The natural law and the symbol of the level and the plumb
The level allows to verify the horizontality of a line. In a way, he is responsible for verifying equality between two or more, one gives the symbolic teachings that contains the level and plumb (which have to be used together) within the Masonic universe. This symbol is so important that the level constitutes the jewel of the first vigilant of a lodge.
While the function of all level is to mark horizontality, for this also it needs to verify the vertical, that is, the plumb crossing the midpoint of its base. Understood this we understand that the level not only presupposes the plumb, but also contains it and it is its result. It is impossible to know if a line is really horizontal for herself. The only way to verify its horizontality is to verify that the plumb is crossed by its midpoint, that is, by its center.
From a symbolic point of view, the vertical of the fertile plumb the horizontal resulting in the truth. This truth is still a cross at whose ends the four elements (air, water, earth and fire) are placed and whose cutting point or center would represent the quintessence, the rose of the Rosicruces, the inner soul, the internal fire,The divine spark that burns in each of us.
It must be noted that the plumb always works on the vertical axis, that is, of union of the earth and the sky, the union of the profane and the sacred. The plumbing brings to the world the invisible truth of the upper worlds, it is the channel by which natural law is manifested. The level, meanwhile, is human law, which has to contain natural law and be a result of it. In a way, this symbol tells us about that phrase of Saint Thomas Aquinas "law that departs from natural law is not law but corruption of the law".
The plumb is righteousness, also the truth relieved, it is the result of the moral improvement of man in his search to reach God and fulfill his designs. It is the spiritual contained in the material.
When talking about equality, sometimes it falls into the error of limiting the concept to the material issue, or what is worse, to the issues related to politics. Nothing further from Masonic thought. The need to use the level and plumb, horizontal and vertical, also teach us that you can only match what shares the same nature.
However, within the same nature or order of things, it is necessary to establish equality through the level and plumb contest. That is, from the understanding of common nature and natural law it is necessary that the points in the horizontal equal. This is the case in the lodge, where we are all equal, but only one leads it. The venerable teacher is not of a different nature from the rest of the brothers, it is only a primus inter pairs, equal to the rest at the level. His role as a leader of the Lodge is not only the result of a democratic election (this is only legitimacy in origin, vertical), but of a common attitude of recognition of his leadership (the horizontal or legitimacy in exercise).
The symbol of the level and the plumb is enriched by some legends that revolve around them and that invite the Mason to reflect more in depth on the symbol. We make clear reference to the legend of its origin, because although nobody knows who was the inventor of this tool, the myth attributes its invention to Daedalo, who managed to flee from the labyrinth of Crete. Others talk about Rec, architect of the Lumnos labyrinth, or Teodoro, architect of the temple of Samos.
This relationship with the labyrinths opens a new way to reflection. Recall that one of the meanings of the labyrinth as a hermetic symbol is the spiritual route, a representation of the initiatory journey. It is also a mystery and not a problem. In what sense do we say this? In which a problem requires being solved, while a mystery needs to be lived, because only through the experience of mystery we achieve inner transformation.
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