Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols - Adele Nozedar - Страница 227

Although many of the entries in this encyclopedia have an association with Freemasonry, many secret signs and sacred symbols belong specifically to this discipline, hence the need for a separate entry dedicated to the Craft.

The Catholic Encyclopedia describes Freemasonry as

a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated with symbols.

Many of the signs and symbols associated with this ancient brotherhood are necessarily to do with building and architecture, and the instruments of these disciplines are used to carry analogies. One of the central tenets of Freemasonry, however, is that there should be as little dogma as possible, and so the meanings of many of the associated symbols are deliberately oblique and can remain open to personal interpretation.