Liberi Muratori

OUR HEADING

A wedge-shaped flock of flamingos stands out against the sky
above Rome, lit up by a rising sun that fills the Colosseum with light.

The symbol is the essence of Freemasonry and as Masons we couldn’t help being
excited by the idea of creating an image with a deep symbolical value!
The flight of the flock is the image of the Lodge carrying out its initiatory
journey. The first flamingo cuts the air and decides the direction of the
flight; it stands the main physical and intellectual effort and it symbolizes
the Worshipful Master: a br. that for a limited period of time and of his own
free will, takes on the greatest responsibility and effort for the sake of the
collectivity he belongs to.
The others behind him make a lesser effort up to the last ones who are the most
advantaged. But at a suitable time they are all ready to commit and become the
leader of the flock!

The migrating birds also symbolize our continuous movement in the search of
progress and newness in the freedom of the sky, where no roads are marked; the
only direction is shown by our instinct and the esoteric experience of the
countless generations that came before us.
The wedge-shaped flight symbolically represents the square with its rigid
opening, usually assumed by the group during long journeys and the compass with
its variable opening taken when changing direction or when it is necessary to
reduce the effort or to exploit its lift because the wind is either too strong
or too weak.
The sun of the dawn is that of the Orient which the br. masons turn their eyes
to when, at the beginning of the works, the first warden opens the ‘book of the
law’, one of the main lights, and places the square and compass on it.
The Colosseum represents Rome, the Eternal City!, in which we hope to meet for
the Great Lodge of 2010 in a new atmosphere of brotherhood, joy, union and
reconciliation.

Associazione Liberimuratori (Freemasons Association)
The President
(Fernando Ferrari)

 

WHO WE ARE

Rather than a group, a majority or a minority, we are a current
of thought that sees the Lodge as the fulcrum of Freemasonry.
In the Lodge the Freemason develops, shapes his being, grows in the initiatory
work and, in a true alchemic process, merges in the ‘group’ he meets in the
Temple.
All the rest, in particular the relationship with the outside world, is only
something unavoidable rather than essential. Indeed, the interference of the
works in the Temple with the ‘civilized society’ is seen as a profanation and it
is prevented also because it is considered as an exhibition of moments that
should remain restricted to the initiates.
It is right to relate with the outside world but only within the limits of
necessary communication that allows profane people to make a fair evaluation of
our Institutional profile. We must keep in mind that a public meeting not only
must not be an exhibition of ‘strength’ but it must show our interest into the
cultural and moral development of the society we live in, without trying to give
lessons and pontificate on issues that institutionally don’t belong to us and
that we want to leave to others, perhaps to our brothers first of all; by acting
as individuals or gathered in associations, they participate and contribute to
the evolution of the social groups they live in. Taking care of the
communication doesn’t replace the work of the Lodge, neither it integrates it;
indeed we have never being able to ascertain a link between what is publicly
debated by valuable orators, even when they are profane, and the works of the
Lodge, or vice versa.
Our initiatory path is measured by our degree of personal satisfaction in the
conviction that the diuturnal journey towards the Truth is made of many single
daily goals, which give us the measure of our progresses.
The initiatory work is a pragmatic work, it is not necessary to be great
scientists or philosophers to be good Masons!

 

FUNDAMENTS

Freemasonry is simply a physical and spiritual place, nowadays
virtual as well, where a group of individuals interact with the purpose of
raising themselves as individuals and as a collectivity towards esoteric aims.
It can’t be assimilated, or even compared, to an ecclesiastical structure
arranged in order to organize a community of believers.
The administrative superstructure (GOI – Grande Oriente d’Italia = Grand Orient
of Italy or other national or foreign Masonic families) has the only purpose of
aiding in various way the aggregation of brothers, organizing the physical
meeting places and representing them in the profane world in their institutional
interests, with the exclusion of any political, para-political, religious or
cultural activity.
Religions draw their origins from the divine revelation; the believers (it
doesn’t matter which religion they belong to) are sure that their god, both
directly and through his prophets, in a certain epoch of the time when we have
the chance of living, has decided to reveal himself to man and to give him the
secrets of the world and of his and their existence, or at least a part of them.
Two fundamental phenomena are a consequence of this presupposition; firstly the
believer is convinced that he has the truth (the divine therefore indubitable
revelation) and secondly that all the others, the infidels, live in falsehood
and sin, up to religious extremism, which postulates the elimination of infidels.
The churches of any religion are superstructures that organize their followers
and direct them in their lives, claiming to be the direct divine expression and
to draw their authority straight from the creator. They are therefore infallible
and tend to spread their authority even outside the strictly religious field.
Modern Freemasonry, institutionally born in the century of Enlightenment, is the
heir of the great western and European esoteric tradition. It preserves the
symbols and rites that man, since his appearance on earth and then from one
generation to another, has created with the purpose of passing on to his
descendants a view and an analysis of the world that doesn’t have a divine, but
absolutely human origin. So human that it is not expressed through words (the
logos, expression of the divine word), but through a series of representations
where even the word has a symbolic meaning. These representations speak directly
to the soul and mind of man, of the initiate, without the need for
intermediation. In Freemasonry there isn’t, there can’t be an authority gifted
with the ability to express authentic or dogmatic interpretation, not even
simply authorized to express a collective opinion on behalf of the crowd of
initiates that can be shared by all and reflect individual positions.
In Freemasonry every principle must be questioned and questionable, without
going as far as absolute relativism, since the Mason always has the steady
reference of natural morale, his conscience of free man and the sense of honor
and respect due to himself, the Masonic Order, Mankind and all the living
creatures, included animals and plants. The concept of god itself, whose
existence initiates can’t doubt, assumes in the soul of the individuals
different aspects and features that nobody can deny.
Therefore a good mason can be a believer of some revealed religion, but he will
never try and impose his belief on another human being.
The main problem that modern Freemasonry must face nowadays is to be able to
recognize its origins and rid of all the infrastructures and encrustations that
make the esoteric message hardly understandable. Positivism, prevarication of
artificial and sophisticated mental mechanisms, consumerism and lust for power
have averted us from the path drawn by many generations of men who, in suffering
and distress, but also in joy of living, have matured a view of man and the
world he lives in, which to the eyes of the man of the third millennium appears
outdated and obsolete.
Be able again to grasp this message, which is an essentially pragmatic message,
because its purpose is to live better and more consciously our existence, this
must be our goal!
Learn to access the Temple and strip of all commitments, worries, anxieties, but
also joys and interests of the profane world. This must be our first goal! This
is why our ritual says that we must not talk politics or religion! The
initiatory meaning is to learn how to meet in a place outside of everyday life.
To practice esotericism means to be able to abstract from the moment of living,
concreteness and actuality in order to soar in communion with those present in a
world that is a step above daily reality. It is a world where our existence
takes a kind of self-awareness different from that of the profane people,
because it enters in contact with its humanity, free from artificially made
bonds and rules.
The sitting of the Lodge must take the role of instrument for the consecration
of the temple where the rite takes place, in order to spiritually involve the
initiates that participate to the rite with the purpose of pursuing the
fundamental goal of initiatory study, which consists of becoming able to
perceive the esoteric message originated by symbols and rituals present and
practiced in the Temple. Our work must be essentially practical and pragmatic,
free from the need of great studies of philosophy and initiatory subjects.
The example to follow is given by the great initiatory schools, from the
Hermetic to the Pythagorean one, without falling in the trap of profane
‘culture’ as a vehicle to pursue initiatory perfection.