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What does the "Checkered Pavement" Symbolize?

What does the "Checkered Pavement" Symbolize?

  • Love and Hope

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Peace and Harmony

    Votes: 2 3.6%
  • Good and Evil

    Votes: 53 96.4%
  • Charity and Forgiveness

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    55

BryanMaloney

Premium Member
That which we should seek and that we should not seek. Whether we want to call it "good and evil", "light and darkness", "wisdom and folly", ultimately, it boils down to what we ought and ought not do and seek out, and how we always have to walk between both alternatives in this world.
 

Rick Clifton

Registered User
Brother Blake,

Based upon my research, I would have to say that your options do not include the very option that most Masons should know without waver.



That options would be:
  • Important / Unimportant
Please let me explain.

I believe that the checkered pavement is a symbol whose meaning has been lost due to our culture being so detached from what used to be common to people over 200 years ago.

It is a fact that the ground floor of Solomon's Temple was purchased by his father, King David, for full price from Ornan (Ornan is also known by a few other names). For those Masons who do not know, Ornan used this very spot to thresh grain heads from the chaff and winnow away that chaff once threshed.

From these facts, I'd have to say that the checkered pavement represented Wheat and Chaff at one level, with Wheat being the white spots and Chaff being the dark spots.

Furthermore, I believe that this concept was the intent of those who placed this pattern within Masonic symbolism. This very theme, threshing and winnowing, is repeated to this day by Masons at many levels. The ground floor, threshing-floor, is a place where Masons are asked to thresh and winnow symbolically to separate that which is important from that which is not.

So, Wheat and Chaff, at a much more significant level represent that which nurtures (important) and that which doesn't nurture (unimportant) of which Masons MUST learn to separate effortlessly if they are to do their Work in the World, with integrity.



Here's a breakdown of important vs unimportant and the levels that they occur.
  • Candidate - Himself from the Profane world
  • EA - Himself from Vices and Superfluities
  • FC - Proper understanding and application of the principles learned in Grammar/Logic/Rhetoric/Arithmetic/Geometry/Music/Astronomy from improper of the same. (Studying the SLAs&Ss brings Order to chaos, thus allowing for a man to distinguish -- separate -- things that he could not prior to study.)
  • MM - Himself from Ruffians (people who want titles and benefits without doing the Work and earning the same; people who lack integrity)
These are my opinions and my thoughts.

F&S,

Bro. Coach N

PS - Yeah, I KNOW what we are told in Ritual. I believe that's a surface explanation and feel that the explanation given doesn't do EA and others the good that the threshing-floor theme does. IMO

Great Answer!!! King Ornan's threshing floor. Where the chaff is separated from the wheat. Where masons symbolically do the same work, by making good men, better.

Have you been reading,"Building Hiram" by Dr. John Nagy?:SNC:
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
Symbolically, the checkered pavement is also a suggested dress code. A lodge is or should be tiled in black and white. Does that expression refer to the checkered payment on floor or on a dress code for the tiler to suggest as the brothers pass through his door? I'll take an "and" in place of that "or" please.
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
Been a while since I visited this thread.
I don't think the checkered pavement is explained in the Texas Work. Is it explained in your state?
Yes. It is. But not in the way that I did in this thread.
Bro Coach N,

Not sure if you can elaborate more on this forum, but your statement made me think for some time.

"At the same time, these rituals are full of purposeful inaccuracies, strategic red herrings and contrived misdirections, designed to reveal only to those who are worthy and to placate those who refuse to do the Work."

The statement makes sense, but at the same time I'm wondering "have I been learning and absorbing the wrong stuff?"
No my Brother. It is important to learn and absorb what your Jurisdiction offers, if not for any other purpose than to be in harmony with your Brothers who do not go beyond the superficialities of what is offered. That being said, it is even more important to understand that Ritual is dominated by allusions of which intend for thinking men to use as prompts for further investigation so that you understand more in depth what is being put before you -- and there is a lot more than meets the eye and heart at first. The Checkered Pavement (for me) shall forever be Symbolic of the Threshing-floor for which Ritual calls forth men to do very important Work -- to thresh and winnow (break apart and separate) that which is important and unimportant in there lives; gather that which nurtures (wheat) them best and remove that which depletes (chaff). Should Brothers want it to focus solely upon good and evil, I fear that they shall miss out on the Work that actually makes them Better.
Great Answer!!! King Ornan's threshing floor. Where the chaff is separated from the wheat. Where masons symbolically do the same work, by making good men, better.

Have you been reading,"Building Hiram" by Dr. John Nagy?:SNC:
Yes! In fact, I wrote about it in Building Boaz AND I go in depth in my Building Better Builders Workshop's first section - The Apprentice Work!

BTW - I shall be at Kelly Lodge I San Antonio on Oct. 26th to do just that. I would love to meet some of you should you be in the area that day.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Build...Kelly-Masonic-Lodge-1131-AFAM/274903529290642
 
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marty15chris

Premium Member
Just to bring up another point for discussion. What do you think of the idea that the black and white tiled floor came from the colors of the Knights Templar Flag? Which really has about the same meaning, good and evil, without the thrashing floor reference.


Freemason Connect HD
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
I think it removes the very foundation on which the Altar and Temple were placed.
 

marty15chris

Premium Member
I'd be interested in hearing why you think that if you could expand on your thoughts in either a post or PM. Depending on your thoughts on where and when Masonry started one could say the knights used it first.

Not advocating one theory over another, I happen to believe the true origins of Freemasonry have been lost to time and think that adds to the beauty of the craft.


Freemason Connect HD
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
I'd be interested in hearing why you think that if you could expand on your thoughts in either a post or PM. Depending on your thoughts on where and when Masonry started one could say the knights used it first.
Because the very Foundation of each, including the Work we are asked to do as men and Masons, require a Threshing-floor that is used to do just that -- Break apart the wheat from the chaff and then separate them out. Your Common Gavel cannot be used Properly if you do not know what it is that you are to Divest in your life. Sure, you could vomit up what you were told to but you cannot direct that Common Gavel unless you know what Vices and Superfluities actually exist in Your Life. That Twenty-four Inch Gauge is another Working Tool that is absolutely useless unless you know what your Priorities actually are. You can only arrive at that understanding by Threshing and winnowing your life enough to get that understanding.

In other words, it's not enough to give lip service to the symbolism by saying it represents good and evil. You must go beyond the veil, reach into that symbolism, ask yourself how it applies toward your life and then apply it without waver. Waving a flag looks good on the surface, but carrying that flag within a battle where your life depends upon the actions you take is a whole different level of carrying.
Not advocating one theory over another, I happen to believe the true origins of Freemasonry have been lost to time and think that adds to the beauty of the craft.
Freemason Connect HD
The simplest and most accurate origin theory of Freemasonry is that some drinking buddies got together and decided to create a GL around 1717 that would rule over the unaffiliated Lodges within the area. It is not the origin of Masonry. They are two different things. And yes, mystery is Beautiful!
 

DJGurkins

Floresville #515
Premium Member
This thread got me to thinking. Myself being a newly raised Master Mason I could be off but couldn't the Back And White Tiles just as easily represent the duality of life. Isn't a natural law of nature for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. With that couldn't everyone be right in the since of they represent Duality. Good evil, Man woman, Dark Light, cold hot, Love Hate.
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
This thread got me to thinking.
GOOD!
Myself being a newly raised Master Mason I could be off but couldn't the Back And White Tiles just as easily represent the duality of life.
They can represent anything you want them to.
Isn't a natural law of nature for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Yup!
With that couldn't everyone be right in the since of they represent Duality. Good evil, Man woman, Dark Light, cold hot, Love Hate.
This is not a matter of being right. It is a matter of making sense for yourself.

For me, the emphasis upon The Threshing-floor is profound. This symbolism alone could direct us to do the Work that makes us Better but coupling it with the fact that this Threshing-floor was on top of Mount Moriah, a mountain whose very name means, "God's Instruction/Teaching", tells me that our Threshing Work must be done, and "founded", upon God's Teachings.

It's one thing to "get in touch" with the symbolism; it's a whole other matter to both recognize and understand the background connections and to put them into practice.

When you miss important inter-related aspects of the symbols, taking them out of context to let them dangle unsupported in mid air, you loose a lot. You can easily overlook the message that it is making effort to convey, along with the associated Work it directs us toward.
 

BroBook

Premium Member
Well since it is the lodge floor I think it's to remind those that walk on it that while walking in the world we will encounter good/evil,right /wrong but if we take the right turns we will find light!!!


My Freemasonry
 

crono782

Premium Member
I'd voted on this a long time back and saw it pop up again with the latest replies which has made me ponder over it again. I'd originally said C) Good and Evil. However I've come to amend (or expand rather) my original thoughts thusly:

In order to understand the Checkered Pavement, you cannot look at it as a symbol by itself, but rather you must look at the three inter-related symbols as one larger whole. We are told that the Checkered (or Mosaic) Pavement symbolizes human life "checkered" with good and evil. You could indeed view each white tile as good and black ones as evil or ill events (or perhaps vice-versa) that occur through the course of human existence, but look wider. We are then told about the Tessellated (or tassellated) Border surrounding it which reminds us of blessings in human life that overarch singular occurrences, whether good or bad. Finally, tie the entire lesson together with the image of the Blazing Star which needs no extended explanation here. The blazing star residing at the center of the mosaic pavement is a truth if ever there was one. All events in human life radiate out from the center and also all blessings that envelope life.

I now think that the checkered pavement, when combined with it's constituent symbols, illustrates a picture of man's relationship with divinity and the manner of the Divine's role in human life. No wonder it should be such a prominent sight in all Lodge rooms to remind us of this fact...
 

Roy_

Registered User
Perhaps a few things more to think about. The information brochure that I got, speaks of "square tiles" (this is usually case, but in the above it is nowhere explicit) and another element that is not yet mentioned: a "serrated edge" (or how would you call it?) "of which the dark triangles point inwards, and therefor the light triangles outwards." This automatically means that the flour lays diagonally and not straight, yet still the "square tiles" lay "parallel to the main directions", which can never mean the walls, but neither West/East, etc.
Any thoughts?

Our instructions speak of duality, as with the black/white clothing.

A completely different look at things. A Dutch author connects the checkered pavement with the building symbolism that can still be found in many older (or old-style) buildings:
tn_2005extra08_01.jpg

Where the arch represents the heavens, and the checkered filling, the ploughed land, or the earth. (See most right image. There are different patterns to be found, the most common is like our checkered floor).

So the floor the land, the blue dome the sky, making the temple like we're outside.
 

crono782

Premium Member
The serrated you talk about is roughly equivalent to the tessellated. Although many speculate that this is a word perversion over many years of a different word, tasselated, that is having tassels or rope border rather than a tiled border.
 
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