
                        RITUALS AND MAN
                         
                    Julian H. Cambridge, 32 
                     4411 Louisiana Street 
                  San Diego, California 92116 
                         

   As we contemplate the word ritual and its meanings, it 
becomes difficult not to think of man, and when we think of man 
it becomes difficult not to think of ritual. From time 
immemorial, man and rituals coexisted. Man is, in fact, a 
ritual being. One would then ask, what are these ceremonial 
acts and why are they an inherent part of our nature? 

   Stated simply, rituals convey meaningful symbolic and moral 
lessons, lessons about our strengths and weaknesses, high 
aspirations and basic flaws. Rituals arouse the inner nature of 
man and afford him opportunities to receive glimpses of his 
true self. These ceremonial acts, therefore, awaken within us 
emotions which are usually dormant and insights which are often 
shrouded. 

   From the very early stages of our realization of ourselves, 
we become aware that there is something outside of us which is 
much larger than ourselves. We realize that there is a 
macrocosmic world of which we are the microcosm and from which 
we cannot separate ourselves without hazarding great damage to 
our spiritual selves. In an attempt to connect and understand 
these two worlds, the macrocosmic and microcosmic, and his 
relation to it, man from the beginning of his existence has 
employed rituals. 

   As we look around and observe meaningful incidents, it 
becomes quite evident that rituals are constantly being used. 
There are rituals for birth, growing up and assuming adult 
responsibilities, graduation from schools, marriage, our 
demise, and many other occasions. Since rituals are such a 
necessary and paramount part of us, they must be accurately 
expressed. 

   To accomplish this, we use language, gestures, acts, 
symbols, and costumes. When these modes of expression are 
effectively applied, man's inner nature is aroused, and he 
glimpses the immortal and imperishable parts of his dual 
nature. He discovers the strengths which enable him to embark 
on the hero's journey, not as a courageous act, but as self-
discovery. Through ritual, man finds within himself the sources 
of character to meet his destiny. 

   The origins of these ceremonial acts, their development and 
evolution, are difficult to discover and define despite the 
fact that the use of ritual is universal and immemorial. There 
is little doubt, however, that the earliest rituals evolved 
around the cycles of nature and man. They sought to explain the 
existence of the world, the sequence of seasons, the growth of 
crops, the nature of animals, human society, and man himself. 

   Indeed, every culture, nation, and institution has developed 
ritual forms to fit its reason for existence, its microcosm, 
into the larger macrocosm or reason for all existence. 
Ultimately, ritual provides a focus, a core, a reason for 
being, and such is the case with our own Fraternity, the august 
and noble Order of Freemasons. 

   Therefore, to think of Freemasonry is, forthwith, to 
contemplate ritual. To think about Freemasonry without at the 
same time thinking about ritual is like thinking about birds 
without wings or cars without wheels. Wings allow birds to fly; 
wheels enable cars to move. And so rituals inspire and teach us 
moral lessons and cause us to fly above, move around, and pass 
through the stale and negative episodes which confront us each 
day of our lives. Freemasonry without proper, effective, and 
emotionally moving rituals is not Freemasonry at all. It is 
true that rituals can become exoteric and dry. If rituals 
merely remind us of the opening and closing of Lodge or other 
routine ceremonies, then we have failed to grasp what rituals 
communicate to us. 

   What rituals rightly performed and executed accomplish is to 
resuscitate those dormant but divine qualities which are within 
us, thus enabling us to accomplish the task to which the Great 
Architect of the Universe has assigned us. For ceremonial acts 
to be effective, they must evoke within us the utmost we are 
capable of accomplishing. 

   It therefore behooves us to pay very close attention to 
rituals and what they teach us. More importantly, we must make 
a whole-hearted effort to live a life in congruence with our 
Masonic rituals and the lessons they impart to us. There are 
many concerns expressed about the future of Freemasonry. My 
answer to these concerns is: more of us must make a true effort 
to apply at every opportunity the lessons we are continually 
taught by Masonic rituals. If and when we do, our non-Masonic 
friends and other associates will see Masonry's Light shining 
in us and will ask to share in it. 

   Man is ethical in potentiality even if, unfortunately, not 
in actuality. His capacity for ethical judgementlike his 
capacity for reason and the other unique characteristics of the 
human beingis based upon the consciousness which rituals evoke 
within him. If we practice the lessons of Freemasonry, I assure 
you our lives will be resplendent and the future of our 
Fraternity will be secured, for the basic step in achieving 
inward freedom is to apply the insights imparted to us through 
our Masonic rituals. 










Julian Cambridge was raised in King Solomon's Seaport Lodge No. 
260, now Starr King Lodge No. 344, San Francisco, on September 
7, 1977, serving as Master in 1982. He is an active member in 
San Diego in the S. R. Bodies, High-12 International and Quetto 
Grotto, and is a Life Member of the Philalethes Society. 


















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