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THE METALS OF THE FREEMASONBy Margarita ROJAS BLANCO M.·.M.·.
So they say, “Brethren, we are no longer in the profane world. We have left our metals at the door of the temple. Let us lift our hearts in fraternity and our eyes towards the light.”
I have seen them, I swear, say these words with great ceremony. What many people call being fraternal consists of choosing Freemasonry and staying there for a while to observe. They choose it, I swear, I’ve seen them. As if one could choose in love, as if it weren’t a lightning bolt that splits your bones and leaves you pinned down in the middle of the lodge. You’ll say they chose Freemasonry because-they-love-it; I think it’s the other way around. You don’t choose fraternity, you don’t choose equality, you don’t choose liberty. You don’t choose the extraordinary emotion of that primordial moment of the trials, when you taste bitterness in your mouth.
“We are no longer in the profane world.” A powerful phrase, an incantation that promises a clean and illuminated space, vastly different from the one just left behind. A chimera! A delusion!
But what if what really happens is that we find new metals in the lodge? Different metals, heavier, darker, metals that fill voids, metals that mimic those of the “profane world,” metals that seem precious but are merely gilded.
And what if the light is that of those new, corrupt, and heavier metals?
In Freemasonry, there are metaphorical symbols that primarily represent material attachments, base passions, prejudices, and are referred to as “metals.” The main reason for identifying them is that in order to advance, the Freemason must leave them behind, outside, or at least far from sight.
Metals are often dense, like the anxiety caused by the desire to possess material goods and wealth in general, and they are tremendously distracting because they prevent focusing on the inner work, which ultimately is what gives us true peace. Borges said that it is very sad to love things, because things do not know that you exist. Attachment to things is one of the densest metals with which the Freemason is confronted.
Prejudices also form part of the Freemason's metals, and unlike attachment, these are not so dense, but rather rigid, not very malleable, and inflexible.
That opinion or prior judgment about something or someone, which is generally not based on knowledge or reason, but on preconceived ideas, stereotypes, or assumptions, is a problem not only for the Freemason, but it is a part of the human condition, which is why the Freemason must remain constantly alert, not to be carried away by the biases that at a given moment swirl around their thoughts. A stereotype leads to generalization, and every generalization is violence.
So far, we haven’t seen anything different from the worldly passions and tribulations of any human being. You don’t need to be a Freemason to know that it is necessary to fight against these feelings and self-imposed needs, because thousands of years ago, by our own will, we went from seeking shelter, food, and sex on the plains of the prehistoric world to seeking pathological recognition from others, which resulted in our lives passing before our eyes while we wait for public transport each day, every day, for a lifetime. And this is due to the most dangerous metal that lurks in Masonic lodges: the ego.
One of the principal metals of the Freemason, and here we can say that it is exclusively the Freemason’s, is the Masonic degrees, their grandiose titles, and the story of a prestigious and fantastic origin of Freemasonry, which over time has ended up creating divisions where unity was sought.
Freemasonry exacerbates egos, intensifying the harmful habits of those who enter the temple with bad behaviors. Without knowing it (and they don’t know it because they don’t read), many Freemasons, thanks to, or rather, because of the Chevalier Ramsay, believe that “…after his death (of the Master) King Solomon wrote in hieroglyphs our statutes, our maxims, and our mysteries, and this ancient book is the original code of our Order.”
In his famous speech delivered at the Lodge of Saint John on December 26, 1736, Andrew M. Ramsay, drawing on his boundless creativity, stated among other things that Noah should be considered the author and inventor of naval architecture, as well as the first Grand Master of our Order. He knew “the eternal ideas” that are expressed in the proportions of the Ark. “The arcane science was transmitted through oral tradition from Noah to Abraham and the patriarchs, the last of whom brought our sublime art to Egypt. It was Joseph who gave the Egyptians the first idea for the construction of labyrinths, pyramids, and obelisks that have been admired throughout the ages. It is through this patriarchal tradition that our laws and maxims spread in Asia, Egypt, Greece, and among all the Gentiles.” Such “arcane science transmitted through oral tradition” and “the secret science” of the “mysterious book of Solomon” or the “mysterious words of King Solomon.”
288 years after the Chevalier Ramsay’s speech, many Freemasons still truly believe that they are the Master Elected of the 15, the Prince of Jerusalem, the Grand Pontiff, the Chief of the Tabernacle, the Prince of Mercy, or even the Grand Architect of the Universe, and in the end, they turn out to be nothing more than Grand Inquisitors.
This is the principal metal of Freemasonry: the ego, and it is a living entity that inhabits the lodges and feeds on the other brethren. The cult of self is present. The invented title, the elaborate medal, the undeserved decoration, have only managed in some Freemasons (because it must be said that not all) to cause divisions, quarrels, discord, intrigues, conspiracies, and all sorts of betrayals, where fraternity was left outside the temple and the heaviest metal, the ego, lives on the chessboard of the lodge.
The good thing about Freemasonry is that likewise, for those who arrive with virtues, Freemasonry also amplifies and enhances them. For this reason, we see in the lodges brethren who truly rid themselves of metals and leave them outside the temple, to dedicate themselves entirely to Freemasonry, to the construction of their inner temple, to the pursuit of knowledge with intellectual curiosity, to the desire to support a brother in distress, to comfort a brother immersed in tribulations. There are many brethren who with their light illuminate the paths of others, become an example to follow, a testimony worthy of imitation, who silently help the brother who has nothing to eat, who explains to the brother how to improve that paper that means so much to him, who visits the sick, who congratulates and rejoices with true honesty for the achievements of others.
These brethren are the true Freemasons, truly free from heavy metals, because if the worst sin of a human being is not being happy, for the Freemason, it is the ego.
This is my word.
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