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Give heed, my brethren, to every hour when your spirit would speak in similes: there is the origin of your virtue.
(Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus Spake Zarathustra”, XXII, The Bestowing Virtue).
Dearest Brethren,
Souls have lost their wings. I have wanted to give this
title to today’s address drawing inspiration from the metaphor of “losing
the wings” of Platonic origin (Phaedrus 246). This metaphor has been
subsequently utilized in the patristic literature in order to indicate both the
arisen absence of impetus and surge of the soul towards the heaven, the
superior, the divine and, on the contrary, to indicate the direction towards the
inferior, the material that is, in one word, the corporeal (Gregory of Nissa, Homilies
on the Beatitudes).
It has been sufficiently discussed about
secularization, loss of relationship with the sacred, nihilistic and
relativistic vision of future, all characteristics of a present society that
seems to perfectly represent the prototype of a society in which men have
consciously decided to “lose the wings”.
In the light of these premises, it is obvious that
Freemasonry runs a grave risk and this is the reason for which today I would
like to discuss with you a vital problem for our future: the abandonment of
esotericism.
Freemasonry is an initiation society in which the
esoteric component is basic, and for this reason it distinguishes itself from
all other simple fraternal societies tending to mutual solidarity.
Those who think that Freemasonry can gain credit as an
opinion party, for example taking a clear position on politics, economics and so
on, make a serious mistake. This would constitute the beginning of the end of
Freemasonry, which would be thus deprived of its main characteristic, the
esoteric one.
In an historical context, in which the absence of
ethical and moral values is evident, it can be very important to propose,
through the esoteric vehicle, a lay Masonic morality and an ethic that have
their foundation on transcendent.
It is possible through esotericism to realize a
dilatation and a reawakening of man’s conscience, so that he will be able to
sense the presence of sacred in everyday life and to mould his existence on this
discovery.
Initiation is the heart of esotericism and is hinged on
a sum of mythical and ritual practises and lessons; its aim is to project the
initiate towards a higher level of life through an interior path. Mysteries are
closely linked to initiation and can be considered initiation rites that require
a whole series of symbolic acts. From this point of view, today I would like to
underline the fact that if we want Freemasonry to continue to live, a serious,
conscious and quick return to esotericism within the Masonic Temples is
absolutely necessary.
A few weeks ago, while I was visiting a Lodge, a
Brother asked me (referring to my first address as Grand Master in which I had
exposed my program for this mandate) when I would have faced the last of the
four points I wished to develop with you: the esoteric one. My program traced a
path starting from the simple sociological approach, which defined Freemasonry
as an association; the next step was the historical one, in which I
distinguished between continental and Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry. Then I arrived at
the philosophy of the Freemasonry’s thought that, in my opinion, assumes
characteristics that unequivocally come from Neoplatonism. The last and most
delicate phase would have been the esoteric aspect of Freemasonry.
How to answer the Brother’s question?
First of all it is necessary we ask ourselves if
esotericism is a doctrine, a discipline or a theory. You know perfectly well
that none of these answers is correct. No esotericist could ever accept to
answer the question on “what esotericism is” since it is not possible to
“talk” about esotericism or to try to explain it without merely reducing it
to something else.
Esotericism is an inspiration of the soul that needs
mental tension and spiritual presence when practising it.
If not, every thing we shall do within a Masonic ritual
will have no sense and nothing to do with esotericism. If a perfectly known and
performed ritual is the non plus ultra for
an esoteric ceremony, a stammered ritual makes the rite muddled and
incomprehensible. Quite often the mnemonic repetition of the rituals, the fixity
of the Brethren’s expressions when trying to remember all the words, the total
lack of interpretation and sensibility - that does not allow empathy with the
Brother whom we are addressing - make the ritual a sterile rosary, a sort of
mantra without any meaning.
In this case we could at most define ourselves esoteric
scholars, that is those who are interested in esotericism, who study it but we
could never define ourselves esotericists, that is those who practise it.
At the basis of esotericism there is a subtle
intuition, which is a kind of deep knowledge that cannot be explained nor
communicated because peculiar of that unique soul, but can be shared among
fellows.
The real esotericist “knows” and does not study, he
respects the discipline of the arcane without revealing it, for fear of
degrading what has been revealed.[1]
Scholars of Freemasonry’s thought who are not
Freemasons can therefore write on the subject only at a second level of
knowledge because the first one is necessarily reserved only to the initiates.
We could be interested in the future in two basic
aspects of esotericism: gnosis, the
regenerative knowledge and hermeticism, the
inaccessible language. Gnosis, which seems a theory, is instead a practise
consisting in continuous research and intermittent discoveries; hermeticism,
which seems a practise, is instead a speculation on reading the signs and on
writing the symbols. The initiate is he who has
the knowledge, precisely the gnosis.
This brings us to a further question.
Is it sufficient, to become a Freemason, only
to be considered “a free and moral man”? Can one join Freemasonry only
because he “believes” in it? I am convinced it is not enough and it is
necessary that this man has in himself an intuition, an ambition to knowledge, a
peculiar spiritual behaviour, a strong will of the intellect, a sensibility and
a predisposition of the soul and love for knowledge.
It is just this love for knowledge that should always
induce us to investigate the meaning of what we often repeat without
understanding.
We could discover, for example, that the most known and
utilized definition of Freemasonry as “Moral
system veiled by allegories and illustrated by symbols”, can contain a
linguistic contradiction.
If we have nothing to object in the first part of the
definition, that is “veiled by allegories”, since by definition an allegory “permits
to mean an ideal or moral or religious concept veiling it with an image that
expresses a different and autonomous reality” (UTET Dictionary), regarding
the second part, “illustrated by symbols”, I think we are in the presence of
an oxymoron that is, two terms that contradict one another.
One could think this analysis is captious and on the
verge of sophism. I am, on the contrary, convinced that the exact meaning of
basic terms like symbol and allegory
is extremely useful.
The Italian dictionary “Devoto-Oli” defines the
Symbol as “effective sign, condensed,
solemn, and corresponding to particular or universal contents or values: the
flag symbol of the country, the hearth symbol of the family...”. The UTET
dictionary indicates that the symbol is “what
(sensible reality, image, object, person, animal, etc.) evokes
or represents… an abstract concept,
a condition, a situation, a general
reality often pertaining to the sphere
of sacred…graphical representation which evokes a reality or an abstract
concept…image or many images, mostly obscure and enigmatic, that makes an
esoteric knowledge incomprehensible to non initiates, or permits to transmit
knowledge or to acquaint other people with an experience that cannot be
communicated in other ways”. Therefore it would be much more correct to
affirm that Freemasonry is a system of moral veiled by allegories and communicated,
transmitted or rather evoked by
symbols but not illustrated, since the symbol for its own nature tends to veil an essence that cannot be represented and that can only be
evoked among initiates.
Therefore, at this point we can not hesitate to ask a
question: where, within our ritual (emulation), do we find ourselves in the
presence of allegories and where, on the contrary, of symbols?
In the light of these premises, symbols can only be the
working tools of the Entered Apprentice, of the Fellow Craft and of the Master
Mason. They symbolize, according to the circumstances, the 24 hours of the day,
the conscience, the instruction, the moral law, the equality, the justice, the
rectitude, and so on. Other symbols are the Mosaic Pavement of black and white
tiles, the Tracing-Board, the letter G, the Flaming Star (representing the
quintessence, the microcosm, and the man).
The legend of Hiram Abif, concerning the death of the
architect constructor of the Temple, is therefore an allegory, being a
rhetorical figure whose concept of death and rebirth is expressed through a
sensitive or fantastic representation, mostly anthropomorphic.
As we have seen, allegory distinguishes itself from the
symbol because the relationship between symbol and the symbolized thing is such
that the symbol completely substitutes the symbolized thing, while the
allegorical representation is a transfiguration or rather, a return from the
sensitive to intelligible. From this we deduce the cognitive gnoseological basic
value of the allegory and the importance of its use in an esoteric initiation
society. In fact, if it is true that our knowledge goes from the sensitive to
the intelligible, the allegory has the precise function to bring to us what is
by its own nature difficult to grasp by the mind, allowing us to express it
notwithstanding the deformations of its sensitive disguise.
The symbol is different from the sign because besides
being an indication it is also a representation of the meant thing; for
example, the flag on a ship can simply indicate its nationality or be the symbol
of a nation. At the base of a symbol there is a link that can be of various
types, ontological or merely conventional but what interests us is that this
link involves a total substitution so the symbol is in the place of what is
symbolized and it fulfills its functions.
Before starting our path in the world of ermetism and
of gnosis, it will be necessary to familiarize with these basic concepts.
Without an adequate knowledge of symbolism and of its esoteric interpretation
and without a good knowledge of religions in general, each ritual becomes only a
mnemonic exercise.
Symbolism is for Freemasonry a primary exigency that
cannot be renounced; through it we have the possibility to penetrate, via
intuition, in the veil of the most hidden mystery and at the same time we obtain
to conform the message to the receiver’s degree of knowledge. The peculiar
nature of the symbolic communication is to be liable to different degrees of
interpretation, depending on the level of whom is questioning the text. A
certain expression will remain silent in front of the neophyte or will
communicate to him a very simple and immediate message. But for “whom who
knows” that is, who has the correct key for an interpretative reading and the
proper sensibility only one symbolic sign will open an entire world of analogies
and implications. The mystic symbol gives the rough ashlar a little gleam of
truth and opens to the smooth ashlar the profound sense of the interior
research.
In today’s historical context, which the Hindu
doctrine defines of the “Kali Yuga” or “obscure age” (the fourth and
last age of a progressive cycle of obscuring of spirituality), in a society that
Guenon defined the “Reign of Quantity” for the tendency to bring every
phenomenon to the quantitative point of view, it is therefore necessary and
desirable to continue the “Freemason’s” esoteric path, last bastion
against the mass man.
This is, in my opinion, the only way to succeed in
“riding the tiger”, as Julius Evola would say; that is to spur men to
resist, in a standardized world without points of reference and often hostile,
clinging themselves to the strength of tradition and being aware of their own
individuality.
In the vacuum of the traditional values the only
representative of the Tradition remains the Promethean figure of the Freemason,
a man who tries to defend his space and his time, master of his own existence.
According to the philosopher José Ortega y Gasset, in his “The Revolt of the
Masses”, each civilization lies in a condition of fundamental insecurity and
needs a persevering commitment in order not to decay in barbarism; such effort
can be necessarily supported by men willing to live according to duties and
imperatives.
These men have represented the aristocracy of each society and this is the role to which the
“Freemason” is called.
The Grand Master
The Most Worshipful Bro. Fabio Venzi
[1]
Pierre A. Riffard, L’
Esotérisme, page. 54, Edition Robert Laffont, S.A., Paris, 1990.
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