Masonic Research Methods and Symbolic Interpretation

between the state of the profane and that of the initiated; it is also in view of the real attainment of this new condition that the two paths intersect and will end up contributing to the achievement of both goals. Finally, what unites the two ways of understanding research and life in Freemasonry is the execution of a ritual and the indispensable implementation of continuous work on oneself according to what is indicated in the rituals activated during Lodge works: every research proposal in Freemasonry uses the path of Rite. Research in the Masonic Order. It is extremely important to clarify a fundamental distinction between what research in the Masonic Order can be compared to that which can be implemented in the various Ritual Bodies. Research in the Masonic Order, with the aid of disciplines such as the Science of Symbols, Sacred History, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, Architecture, Rhetoric, Music, focuses on the construction of symbolic connections between reality as it is represented in such disciplines or in related disciplines and the symbols of the Art of Masonry. This construction, freely pursued by each free mason, is made possible thanks to long and orderly meditations carried out in the degree of Apprentice or Fellow Craft on the symbols of the Art. These symbolic connections are constructed according to lines of traditional continuity freely adapted by each individual Mason to their own individual inclinations. In Free Masonry it is accepted that a brother follow the wildest and freest among the possible symbolic interpretations, themselves infinite in number, which at a certain moment begin to arise, almost as if by spontaneous generation, in brothers educated in a just and perfect Lodge. Research in Freemasonry does not necessarily aim to reconstruct exterior, factual, logically founded connections, or historically verifiable ones; it is obvious that the disciplines cultivated in Universities should be sufficient for such a purpose, without the slightest need for replicas for small audiences of failed intellectual aspirants! Research activity in Freemasonry appears characterized by an arbitrariness that to the eyes of a profane seems more suited to disintegrating a consciousness than to forming a good citizen. It certainly appears, and it is right that it should be so, unacceptable to any dogmatic mentality. In reality there is no finer sieve, for effective research in Freemasonry, than that which a Mason is called to forge for himself. In fact, the working method in the Masonic Order is simply the following: what is inscribable in the language of symbols that have been delivered to the sight and other senses of the Mason operating in a just and perfect Lodge, and which corresponds to him in the heart, is usable and useful for the interior work that he has freely decided to undertake; everything that the initiate cannot connect in a solid, beautiful and wise way with the above-mentioned symbols goes, at least momentarily, excluded from his interior work. Those who do not adhere to these simple criteria can only follow an arid path, which will fatally lead them to narcissism, disgust and, in the best case, to exit from the columns of the Temple or to seek anxiously aprons, exterior honors, social approvals that confirm them to be a true Mason. However, even this latter outcome is necessary to manifest within our Order and, more so, in the Ritual Bodies; justifying the reasons for this would take us too far from the objective of this writing. Research in Ritual Bodies. Very different is, or at least should be, research in Ritual Bodies. In them the method of "free interpretation" is taken as acquired, and therefore should be led to operate on themes that, to profane eyes, appear more specialized, but in reality are connected to the Masonic Order according to a spiritual graduality of very high level. We want to remember that the explicitation of this graduality in a series of degrees effectively operating or not, is only a matter of spiritual tastes. The axis of ascent and descent is unique. As an example we can remember that: 1) the deepening of geometric knowledge and its connections with new theoretical physics also in light of the Pythagorean method and 2) the reactivation of the two currents, the hermetic and the neoplatonic, which envelop and support much of Italian and European art, constitute possible research paths suitable for many of the Ritual Bodies operating within Universal Freemasonry. An example of free interpretation. We believe it is now appropriate to offer an example that, without diminishing the importance of maintaining reserve on the works carried out, allows us to intuit the meaning to be associated with what was written above about the method of free interpretation. We will draw our example from elementary geometry. The Euclidean triangle and...