or I am Nothing I am that I am,

By Aaron Wilcox

In the Volume of Sacred Law or Great Light, we have been given clues to finding ourselves, our true spiritual self in differentiation from our ego whose purpose it is to give us strong resistance, so that if we do subdue our passions, we may become refined. As we pass between the beauty and strength of our own nature we travel into our inner self, where we will need more tools and Light to find our way. In the vastness of the teachings of Freemasonry, we seek to understand the path that we all will encounter the very moment we sincerely begin subduing or balancing our lower impulses, ever climbing, refining, and receiving greater Masonic Light.

We travel together ever towards the East, reflecting on ritual, lectures, speculatively employing the working tools, ever working through the lessons, and following or rather working to intelligently discern one thing before we pass through that final archway that connects this world to the next. What do we need to learn long enough before passing to that next world so that we may unleash the pure potential of our nature and both build a better world while avoiding our own destruction? The most valuable knowledge we can lean is, who am I?

While recounting the burning bush in Exodus 3:14, Moses asks what he is to say to the Israelites when they ask what God has sent him to them, and YHWH replies, I Am That I Am: and he said, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.” Many theologians and philosophers have hypothesized about the meaning of this statement. One of my favorite theories is that the G.A.O.T.U. is saying I am that I am! I am that, I am that, or in other words, I am everything. Later in the Great Light it says, “though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” To me this means that God is Love, and if you are going to be like the Light, if you are to be that which you desire to be you must have Charity, you must have love!

As Masons we have a profound responsibility to our country, our neighbor, our family, and ourselves especially since our destiny is to both become better men, as well as to make the world a better place in which to live. Society must not just be left to manage according to the laws and systems that our forefathers have set up for us. It is our responsibility to spend our time wisely in the pursuit of truth and self awareness while aiding and assisting those who require our help. We must understand what and why we are who we are, and we must provide others with the means to discover this for themselves.

You, my Brother who are reading this, have done as I have as you took a substantial leap of faith in the trust you placed in the hands of a friend. It might have been recent or years ago when you took your first step in Masonry, though we, and all those who came before us have done so in the same way since time immemorial creating a continuous fraternal bond or chain of trust and abundant fund of caritas (Brotherly Love). In our lives we once opened our hearts to a stranger, who developed through mutual care and respect into a friend, and afterwards, after that leap of faith, we learned, or earned them to be a Brother. We were seeking something, and they guided us to the door of the place where we would learn the truth about what we seek.

We have traveled from the darkness of solitude ever towards the perfect Light of Brotherhood where we are promised that we will never suffer the vicissitudes and inclemencies of the seasons ever again alone. We are born with hope, we learn to trust, to have faith, and even love, giving the gift that transcends the temporal existence as we learn to Master ourselves. Charity is that love we learn in the craft of Freemasonry that allows us to reach beyond this world.

Brother Benjamin Franklin so eloquently describes this concept as such, “Masonic labor is purely a labor of love. He who seeks to draw Masonic wages in gold and silver will be disappointed. The wages of a Mason are earned and paid in their dealings with one another; sympathy that begets sympathy, kindness begets kindness, helpfulness begets helpfulness, and these are the wages of a Mason.”

The Great Light tells it all so plainly to us, yet are we following that Great Light? We are instructed that there is no profit in gaining the world and losing our soul. This instructs us to be charitable, for it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. If we miss the point, or the point within the circle, we might create elaborate tombs to enshrine our wealth and power, continuing to ornament the world with our legacies by creating roads in our names, cryogenically freezing our bodies before we breathe our last breath, or downloading digital personality profiles of ourselves in a feeble attempt to cheat the blade of death’s scythe which will inevitably cut our bodies away from our souls, but all of our attempts are futile unless we learn the meaning of life, who am I?

In the end, what we do not refine in our lives and personalities will be discarded or symbolically burned away and all the titles, ribbons, and wealth is useless to us as builders of the spiritual building; we must construct together if we are to pass. In the mind as well as in heaven, we rise only so far as we have the ability, for we cannot climb steps we have not yet been built. It is not possible to exercise the virtues that save our minds and souls from torment if we do not work to develop the virtues. Through subduing the passions which are no less than the Seven Deadly Sins, we provide space to build the Seven Heavenly Virtues which are their opposites. The Virtues are Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance, and Justice, and we must develop Charity first as Faith may be lost in sight, Hope ends in fruition, but Charity extends beyond the grave through the boundless realms of eternity. Charity is also the opposite of Pride because Charity considers others as an extension of the self in the oneness of spirit, while Pride only considers the ego and desires to separate the Light of the Spirit.

While we contemplate the teachings, memorize the ritual, and get ready to dazzle our brethren with our high polished eloquence, let us first learn what true Charity is! Charity is never given to puff one’s self up but should be given in the spirit of the Master and as continuous as the sun’s rays shine. We must always remember that without Charity, without the pureness of giving Charity to humanity, and to our manhood… we are nothing!

We are reminded of the Great Light in the book of Corinthians that, “though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing!”

On our journey to the East, we are given the opportunity to work with the tools which are symbolically entrusted to and explained to us. Since we are not operative Masons, we should learn to make use of them as speculative Masons, as we are instructed in the first three degrees. What does this mean? We contemplate both what they do in the physical world as well as how they may be used on the human mind and soul, and especially strive to employ the tools we are given by the Worshipful Master (him being a symbol of divine intelligence as he wears a Square as the Jewel of his office). We are taught to use our working tools on our personality, as well as in harmony with the personalities of our fellow beings, treating our minds as living stones for that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Let us get a little more in depth as to the meanings of the tools. So why is it that the Master of the Lodge wears a working tool of a Fellow Craft? It is because he is the guiding intellectual force in the Lodge. The Square is a symbolic combination of the 24-inch gauge, level, and the plumb, the Master holds the gavel which is used to manage the rough and superfluous parts of his Lodge, symbolic of the Master’s mind. The Compasses are not the jewel of the Master, because the Compasses belong in the center of the Lodge. The teachings of the Compasses illustrate that it is central and all-encompassing within, and aids in laying out the symbolic Lodge. Two of the most important symbols it helps us to create are the Circumpunct of course and the blazing star, and while the later is explicitly explained to reside in the center of the Lodge, the former symbolically implies that it must remain in the center as the Circumpunct also symbolizes the Sun. The Sun, named in Latin, Sol, resides at the center of our solar system, and the Soul which resides at the very core of who we are, is also symbolized by the solar plexus where if we are struck, we lose our energy.

The Square is only one side of the driving force which evolves human beings, so the Golden beauty of the soul, or the Compasses are needed which keep us true to our soul direction. Never straying too far from our moral center or beyond our physical limits, so that we can remain useful both to ourselves and the world we are dedicated to build. For this reason, the name of this tool is the Compasses, because it keeps us true and if we use it correctly it is impossible to both materially, and spiritually err. It is a plural tool of direction, which through proper implementation of it allows us to both keep our bearings on the earth, as well as in the spiritual realms beyond. It is only through a balanced employment of both the compasses and the Square that we are enabled to create the plans on the tressleboard which will lead to salvation. It is therefore vitally important that each Mason learns to balance his work in Lodge as well as in his own life as the pillars through which we pass to learn the inner mysteries of Masonry, the soul, and civilization. Without the development of the virtues by using the working tools of the intellect, when it comes time to separate the wheat from the chaff, we will not have the risen bread of life and the developed soul.

The Worshipful Master among the three principal officers symbolizes Faith as Master, because he is guiding the Lodge, sure of the things we hope for and knowing the divine plan. Hope as Senior Warden because his station is in the West of the setting sun and Darkness, further illuminated by this verse in the book of Job, “A life span will rise brighter than noon; darkness will be like morning. You will be secure, for there is hope; you will look around and rest safely. You will lie down without anyone to scare you; many will beg for your favor.” — Job 11:17–19. The Junior Warden symbolizes Charity, both because he represents the Sun at midday when we most enjoy the warmth of its rays and the fullness of Light by which we may understand, and for spiritual reasons such as St. Augustine of Hippo summarizes, “Charity is a virtue which, when our affections are perfectly ordered, unites us to God, for by it we love him.”

By the constant education and instruction of the principal officers the Lodge may learn to develop fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice, because only by experiencing by giving and receiving the love of Charity can we have reason for Hope. In a world of survival, judgment, sexism, ageism, and racism, we must learn to give more love and Charity to disperse the darkness of hate. Charity or love is that hand that pulls us out of the grave, and receives us into the Light, but like all good things, they flow from above.

The sun does not care what sins you have committed; it will shine on you regardless and the rain will wash you clean! As a parent has the power to make or break their child by giving or withholding love, or a boss has the power to feed or starve the children of their employee by giving or withholding a fair wage, we must learn as Masons the truth of Charity, and that we have the power to raise the world from the darkness of hate to the limitless light of Faith by first subduing our passions, giving Charity rather than taking judgment and making room for the other virtues that will allow us to become the Master and also the Light we seek in this world.

So now the choice is yours as it is mine my Brother, will we be the Light, or nothing at all? v

WB Aaron Wilcox, Past Master of Hinsdale Lodge No. 934