Freedom is the first value of the Masonic trinomial “Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood” – “Liberté, égalité, fraternité – and is the product of a number of rules. When the rules fail – for example, by the need to gain ever more freedom for both individuals and the masses – we slide towards Anarchy. And the Athenian philosopher Plato in his “Republic” states that from Anarchy the slide to Tyranny , or at the very least the partial loss of our liberty , is short and inevitable !
The logic however suggests that the sequence in the trinomial [1] , should read differently, because Freedom is the final consequence of the other two and needs supporting columns on which to rest. Without such columns, Freedom will implore as history has often demonstrated.
For Montesquieu [2] “Freedom” was “the right to do everything that is permitted by the Law” ; for Constant de Rebecque [3] , or simply Benjamin Constant, “Freedom is the right to do everything that man has the right to do and which Society cannot prevent“. With the spread of Covid19 in the western world/economies, Freedom has gained a new interpretation too restrictive, despotic to contemplate.
History shows that on numerous occasions there has been a collective unconsciousness of what Freedom is and means to man and that the awakening from such status has usually brought about a bloody cleansing.
For this reason the Freemasons are respectful of the profane laws in a just and democratic Nation.
but !
if those laws are found to be imperfect or unjust, the Brethren should work with every means for their improvement or abolition. And in doing so Freemasonry might use political instruments, but will never be a transgressor of the Law.
By Anon
[1] Trinomial: three terms which are connected
[2] Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, and political philosopher.
[3] Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque, was a Swiss-French political activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, he backed the coup d’état of 18 Fructidor, and the following one on 18 brumaire.
SOURCES
- Sigman Ominis 5984, R:. L:. under the GL Alpine of Switzerland
- Il Paradosso della Liberta’ – Loggia Giordano Bruno N.852 (G.O.I.), Ferrara, Italy
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