The North Carolina Mason

■ see ESOTERICA, page 8 March/April 2020 The North Carolina Mason Page 5 From the Grand master When is a rose more than a rose? By P. Shaun Bradshaw Grand Master I t has been my honor to travel to our lodges for district meetings – before the coronavirus sent everyone to the safety of their homes – and present a message on the value of Freemasonry. One area I'm particularly passionate about and believe is exceptionally valuable is the transformative nature of our Craft through the initiatic experience and contemplation of our symbols and rituals. I have found, however, that many of our brethren don't fully under- stand how our symbols work and tend to only consider the most basic explanation from our ritual. At one recent district meeting, I asked the brethren to tell me what the Lodge repre- sents. e consensus was that it represents the Tabernacle or King Solomon's Temple, which is true in that that's what our ritual tells us, but it begs the question – what do those structures represent? In other words, our ritual frequently gives us an interpretation, which is intended to make us think further about the symbol. So, what does King Solomon's Temple repre- sent to you? To me, King Solomon's Temple, which was a building created to hold the divine presence in the Ark of the Covenant, is like our physical bodies. Similar to King Solomon's Temple, our bodies contain the divine spark of Deity, our soul, our spirit which is connected to Deity. And so, the Lodge is YOU! And all the symbols used within the Lodge represent some aspect of you. To help this make more sense, let's define and illustrate what a symbol is. A simple definition of a symbol is something which makes us think of something else, consciously or unconsciously. For example, these words you are reading are symbols. Each letter symbol- izes a sound and, when arranged in a certain order, forms a word which represents a thing or an idea. So, if I write R-O-S-E, we should all think of a rose. I may also invoke the image of a rose in your mind by showing a picture of one – or by writing RO53. Given the context of what I've written so far, it isn't a far leap to interpret the 53 as substituted symbols for the letters SE, in which case you again see the word ROSE even though that's not what I wrote. Oh, and one more thing. A moment ago, when I mentioned I could show you a picture of a rose, I suspect some of you immediately imagined seeing that picture. But here's the thing…what did the picture look like to you? Was it a red rose, a white rose, a bouquet of roses? If I asked you to think further (contemplate) about a rose, some of you may think of a rose in your garden, or the smell of a rose, or a rose you gave your sweetheart, which may lead you to think about how you feel about that person, which may invoke a feeling of love and joy … and so even the image of a rose can invoke a subconscious feeling of love. Our Masonic symbols work the same way. While our ritual helps provide us context with which to think about the symbol, we must understand that the interpretation of the symbol has to become personal in order to affect a change (a transformation) in how we think, in what we say, and in what we do. Of course, this assumes you occasionally take time to think about the symbols. Have you ever watched a degree and suddenly a part of the ritual jumps out at you? Or maybe a statement about one of the symbols gets your thoughts going down a rabbit hole? Or perhaps a particular set of movements or words triggers a personal memory? ese instances are the symbols speaking to you. Listen carefully to them, gauge your emotional state, feel your heartbeat, notice your ■ see BRADSHAW, page 8 Similar to King Solomon's Temple, our bodies contain the divine spark of Deity, our soul, our spirit which is connected to Deity. And so, the Lodge is YOU! By Donald Street Hiram #40, Morning Star #85, Nine Sisters #773 In a recent conversation with MW Grand Master Shaun Bradshaw, the creation of a series in the NC Mason dealing with Masonic esoterica was suggested. Decades ago, the Grand Lodge of North Carolina sponsored a very worthwhile education service called the NC System of Lodge Educa- tion. is well-thought-out publica- tion was read by appropriate section to Entered Apprentices, Fellowcraft, and Master Masons. It was read to me, and by me to others. One of the many issues discussed was the matter of understanding our ritual. e concept is the ritual can be learned, performed, and done well, but not understood. What does our ritual mean? How is it interpreted? How can it be applied? Starting with the basics, it is very easy to learn our ritual and with practice, it is very easy to perform our ritual. But understanding and internalizing our principles takes work and introspection. We are a system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols. ough easily said, it is often understood poorly and rarely internalized. In education parlance – as an educator for 50 years – internaliza- tion and integration of learning are the end of the rainbow. When a subject learns, does he learn by rote or does he internalize? If learning is internalized, we move toward integration or interfacing column A with column B and getting A+ and not confusion of rote. So much for educational theory. It is our Grand Master's plan to accomplish internalization of ritual by interpreting its "revealment and reveilment." To this day, I remember reading in the Lodge System of Masonic Education about internalizing the ritual. In my early days in the Craft, I was fortunate to have two very learned and very patient mentors to walk me by the hand through the ð ESOTERICA 101 SPECIAL SERIES Learning how to internalize Masonic symbolism

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