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Behind the True Word
of the Master Mason

by John H. Yingling, MPS

In the long history of human progress
there has been a parallel development in
communication. Men have used:
1-touch and gesture,
2-grunts and screams,

3-the rhythm, tempo, and tone of
drum and string,

4-drawings of likeness and scenes,
5 -dance,
6-sculpture,

7-hieroglyphic and cuneiform
scratches and

8-combinations of alphabetical
sounds into words and sentences, to
share with others the knowledge, wis-
dom, and feelings that are uniquely
human and bind us together.

While men occasionally draw apart for
solitude, there is a great hunger for and
fulfillment in human associations. Her-
mits are indeed a rare breed. It takes two
humans to procreate, three to form a
family, more for a clan, even more for a
a tribe, city or nation, etc.

So much can be explained by words.
Verbal expression in verse and prose,
literature and oratory, is the most useful,
powerful, and beautiful of human tal-
ents. By the use of words in metaphors,
allegories, parables, fairy tales, fables,
legends, and myths, one can approxi-
mate the inexplicable spiritual experi-
ence. Surely words are symbols that con-
jure up in the minds of other men im-
ages, ideas, and feelings intended by the
user. The word itself is not the object.
Words are known to have great force to
sway the multitude, and are thought by
some to have sacred, magical or at least
mystical, power.

Great orators can reduce and articulate
ideas into the fewest words; e.g., the
Twenty-third Psalm, the Lord's Prayer,
and the Gettysburg Address. Sages, phi-
losophers and saints have reduced sen-
tences to a single word from which can
be abstracted great wisdom--words such
as law, love, and submission. Is it far-
fetched to declare that the True Word of
a Master Mason is of this genre?

Initiates are given a word to be noted
and memorized in addition to a pass-
word. If a password is needed to identify
a brother, what is the purpose of another
word? Is it superfluous baggage to tote
about? Are we engaging in nonsense, or
is the word fraught with imagery and
insights? It is with some sense of disap-
pointment that a Master Mason learns
that he has received an unintelligible
substitute Master's Word, that the con-
ditions set for revealing the True Word
can never be met, and that he may or
may not, some time in the future, un-
cover the True Word of the Master
Mason.

From the very beginning men have
been pondering the great mysteries of
who we are, where we came from, and
where we are going; what our relation-
ship is with other human beings, other
forms of life, the inanimate or animate
micro- or macrocosms. Is there a God?
If so what is He, She, It or They like?
Does God have laws that govern all life
and matter? If so, what are they? What
is the nature of the spirit that inhabits all
living things? Is the indwelling spirit the
real me, or am I only of the flesh? Does
the spirit survive the grave? If so, in what
manner? How does man account for
good and evil? Is man a severed and
independently functioning personality
or just a piece of the great jigsaw puzzle
of the cosmos? Or is the cosmos one great
single spirit permeating the uncontained
mass of creation? Is our destiny fated and
programmed from beginning to end, or
are we set loose to be buffeted by dy-
namic forces that ebb and flow in a con-
tinual process of becoming something
else?

There is a great yearning in men to find
answers to these questions, to communi-
cate with the great creative power who
can provide the answers and satisfaction
and to share with others the revelations?
Men are left on their own to contemplate
their own religious iraditions; to study
the traditions of others; to absorb the
sciences and experience the arts. Men
also look inward and toward the Deity in
an immediate, direct, and intimate
awareness of the Divine Presence, as the
Kabbalist, Sufi, Saint, and other mystics
did; who went beyond the initial spiritual
introduction, moral reform and mental
hygiene of their tradition, and on to
illumination. If a man can adopt a cos-
mic view and steer between the myopia
of materialism and the absurdities of
naive spiritualism; and can shed the su-
perstructure of ritualism, superstition,
and developed dogma, he may enter into
the creative process of changing and be-
coming himself. Is this not enlighten-
ment?

Freemasonry offers a Word that can be
philosophically useful (a word distilled
from the wisdom of every age and cul-
ture), powerful, auspicious, and preg-
nant with meaning and potential that
can be used as a guide for personal
attitude and behavior. If implemented, it
can bring peace and fulfillment. It de-
scribes the physical and spiritual laws of
God that govern the universe and all that
is in it. It makes sense of the physical and
spiritual contrarities of opposing forces,
and accounts for good and evil, and the
constantly changing evolvement of
things .

May I suggest to you, my brothers, the
True Word of a Master Mason, one rec-
ommended by older men of profound
intelligence and insight? The word is
" Equilibrium. " What is your True
Word of a Master Mason?
