“The Importance of a Questioning Attitude in Freemasonry” by Rober� Lomas Written exclusively for TWT When you first knocked on the door of the lodge and asked to be admitted you were asked a question. "Who comes there?" That is the first of many and varied ritual questions which you meet as you progress through the system of The Craft. You were not expected to answer that first question for yourself. The Tyler spoke on your behalf, but once inside the lodge you were encouraged to answer for yourself. The first question "Are you free by birth and of the full age of 21?", should have been easy to answer in the affirmative as our modern society does not sanction the keeping of slaves and Freemasonry affirms that all its members are equal. But then the probing went deeper. You were asked. "In all times of danger and difficulties, in whom do you put your trust?" You were prompted to answer "In God." In this way you were questioned to see if you believed that some form of organising principle ruled the universe. And it is perfectly acceptable, for the physicists among us, to trust in a God who has a gambling problem in sub-atomic dealings, provided you can accept that on a cosmic scale there is purpose to be studied. As Newton said when describing the role of Great Architect in Principia Mathematica. The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. And if the fixed stars are the centers of like systems, these, being formed by the like wise counsel, must be all subjects to the dominion of one; especially since the light of the fixed stars is of the same nature with the light of the sun, and from every system light passes into all the other systems; and lest the systems of fixed stars should, by their gravity, fall on each other, he hath placed those systems at immense distances from one another. This being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his
dominion he is wont to be called the Lord God or Universal Ruler, for God is a relative word, and has a respect to servants; and Deity is the dominion of God not over his own body, as those imagine who fancy God to be the soul of the world, but over servants. The Supreme Being is eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect, omnipotent and omniscient. ... We know him only by his most wise and excellent contrivances of things and final causes. Newton had been inspired as young man by the questioning attitude of John Wallis, a Freemason who helped found the Royal Society, along with Bro Robert Moray. But Bro Wallis also developed an advanced method of using symbols to pose and answer questions that we now call algebra. Since the time of Plato, over two thousand years ago, Masons and builders have believed that there is a source of pure symbols existing in a spiritual realm of perfection. Plato taught that with careful training an individual could be shown how to communicate with this realm and discover the true nature of these symbols. He developed this thought into a theory of ideas and it is a way of thinking which is deeply embedded in the Masonic system of selfimprovement. Freemasonry practices a basic method of teaching which poses questions, both spoken and implied, that are intended to help Masons to know themselves and so gain access to the realm of perfect forms. As an undergraduate at Cambridge University, Newton kept a diary. It reveals that Bro. John Wallis, through his book Algebra, shared this Masonic way of thinking by questioning, with the young Isaac Newton. The book inspired Newton to raise the sort of queries that we Freemasons need to ask ourselves - if we are to progress up the winding stairway of Masonic knowledge. Let me take, for example, one of the liberal arts we are encouraged to study in our second degree and ask questions about astronomy. Let us reflect on the movements of the Sun and the Moon which Newton was inspired to question. As Masons we are told these heavenly bodies form part of the lesser lights of Freemasonry. They are (Continued on page 25)
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