What does it mean to be a man, and how do I achieve manhood?  The question is at the very core of mankind.  It is reflected in the cave paintings of our earliest ancestors, and described in manuscripts and on monuments of ancient civilizations.  Initiation into Freemasonry is the contemporary version of the quest tradition, whereby knowledge of this most fundamental question*, is transmitted from one generation to the next.

 

Brother Jim Tresner, in his book Further Light...Helpful Information for the New Master Mason, states, "The Quest symbol changes.  It can be the Grail, as in the stories of King Arthur.  It may be a ring, as it is both in the Niebelungen and Lord of the Rings.  It may be a flower granting immortality, as it is in the Epic of Gilgamesh, or a stone with the same properties as in many of the allegories of the alchemists.  It may be food for the Hero's people, as in many Egyptian, African, and Native American Myths.  The Quest may be for fire, or for Light, as in the Mysteries of Greece, the myths of Prometheus, Freemasonry, and the Native American tradition.  Or it may be for freedom, as in the Star Wars films." 

 

"Whatever the Quest objective, the story has the same elements.

• The Hero becomes aware of a need
• He initiates a course of action (this is why the joining process  is called an initiation)
• While on a journey, he receives mystical objects needed for success (symbols)
• He also meets a guide, who will lead him part of the way
• The initiatory journey involves a descent (symbolic of his own innermost thoughts and feelings) an ascent (symbolic of higher levels of consciousness) or both
• At the climax of the journey, he finds himself at "the heart of the mystery"
• Here he often meets a character from whom he learns important information and receives a blessing or a conferral of power

The candidate-hero may not achieve the goal of the Quest, but he has been transformed by his experience.  He has left childhood behind, and has begun to claim the powers which are his by right of being a man."

 

*For an excellent discussion of the Hero (Candidate) and the quest traditions, see Joseph Campbell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.