Back to: Protected: Introduction to the Fellow Craft Mason Education Course
THE WORKING TOOLS
The Plumb is a symbol of uprightness of conduct. In Freemasonry, it is associated with the plumb line which the Lord promised Amos He would set in the midst of His people Israel, symbolizing God’s standard of divine righteousness.
The plumb line in the midst of a people should mean that they will be judged by their own sense of right and wrong and not by the standards of others. By understanding the Plumb, a Mason is taught to set his own standards of a moral and upright life and not those of someone else. When the plumb line is thought of in this way, it becomes a symbol of an upright life and of the conscience by which each person must live.
The Square is the symbol of morality, truthfulness and honesty. The direction of the two sides of the Square form an angle of 90 degrees or a right angle, so-called because this is the angle which stones must have if they are to be used to build a stable and upright wall.
The lesson of acting on the Square has been taught for literally thousands of years. In fact, nearly five hundred years before Christ, Confucius was using the phrase, “transgressing the limits of the square”. Two hundred years after that, one of his followers, one named Mencius, taught that all men must apply the square and compasses, the level and the marking lines figuratively to their lives, if they would walk in the straight and even paths of wisdom and keep themselves within the bounds of humor and virtue. All through history we find writers using the square and other geometric tools as object lessons, and it is very easy to see how Masons came to adopt the square as a symbol of morality.
When we part upon the Square, we go in different directions, but in full knowledge that our courses in life will be going according to the angle of the Square (which means in the right direction) until we meet again.
The Level is a symbol of equality. We do not mean equality in wealth, social distinction, civic office or service to mankind, but rather we refer to the internal and not the external qualifications. Each person is endowed with a worth and dignity which is spiritual, and should not be subject to man-made distinctions.
The quality practiced in Masonry recognizes that one man may have greater potential in life, service or reward than another, but we also believe that any man can aspire to any heights, no matter how great. Thus, the Level dignifies labor and the man who performs it. It also acknowledges that all men are equal without regard to station.