Freemasons' emblem

Posted by Illuci (Hurdegaryp, Netherlands) on 2 August 2007 in Architecture.

The facade stone of the Freemasons' lodge in Leeuwarden. The emblem tells what it's all about: the compasses are the instrument of the Great Architect of the Universe, pointing from heaven downwards to the world (See painting by Blake). The square, directed upwards from earth to heaven, receives the compasses' measures to symbolize human efforts to work within them, everything in the right (rectangular)proportions and relations. Between compasses and square there is Holyness. In the Anglo-Saxon countries you find there the letter "G" which many assume to stand for "Geometry" or "The Great Geometer", in the Netherlands this space is left blank or filled with light (in the picture you see the color white to symbolize light). The black-and -white border symbolizes the light and darkness alternating each other, and also the opposites in the world: good and evil, sorrow and joy, strong and weak, controversy and harmony, poverty and prosperity, etc., where the freemason must find his position, all within the context of what the emblem tells him.
Freemasonry is not a religion but lets everybody free in choosing or adopting his religion, although some branches explicitly find themselves Christian, whereas others (not approved by the Grand Lodge of London) are a-religious, however recognizing a Grand Architect of the Universe. In sharing the principles just mentioned, and the practical rules and rituals to maintain them, they are each other's brothers (or brethren if you like).

Dear friends, I'm not p-blogging until August 15 due to sailing activities, I posted until August 5

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