“I have attained on three continents the friendship of many devotees of the Phoenix; I know that the Secret, at first, seemed to them banal, embarrassing, vulgar and (what is even stranger) incredible. They could not bring themselves to admit their parents had stooped to such manipulations. What is odd is that the Secret was not lost long ago; in spite of the vicissitudes of the Universe, in spite of wars and exoduses, it reaches, awesomely, all the faithful. Someone had not hesitated to affirm that it is now instinctive.”
    (From the Labyrinths, selected writings by Jorge Luis Borges. Penguin Books, London.1970.)

One of the origins of modern Freemasonry is so-called ‘operative masonry’. Anyone who has seen a cathedral knows what I am referring to and to whom: the master masons of freestone. Documents which have survived these original lodges reveal the one secret which is the ultimate trade secret. For example, the Regensburg Document of 1459 describes the unification of nearly all German lodges, including those of Switzerland and Alsace, and was confirmed by the Emperor Maximilian I in 1498. This document contains the instruction that “..no workman, nor master, nor parlier, nor journeyman shall teach anyone, whatever he may be called, not being one of our handicraft and never having done mason work, how to take the elevation from the ground plan.”
    A secret it may have been, but the drawing below shows that it could still be communicated in specialist writings. In this case, Matthaus Roriczer was given permission by the bishop of Regensburg to publish the secret in a small book of 1492.
    This secret actually refers to one of the propositions of Euclid (See On Euclid in the Spring ’98 issue of this magazine), better known as Pythagoras’ Theorem. It shows how the construction of a right-angled triangle enables one to project the right angle: a construction necessary to bring the height of an architectural element from the drawing of its base. Euclid’s 47th proposition is also one of the best-known symbols of modern Freemasonry. It is used as a Past Master’s jewel and appears on the frontispiece to the 1723 Book of Constitutions as “That amazing Proposition which is the foundation of all Masonry.” While the uses and meanings doubtless change over time, the history of this secret links the Babylonians, Thales, Pythagoras and his school, medieval masons and Freemasons. Freemasonry could not be what it is without this ancient usage, even though the secret’s history cannot properly be said to represent the history of Freemasonry.
    To me, however, it seems as if this secret precisely constitutes the link through time and space, a link residing in that intuition whereby a geometrical theorem can be used as a diagram to depict what words cannot express: an understanding of the ‘hidden’ order of the universe, the experience of which initiates the understanding observer into the sphere of reasoning. The secret is the knowledge of how to use something that is visible to all. The search for the ultimate secret consists in reaching the understanding of the most obvious of all principles, and whose simplicity can be employed for the most simple as well as the most complicated tasks. The attainment of such knowledge cannot be told by words alone, and the publication of such truths cannot be anything but a part of the revelation. Operation and speculation cannot be truly separated; a ‘trade secret’ can embody a spiritual awareness of the secret of the universe: a moral and spiritual order initiated by the Great Architect. The secret knowledge is that which is transmitted through the cultivation of the spirit, depending ultimately on the trust flowing between the apprentice and his master.

The grammar rules instruct the tongue and pen,
Rhetorick teaches eloquence to men,
By logick we are taught to reason well,
Musick has charms beyond our power to tell;
The use of numbers numberless we find,
Geometry gives measure to mankind,
The heavenly system elevates the mind.
All those, and many secrets more,
The Masons taught in days of yore.
(Ahiman Rezon, 1787. p.23)