Secrets of the Freemason’s Book – Chamber of Reflection and Alchemy in Masonic Philosophy

REFLECTION ROOM

“Let your hearts therefore be perfect with the

Lord our God, to walk in his statutes and

to keep his commandments…”

1 Kings 8:61

According to Jewish literature and traditions, great care was taken of the personal condition of each Israelite who entered the Temple for Divine worship. The Talmud dictated the following requirements: “No man shall enter the Temple with his staff or with his shoes on his feet, or with his outer garments, or with money tied up in his bag.” Freemasonry has adopted portions of this ancient Jewish custom regarding the preparation of the candidate to enter a lodge.

Although not Jewish in origin, the Chamber of Reflection, which has been incorporated into a candidate’s preparation in some American lodges, is an updated version of the old initiation cave. However, it equally serves to prepare the candidate to enter the holy land. The chamber is usually a small room lit only by a candle that casts a dim light on a number of decorations, including a human skull, human bones, a piece of bread, a jar of water, an hourglass, a saucer with salt and another containing sulfur. The candidate is seated alone inside to silently contemplate the sacred significance of their intended Masonic journey.

Sitting at a table, the candidate must write a philosophical testament that will then be read aloud in the lodge. To compose that will, the candidate must search his soul for his true feelings about life, death, and the transformation of the self from his material nature to his spiritual destiny. It should come as no surprise that the symbols placed within the chamber are derived primarily from alchemy, the science and philosophy of metamorphosis.

The alchemists believed that the salt that is extracted from the sea water by the process of evaporation constitutes the element of fire delivered by the water. Sulfur is to the human body what the sun is to the earth. The union of salt and sulfur symbolizes life and death, or light and darkness feeding off each other. Therefore, while the general candidate for Masonic degrees does not have a complete knowledge of alchemy or the symbols it employs, he is intended to meditate on esoteric matters such as the evolution and continuity of all life, as well as the fact that transformation from material life to spiritual existence is a matter of personal experience. Each and every human being will live, die, and live again, but no one can fully appreciate how that will feel until it actually happens.

For Masons, time spent in the Chamber of Reflection symbolizes the trials of life. The first lesson to learn is that nothing is inherently good or bad. People are responsible for making things better or worse depending on how they behave. Thus, the first lesson relates to the importance of accepting responsibility for one’s own actions.

The hourglass asks the candidate to reflect on the irreversibility of the passage of time. Material life is in a continuous progression towards decay and there is very little time available to participate in the development of the spirit. Bread denotes the transformation from raw to fully cooked, from raw wheat to bread fit for human consumption. A Mason is not valuable to the world in which he lives simply because he has been initiated into the Order. Rather, he must prepare himself by studying and applying the knowledge he acquires, if he is ever to benefit society and mankind. The water vial represents fertility, or regeneration, of which purification, or baptism, is also a symbol. The regeneration explained in this symbolism is not that of the resurrection of the spirit and soul, but that of the resurrection to the moral and virtuous life of the material body. The regeneration of the spirit and the soul benefits the individual, while the renewal of the determination to live will benefit others. Most religions teach that unless a man renews his material life to do good deeds, he will not be fully prepared for eternal life.

It is essential that the candidate understand that Freemasonry does not teach that good works accomplish the salvation of the spirit and soul. Rather, religions teach that lesson in various ways. Freemasonry instructs how a life should be lived: how the “works” of a human life are actually reflected in the “faith” one has. Therefore, the path for which the Chamber of Reflection prepares the candidate is the path to a better life, not the salvation that can only come by the grace of God, never by man’s own works and deeds.

The human skull that is placed in the chamber is intended to remind the candidate that death is the great leveler. No man can escape his clutches and no man can really know how it feels to be dead until he has experienced death himself. The skull is also intended to teach the candidate that death is also a source of life. As plant and animal life die to be consumed by human life, the truth that death contributes to life is profoundly illustrated. When a good man dies, his works remain and contribute to the welfare of those who continue to live. The opposite is true for a bad man. While his bad deeds die with him, the effect of those deeds can live on long after he is gone. The lessons learned in Masonry enable the member to make it more likely that his own death will be a source of life to others, not a source of injury and torment.

The symbols arranged in the Chamber of Reflection are also intended to instill in the mind of the novitiate the importance of distinguishing between the real and the fanciful. When man clings to reality, he frees himself from the ghosts that oppose light and darkness so quickly. Most of the time, misbehavior is the consequence of a confused imagination. In Hitler’s twisted fantasy, the Jew was responsible for the ills of his society. A serial killer often fantasizes that taking one’s life viciously and violently brings pleasure.

Energy is the fruit of contradictory forces that resist each other. It turns into positive energy or negative energy depending on whether the dark side of life becomes too excessive or not. The light does not always shine in a man’s soul any more than it always illuminates the earth. For approximately twelve out of twenty-four hours of each day, darkness prevails. In the life of man, he does not always enjoy good health; for at least a few days, his body is sick. It is not about how to remove the darkness, because that is contrary to the laws of Nature. Rather, it is a matter of what to do when he is surrounded by darkness that dictates whether or not positive energy will ultimately prevail.

In preparation for the Masonic journey, whether or not that journey begins with a period of private contemplation in the Chamber of Reflection, the candidate should be led to reflect on where he is in his own life, where he wishes to be when his life is over. . ends of the earth and the best way to travel between those two points. Many lodges in America have failed to teach this valuable lesson early in a candidate’s Masonic career. Most of the time, the candidates are simply “prepared” by the shape of his outfit, which is eventually explained once he has started the journey. Little or nothing is said about what it means to follow Masonry, or why that pursuit is significant to man and society until after one or more titles are awarded to the candidate.

Is it possible that by reinstating the important symbolism of the Chamber of Reflection in the workings of every Masonic lodge, some who leave the Craft after a very short journey continue their quest? Is it important to teach a candidate what is expected of him before he receives Masonic degrees? Symbolism is a way of showing how words create images and how those images become elements of myths, imaginary tales that ring true because they follow tortuous paths that lead from desires to ideas and actions. Because Freemasonry communicates its wise and serious truths through symbols that have been selected over time, it is most likely very important that a candidate for degrees appreciate the thought required of him before embarking on your Masonic journey.

For many Masons, the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom is an ongoing process of study, application, review of what has been previously studied, and further application of new lessons learned. This process is consistent with the exhortation frequently uttered in Masonic lodges: “gather what has been scattered and reconcile what appears to be contradictory.” Each of us has experienced the need both to conform and to be different. We have also experienced believing and not believing; certainty and doubt; and order and chaos. Those of us who are able to read this writing have yet to experience the difference between what we know as life and death, and whether or not there is a difference.

If in your Masonic career you were not afforded the opportunity to contemplate within a Chamber of Reflection before receiving your degrees, you can do so now by bowing your head and offering a prayer to the Great Architect to understand where you are in your life. , how you got there and how you will travel to the end of your life. As in all Masonic matters, the choice is yours. As is also true in all Masonic matters, no man should undertake any great or important enterprise without first invoking the blessing of God.

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