Light, Enlightenment, and Reflection

Within the Degrees are represented the three stages of life, namely youth, manhood, and age. Over and over, the initiate is instructed in his journey to achieve a good Masonic life and earn the plaudits of the Great Architect. The construction of a Spiritual Temple through labor and intellectual growth is to be his lifetime goal.

At each stage and degree, there is light, enlightenment, and reflection. Darkness surrounds the initiate and light is that something which will make vision possible. Both spiritual illumination and vision are needed to see truth, and as an EA, or youth, he must find a path to move toward enlightenment, knowledge, and the spiritual insight extended by the Lodge. The shock of enlightenment and the ensuing reflection of the ideas and thoughts within the First degree are critical first steps as he begins his search for knowledge.

A similar threefold experience is found in the Fellow Craft Degree, where the lessons concern manhood and the accumulation of understanding of the arts and sciences. Here the emphasis is upon the application of knowledge through improvement of the mind and the importance of laboring with integrity, honesty, and brotherly love. Here the reflection is upon the active pursuit of knowledge, study of the senses and liberal arts, and mastering the tools of the Craft. The virtue and character of a true Mason can only be had through work, both within and without the Lodge.

At last the initiate reaches the third degree and experiences the three stages in two phases, but with a most important difference. The search for light, the enlightenment, and the reflective instruction ends with the initiate having to move to a higher level of reflection, for this is the stage of recognizing age, the final stage of life, and the full responsibilities of being a Master Mason. The legend and lessons of Hiram, the duties and obligations of being a Master, the Apron with its special charges, and the final hope to achieve that final welcome are worthy of deep reflection and thought.

So it is that the true Mason should take time to reflect and recall to his mind those words, lessons, actions, and purposes to which we are all dedicated, namely to make each other happy and to build a Spiritual Temple of Truth and Brotherly love. While our world seems to be fast paced, it is calm and quiet reflection upon the important aspects of our life and how the lessons of the Craft may guide our footsteps, actions, and deeds. Truth and wisdom are at the heart of speculative Masonry and as Light encompasses all the symbols of the Craft, so should our efforts be to encompass ourselves as "stones for that Building not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens".