For any enquiring mind, whether Freemason or not, this little book sets out to help answer questions – not so much: ‘What does it mean?’ but rather: ‘What can it mean?’, since the journey is concerned not with learning other people’s answers, but in working out answers for yourself. This is a book about what it means to walk the path of a Freemason; to be inspired by its rituals, to live your life by its precepts and to cultivate virtue within yourself.

If you are not a Freemason, you may want answers to questions such as the following:

• Why can I not become a Freemason by reading about it in a book? • What would initiation do for me?

• What is the point of secrets in Freemasonry?

• Why are the square and compasses in Freemasonry such a universal symbol?

• What are Masonic symbols for? Do they mean anything?

• Can Freemasonry be as meaningful for me as my religion?

• By being a Freemason, can I be closer to God?

If you are already a Freemason, you may want answers to other, but similar questions:

• Why are we called Free Masons?

• If secrets in Freemasonry are not to hide something, what are they for?

• What does the ritual mean when it talks of avoiding fear and rashness?

• How can symbols best be used?

• Can working tools really be used to make me a better person? If so, how?

• Why is it said that lodges stand on holy ground?

• How am I to understand light in a symbolic sense?