Human development through freemasonry

Although freemasonry originated as a craft guild for the stonemasons of the middle ages (with possible links back to antiquity) it is currently open to men of all classes and religious backgrounds. The aim is to promote the spiritual development of members and foster charity among them. Members are sworn to secrecy about the rites of the craft, but it is known that these are based upon the imagery of the building of a temple for the glory and worship of God, where the temple represents the individual's body and mind, the temple of the soul.

All ceremonies, rituals, and even lodges or temples where masons meet, are redolent with symbolism. Initiation is a re-enactment of what is claimed to be an historical event - the murder of a craftsman engaged in building the Temple of Solomon for refusing to reveal the secret of how the Word of God was incorporated into the temple structure. The symbolic death and rebirth into the bonds of freemasonry may be compared with the rite of baptism. Another interpretation is related to the ancient Egyptian worship of Isis and Osiris - again seeking for the Word of God; as is the belief that Sufi mysticism is incorporated into the Temple of Solomon, in that temple measurements are said to be numerical equivalents of God's word. Other influences include alchemy and Rosicrucian philosophy and, more recently, theosophy; some claim it also is influenced by devil worship. Although the mediaeval masons were required to be Christians, early in the eighteenth century the God of Christianity was replaced in all masonic documents by "the Great Architect of the Universe".

The masonic degrees through which the freemason may pass aim to assist him in transforming his thoughts, desires and actions into spiritual thinking, constructive emotion and constructive labour. Man's nature is seen as incomplete (represented by an unfinished pyramid) and marked by duality (represented by the black and white check floor of masonic temples). The symbols used in initiation, in particular the cross, the 'G' (the broken circle) in the delta (the complete pyramid), the explosive image of the flaming star surrounding the delta, all demonstrate man's brokenness yet wholeness at the centre, his radiating out in all directions.