THE CEREMONY OF INITIATION
by 
W.Bro. R.A.L. HARLAND, P.M., Lodge No. 1679,
President of the Circle.

"The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and
before honour is humility."
(Proverbs, chapter 15, verse 33).

"Having sought in my mind, I asked of my  friend,  he 
knocked, and the door of Freemasonry became open to
me".
(First Lecture;  Second Section).

"And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying,
This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the
right hand, and when ye turn to the left." 
(Isaiah, chapter 30, verse  21).



We are concerned in this Paper with the impressive
First Degree ceremony by means of which candidates are
admitted into the Craft, and thereby receive their
introduction to the ritual method of teaching the aims
and ideals of our Masonic system.  Ritual is comprised
of words, and words, we would remind students of the
text of the Craft ritual, are seals of the mind,
results of an infinite series of experiences, which
have subsisted from "time immemorial", and which sound
forth the way into an equally distant future.  The
essential nature of words is thus neither exhausted by
their present meaning, nor is their importance confined
to their usefulness as transmitters of thoughts and
ideas, but they express at the same time qualities
which  are not translatable into concepts; and it is
this irrational element which stirs our deepest
feelings, elevates our innermost being, and makes it
vibrate with others.  The magic which ritual exerts
upon receptive candidates is therefore due to these
noble qualities conveyed by words, and the fascinating
rhythm with which they are combined in the ceremonial. 
The power of the ceremony to move the heart and mind of
the candidate is stronger than what the words convey to
him objectively, stronger even than reason with all its
logic, in which we believe so firmly.  There is,
indeed, a presentiment which is felt by the sensitive
candidate throughout the ceremony of a higher state of
being, and this is associated in his mind with certain
experiences which are fundamental to him, and which can
neither be explained nor described.  They are so subtle
that there is nothing to which they can be compared;
and yet they are more real than anything he can see,
hear, taste or smell, because they are concerned with
that which precedes and includes all other sensations,
and which for that very reason cannot be identified
with any of them.  It is, therefore, only by the aid of
symbols that such intimate experiences came to be
incorporated in the Craft system; and these symbols
again were not arbitrarily invented by the compilers of
the ritual, but are typical of spontaneous mental
images which break through into consciousness from the
deepest regions of the mind.

Ritual, then, is power vested in words, and not merely
speech which the mind of the candidate can contradict
or evade; what the Craft ritual expresses to him in
words, and is otherwise "illustrated by symbols," will
surely come to pass when "time or circumstances"
permit.  It follows from this premise that the power
and effect of the Craft ritual depend upon the
spiritual attitude and responsiveness of the candidate
himself. Just as a chemical formula gives power only to
those who are familiar with the various symbols of
which it consists, and with the laws of their
application; so, in the same manner, the ritual of the
Craft gives power only to those who are acquainted with
the inner meaning of the rite, and who know that it is
a device to call up the dormant forces within us,
through which we are capable of directing our
"inevitable destiny" and thereby influencing our
surroundings.  Therefore, the ritual may be printed in
books by the thousand without giving away any secrets
or losing value; the "secrets" in Freemasonry are not
something that is hidden intentionally, but something
that has to be acquired by a "prudent and
well-regulated course of discipline", combined with
concentration and insight.  Only in this sense is it
esoteric, like every profound wisdom, which does not
disclose itself at the first glance, because it is not
a matter of surface knowledge but of realisation in the
mind of the candidate.  Thus, esoteric knowledge is
open to all within the Craft who are willing to exert
themselves sincerely, and who have the capacity to
learn with an open mind.  It proclaims the fact that
there exists a higher and more secret path of life than
that which we normally tread, and that when the outer
world and its pursuits lose their attractiveness and
prove insufficient to our deeper needs, as sooner or
later they will, we are compelled to seek and knock at
the door of a world within; and it is upon this inner
world, and the path to and through it, that the Craft
system promises light, charts the way and indicates the
qualifications and conditions of progress.

PREPARATION OF THE CANDIDATE:

The admission of every Freemason into the Craft is, we
are taught, "an emblematical representation of the
entrance of all men on this their mortal existence";
hence every candidate upon his entrance finds himself,
"in a state of darkness", in the West of the Lodge.  He
is repeating symbolically the incident of his actual
birth into this world, which he entered as a blind and
helpless babe, and through which in his early years,
not knowing whither he was going, after many stumblings
and irregular steps, after many tribulations and
adversities, he may at length ascend, purified and
chastened by experience, to larger life in the eternal
East.  To his "Mother" Lodge every novice Freemason on
reception automatically assumes the relationship of a
teachable "child", and he is accordingly required as a
preliminary to the Initiation ceremony to present
himself before the assembled Brethren "in a state of
helpless indigence". The implication of the ceremony
from the instructional point of view, is that whatever
academic or scientific knowledge the candidate
possesses, whatever philosophical ideas he holds,
whatever religious creed he professes, prior to his
admission, there remains something vastly more for him
yet to learn, and to which the Craft can lead him. 
This does not mean, however, that the candidate will
necessarily discover his previous convictions to be
false; on the other hand, so far as they may be true he
will find in the Craft system abundant confirmation and
amplification of them, and so far as they are erroneous
or imperfect he will be patiently taught to modify
them, It does mean that if he is to profit by the
teaching available to him as a member of the Craft he
must be prepared to keep an open mind and to make such
mental self-surrender as the occasion warrants.  We all
tend to feel so certain of ourselves, so wise in our
own conceits, and too often we remain quite unaware
that we have much to unlearn before we can become truly
teachable.  Accordingly, the divesting of the
candidate's person prior to the ceremony is symbolic of
the mental unclothing which will be required of him in
his work as an Apprentice Freemason, whilst his
willingness to be taken wherever he is led and to do
whatever he is told betokens the humility with which
his mind should follow Truth wherever it may lead, even
into the apparently perilous places and among ideas not
recognised by the conventions and orthodoxies of the
popular world.  Thus, true Initiation involves a
spiritual adventure, a voyage of the mind, not into the
unknowable, but into regions where he who acquires most
is paradoxically he who casts away most of himself, and
where the really heart-hungry are increasingly filled
with good things from which the intellectually rigid
are automatically precluded.  This mental readjustment
is, of course, a gradual process; no candidate is
called upon to "rashly attempt to rush forward", but
rather to adapt himself patiently to the novel
conceptions arising from his connection with the Craft,
and subject only to the proviso that this slow process
of the transformation of mind and outlook is accepted
by him "without evasion, equivocation or mental
reservation of any kind."

ENTRANCE INTO THE LODGE:

From the place of preparation the candidate is led to
the door of the Lodge, which he finds close tyled; his
entrance to the Lodge is prevented by "meeting with an
obstruction", as the Lectures say, and he cannot gain
admission except by the prescribed way.  What, then,
does the door of the Lodge signify? In relation to the
ceremony it may be said to symbolise some obstructive
clement in the candidate himself, his way within is
blocked by an intervening barrier, and he must first
overcome this by his own efforts.  It is therefore
directed by the ritual that he must solicit admission
by giving "three distinct knocks" on the door.  These
knocks, it is expressly stated in the Lectures, are to
be interpreted in the light of the ancient scriptural
exhortation: "Seek, and ye shall find; ask, and ye
shall have; knock, and it shall be opened unto you".
This threefold directive not only corresponds with the
three knocks on the door of the Lodge, but also with
the triple faculties of the candidate himself.  He
should "ask with the prayerful aspirations of his
heart; he should seek" with the intellectual activities
of his mind; and he should "knock" with the force of
his bodily energies. In other words, he who sets forth
on the symbolic journey to find the Light which he
proclaims is the "predominant wish" of his heart must
devote his entire being to the quest, for it demands
and engages the attention of the whole man.  Moreover,
how true to life and psychology is this episode of the
symbolic barrier at the door of the Lodge.  We all
erect our own mental barriers, and the habitual
prejudices and misconceptions in which we indulge
during the course of our life in the outer world,
become obstructions to our perception of the things of
the world within.  It is these barriers that must be
broken down by our efforts, our persistent "knocks",
and we should always remember while proceeding on our
way that no sacrifice we may make for the sake of
others is in vain.  Every sacrifice, as the candidate
learns later in the ceremony, is an act of
renunciation, a victory over ourselves, and therefore
an act of liberation.  Each of these acts, even if it
is not recognised by those for whose benefit it was
intended, brings the seeker nearer to his aim, and
transforms the theoretical knowledge of the Masonic
purpose into practical understanding and certainty of
experience.  Those, however, who keep aloof from the
contacts of life miss the opportunities of giving, of
service to others, and thereby the trials of strength
and the temptations and ordeals of life.  Again; to
help others and to help oneself, go hand in hand; the
one cannot be without the other.  Just as an artist
will hold before himself the greatest masters as worthy
examples, irrespective of whether he will be able to
reach their stage of perfection or not, so, whosoever
wishes to progress spiritually, must turn towards the
highest ideal within the range of his understanding. 
This will urge him to sill higher achievements, for
nobody can say from the commencement, where the limits
of our capacities are; in fact, it is more probable
that it is the intensity of our striving that
determines these limits.  In a similar manner we have
to discover for ourselves that the essential nature of
Freemasonry cannot be found in the spaceless realm of
abstract thought, nor in any historical antiquity, but
in its unfolding in time and space, in the immensity of
its movement and development, and in it
all-encompassing influence upon life in all its
aspects; in brief, in its universality.


THE PRAYER:

The initial act of the ceremony proper is appropriately
a prayer on behalf of the assembled Brethren that the
candidate, who has already been elected to formal
membership of the Craft, may now become spiritually
incorporated into our Order, and for his endowment with
such an influx of Wisdom as, by virtue of that
incorporation, will give him increasing power to
manifest "the beauties of true Godliness". The brevity
and simplicity of this prayer are liable to obscure its
deeper implications.  It should be noted that there is
no reference in the prayer to morality or ethical
virtues; it invokes something far lofter than these,
the gift of the Spirit: Observe, too, that the
invocation strikes a keynote intended to govern the
tone of both the ceremony, and the dedication expected
of the candidate in regard to his subsequent way of
living.  Furthermore, the prayer is not offered "by"
the candidate, who is required only to listen "while
the blessing of heaven is invoked", but is one for him
and the whole Craft; it is, indeed, a prayer that the
spiritual efficiency of our Order may be augmented by
the new accession to membership.  Every member of the
initiating Lodge present, therefore, should unite with
the Master or Chaplain in a strong tension of intention
and aspiration that the prayer may become realised in
the joint interests of the Craft and the candidate
himself.  This prayer requires, besides faith and
persistence, an additional element, devotion.  The
prerequisite moral standard is likewise shown in the
objectives of the prayer, benefit for others. Two
interrelated Masonic tenets have appeared in this short
prayer, the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of
man, expressed in the love of God and the love of man. 
It follows from this premise that mind and body, self
and neighbour, man and nature, are a unity.  The
prayer, then, demonstrates the method of the
circulation of consciousness through the Father to the
Brethren, and freely acknowledges that grace is the
constant product of the creative, redemptive and
sanctifying life of the Spirit.

THE PERAMBULATIONS:

Next in the ceremonial sequence of events is the
perambulation of the Lodge, but this is preceded by an
enquiry to the candidate: Mr..... in all cases of
difficulty and danger in whom do you put your trust?".
It is clear from the ritual that this question involves
a profession of faith, and the answer should spring
spontaneously from the mind and lips of the candidate. 
What are the "cases of difficulty and danger" to which
the candidate may be exposed? In our ceremony they are,
of course, merely theoretic and symbolic, but in the
Initiation rites of the Ancient Mysteries, of which
ours are a faint echo, they were extremely exacting,
and of such a nature as to put the candidate to severe
tests of mental stability and moral fitness.  It should
not be overlooked, however, that the candidate in our
Masonic system is still deemed to be "a fit and proper
person" to be initiated, and is therefore called upon
to be passed in review before the Lodge, so that the
Brethren may be satisfied of his fitness.  This is the
first reason for the perambulation, but there is
another of equal importance. The journey round the
Lodge is a symbolic representation of the candidate's
own life in the world of everyday affairs before his
request for Initiation, and the "cases of difficulty
and danger" alluded to are none other than the
vicissitudes encountered by him in his personal
Odyssey; indeed, the wanderings and buffetings of
Odysseus are an ancient poetic allegory of these same
experiences, and of like character to the scripture
parable of the career of the Prodigal Son before he
"came to himself" and struck the true path.  There are
two noteworthy details in connection with the symbolic
journey. Firstly, although the candidate is in a "state
of darkness" himself, he is not alone, but is
accompanied by an enlightened guide, the Junior Deacon;
also he is compassed about by a "cloud" of unseen
witnesses keenly anxious for his advancement and final
restoration to Light.  The significance of this detail
is that every traveller through life bears within
himself his own invisible guide, and that his soul's
upward struggles are observed by many unseen watchers. 
Secondly, in the course of his journey the candidate is
led to each of the Wardens in turn, whom, by means of a
particular gesture he, as it were, arouses from silence
and sirs to utterance.  The gesture itself is a
repetition of the knocks previously given at the door
of the Lodge, but whereas those knocks were at first
addressed to inert material, they are now applied to a
living being.  This detail illustrates that in our
efforts to turn away from the outer world and penetrate
to the Light of the inner world, we not only overcome
our own self-created opposition, but we awaken and
stimulate into activity certain living and hitherto
dormant energies with ourselves.  In each of us reside
slumbering potencies, represented by the two Wardens,
higher than the normal human reason knows, and it is
these which it is possible to provoke into activity,
and which, when they are awakened, speed a man on his
way with, so to speak, the mystical greeting: "Enter,
free and of good report".  The expression "of good
report" is the modern form of a very ancient title
accorded to the candidate for Initiation, and it
implies that the candidate is one animated by
sincerity, one who rings true like a coin, and whose
voice sounds forth a convincing note when he speaks. 
In ancient Egypt the title "True of Voice" was the
equivalent of our Masonic "Tongue of good report" and
this is the reason why, when candidates are
subsequently instructed to "advance" to the Wardens,
they are also required to repeat verbal formulas so
that each Warden may determine whether they are "true
of voice" and qualified to proceed.

PROFESSION OF MOTIVES:

After both Wardens have assured themselves of the
fitness of the candidate, he is certified as being
"properly prepared" and presented to the Master. 
Before, however, the Master accepts him the candidate
is required to pledge himself to three conditions : -

(1) That he seeks admission to our Order voluntarily,
and from no unworthy and material motive.

(2) That his objects in seeking admission are twofold;

(a) knowledge for himself (b) a desire to make himself,
in virtue of that knowledge, more extensively
serviceable to his fellow men.

(3) That he will "steadily persevere" in the path about
to be disclosed to him, and "ever afterwards act and
abide by the ancient usages and established customs" of
our Order.

In the same way as only those are admitted for higher
education in the universities and similar institutions,
who have the necessary gifts and qualifications, so
also the Craft requires certain special qualities of
mind and qualifications from candidates, before they
are initiated into its secrets and mysteries.  For
nothing is more dangerous than knowledge which has only
theoretical value.  The conditions for admission to the
Craft, therefore, involve personal commitments of a far
reaching character to which no candidate should be
permitted to pledge himself lightly or under the least
persuasion.  Masonic knowledge can be called a secret
doctrine with as much or as little justification as
mathematics, physics, or chemistry, which to the
ordinary man who is not acquainted with the symbols and
formulae of these sciences, appear like a book with
seven seals.  Like every valuable thing, it cannot be
gained without effort, and it demands the positive
attitude of our whole being, without which no progress
can be attained.  Herein lies the magic of the Ritual
and its mystic power over the candidate.  It is clear,
however, that the efficacy of the Ritual depends on the
harmonious incorporation of form (sound and rhythm);
feeling (devotional impulse); and idea (mental
associations), which arouse, intensify and transform
the latent psychic forces of the candidate.  The form
of the Ritual is indispensable, because it is the
vessel, so to speak, which holds the other qualities;
feeling is likewise indispensable, because it creates
unity, like heat which, by melting different metals,
amalgamates them into a new homogeneous unit; while the
idea is the substance, the "prima materia" of the
Alchemists, which vitalises all the elements of the
human mind and calls up their dormant energies.  But it
must be noted that the term "idea" should not be taken
as representing a mere abstraction, but as in the
original Greek sense of "eidos", signifying a creative
picture, or a form of experience in which reality is
reflected and reproduced anew.  The impulse which
amalgamates the qualities of heart and mind, and the
creative forces which respond to the idea and fill it
with life, this is what the candidate has to himself
contribute.  If his faith in God is not sure, he will
not achieve inner unity; if his mind is untrained, he
will not be able to assimilate the idea, if he is
psychically dull, his energies will not respond to the
call; and if he lacks in concentration, he will fail to
coordinate form, heart and mind.  The harmonic of the
First Degree is service which is, and ever has been,
the prime motive of Initiation systems, but service can
be rendered in other and higher ways than conventional
altruistic activity.  Of these the candidate will learn
more later, but he should always recall that at the
very threshold of his Masonic life, he pledged himself
to the service of humanity.

THE ADVANCE TOWARDS THE EAST:

We come now to a small episode in the ceremony which is
of great significance.  At this stage the candidate has
just completed the symbolic journey round the Lodge,
which, as we have already stated, is intended to
exemplify his own life wanderings since he came to
birth in this world.  During his life career, as the
ceremony is designed to illustrate, he has passed
blindly through regions and experiences which are
sometimes of darkness and ignorance (symbolised by the
"North" of the Lodge), at other times of less or
greater enlightenment (symbolised by the "South",
"East" and "West" of the Lodge), but always unheeding
of his true purpose and goal in life.  The moment
(dramatised in the ceremony) has come when, in response
to an imperative inward urge, he at last heads in the
right direction, "towards the East". His steps in this
direction may at first be irregular; he may still
continue to reel to and fro intellectually and
emotionally before he attains stability; and he must
then traverse the "straight and narrow way" before
undergoing "that last and greatest trial, by which
means alone" he can be fully restored to Light and the
goal of his pilgrimage achieved.  Nevertheless, it is
axiomatic that "where there's a will there's a way",
and he who is intent upon finding that way to the East
at all cost will most assuredly arrive there.  The way,
however, is not one of suppression and annihilation,
but the way of development and sublimation of all our
faculties.  It is the path of the great transformation,
which has been described in the terms of Alchemy as the
transmutation of base metals, signifying substances
exposed to decay and dissolution, into the pure
uncorruptible gold of the "prima materia", meaning the
imperishable jewel of the adamantine mind.  The mind,
then, the "ashlar" of the Craft system, becomes in the
process of transformation the "jewel" or Philosopher's
Stone, whose touch it is that converts all the elements
of our consciousness into the processes or "tools" by
which the final restoration to Light is accomplished. 
It is obvious that these things can only be hinted at
in the Ritual, but cannot otherwise be explained to the
candidate in their deepest meaning. Of necessity it
must be the candidate himself who creates his own inner
order, and thereby gives sense and purpose to his own
existence and to the world which he conceives in his
mind.  And the only sure guide on the path is that
Kindly Light, the power of consciousness, which
gradually through discrimination and understanding,
grows into knowledge and wisdom.

THE GREAT AND SOLEMN OBLIGATION:

Following the traditional practice of Orders of
Initiation, the candidate is next required to take the
vow of silence as the further preliminary to the
ceremonial conferment of Initiation, and the initial
entrustment with "the secrets of Freemasonry" which are
appropriate to his grade.  This solemn Obligation is
often thought of as perpetuating the usual covenant of
secrecy demanded from new members of the old Trade
Guilds as a guard to the privileges of the Guild and
the protection of technical trade secrets.  Apart from
the fact that our Speculative Order certainly follows
the Operative procedure in this and other respects, the
reasons for secrecy run much deeper than the need for
silence about the formal secrets of the Craft system. 
The main purpose of the Obligation is to impress upon
the novice the extreme value of silence about new and
vital perceptions that will inevitably come to him, and
the mental reactions he will experience as the result
of these.  It is of the utmost importance that
candidates are informed that silence and secrecy are
not imposed upon them for the protection of the Craft
at large, which can suffer little or nothing from
indiscretion on the part of its members, but solely in
the interests of the candidate himself.  The earnest
and sincere candidate will soon find that true wisdom
is not to be acquired from anything that can be
ocularly shown or orally imparted to him, but arises
from the gradual digestion of ideas and their
coordination by his own mind, and with this object in
view it is essential that his mental energies should be
carefully conserved.  To use an electrical analogy, he
must become in effect an "accumulator", receiving
impressions and then allowing them to revolve within
the closed circuit of his mind, where they will be
marshalled and their intrinsic values extracted.  Each
new experience, each new situation of life, widens our
mental outlook and brings about a subtle change in
ourselves.  Thus our nature changes continually, not
only on account of the conditions of life, but because
by the constant addition of new impressions, the
structure of our mind becomes ever more diverse and
complex.  In the affairs of the popular world an
appalling waste of energy occurs daily in idle
conversation and needless discussion, the way of the
inner life, however, as taught in the Lodge, leads by
the "deep and sill waters" of knowledge, and therefore
calls for silence and economy of speech.  Silence, on
the other hand, generates the power necessary for
speaking with authority, when the rime for such
speaking comes; hence the Biblical injunction, "a time
to keep silence, and a time to speak" (Ecclesiates,
chapter 3, verse 7).  It is not generally recognised
that peril attaches to premature and unwise speech no
less than to more flagrant violations of secrecy, a
peril which is alluded to in the penalty of the
Obligation.  The penalty, when we discern the spiritual
intention behind the literal expression, implies that
he who is unfaithful to his duty of silence and secrecy
may, by frittering away energies which need to be
conserved and consolidated, automatically render
himself spiritually unvocal.  A wise old counsel says:
-

Word is thrall but Thought makes free;
Hold thy speech, I counsel thee ".

This kind of discrimination has to be exercised by
every aspirant, not only in general but in each
individual who is genuinely concerned for his
advancement. Accordingly, the discipline and spiritual
teaching of the Craft system should not be insisted
upon in the case of those who do not care for it, or
who are not yet ripe for it: it should be given only to
those who sincerely desire higher knowledge, and it
should be given only at the proper time and at the
proper place.  We may add that those who blindly accept
the letter of the Ritual, as well as others to whom
only authentic documents are evidence of Truth, will
never admit this.  The posture observed by the
candidate during the Obligation should be studied in
conjunction with what has previously been said
concerning the partial measure of symbolical disrobing
that he undergoes before being permitted to enter the
Lodge.  We should also compare the changing and
progressive nature of the posture and disrobing which
is adopted in each of the three Degrees, for they are
profoundly revealing.  They imply that the aspirant
must entirely abandon his former egocentricity, humble
his pride, and sever his attachment to "worldly
possessions" and ingrained mental prejudices, all of
which is a gradual process.  In the First Degree only
one knee rests in the prescribed position, in the
Second Degree the other knee is the mark of progressive
humility; and in the Third Degree the posture signifies
that humility is total, and that all resistance of mind
and will are in complete self-surrender to the Good Law
upon whose symbolic volume is placed first one hand and
finally both.

THE CEREMONIAL RESTORATION TO LIGHT: 

After taking the Obligation the candidate is
immediately reminded that for a "considerable time" he
has been in a "state of darkness", but this simple
phrase must not be interpreted as alluding to the short
period during which his sight has been shut off for
symbolic reasons.  The whole ceremony is an allegory of
regeneration.  The poet Wordsworth says: "Our birth is
but a sleep and a forgetting" ("Intimations of
Immortality"); our re-birth, he might have added, is an
awakening and a remembering; but regeneration comes
about only when there is kindled within us that latent
central "Light", to seek which is the purpose of our
entrance into this world, and to find which is really
"the predominant wish" of every human heart, whether
that wish becomes a definite conscious urge, or remains
dormant and subconscious.  In every genuine candidate
for Freemasonry that wish is presumed to have emerged
as an imperative urge, and because it is the avowed
"predominant wish" of his heart, he is, by the law of
life itself, entitled to have his prayer answered, and
to hear spoken over him the creative fiat: "Let there
be Light". Throughout our Ritual by the word "Light" we
must understand "consciousness", and the First Degree,
therefore, implies the first stage of an expansion of
consciousness beyond that of the normal mentality.  How
far the consciousness of a candidate may be quickened
and expanded by a particular ceremony depends upon a
combination of three essential conditions: Firstly,
"the help of God"; secondly, the preparedness of the
candidate himself; and thirdly, the efficiency of the
Lodge and the Initiating Master as instruments for
bringing the two former into union. It must not be
supposed that an actual accession of consciousness
comes to the candidate, at least in the majority of
cases, simultaneously with the symbolic act of
restoration to light.  Usually the new consciousness
emerges slowly, sometimes quite imperceptibly, through
the darkness of our clouded understanding, and, to use
a Masonic analogy, the Sun, the symbol of enlightened
consciousness, mounts to "its meridian" in due time;
there is first the dawn and rising before the Light can
manifest in full strength at "the hour of high twelve".
This cannot be achieved through building up
convictions, ideals and aims based on mundane
reasoning, but only through conscious penetration of
those layers of our mind which cannot be reached or
influenced by logical arguments and discursive thought. 
The abstractness of philosophical concepts and
conclusions requires to be constantly corrected by
direct experience, by the practice of meditation, and
the contingencies of daily life.  We must likewise be
conscious of the insufficiency of words and all
intellectual attempts of explanation, in which we
should never see more than approximations and
preliminaries, which prepare us for deeper forms of
experience, just as the theoretical knowledge of the
laws of musical harmony and counterpoint are only
preliminaries, but can never be a substitute for the
enjoyment or creation of music.  By glibly talking
about the "mysteries" of Freemasonry we destroy the
purity and spontaneity of our inner attitude, and the
deep reverence which is the key to the temple of
revelation.  Moreover, as the mystery of love can only
unfold when it is withdrawn from the eyes of the crowd,
and as a lover will not discuss the beloved with
outsiders, in the same way the mystery of the inner
transformation and expansion of consciousness can only
take place if the secret force of its symbols is hidden
from the profane eyes and the idle talk of the world. 
Thus, with the lodge "properly tyled", and at the given
signal the "blessing is restored" to the candidate,
while there is a special reason for the symbolic action
by means of which all present "acclaim" the moment of
restoration.  It is, as it were, a discharge or
liberation of the tension to which those assembled have
been subjected during the action of the ceremony
leading up to the climax.

THE THREE GREAT LIGHTS:

The attention of the candidate is now directed to "the
three great, though emblematical Lights in
Freemasonry". These emblems are revealed to him by the
Master as the first objects upon which his eyes look
after being "restored to the blessing of material
light", and the candidate is appropriately kept in a
kneeling posture, and facing to the East, while they
are exhibited and briefly explained.  They consist of
the Sacred Writings, the Square and the Compasses; the
three being always displayed as if they were
organically and indissociably combined; the V. of the
S.L., lying undermost and forming the base for the
other two which rest upon it, the Compasses being
partially concealed by the Square.  The three emblems
may be interpreted as follows :-

THE VOLUME OF THE SACRED LAW:

This emblem although embodying the Divine Law as
revealed to the Western world has a far wider meaning. 
Masonically, it is the visible emblem of the invisible
Cosmic Law, through which the Deity is manifested in
the Universe.  It is virtually, therefore, the
representation of God Himself who, as Law, underlies
everything, and is the basis of all being.  As we know
"Law" has many forms or modes, and we must not limit
our ideas of it to any one of them, but rather think of
it as comprising them all, and as unifying the dual
qualities of Justice and Mercy, Severity and Love,
which characterise the Divine Nature.  Furthermore, the
Masonic conception of the Sacred Law is so broad that
members of the Craft are not committed to recognising
as valid only one expression of it.  Accordingly, the
authorised Scriptures of any religion are permitted to
be exposed in the Lodge in addition to the Holy Bible,
the principle adopted being that a candidate may be
Obligated upon the particular revelation of Divine Law
which he accepts as true for himself, and therefore
binding upon his conscience. It is impossible to
appreciate the Sacred Writings of any religious
movement unless we approach them with humility and
reverence, which is the hall mark of great scholars and
pioneers of learning, and the Masonic student is
expected to exercise tolerance and understanding in
this important aspect of his work.

THE COMPASSES:

The Compasses resting upon the V. of the S.L., are the
Masonic symbol of the Divine Spirit issuing forth from
the Deity into manifestation, and proceeding to
function in accordance with the Divine Law.  Our
perception of the manifested Universe is spatial, and
space is, philosophically speaking, the principle of
higher unity.  In contrast to the principle of space is
the principle of substance, but nevertheless space is
the precondition of all that exists, be it in material
or immaterial form, because we can neither imagine an
object nor a being without space.  Space, therefore, is
not only the "conditio sine qua non" of existence, but
also a fundamental property of our own consciousness. 
It follows from this premise that the infinity of space
and the infinity of consciousness are identical, while
it may be said with equal justification that the
experience of space is a criterion of spiritual
activity and of a higher form of awareness.  Thus those
who see only the transitoriness of things and reject
the world on account of its transistory character, see
only the change on the surface of things, but have not
yet discovered that the form of change, the manner in
which the change takes place, reveals the Divine Spirit
that inspires all form, the Reality that informs all
phenomena.

THE SQUARE:

The square set opposite to, but conjoined with, the
Compasses, represents the vesture of Cosmic Substance
in which the Spirit takes form.  The thought behind
this symbol is that of the "prima materia", the
original substance, the ultimate principle of the
manifested world.  According to this idea, all existing
elements or phenomena are only variations of the same
force or substance, which can be restored to its purity
by reducing and dissolving the manifold qualities which
have imposed themselves upon it through differentiation
and subsequent specialisation.  This idea, which only
yesterday was ridiculed by our Western science as a
phantasmagoria of medieval thought, has today again
become an acceptable theory, borne out by recent
discoveries in the realm of nuclear physics.  The
repercussions of these discoveries already make
themselves felt in all branches of modern thought and
have led to a new conception of the Universe.

THE THREE GREAT LIGHTS IN CONJUNCTION:

Read in conjunction, the Three Great Lights are an
emblem of the Cosmic Purpose, that is, Spirit and
Substance working in unison in order to realise an idea
or intention latent in the Divine Mind.  The idea in
question is that of constructing a perfect Universe, a
Universe in which the animating spirit and the material
form shall stand in perfect balance.  This is why,
Masonically, we speak of the Deity as T.G.A.O.T.U., and
of the Universe as "the Temple of the Deity whom we
serve" (Fourth Section; First Lecture).  The cosmic
Temple is, indeed, the "intended structure", which is
in the process of being built in accordance with the
Divine Law, and with the assistance of the Divine
Compasses and Square.  It is the duty of every
Freemason to cooperate with the Great Architect in the
execution of His plan, and the candidate during the
ceremony of Initiation has disclosed to him, under the
guise of the Three Great Lights, the basis upon which
our doctrine and philosophy rests.

THE THREE LESSER LIGHTS:

Having been shown the Three Great Lights, the candidate
is turned round from facing the East, and Three Lesser
Lights are pointed out to him, burning in different
parts of the Lodge.  In the symbolism of the Craft
system these Three Lesser Lights stand in direct
correspondence with the Three Great Lights, and they
are meant to indicate to the novice that the three
great Cosmic Principles which sustain the Universe are
reproduced in miniature within himself.  It is in this
sense that the Universe is termed the Macrocosm, or
great image of the Divine Thought, while each
individual man is a microcosm, or image in small of
that same Divine Thought.  To each of us from our birth
into this world have been given three lesser lights, by
means of which the Lodge within ourselves may be
illumined.  Thus, the "Sun" symbolises our spiritual
consciousness, the higher aspirations and emotions of
the soul; the "Moon" betokens our reasoning or
intellectual faculties which, as the Moon reflects the
light of the Sun, should reflect the light coming from
the higher spiritual faculty and transmit it into our
daily conduct; whilst "the Master of the Lodge" is a
symbolical phrase denoting the will-power of man, which
should enable him to be master of his own life, to
control his own actions, and keep down the impulses of
his lower nature, even as the stroke of the Master's
gavel controls the Lodge and calls to order and
obedience the Brethren under his direction.  It is by
the assistance of these lesser lights within him, that
the candidate perceives what is, again symbolically,
called the "form of the Lodge"; in ether words, the way
in which his human nature has been composed and
constituted, the length, breadth, the height and depth,
of his own being.  The establishing of inner relations
between spiritual qualities, psychological principles,
planes of consciousness, and their symbolical figures
and spatial positions, are not an idle play of
imagination or arbitrary speculations, but the visible
representation of experiences.  But the instrument of
human consciousness, like a musical instrument, has to
be tuned anew continually, and this tuning depends upon
the knowledge of the right vibrations or "knocks", and
on the capacity of perceiving their relationship, which
requires a high degree of sensitivity and devotion. 
The candidate will be helped by his studies to discern
that he himself, his body and his soul, are "holy
ground", upon which he should build the altar of his
own spiritual life, an altar which he should suffer no
"iron tool", no debasing habit of thought or conduct,
to defile.  Finally, he will discover that there is a
mystical "ladder of many rounds or staves", signifying
the innumerable paths or methods by which men are led
upwards to the spiritual Light encircling us all, but
that of the three principal methods, the greatest of
these, and the one that comprehends them all, is Love,
in the full exercise of which God-like virtue a
Freemason reaches the summit of his profession.

THE ENTRUSTMENT WITH THE SECRETS OF THE DEGREE:

At this juncture of the ceremony there follows the
formal entrustment of the candidate with the "secrets"
of the Degree.  This episode is, however, preceded by a
cryptic explanation of certain dangers through which he
is told, unbeknown to himself, he has already passed,
and he is shown the p...... and the c .... t. . by way
of confirmation.  These symbols relate to certain
subjective perils which are incident to rashly
embarking upon the path of spiritual experience without
proper preparation, and to the moral suicide involved
by turning back once a decision has been voluntarily
made to go forward.  To the novice such perils are, of
course, of little importance, and they do not become
apparent until after considerable experience of
spiritual science; meanwhile, the candidate should keep
the admonition in mind as a wise counsel for his future
guidance.  The p...... exhibited at this stage of
symbolic progress reminds us of the frequent references
in the Sacred Writings to the two-edged "sword of the
Spirit," and the way in which it is said to guard
access to the "Tree of Life"; this will explain the use
of the sword in  the ceremony, and also illustrate why,
on the first entrance to the Lodge, "the p .... of a s
.... i... t was presented" to the "n ... d l .. t
b....t of the candidate.  To the c . . . . t . . there
is attached a deep significance, indeed, so important
is this item of our equipment that it appears in one
guise or another in each of the three Craft Degrees,
and also in the Royal Arch.  It is not here expedient
to deal with its full implications, but it is
permissible to say that in the V. of the S.L., the
c.... t . . is referred to in the familiar phrase "or
even the silver cord be loosed" (Ecclesiastes, chapter
12, verse 6), and whosoever understand the meaning of
that phrase will see why the "cord" is used in each of
our ceremonies.  The arcane "secrets" imparted in this
Degree are said to consist of peculiar marks or signs
intended to distinguish all Brethren of the grade of
Entered Apprentice, and outwardly they are expressed in
the Lodge by step, sign and word.  These outward and
conventional "secrets", however, are to be regarded as
clues to spiritual progress, rather than the
communication of confidential information. The real
"secrets of the Degree" are not communicated orally,
but must be learned by experimental practice.  Stated
in other terms, in the same way that a prosperous
business man is quite unable to convey the "secret" of
his success to another who has not himself practised
commerce successfully, so the "secret" of Masonic
advancement is withheld from those who fail to fulfil
the requirements of living by "the practice of every
moral and social virtue".  This does not mean that the
oral teaching given during the ceremony may be
subsequently regarded by the candidate as a merely
formal introduction to the Craft system.  On the
contrary, the candidate should be impressed with the
fact that he has received his first lesson in a long
course of instruction of a strictly private nature
which is reserved from public knowledge, and he should
be encouraged to "make a daily advancement in Masonic
knowledge ".

THE PRESENTATION TO THE WARDENS:

The entrustment with the "secrets" being completed, the
candidate is led to each of the Wardens in turn and
subjected to a test of his ability to communicate what
has been imparted to him.  This part of the ceremony is
entirely in accordance with scriptural authority, and
with experience.  It is a law of life that no one
receives an accession of knowledge or power without
being soon afterwards put to a test as to how he will
use it, and whether he is able and worthy to retain
what he has received.  If he is found worthy he will be
still further advanced, and if not, he will remain
where he was, or find himself in a worse position than
he was at first.  The law is: "For unto every one that
hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but
from him that hath not shall be taken away even that
which he hath" (St. Matthew, chapter 25, verse 29). 
And so it will be to every candidate for whom our
Initiation ceremony becomes translated into terms of
actual life experience; as soon as Light has been
vouchsafed to him, he will find himself tested in one
way or another as to his worthiness to retain it.  Our
method of "halving" or "lettering" the Word of the
Degree is not a precautionary measure, or in order to
demonstrate that we share its secret with other
Brethren, but is a most delicate reminder that although
we are not able to utter what the Word signifies in its
entirety, yet if we can only sound it forth in sincere
fragmentary efforts, those fragments will suffice to
let us pass our test.  We know something only insofar
as we can express it, that is, produce it.  The more
perfectly and manifoldly we can produce something, the
better we know it.  We know it completely, if we can
produce and communicate it always and in every possible
way, and if we can bring about an individual expression
in every fragment of it.  The mystery of speech is more
than words and concepts, it is the principle of all
mental representation and communication, be it in the
form of audible, visible or thinkable symbols, in which
the highest knowledge is imparted.

THE INVESTITURE WITH THE APRON:

Since each episode in the ceremony follows its
predecessor with psychological accuracy, we should
expect that a fitting reward awaits the candidate as
the result of passing the symbolic test to which he has
just been submitted.  It is so, and on the Senior
Warden presenting the candidate to the Master for "some
mark of your favour", the Master then directs that he
shall be invested with the Apron.  Thereupon, for the
first time the candidate is Masonically clothed, and is
entitled henceforth to wear the Badge of the Order. 
Behind this apparently simple act of investiture lies
an important fact, namely that every spiritual state is
accompanied by an appropriate bodily form.  It is
written: "But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased
Him, and to every seed his own body" (1st Corinthians,
chapter 15, verse 38). Accordingly, on the candidate
being reported as having attained a new phase of soul
growth, the Master as the representative of the Divine
in the Lodge, at once orders him to be clothed upon
with a vesture which is expressive of his spiritual
condition.  It should be noted that the Apron is of
white lamb skin, which is an emblem of that purity and
innocence that we always associate with the lamb and
the new-born child.  The shape of the Apron is that of
a triangle superimposed upon a quadrangle; the triangle
is the universal emblem of what is spiritual and
formless, whilst the quadrangle is the symbol of what
is material and possesses form or body; and, since
human nature is a compound of both the spiritual and
material, the Apron is a figure of the candidate
himself.

THE NORTH EAST CORNER:

Clothed upon Masonically, the candidate is placed in
the N.E. corner of the Lodge, and thereby he is
intended to learn that at his birth into this world the
foundation stone of his spiritual life was duly and
truly laid and implanted within himself.  He is now
charged to develop it, to raise a superstructure upon
it.  Two paths are open to him at this stage; it is the
meeting place of the N. and the E., of darkness and
light; and, therefore, representative of his own
condition.  The N.E. corner of the Lodge is a point of
much symbolic significance.  By standing at this point,
the candidate is intended to see that he can at will
proceed on his journey towards the E., or be can turn
back to the N., advance further to the Light, or
relapse into the darkness; and it rests with himself in
which direction his life will henceforth move. 
Appropriately, it is here in the N.E. corner of the
Lodge that the candidate is reminded of his duty to
render himself more extensively serviceable, and the
Charge now given to him emphasises the virtue of
charity, the complete attainment of which is elsewhere
declared to be the summit of our Masonic profession. 
We must not, however, think of the fulfillment of this
virtue merely in the terms of money donations to those
who are financially poor, distressed, or even
deserving.  The familiar words of the Ritual may
suggest that it does, but we should bear in mind that
the Ritual throughout is "veiled in allegory", and
enshrines a deeper meaning than the surface
interpretation.  Actually, the "charity" which the
candidate is earnestly entreated to cultivate at this
important moment in the ceremony would perhaps be best
translated by the word "compassion", meaning
sympathetic and kindly feeling with all living
creatures.  Such a definition includes Love, which is
the usual synonym for Charity, but it comprehends
something more.  In its Latin original "Caritas", the
word "Charity" means dearness, and the virtue implied
is that of regarding all living creatures in the spirit
of universal and impartial dearness, as being pilgrims
in the same way, and whilst differing in degrees of
developing, yet all evolving towards a common goal. In
their struggles and sufferings to work out that
destiny, which is theirs no less than ours, and whether
they are conscious of it or not, it is the duty of
every member of the Craft to give them all the
compassion and help that he can.  The giving of mental
and moral succour is relief of far greater value than
the giving of what is personal and material, because it
strengthens the mental and moral nature of the
recipients.  Surely, then, this is one of the most
impressive moments of the ceremony when the candidate,
denuded of everything of material value, is asked to
make a gift to the poor and distressed.  The only
resources from which he can possibly make a gift are
from the treasury of his own heart, and the incident
dramatically demonstrates the fact that if the treasury
of the heart is empty we cannot really give at all,
however opulent we may be pecuniarily.  On the other
hand, if the treasury of the heart is full, we shall be
giving what guineas cannot buy.

THE WORKING TOOLS OF THE APPRENTICE: 

In the N.E. corner of the Lodge the candidate is
advised of "what" to do, what to aim at, in order to
promote his own advancement, and the next thing is to
tell him "how" to do it.  Thus under the guise of what
are termed "Working Tools" he is recommended to pursue
certain lines of discipline and self improvement. 
These so-called Working Tools are three in number, and
their significance is sufficiently explicit in the
Ritual used in their presentation.  They must not be
looked upon, however, only as emblems which are
incidental to the ceremony, but as indicating duties
which are essential to Masonic progress.  One of these
three tools, the measuring guage, is itself three-fold
in application.  It allocates our daily time to the
performance of three distinct duties, duties not
necessarily involving equal expenditure of time, but
each of which is of equal value.  There is first a duty
to God and a persistent devotion to "spiritual" things;
secondly, a duty to one-self, which will involve due
attention to "material" pursuits and the care of our
own person; and thirdly, an "altruistic" duty to those
who are less happily placed than ourselves.  This is,
as it were, an equilateral triangle of duties each of
which is as important as the other two, and it will be
helpful to consider the sides of such a triangle as
signifying God, our neighbour, and ourselves
respectively.  We are expected to find a way of
balancing our performance of the three duties, and this
is why the candidate is told that assistance to others
is to be "without detriment" to himself or his
"connections". At first sight these qualifying words
appear to be selfish, but there is great wisdom in
them, for only he can serve and help another who has
first discharged his duty to himself and thereby made
himself competent to serve.  There are, indeed, many
people who neglect to improve themselves, whilst
fussily trying to improve others to their own
detriment.  The attention of the candidate is likewise
drawn to the "advantages of education", and in practice
he will find that his education is greatly facilitated
if he will enter upon the systematic reading of
literature dealing with Masonic and cognate subjects. 
Says an old counsel: "Reading is good prayer"; and
since Freemasonry is largely a work of the mind, every
study that conduces to the exercise of the mental
faculties will prove to be a "Working Tool", and open
fresh doors of his perception.  Assuredly, all
disciplines of the mind are equally precious and their
discoveries mutually so, but this solidarity of science
and art does not necessarily mean confusion.  What is
important for the student is to integrate the results
of the diverse applications of the mind without
confounding them, "by which means alone we are rendered
fit members of well organised society ".

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION:

Finally, the candidate is given permission to retire
from the Lodge in order to be restored to what are
called, a little ironically, his "personal comforts",
the belongings which he surrendered before he was
allowed to enter the place where such possessions have
no intrinsic value.  Nevertheless, there is a pointed
lesson in his being directed to resume them, for
henceforth it will be his duty to carefully revise his
estimate of them, whilst using them freely for what
they are worth, and to learn to discriminate between
what is of transient and what is of enduring moment. 
On his return to the Lodge the "Ancient Charge" is
delivered to the candidate which concludes the
ceremony, but as this Charge is obviously self
explanatory it need not be further examined here.

Summarising, we may state briefly that the Ceremony of
Initiation dramatises, in a few swift episodes and
pregnant words, the novice or Apprentice stage of the
spiritual life.  The preliminary work of education and
self knowledge which is the subject of the First Degree
in Freemasonry can be learned only by experience and
effort.  We must at all times beware of the tendency to
be false and insincere with ourselves.  Love of
mankind, altruism, are very fine words, but they will
only have meaning when we are able to effectively serve
others.  The primary reason for our dilemma is
ignorance, and above all, ignorance of ourselves.  In
the ancient teachings the first demand was: "Know
Thyself", but this principle embraces much more than is
generally accepted.  Self knowledge involves long and
patient study but to study ourselves is one thing and
to change ourselves is quite another, although study is
undoubtedly the "first regular step" towards the
possibility of change in the future.  We are therefore
"taught to be cautious", implying that we should absorb
the teaching slowly, proceed warily, understandingly,
and withal humbly.  In our quest for Light we should
carefully apply to ourselves the well known words of
the hymn: "I do not ask to see the distant scene; one
step enough for me" (Newman); and it is one step, and
only one step at a time, that the Craft ceremonial
system permits.  To change oneself, this may seem, to
the keen aspirant, a small preliminary to the more
alluring aspects of our Masonic science; in actual fact
it is nothing of the sort; it is, indeed, the most
radical of alterations.  We are all integrated in
society, and we cannot change in any way without
affecting those around us; self change is always social
change; and the "practice of every moral and social
virtue" is strictly enjoined.  The life of the earnest
Masonic student should be carried on in constant
interchange between contemplation and deed.  As in
human breathing inspiration and expiration, as in the
working of the human heart systole and diastole, are
forever alternating, so likewise in man's relation to
God do contemplation and service succeed one another. 
We are reminded in the ceremony that creative work
depends upon two interacting active and passive forces;
these were represented at the forefront of the symbolic
temple of Solomon by "two pillars", denoting foundation
principles; and it is these two principles, activity
and contemplation, that the true candidate will learn
to equilibrate in his daily life.  We are counselled to
"steadily persevere" in our researches as it is unwise
to come to hasty conclusions, especially in regard to
our fitness for advancement, whilst we must always
endeavour to correctly interpret the motives by which
we profess to be actuated.  Delay in our progress will
certainly intervene on occasions, not as a denial of
our efforts, but as part of the discipline imposed. 
Those who are more expert know that deeper acquaintance
with spiritual verities is conditioned by motives, and
the use to which the knowledge will be put if it is
attained.  Throughout the ages the novice seeking
Initiation has found it necessary to solicit tuition
from an expert teacher who can give him guidance suited
to his personal needs.  It is for this reason that the
Craft, following the traditional method, declares that
every new Apprentice should: "Seek for a Master and
from him gain instruction" (First Lecture; First
Section).  This relationship of Master to pupil which
is implicit in our Masonic teaching is likewise
expressed in the old maxim: "When the pupil is ready
the Master will be found waiting", but let us reflect
upon the apparent paradox, that while the teacher is
indispensable to the pupil, so the teacher himself
cannot progress without the pupil.  This is the basis
of our Lodge and the method of Masonic progress from
which all members are deemed to derive the maximum
benefit.  The group is essential, but it must be linked
with the principle, demonstrated by the Installation of
the Master in the Lodge, that none can ascend to a
higher station until he places another in his own
place.  In other words, what we receive we must
progressively give back, and the value of a Masonic
Study Circle lies in the fact that it implements the
group work of the Lodges by teaching and interpreting
the doctrine of Freemasonry, from which all members of
the Circle may mutually assist each other and thereby
the Craft in general.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Volume of the Sacred Law

The Masonic Initiation               W.L. Wilmshurst
The Meaning of Masonry               W.L. Wilmshurst
Spiritual Disciplines  Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks
The Key of Masonic Initiation        P.T. Runton
The Secret Path                      P. Brunton
Man and His Becoming                 R. Guenon
The Lost Keys of Freemasonry         Manly P. Hall
The Way of Attainment                S. T. Klein

(The author would here record his personal gratitude to
the late W.Bro. W.L. Wilmshurst, and make due
acknowledgment to The Lodge of Living Stones, No.
4957.)