|
|
||||
|
DUTIES: Practice silence, obedience, fidelity.
FOR REFLECTION: May one command who does not know how to obey?
IMPORTANT SYMBOLS: The color black with silver tears, Adoniram, key of ivory, blazing star, wreath of laurel and olive leaves.
|
The Fourth Degree "Secret Master" ~Summary~ This Degree deals with the concepts of duty. To a Mason, duty embraces an obligation to take an interest in the problems of his environment, learn the social problems of his community, country and even the World; and try to contribute solutions to these problems.
|
|||
|
The apron, like the cordon, is white, edged with black, and has black ties. These two colors symbolize the grief suffered by the Mason's upon hearing of the Master Hiram's death and the loss of the word. As well, they are illustrative of the dualist nature of the universe, containing light and darkness, good and evil, truth and error. The flap is of sky blue with an open eye embroidered upon it in gold, denoting the sun as the great archetype of light, the Ineffable Deity. In its center is a 'Z' embroidered in gold and around it are the two crossed wreaths of laurel and olive.
|
||||
|
|
The jewel is a small ivory key with a black 'Z' upon the wards. It is worn suspended from a broad white ribbon edged in black. The jewel of the Master is a small equilateral triangle of gold emblazoned with the Greek letters: Iota, Alpha and Omega at the apexes. Pike tells us, "The Name of Deity, in many nations, consisted of three letters: among the Greeks, [Iota, Alpha, Omega]; ..." (p. 632). On its reverse are the Samaritan characters Yod, He, and Vau; these three letters, with He duplicated are used to form the Ineffable Name of Deity, called the Tetragammaton, usually pronounced as 'Yahweh'. Pike, though he uses the Hebrew forms, also explains their significance as representing three of the ten Sephiroth, or emanations from Deity, of the Kabalah: Gedulah, Geburah, and Tephareth; that is, Mercy, Justice and Beauty (p. 798).
|
|||
|
The significance of the letter 'Z' is esoteric and thus is not proper to be discussed here. It is the initial of the password of this degree. In the Hebrew numerology of the Kabalah its equivalent letter had the value of 7, a number familiar to all Masons. |
||||
|
The concept of duty in Scottish Rite Masonry demands attention, reflection and understanding. Since the 4th degree is the first degree of the Lodge of Perfection, it lays the foundation for the succeeding degrees and provides instruction on specific virtues. Albert Pike says: DUTY IS THE ONE GREAT LAW OF MASONRY. And further, in the 4th Degree ominous voices from three directions characterize duty as
Inflexible as Fate and Exacting as Necessity Rising with us in the morning and Watching at our pillows at night. Duty is with us always, imperative as Destiny.
|
||||
