Freemasons rely heavily on the architectural symbolism of the medieval operative Masons who actually worked in stone. One of our principal symbols is the square and compasses, tools of the trade, so arranged as to form a quadrilateral. The square is sometimes said to represent matter, and the compasses spirit or mind. Alternatively, the square might be said to represent the world of the concrete, or the measure of objective reality, while the compasses represent abstraction, or subjective judgment, and so forth (Freemasonry being non-dogmatic, there is no written-in-stone interpretation for any of these symbols). The compasses straddle the square, representing the interdependence between the two. In the space between the two, there is optionally placed a symbol of metaphysical significance. Sometimes, this is a blazing star or other symbol of Light, representing Truth or knowledge. Alternatively, there is often a letter G placed there, usually said to represent God and/or Geometry.

The square and compasses are displayed at all Masonic meetings, along with the open Volume of the Sacred Law (or Lore) (VSL). All constituent Lodges of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Utah use the Holy Bible, but this is not supposed to suggest the veneration of this work or associated belief systems over any other. It is a matter of simplicity only. During the actual course of the Degrees, most especially the Obligations, the Candidate is free to use whatever book(s) of inspiration or scripture that he feels he draws on, whether the Bible, the Koran, or other Volumes.

All Lodges under the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Utah, use the King James Bible as the VSL during their Regular Business, and in Opening and Closing a Lodge. However, if a Candidate for a Degree is not Christian, they may use their VSL upon which to take their Obligation.

Much of Masonic symbolism is mathematical in nature, and in particular geometrical, which is probably a reason Freemasonry has attracted so many rationalists (such as Voltaire, Fichte, Goethe, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain and many others). No particular metaphysical theory is advanced by Freemasonry, however, although there seems to be some influence from the Pythagoreans, from Neo-Platonism, and from early modern Rationalism.

In keeping with the geometrical and architectural theme of Freemasonry, the Supreme Being (or God, or Creative Principle) is sometimes also referred to in Masonic ritual as the Grand Geometrician, or the Great Architect of the Universe (G.A.O.T.U.). Freemasons use a variety of labels for this concept in order to avoid the idea that they are talking about any one religion’s particular God or God-like concept.

There are three initial degrees of Freemasonry: 1. Entered Apprentice, 2. Fellow Craft and 3. Master Mason. One works through each degree by taking part in a ritual, essentially a medieval morality Play, in which one plays a role, along with members of the Lodge that one is joining. The setting is Biblical, the building of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, although the stories themselves are not directly from the Bible, and not intended to be necessarily Jewish or Christian in nature. Nothing supernatural happens in these stories. The Temple can be taken to represent the “temple” of the individual human being, that of the human community, or of the entire universe.

As one works through the degrees, one studies the lessons and interprets them for oneself. There are as many ways to interpret the rituals as there are Masons, and no Mason may dictate to any other Mason how he is to interpret them. No particular truths are espoused, but a common structure, speaking symbolically to universal human archetypes, provides for each Mason a means to come to his own answers to life’s important questions.

---