PLATO S INFLUENCE ON MODERN FREEMASONRY AS SEEN BY THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE

Transcription

1 PLATO S INFLUENCE ON MODERN FREEMASONRY AS SEEN BY THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE "The purpose of Education is not to deposit knowledge into the Soul, but to turn the Soul towards right living" Plato My Lecture today is on Plato s Influence on Modern Freemasonry as seen by the Allegory of the Cave. My lecture will consist of three parts (1) why I decided to write this paper, (2) a brief re telling of the Allegory itself and (3) the parallels that I have found between Plato s dialogue and Freemasonry. I. WHY DID I WRITE THIS PAPER? Let me start by asking the following; What is Freemasonry? What does Freemasonry mean to me? That is a good question that I often ask myself along the Way as I progress through my Masonic experience. I understand that the Craft can embody different things to different people. For example some view our Order as a Social Club where the fraternal bonds of friendship are forged. Yet others esteem that our primary tenet is that of Charity. Masonic organizations give millions in charitable contributions to those in need of assistance. I myself view Freemasonry primarily as an Esoteric Ancient Mystery school where a Man can ask himself the big metaphysical questions about Life, Love, God, Enlightenment and how they relate to an individual on a personal level. None of these definitions are wrong. However in my opinion none of them are exclusively right either. Until recently the problem for me and my view of Freemasonry lied in the empirical fact that I can experience the fraternal bonds of Brotherhood, within a Lodge. I can see the monetary and physical acts of Charity that the Masonic Organization provides on a daily basis to the needy. However as hard as I tried I could not point to any visible or direct example of how to achieve Enlightenment within Freemasonry. I knew like all of you that many great Men had been Freemasons such as Bro. George Washington, Bro. Ben Franklin and Bro. Amadeus Mozart to name a few. However as far as I could tell those worthy Brothers had taken their secrets on Enlightenment with them to the grave. There are of course within Blue Lodge the Rituals and Lectures relating to the first three degrees of Freemasonry. I understood that there were some basic messages of morality and ethics embedded in these Rituals. Yes the Degrees talk of subduing my passions and improving myself in Masonry, using the Symbolic tools of our Craft to smooth the rough Ashlar and utilizing the 7 Liberal Arts & Sciences to expand my mind. Yet I still found myself asking Is that it? or I can t put it all together, what does this really mean. If all that Freemasonry has to offer me in terms of my personal enlightenment are some meager crumbs touching on ethics 101, than it was not worth the time away from my family. Page 1 of 6

2 It was not until I stopped waiting for someone else to hand me the answers that I finally started to see some of the lessons Freemasonry had to show me. About a year ago one of our new Entered Apprentices commented to me What the hell did my 1 st Degree initiation mean? I am looking for answers; I am looking for the Meaning of Life? I don t understand what my initiation or the ritual cipher book, have to do with what I am looking for? In truth I had no idea how to answer and was in fact trying to reconcile that question myself. So I did what I always do when searching for an Answer.I consulted the Internet. I typed Initiation and the Meaning of Life into the Internet and the first hit I got back related to excerpts from Plato s Symposium and The Republic. In these works Plato discusses the idea that the Meaning of Life is related to Momentum. By that he means the direction a person s life takes as a result of decisions they make and the resulting consequences. He goes on to say that there are Three (3) worlds which we live in which are; (1) the Physical World or the world of Senses, Desires & Appetites, (2) the Intelligible World which is the world of Higher Ideals such as Love, Wisdom and Knowledge and (3) the Divine World which Plato calls the Form of the Good or the world of basic unchanging Divine truths. Plato said that most people live their entire lives only in the Physical World. As was the case with me it is all too easy to let exterior forces such as the need for Money, Career Advancement or the fast pace of Society drive the direction and momentum of our lives. Plato argues that the Enlightened Man or the Philosopher is someone who can break that pattern and recognizes there is more to our reality than what we see with our eyes. Plato believed that the Light of Wisdom and Ethics could lead an individuals life in a True or Divine direction. Now what does any of this have to do with Freemasonry? When I read Plato s Allegory of the Cave I not only saw obvious parallels but it also became clear to me how I could apply the tools of Freemasonry towards my goal of personal enlightenment. To set up my comparison I will break up the Allegory of the Cave into three parts which I will than relate to the Three Virtues in Masonry (Faith, Hope and Charity).Now let me quickly tell you the Allegory. II. ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE: The Cave which is actually an Allegory referring to Human Nature begins by describing a Dark scene. A group of people have lived in a deep cave since birth, never seeing the Light of Day. These people are bound so that they cannot look to either side or behind them, but only straight ahead. Behind them is a partial wall, and behind the wall is a Fire. On top of the wall are various statues, which are manipulated by another group of unseen people, lying out of sight behind the partial wall. Because of the Fire, the statues cast shadows across the wall that the prisoners are facing. The prisoners watch the stories that these shadows play out, and because Page 2 of 6

3 these shadows are all they ever get to see, they believe them to be the most real things in the world. When they talk to one another about men, women, trees or horses, they are referring to these shadows. One day a prisoner finds that he is freed from his bonds, and although he is scared he forces himself to turn around and see what is behind him. I consider this stage of the simile to correspond with the Masonic Virtue of Faith. Faith is what the Masonic candidate must have when he first knocks on the door of the Lodge without knowing what lies ahead of him. After an initial period of pain and confusion because of direct exposure of his eyes to the Light of the Fire, the prisoner realizes that what he sees now are things more real than the shadows he has always taken for reality. He understands now how the Fire and the statues together cause the shadows, which are copies of these more real things. He has made contact with real things but as he walks past the Fire and towards the Cave entrance he is not aware that there are things of greater reality, a world beyond his cave. I consider this stage to correspond with the Masonic Virtue of Hope. Hope that the Fellow Craft who has witnessed some of the truths and lessons of Freemasonry will persevere and continue his path towards the East or the Light. Next the prisoner forces himself to walk past the Fire and upwards towards the Greater Light at the mouth of the Cave. At first he is so dazzled by the Light up there that he can only look at the shadows cast by the Sun on the floor, than at the reflections in the water, then finally at the real objects real trees, flowers and so on. He sees that these things are even more real than the statues were, and that those were only copies of these. He has now reached the cognitive stage of thought. Plato comments that it is the goal of Education to drag every Man as far out of the Cave as possible. Education should not aim at putting knowledge into the Soul, but at turning the Soul toward right desires. Once the prisoner has achieved Understanding he turns away from the Light to return to the Shadows to help the other prisoners. This in my opinion corresponds to the Masonic Virtue of Charity. Charity is what the Master Mason shows when he turns to help those behind him find their own path towards the Light. Page 3 of 6

4 III. PARALLELS BETWEEN FREEMASONRY & ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE In this Allegory Plato uses the Cave to symbolize the Human Condition. If you will note the number three figures greatly in both the Allegory and Freemasonry. There are three stages to the Cave which correlate to the three different worlds Plato speaks of which I propose relate to our Three Degrees. The first stage is the lowest level of the cave where the people are imprisoned not so much by chains but by the Shadows they believe to be reality which entrances them. What do these Shadows symbolize to me but our uncontrolled lusts, passions and desires? As I mentioned earlier, in my case the desire for more money (which I rationalized was for the best interest of my family) tied me to a job I hated which ironically kept me away from my family. Looking back it was for me a bleak endless cycle that I did not even realize at the time. I started questioning whether this was all Life had to offer and found myself almost unconsciously looking for something. I started doing more charity; I started training for the Marathon and ultimately looked into Freemasonry. Although I was not sure what I was looking for I think at the time I had Faith/Hope that I would find something within Masonry to answer my questions. I had Faith that there was something more to me and my Life so I took a chance and walked into this very Lodge room very nervous and alone in order to be initiated. How many of you know the movie The Matrix? If I was NEO and my life was the movie The MATRIX that first step into the Lodge room would have symbolized my decision to take the RED pill. My initiation was a powerful thing in the sense that I did not expect what I went through and it shocked the hell out of me. Although I didn t understand any of it at the time, my initiation had worked in the sense that I started to think about what this process meant. I started memorizing the words in the cipher book not understanding what they meant but suddenly finding that the concept of Balance in my Life, and keeping my passions in due bound where at the forefront of my mind. I believe the First Degree is meant to be a Paradigm shift in our perception of ourselves and our reality. Like the Prisoner who is freed and turns around to see what is there I believe the 1 st Degree initiation process is supposed to help wake you up. It is meant to help you break free from the chains of external forces that may be driving your life and cause you to turn around and face the Light. In the Allegory when the freed prisoner turns around he sees a Lesser Light symbolized by the Fire which he then perceives as his new reality. In Freemasonry the three lesser lights are the Sun, the Moon and the Worshipful Master. As the Sun rules the day and the Moon governs the night so should the Worshipful Master rule and govern the Lodge. I interpret that statement as follows: the Sun represents Man s passionate, creative, masculine, outgoing side. The Moon represents Man s intellectual, compassionate and empathic side. As the Master of the Lodge (which Page 4 of 6

5 represents you) you are to master both sides of your mind before you can achieve true Enlightenment. So as the freed prisoner recognizes and understands what the lesser light means he is than able to look up, see the greater Light at the mouth of the tunnel and walk towards it. Plato says The state of the prisoner is merely opinion which can be transformed into knowledge by a gradual critical process leading from the concrete to the ideal. In Plato s dialogue his mentor Socrates specifically references the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences as the method of Education that will help a Man become a Philosopher or Seeker of Enlightenment. The 2 nd Degree of Freemasonry encourages the Fellow Craft to expand his mind by using the Seven Liberal Arts while he works in the Middle Chamber. It is through this expansion of the Mind that we as Human Being can begin to perceive that there is more to this Reality than what we see with our Eyes. The ardent Mason will recall that the Fellow Craft Trestle Board used in the 2 nd Degree shows the Mason walking up a stairway that is divided into sections of 3, 5 and 7. These steps that are divided into sections of 3 (three worlds), 5 (five senses that we use to perceive the physical world) and 7 (seven liberal arts that allow us to see Plato s Intelligible World of High Ideas) leads to the Master Mason s Sanctum Sanctorum. Plato compares this upward path or process to Jacobs Ladder which some of you will note also figures prominently in our EA and FC trestle boards. Jacobs Ladder symbolizes a way for Man to access Heaven or the Divine. In our Trestle Board I interpret this to mean that the Masonic way or the way to the East is a Divine path. In the Allegory the freed prisoner having seen and understood the implications of the Lesser Lights is now able to walk towards the greater Light. In Freemasonry the three great Lights are the Holy Bible (or Book of Sacred Law), Square and Compass. Plato continually makes reference to the prisoner s journey from the sensible or physical world to that of the intelligible or world of ideas. Always he is guided by the Light which he sees with his eyes but is not a part of either world. Plato uses this Great Light to represent his Form of the Good or Divine Unchanging Truths which in the case of the great lights of Freemasonry help rule and guide us, help us square our actions and circumscribe our passions in due bounds. I interpret the three great Lights of Masonry the way Plato discusses Light in the Allegory. Its purpose and that of Education is not to deposit knowledge into the soul but rather to turn the soul towards right living. So Freemasonry looks to point us towards the East which I would say represents Plato s world of Divine unchanging truths. What path we take and the resulting experiences/ wisdom we obtain will be up to us and the rational decisions we make. I see many Grand Lodges across this nation talk about replenishing our numbers and how this is one of our most important duties. But sadly I do not think most Masons understand what might have been meant by the Page 5 of 6

6 Founders of Freemasonry when they said it is our duty to replace ourselves with new Brothers. Think about the meaning I gave to the Virtue of Charity during my telling of the Allegory. CHARITY. I speculate that it means that like Plato s Freed Man who has come to Understand his own Personal Truth and now walks back into the Cave to try to help free the other enchained men, we too must look back and assist new Brothers by gently guiding them towards the Light. I personally try to live the Virtue of Charity by sharing my time, thoughts and ideas (right or wrong) with new candidates during our Educational sessions. How do you practice Masonic Charity? Conclusion: So what am I saying? Am I saying Plato was a Mason or that he is the inventor of Freemasonry? Of course not. I see many people dismiss Freemasonry when they find the Master of their Lodge is not a Guru spouting wisdom in our halls or when they can not find the Book of Answers explaining what we do. I think the Founders of Freemasonry realized that Enlightenment can not be spoon fed to the masses or even handed over on a silver platter ready to digest. No, they realized that some Lessons Must Be Lived To Be Learned. So they put together a system of Symbols veiled in Allegory that might help point a true searcher towards the Light of Right Living or Plato s Form of the Good. If as Plato says the purpose of Education is not to deposit knowledge into the Soul, but rather point the Soul towards Right Living, than I think Freemasonry continues to be a success. At least in my case the lessons I learned are personal ones that arose from my own efforts and research which started the day I was initiated. So what is Freemasonry to me? What does Freemasonry mean to me? Freemasonry is the Big Elephant in the room that I ran into late in life, which made me stop, look around and reassess my life. Written by: Bro. Steven B. Vitale St. John s Lodge No. 1 A.Y.M., F&AM Page 6 of 6