CLC - Fellow Craft - 05.22.17

O PERATIVE AND S PECULATIVE M ASONRY

It has been said that Freemasonry is a Speculative Science founded upon an Operative Art. It is speculative because Masonry requires us to be contemplative and analytical. As explained earlier, it is a science and thus requires us to observe ourselves and others in search of that personal behavior which

will help us foster a more harmonious existence. Speculative Masonry uses the tools and techniques of the Operative Art of the stonemasons as symbols, the contemplation of which can reveal right thinking and conduct. During the 1600’s, an increasing number of gentlemen were being made Masons by Scottish and some English stonemasons, not to work in construction but to give them access to study Masonry’s symbols. The rich possibilities of interpretation from the stonemasons’ tools and techniques as symbols of a rational and harmonious universe, and Man’s appropriate role in it, obviously captured the imagination of these early speculative Masons and encouraged many others to join. Click here to see the related article “The Emergence of Speculative Masonry: An Overview”

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