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Short Talk Bulletin Vol 07 No 03
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VII March, 1929 No.3
LANGUAGE OF THE HEART
by: Carl H. Claudy
Chapter I of "Foreign Countries," a delightful and inspiring study of
Masonic Symbolism, written for and published by the Masonic Service
Association of the United States.
FREEMASONRY TEACHES BY SYMBOLS!
Why? Why does she veil in allegory and conceal in an object or
picture a meaning quite different from its name?
Why should Freemasonry express Immortality with Acacia, Brotherly
Love with a Trowel, the World by a Lodge and Right Living by a
Mason's
That Freemasonry conceals in symbols in order to arouse curiosity to
know their meaning is often considered the only explanation. But
there are many more lofty ideas of why this great system of truth,
philosophy and ethics is hidden in symbols.
It is hardly a matter of argument that man has a triple nature; he
has a body and senses which bring him into contact with and translate
the meanings of the physical world of earth, air, fire and water
which is about him. He has a brain and a mind by which he reasons
and understands about the matters physical with which he is
surrounded. And he has a Something Beyond; call it Soul, Heart,
Spirit or imagination, as you will; it is something which is allied
to, rather than a part of reason, and connected with the physical
side of life only through its sensory contacts.
This soul, or spirit, comprehends a language which the brain does not
understand. The keenest minds have striven without success to make
this mystic language plain to reason. When you hear music which
brings tears to your eyes and grief or joy to your heart, you respond
to a language your brain does not understand and cannot explain. It
is not with your brain that you love your mother, your child or your
wife; it is with the Something Beyond; and the language with which
that love is spoken is not the language of the tongue.
A symbol is a word in that language. Translate that symbol into
words which appeal only to the mind, and the spirit of the meaning is
lost. Words appeal to the mind; meanings not expressed in words
appeal to the spirit.
All that there is in Freemasonry, which can be set down in words on a
page, leaves out completely the Spirit of the Order, If we depend
upon words or ideas alone, the Fraternity would not make a universal
appeal to all men, since no man has it given to him to appeal to
minds of all other men. But Freemasonry expresses truths which are
universal; it expresses them in a universal language, universally
understood by all men without words. That language is the language
of the symbol, and the symbol is universally understood because it is
the means of communication between spirit, souls and hearts.
When we say of Masonry that it is universal we mean the word
literally; it is of the universe, not merely of the world. If it
were possible for an inhabitant of Mars to make and use a telescope
which would enable him to plainly see a square mile of the surface of
the earth, and if we knew it and desired to, we could draw upon that
square mile a symbol to communicate with that inhabitant of Mars, we
would choose, undoubtedly, one with as many meanings as possible; one
which had a material, mental and spiritual meaning. Such a symbol
might be the triangle, the square or the circle. Our supposed
Martian might respond with a complimentary symbol; if we showed him a
triangle he might reply with the 47th Problem. If we showed him a
circle he might send down 3.141659 - the number by which a diameter
is multiplied to become the circumference. We could find a language
in symbols with which to begin a communication, even with all the
universe!
Naturally then, Freemasonry employs symbols for heart to speak to
heart. Imagination is the heart's collection of senses. So we must
appeal to the imagination when speaking a truth which is neither
mental nor physical, and the symbol is the means by which one
imaginations speaks to another. Nothing else will do; no words can
be as effective (unless they are themselves symbols); no teachings
expressed in language can be as easily learned by the heart as those
which come via the symbol through the imagination.
Take from Masonry its symbols and you have just the husk; the kernel
is gone. He who hears but the words of Freemasonry misses their
meaning entirely. Most symbols have many interpretations. These do
not contradict but amplify each other. Thus, the square is a symbol
of perfection, rectitude of conduct, honor, honesty and good work.
There are all different and yet allied. The square is not a symbol
of wrong, evil, meanness or disease! Ten different men may read ten
different meanings into a square, and yet each meaning fits with and
belongs to the other meanings.
Ten men have ten different kinds of hearts. Not all have the same
power of imagination. They do not all have the same ability to
comprehend. So each gets from a symbol what he can. He uses his
imagination. He translates to his soul as much of the truth as he is
able to make a part of him. This the ten cannot do with truths
expressed in words. "Twice two is equal to four" is a truth which
must be accepted all at once, as a complete exposition, or not at
all. He who can not understand the "twice" or the "equal" or the
"four" has no conception of what is being said. But ten men can read
ten progressive, different, correct and beautiful meanings into a
trowel, and each can be right as far as he goes. The man who sees it
merely as an instrument which helps to bind has a part of its
meaning. He who finds it a link with operative Masons has another
part. The man who sees it as a symbol of man's relationship to
Deity, because with it he (spiritually) does the Master's Work, has
another meaning. All these meanings are right; when all men know all
the meanings the need for Freemasonry will have passed away.
We use symbols because only by them can we speak the language of the
spirit, each to each, and because they form an elastic language,
which each man reads for himself according to his ability. Symbols
form the only language which is thus elastic, and the only one by
which spirit can be touched. To suggest that Freemasonry use any
other would be as revolutionary as to remove her Altars, meet in a
Public Square or elect by majority vote. Freemasonry without symbols
would not be Freemasonry; it would be but a dogmatic and not very
erudite philosophy, of which the world is full of as it is, and none
of which ever satisfies the heart.
