From The Lodge Tawhiri 166, of New Zealand, November 2014 newsletter.
This article first appeared in the “Californian Freemason’, September 2014 issue.

You have long realized that being a Freemason means you are engaged on a learning process. But has it ever occurred to you that Freemasonry has similarities to a University?

The people of the time of King Solomon’s Temple still believed that the world was flat. They could not have understood either the terrestrial or the celestial globes, but the Masonic symbolism to the new Fellow Craft is clear. He is progressing from and “old” understanding of reality to a “new” understanding. The “old” is represented by the ancient pillars and the “new” by the globes. In the rest of the degree, he will be introduced to the function of knowledge itself, represented by the winding staircase.

Taken together, the meaning is that in order to progress in Masonry he must accept that he will leave behind old understandings and embark on a journey into new and fresh understandings. Freemasonry will become his “university of knowledge” not because it has all the answers for him, but because it has all the questions for him. The questing mind is a salient characteristic of Masonry and the globes atop the ancient pillars in King Solomon’s Temple are a symbol of that quest. This is the way in which a Masonic lodge is thought of as a university. Properly understood, a university does not provide a completed education. Its true function is to open the doors of knowledge so that a lifelong commitment to learning results.