124 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
124 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII March, 1929 No.3
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LANGUAGE OF THE HEART
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by: Carl H. Claudy
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Chapter I of "Foreign Countries," a delightful and inspiring study of
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Masonic Symbolism, written for and published by the Masonic Service
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Association of the United States.
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FREEMASONRY TEACHES BY SYMBOLS!
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Why? Why does she veil in allegory and conceal in an object or
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picture a meaning quite different from its name?
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Why should Freemasonry express Immortality with Acacia, Brotherly
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Love with a Trowel, the World by a Lodge and Right Living by a
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Mason's
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That Freemasonry conceals in symbols in order to arouse curiosity to
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know their meaning is often considered the only explanation. But
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there are many more lofty ideas of why this great system of truth,
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philosophy and ethics is hidden in symbols.
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It is hardly a matter of argument that man has a triple nature; he
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has a body and senses which bring him into contact with and translate
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the meanings of the physical world of earth, air, fire and water
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which is about him. He has a brain and a mind by which he reasons
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and understands about the matters physical with which he is
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surrounded. And he has a Something Beyond; call it Soul, Heart,
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Spirit or imagination, as you will; it is something which is allied
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to, rather than a part of reason, and connected with the physical
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side of life only through its sensory contacts.
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This soul, or spirit, comprehends a language which the brain does not
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understand. The keenest minds have striven without success to make
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this mystic language plain to reason. When you hear music which
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brings tears to your eyes and grief or joy to your heart, you respond
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to a language your brain does not understand and cannot explain. It
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is not with your brain that you love your mother, your child or your
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wife; it is with the Something Beyond; and the language with which
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that love is spoken is not the language of the tongue.
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A symbol is a word in that language. Translate that symbol into
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words which appeal only to the mind, and the spirit of the meaning is
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lost. Words appeal to the mind; meanings not expressed in words
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appeal to the spirit.
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All that there is in Freemasonry, which can be set down in words on a
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page, leaves out completely the Spirit of the Order, If we depend
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upon words or ideas alone, the Fraternity would not make a universal
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appeal to all men, since no man has it given to him to appeal to
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minds of all other men. But Freemasonry expresses truths which are
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universal; it expresses them in a universal language, universally
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understood by all men without words. That language is the language
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of the symbol, and the symbol is universally understood because it is
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the means of communication between spirit, souls and hearts.
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When we say of Masonry that it is universal we mean the word
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literally; it is of the universe, not merely of the world. If it
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were possible for an inhabitant of Mars to make and use a telescope
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which would enable him to plainly see a square mile of the surface of
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the earth, and if we knew it and desired to, we could draw upon that
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square mile a symbol to communicate with that inhabitant of Mars, we
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would choose, undoubtedly, one with as many meanings as possible; one
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which had a material, mental and spiritual meaning. Such a symbol
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might be the triangle, the square or the circle. Our supposed
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Martian might respond with a complimentary symbol; if we showed him a
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triangle he might reply with the 47th Problem. If we showed him a
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circle he might send down 3.141659 - the number by which a diameter
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is multiplied to become the circumference. We could find a language
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in symbols with which to begin a communication, even with all the
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universe!
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Naturally then, Freemasonry employs symbols for heart to speak to
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heart. Imagination is the heart's collection of senses. So we must
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appeal to the imagination when speaking a truth which is neither
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mental nor physical, and the symbol is the means by which one
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imaginations speaks to another. Nothing else will do; no words can
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be as effective (unless they are themselves symbols); no teachings
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expressed in language can be as easily learned by the heart as those
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which come via the symbol through the imagination.
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Take from Masonry its symbols and you have just the husk; the kernel
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is gone. He who hears but the words of Freemasonry misses their
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meaning entirely. Most symbols have many interpretations. These do
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not contradict but amplify each other. Thus, the square is a symbol
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of perfection, rectitude of conduct, honor, honesty and good work.
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There are all different and yet allied. The square is not a symbol
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of wrong, evil, meanness or disease! Ten different men may read ten
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different meanings into a square, and yet each meaning fits with and
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belongs to the other meanings.
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Ten men have ten different kinds of hearts. Not all have the same
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power of imagination. They do not all have the same ability to
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comprehend. So each gets from a symbol what he can. He uses his
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imagination. He translates to his soul as much of the truth as he is
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able to make a part of him. This the ten cannot do with truths
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expressed in words. "Twice two is equal to four" is a truth which
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must be accepted all at once, as a complete exposition, or not at
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all. He who can not understand the "twice" or the "equal" or the
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"four" has no conception of what is being said. But ten men can read
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ten progressive, different, correct and beautiful meanings into a
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trowel, and each can be right as far as he goes. The man who sees it
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merely as an instrument which helps to bind has a part of its
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meaning. He who finds it a link with operative Masons has another
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part. The man who sees it as a symbol of man's relationship to
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Deity, because with it he (spiritually) does the Master's Work, has
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another meaning. All these meanings are right; when all men know all
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the meanings the need for Freemasonry will have passed away.
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We use symbols because only by them can we speak the language of the
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spirit, each to each, and because they form an elastic language,
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which each man reads for himself according to his ability. Symbols
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form the only language which is thus elastic, and the only one by
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which spirit can be touched. To suggest that Freemasonry use any
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other would be as revolutionary as to remove her Altars, meet in a
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Public Square or elect by majority vote. Freemasonry without symbols
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would not be Freemasonry; it would be but a dogmatic and not very
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erudite philosophy, of which the world is full of as it is, and none
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of which ever satisfies the heart.
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