It is an odd fact that Freemasonry’s direct teaching in regard to
Truth is less important than her indirect teaching. In the entered
Apprentice’s Lecture we learn of Truth as “the foundation of every
virtue. To be good Men and True is the first lesson.” etc. But these
teachings regarding the third Principal Tenet are of Truth in its
narrower and more restricted sense - that use of the word as a
synonym for sincerity, right dealing, absence of deceit, straight
forwardness. Philosophers distinguish several verities of Truth -
logical truth, the conformity of reasoning to premises; ontological,
metaphysical or transcendental truth - the doctrine that the
existence of Deity is proved by the very idea of his existence;
absolute truth - the reality behind the appearance or idea. These
conceptions of Truth have led to the more common use of the word, as
that which is believed to be so, as distinct from that which is
known to be opposite of the fact. The witness who swears to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth indicates no more
than his intention to state that which is known to him, believed by
him; that he will not intentionally deceive. A witness may testify
to something which is not a fact and be unperjured, provided it is a
fact to “him.” A man, ignorant of astronomy may truthfully testify
that the sun moves from east to west between morning and night. His
testimony is the truth as he knows it. That actually the earth moves
beneath the sun, while the sun stands still, does not make him
untruthful. The truth is not always easy to define. Some questions
have several answers, all correct. Other questions cannot be
answered, “as asked,” correctly. For instance, “how many feet in a
mile?” has only one true answer: 5,280. But “what two whole numbers
added together make 5,280” has 2640, answers, “all” correct! “What
are the “only” two numbers, added together, that result in 5,280”
cannot be answered correctly, “in the terms in which it is asked,”
because there are not “only two” numbers, the addition of which so
result. In mathematics are many conceptions which have no actual
truth behind them. By the very laws of mathematics, we cannot
imagine a square root of “minus one.” A root, multiplied by itself,
must give the number of which it is a root. No number, plus or
minus, multiplied by itself produces a minus quantity. Yet this very
conception of the square root of minus one is constantly in use in
mathematics, though it has no objective existence and no
mathematical answer. The entered Apprentice Lecture teaches of truth
as opposed to deceit, truth as a foundation of character, truth in
the moral sense. In this sense Truth really is the foundation of
every virtue. There is no justice without truth; there is no
philanthropy without truth; there can be no self-sacrifice, no
bravery, no rectitude - no virtue of any kind - without a foundation
in that which is sincere and honest, as opposed to that which is
lying and deceitful. This aspect of truth is only part of the Third
Principal Tenet. It is vitally important, it must be learned,
pondered and observed, but it compares with the absolute Masonic
Truth as compares the moon to the sun. To grasp the idea of Absolute
Truth is not given to many, All abstract ideas require real mental
labor to formulate. The thought of fundamental, unchangeable,
inescapable verities behind the form, substance and phenomena of
life, is not easy. Yet difficulty but makes the idea the more
precious when it does become a part of a Freemason’s mental
concepts. A manufacturer is to make a table. Before he puts pencil
to paper he forms an idea of what a table looks like. He reduces
this idea to a drawing and specification; it then becomes an idea
made manifest, so that others can understand it. But it is not yet a
table. When the wood-worker constructs the table from materials,
cutting and fitting them from the plans, the idea becomes embodied.
The table is now all three - idea, idea manifest, and idea embodied.
To the observer it is possessed of form and substance. is hard,
varnished, throws a shadow, and can support other objects - in fact,
a table. The Absolute Truth of the table is probably quite
different. For all its seeming solidity and weight, we know that it
is far more space than matter. We know that its atoms are composed
of electrons, whirling at inconceivable speeds about a central
proton, and that if we could see it as it “really” is, not as it
appears to the human senses, it would be a collection of bounding,
moving, swinging, revolving particles of electricity, the force of
which, if all were suddenly let loose, would be sufficient to wreck
a city. But not a single scientist can yet even imagine what an
electron “really” is - the Absolute Truth of it escapes the
laboratory. Freemasonry is not all concerned with proving the verity
of Deity. She accepts a Great Architect as Truth. But as we have
seen, Truth has more than one classification. The Absolute Truth of
Deity can no more be known to man on earth than the Absolute Reality
of the table can be realized by those who use it. Our perception of
the world and life is sense bound. From seeing, hearing , touching,
tasting and smelling; we reason, think and believe. Many aspects of
physical things do not touch our five senses - for instance, the
speed of the electron, the size of the atom. And unimaginable
aspects of Deity cannot enter our minds, because a finite mind can
never comprehend that which is infinite. Freemasonry teaches that
the True Word was lost. She offers a substitute. To search for That
Which Was Lost is the reason for Masonic life. While we know that
the search must be as fruitless as it must be endless, we find joy
and usefulness in the effort, not in the results. Important to the
Freemason is not the comprehension of the idea of the Absolute, but
that he seeks it in his conception of the Most High. The great
Freemason, Lessing, said: “Pure Truth is for God alone” - phrasing
in six words both the impossibility of mortals ever finding it, and
the reason we should seek it! Cicero, too, knew why we must seek.
When he said; “our minds possess by nature an insatiable desire to
know the truth” he uttered a truism, no matter what aspect of Truth
is considered. Chesterfield capped them both with his famous “Every
man seeks for truth - God, only, knows who finds it.” “Our ancient
friend and brother, the great Pythagoras” was poet, philosopher and
scientist when he stated “Truth is so great a perfection that if God
would render himself visible to man, he would choose light for him
body and truth for his soul.” Few men are able to tell others of the
eternal verities, even if, at long last, they win them. To “Tell The
Truth,” meaning to state the fact or belief as known, is easy. But
to tell the Truth unto men is like singing music to the tone deaf,
teaching differential calculus to six year old child, speaking in a
language the hearer does not understand. He who even thinks he knows
the Lost word may never tell it - no syllables formed by mortal
tongue may speak it. Listen to John Ruskin, sage of sages:
“Childhood often holds a truth with its feeble fingers which the
grasp of manhood cannot retain - which it is the pride of utmost age
to recover.” the very young and the very old know that which they
cannot tell to us of the middle years. As reemasons, we know a Truth
we cannot tell even to the initiate, who must find it for himself in
the midst of our symbols and our teachings. The great light holds a
thousands truths - and one great Truth. Alas, that some are so
blinded to the latter that, finding an apparent failure of
conformity between page and page, they see not the Truth behind.
Such men cannot sea the water for the waves, or find the forest
because there are too many trees! A collection of books, the Bible
has been translated and retranslated. Our Bible has come down to us
through the hands of thousands of willing, devout workers, each with
the faults and frailties of mankind. Some copied well, some copied
ill; some historians were accurate, others allowed play to their
imaginations. “Of course” in this mighty literature are self
contradictions; “of course” different prophets, historians, singers
and inspired leaders saw different aspects of the truths they
taught, and so taught differently. Recall the story of the two
knights of old who fought to exhaustion over the color of a shield,
one saying it was black, the other white. When the contest was over
they examined the shield together and found one side white and the
other black. So with these different manners of teaching in the
Great Light - each teaches the Truth as its writer saw it. The
“real” truth, the “whole” truth - the “Absolute Truth,” is to be
found in no verse, chapter or book, but in the Book of Books as a
whole! From the beginning of time man has attempted to visualize
that which he cannot imagine! He would put into words, write upon
paper, limn on canvas, shout to the housetops, that which he cannot
conceive. What is the conventional idea of heaven? Place of Golden
Streets, flowing with Milk and Honey! Why? Because gold is precious
and beautiful, and milk and honey good; and hard for the lowly and
poor to get. Injustice oppressed man for centuries; justice became a
hope. A just judge, no matter how severe, was far better than an
unjust judge. Hence we have an early conception of God as a strict,
stern, implacable judge. Later on - much later - came the idea of a
merciful judge, a loving, kindly, compassionate father. As man has
grown and learned, so has his conception of Truth of the Great
Architect of the Universe grown more beautiful. Will any contend
that man is perfect? Nay, man humble or exalted, man learned or
ignorant, man wise or foolish, can not conceive the unthinkable
majesty and beauty, the stupendous power and glory, the unphraseable
marvel, which must be the Absolute Truth of the Great Architect. The
dearest hope of all mankind since the first man cried the birth cry,
was agonized down the centuries by Job: “If a man die, shall he live
again?” And the centuries have given a hundred answers. Immortality
in men’s minds is as different as the men! To some it is rest; to
others opportunity to do all that life denied them; to some it is
pleasure; to others it is knowledge; to yet others it is formless,
ageless, boundless contemplation, the Nirvana of the Buddhist. But
no thinking man believes that his most glorious conception of
immortality can compare to whatever may be the Absolute Truth of
that Magnificent belief. Concrete truths are all relative; Absolute
Truth is unchanging. We think of men as good or bad, moral or
unethical, wise or ignorant only as compared to others. Absolute
goodness, morality and wisdom we cannot know here; we cannot know
the Absolute Truth of anything. “But we may search for it.” We may
so order our lives, so read the Great Light, so follow the teachings
of the ancient Craft that our quest of “That Which Was Lost” brings
us one step nearer to the barrier which forever separates mortal
eyes from Immortal Truth. That he who quests earnestly and seeks
sincerely will, at long last, pass that barrier and with his own
eyes see that the Absolute is the magnificent Truth of Freemasonry.
“SO MOTE IT BE!” |
