The Compasses
Jun 14, 2013 9:56:26 GMT 9.5
Post by LorrB on Jun 14, 2013 9:56:26 GMT 9.5
THE COMPASSES
The Compasses are the instrument used to measure and layout of a circle. The Circle symbolizes infinity and Spirit and the Compasses, when used in this connection, have the same meaning as the Square, that is, right action or right conduct in the spiritual realms, those ranges of our being which are above the personality.
Both the Square and the Compasses are placed upon the Bible which is to symbolize the fact that the information as to just what is right action in the lower and the higher worlds must be obtained from the Divine Law. The Square and Compasses, in their capacity as Great Lights, are based upon or founded upon the supreme Great Light, the Law or Will of God.
The candidate, kneeling at this symbol of his own idealism(the Altar) places his hands in a certain position and thereby states that his higher mental powers or activities on the receptive side shall always hold the Divine Law as its source of guidance and inspiration while his higher mental powers or activities, on the active or outgoing side, shall be based upon or shall flow into action through, the Great Lights of square conduct in both the material and the spiritual phases.
In order that you may get a very clear idea of this, stop and consider the candidate as a dynamo generating a current of electricity. This dynamo is actuated by some force just as a real dynamo is driven by water power or by a steam engine. The dynamo has two poles, negative or receptive and positive or outgoing. So the candidate has two polarities to his being, negative and positive. He promises that the negative or receptive aspect of his being shall be guided by the Divine Law, shall, in a way, receive nothing except through (that is, what is not contrary to) the Divine Law.
Similarly he promises that his outgoing mental current, his thoughts and ideas and intentions, all shall flow into action through the Square and the Compasses and the Divine Law. Picture the candidate, as he kneels at the Altar, as a sort of electric machine with positive and negative poles, incoming and outgoing. Those poles are his higher mental powers, but we must remember that the thought always precedes the action and that the thoughts of the higher mind should rule the thoughts of the worldly or practical mind.
Now imagine a current, a thought current, flowing into the candidate through his left hand and out from him through his right hand. Do you see what those thought currents would have to pass through? This ought to give you a slight idea of the meaning of the position of the candidate at the Altar and also it shows you how the meanings already given for the various parts of the body all work out here in perfect harmony with the lessons in morality given by the great Masonic School.
All outgoing current from the candidate has to pass through the symbol of right action in the material world and the symbol of right action in the spiritual world and these symbols are based upon the Divine Law. In other words, he is promising that all his mental activities in the future shall pass the test of the Square and the Compasses and that his knowledge of the meanings of these Great Lights shall be drawn from the Law of God. As to his lower mental activities both active and receptive, they are symbolically represented by the legs.
www.scribd.com/doc/3207263/Tucker-The-Lost-Key
