The lectures of our Degrees go into quite a bit of detail about the Floor of the Lodge. It is made clear that the Floor is intended to be quite rich symbolically, containing many features.
That suggests the question, what do these features and symbols mean to you?
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The email I received a moment before your daily Emeth had arrived was the Quote of the Day from the School of Practical Philosophy, and it immediately reminded me of the Checkered Pavement:
“To undertake a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties, but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring them to the transformative power of our heart.”
To accept and appreciate that the craft is not immune to deceit. Nor narcissism, dishonesty, or manipulation. But it is prepared for it. "Silence & Circumspection." -M. Davis PM
Historically the checkered floor is represented by the two non-colors; White and Black. White represents the light and spirit, whereas black represents matter and darkness. In the gender of numerology, male is represented by even numbers, and female by odd numbers. It’s definitely noteworthy, tracing to the furthest tradition of our craft, which some can conclude is India, which is also the oldest known religion; Hinduism.
The Three Vedic lesser lights: Their sutra texts are appendices that deal with the mathematical methodology to construct geometries for the Vedic fire alter, which are similar in the layout of a Masonic Lodge. Fire alters remain part of its customs in some Hindu rituals and rites of passage. In particular circling around the altar, with its oblong 3:4:5 ratio. This mathematical ratio of the right triangle was used in ancient times for various purposes, such as sacred temple building, altars, sundials, and seasonal markers. In the Agnicayana ritual, the great altar has a length of 24 beginnings (prakrama) in the east, 30 in the west and 36 in the north and south (24+30+36= 90). Inside the great altar (mahavedi), an altar of three Vedic fires are placed, called Garhapatya, Ahavaniya, and Daksinagni. The first is Garhapatya, meaning “belonging to the master of the house”. Representing the earth in the West, is (Garhapatya), which in turn lights the next two. Next, placed in the east, representing the sky and placed in the east, is the light of ahavaniya, meaning “to be offered as an oblation”. The final fire is the ancestor’s fire, Daksinagni, meaning the southern fire, and is placed in the Southwest. This ceremony is usually done in the morning, as the sun rises in the east and gives its light to the sky and man.
Around 2000 BCE, the sage Baudhayana, is accredited with calculating the value of pi (π), and noted as the author of the earliest Sulba Sutra (a rope stretched along the length of the diagonal produces an area which the vertical and horizontal side makes together). The Pythagorean Triangle is the same as that which is the basis of what is known as the Forty-Seventh problem of the Greek geometrician, Euclid. It is attributed to the latter, merely because it was included by him in his exhaustive treatise on the Science of which it forms a part. Pythagoras obtained it in Egypt but the Egyptians owed it to the Sages of India.
The hypotenuse of a right angle, contains the sum of both. A2+B2=C2. This can be interpreted as a geometric sequence as the Trinity; Father, Mother, and Son. In Hinduism this is represented by Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. As interpreted through Geometry, this theory was handed down when Euclid was initiated in Egypt, and he later became known as the father of Geometry.
Euclids 47th Problem, which became known as “The Pythagorean Theorem,” can be further illustrated by black and white checkers, or symbols called a Magic Square. A magic square is a square array of numbers consisting of the distinct positive integers arranged such that the sum of the numbers in any horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line is always the same number. (ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_square ) In the Pythagorean Theorem, there are three magic squares; 3x3, 4x4, and 5x5.
The first dateable instance of the magic square occur in 587 CE in India. The magic square was also known to Chinese mathematicians around 200 BCE. Ancient references to the pattern of even and odd numbers in the 3×3 magic square appears in the I Ching, the first unequivocal instance of this magic square appears in the chapter called Mingtang (Bright Hall) of a 1st-century book Da Dai Liji (Record of Rites by the Elder Dai), which purported to describe ancient Chinese rites of the Zhou dynasty. From its mythology, the I Ching is credited to Fuxi and Nuwa, who ironically, are illustrated as holding the tools of creation; the Carpenters Square and a Compass, representing heaven and earth or spirit and matter.
Excellent insights and reminders of ancient wisdom practices and founders too often lost to our contemporary world. A lot here to digest and process. Thank you! Math is the Universal language. 1+1 always equals 2 no matter whether it is "spoken" in English, French, German, Spanish, Farsi, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Hindi, Swahili, etc. etc. etc.
I also think educating the other Masonic groups about the floor is important as well.
When Centralia's floor was finished, it included elements from the Symbolic Lodge as well as the Order of the Eastern Star. Excellent work. But sadly, the Chapter, as well as a few York Rite Masons, weren't fans of the floor. Some of the OES ladies grumbled that the Mosaic Pavement made them dizzy when they looked at it, and those York Rite Masons grumbled that the OES star was included where they thought it shouldn't have been.
It's true, you can't please everyone, but you can hold educational meetings and invite the concordant bodies to attend. People tend to hold more respect for what they better understand.
Agreed. We sometimes do very well to explain things so that others can understand. If we don't at least try to answer those questions that we can, then the non Masons who visit our Temples can become easily confused, and that confusion can lead to some of the odd conspiracy theories and flights of fancy that our Fraternity has historically been plagued with.
We can't of course explain everything, heck I don't think any of us can claim to know everything, but we can work to 'reclaim the narrative' on those occasions that are possible. (To steal a PGM's line.)
The email I received a moment before your daily Emeth had arrived was the Quote of the Day from the School of Practical Philosophy, and it immediately reminded me of the Checkered Pavement:
“To undertake a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties, but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring them to the transformative power of our heart.”
Jack Kornfeld (b.1945)
American Meditation Teacher
To accept and appreciate that the craft is not immune to deceit. Nor narcissism, dishonesty, or manipulation. But it is prepared for it. "Silence & Circumspection." -M. Davis PM
Historically the checkered floor is represented by the two non-colors; White and Black. White represents the light and spirit, whereas black represents matter and darkness. In the gender of numerology, male is represented by even numbers, and female by odd numbers. It’s definitely noteworthy, tracing to the furthest tradition of our craft, which some can conclude is India, which is also the oldest known religion; Hinduism.
The Three Vedic lesser lights: Their sutra texts are appendices that deal with the mathematical methodology to construct geometries for the Vedic fire alter, which are similar in the layout of a Masonic Lodge. Fire alters remain part of its customs in some Hindu rituals and rites of passage. In particular circling around the altar, with its oblong 3:4:5 ratio. This mathematical ratio of the right triangle was used in ancient times for various purposes, such as sacred temple building, altars, sundials, and seasonal markers. In the Agnicayana ritual, the great altar has a length of 24 beginnings (prakrama) in the east, 30 in the west and 36 in the north and south (24+30+36= 90). Inside the great altar (mahavedi), an altar of three Vedic fires are placed, called Garhapatya, Ahavaniya, and Daksinagni. The first is Garhapatya, meaning “belonging to the master of the house”. Representing the earth in the West, is (Garhapatya), which in turn lights the next two. Next, placed in the east, representing the sky and placed in the east, is the light of ahavaniya, meaning “to be offered as an oblation”. The final fire is the ancestor’s fire, Daksinagni, meaning the southern fire, and is placed in the Southwest. This ceremony is usually done in the morning, as the sun rises in the east and gives its light to the sky and man.
Around 2000 BCE, the sage Baudhayana, is accredited with calculating the value of pi (π), and noted as the author of the earliest Sulba Sutra (a rope stretched along the length of the diagonal produces an area which the vertical and horizontal side makes together). The Pythagorean Triangle is the same as that which is the basis of what is known as the Forty-Seventh problem of the Greek geometrician, Euclid. It is attributed to the latter, merely because it was included by him in his exhaustive treatise on the Science of which it forms a part. Pythagoras obtained it in Egypt but the Egyptians owed it to the Sages of India.
The hypotenuse of a right angle, contains the sum of both. A2+B2=C2. This can be interpreted as a geometric sequence as the Trinity; Father, Mother, and Son. In Hinduism this is represented by Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. As interpreted through Geometry, this theory was handed down when Euclid was initiated in Egypt, and he later became known as the father of Geometry.
Euclids 47th Problem, which became known as “The Pythagorean Theorem,” can be further illustrated by black and white checkers, or symbols called a Magic Square. A magic square is a square array of numbers consisting of the distinct positive integers arranged such that the sum of the numbers in any horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line is always the same number. (ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_square ) In the Pythagorean Theorem, there are three magic squares; 3x3, 4x4, and 5x5.
The first dateable instance of the magic square occur in 587 CE in India. The magic square was also known to Chinese mathematicians around 200 BCE. Ancient references to the pattern of even and odd numbers in the 3×3 magic square appears in the I Ching, the first unequivocal instance of this magic square appears in the chapter called Mingtang (Bright Hall) of a 1st-century book Da Dai Liji (Record of Rites by the Elder Dai), which purported to describe ancient Chinese rites of the Zhou dynasty. From its mythology, the I Ching is credited to Fuxi and Nuwa, who ironically, are illustrated as holding the tools of creation; the Carpenters Square and a Compass, representing heaven and earth or spirit and matter.
Wonderful treatise! You have given me *much* to consider! Thank you!
Excellent insights and reminders of ancient wisdom practices and founders too often lost to our contemporary world. A lot here to digest and process. Thank you! Math is the Universal language. 1+1 always equals 2 no matter whether it is "spoken" in English, French, German, Spanish, Farsi, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Hindi, Swahili, etc. etc. etc.
I also think educating the other Masonic groups about the floor is important as well.
When Centralia's floor was finished, it included elements from the Symbolic Lodge as well as the Order of the Eastern Star. Excellent work. But sadly, the Chapter, as well as a few York Rite Masons, weren't fans of the floor. Some of the OES ladies grumbled that the Mosaic Pavement made them dizzy when they looked at it, and those York Rite Masons grumbled that the OES star was included where they thought it shouldn't have been.
It's true, you can't please everyone, but you can hold educational meetings and invite the concordant bodies to attend. People tend to hold more respect for what they better understand.
Agreed. We sometimes do very well to explain things so that others can understand. If we don't at least try to answer those questions that we can, then the non Masons who visit our Temples can become easily confused, and that confusion can lead to some of the odd conspiracy theories and flights of fancy that our Fraternity has historically been plagued with.
We can't of course explain everything, heck I don't think any of us can claim to know everything, but we can work to 'reclaim the narrative' on those occasions that are possible. (To steal a PGM's line.)
Magpie, Justin, & Warren:
Thank you, each of you brought a unique perspective and gave me a good deal to think about!