MASONIC SYMBOLS INDICATE A CIVILIZATION WITHIN CHAOS

We use symbols not just as sources of information but as intermediaries between reality and the unknown.  Masonic symbols are definitive, representing powerful forces, fears, countervailing against a shocking reality of man's inhumanity to man; symbols reporting an understanding of the depths of human experience. What shields us from time? Time works a mystery on us. Partly it is the mystery of introduction. Here is a story of a temple, that fell and rebuilt. That story is about the mind palace that is inside the architecture of the human brain. We come from nothing. We live. We are no more. After acknowledging the struggle the purpose of all creatures to exist- we become the destroyer. And from this, we preserve an unenforceable ethical standard for living. Our minds within masonry are exposed to bliss behind closed doors. Those doors require insight. Some are the simple philosophy of a child that we lose as we mature and bear responsibility and see the failures.  Do we pretend they do not exist and turn our gaze away? Do we succumb and withdraw?  Do we accept? Do we deny?  How does an ethical being deal with the meanness and sadness of an exploited, uninspired, illiterate life?  Overwhelming or otherwise kept in proportion by centuries of thought on issues of freedom and democracy; equality and universality.   Our symbols like us, are anecdotes for symbols of pain and fear. Thoughtful, contemplative, but unassuming men moving through life on a wave of curiosity and the boldness of scientific/objective inquiry.  We identify less with false confidence, jingoism, paranoia and more with observable fact. Masons communicated those lofty ideas on the nature of humanity, through a universal shorthand language. Having them is only part of the story. Distinguishing ourselves means answers to questions we've asked. And the secrets remain, locked in the confines of a loving heart.