Mason in thirty seconds. I notice that when we are together and I get a question like that my wife is often quick to jump in with an answer, saving me.

We know that many of our newer Masons are really interested in the symbolism of Masonry. It can’t be otherwise, for the symbols are everywhere as they go through the Degrees.

But if we, as longer term Masons don’t have our own explanations of our symbolism, and what it means to us personally, how can we answer the questions about that symbolism from newer Masons when they come?

I fear that more often than not, we don’t. We avoid or blow off the question, having never really considered it ourselves. And that is precisely what we should be avoiding if our goal is to develop active and involved Freemasons.

The field of Freemasonry is so vast that a comprehensive study of it would take more than a lifetime. But, we do very well to study those parts of it that most interest us, so that we can pass our discoveries along to the Masons who follow us.

And if we get a question about our symbolism or philosophy that we can’t answer, we do very well to declare that we will do some research into it with the Mason who asked about it, so that we can discover the answers together. Superb Masonic books have been continually published for three hundred years now. The answers to every question are out there, waiting for us to find.