THE LEGEND OF HIRAM

Hiram's death has a specific symbolism that we cannot ignore and which is linked to the death and rebirth of Man, and in this case, the Freemason. Hiram's death represents the elevation of man in the face of Ignorance, Fanaticism and Ambition, which the individual contains within himself. To overcome them, which is nothing more than our ability to remain above our limits, we must know and overcome them, because they are part of human nature, we must live above them, this implies accepting them. them in us, and change the behavior that generates them. We do not “cure” ourselves from addictions and dependencies, but we change our habits, we build good habits, from good feelings, good thoughts, good actions and necessarily good habits, which become good character. As we know, the degree of Companion, in the Masonic tradition, is the so-called degree of treason, as there were three Companions who murdered Master Hiram. The reason for this crime has never been well explained by exegetes of Masonic traditions. It is literally interpreted that the murder was committed because the three fellow assassins, Jubelo, Jubelas and Jubelum, wanted to obtain the master's word by force, without going through the necessary steps to do so.

The three companions wanted to obtain the Secret without effort and for that reason they agreed to place themselves one at each of the three doors, with an instrument of their trade, they reached Master Hiram, intending to ascend to the master's degree in architecture without having completed the work and evidence necessary for this elevation. Only acacia allowed the nine instructed to find Master Hiram's body to finally discover the evil deed of the three conjured companions. Masonic legend says that three envious and ambitious Companions, who by force, wanted to extract from Hiram the mysterious word that only the Masters knew. They wanted to conquer with violence what only merit could give them. Ambushing the Master, surrounding the three doors of the Temple, the Jubelos, the designation given to the three criminal Companions, demand that the Master give them the Holy Word. Hiram refuses and tries to escape. With the instruments of work, the iron ruler, the square and the mallet, the Jubelos wound the Master, successively, in the throat (shutting his voice), in the chest (offending his heart), and in the head, (destroying his reason).

The legend talks about death but it also talks about transformation, change, Redemption, evolution, we must not forget that the fellow assassins, Jubelo, Jubelas Jubelum, would conspire because they wanted to somehow access knowledge that they did not have, for which they were not prepared, because they had not made their transformation, either internally or on the moral path, the only way to become a master is to evolve internally, work on habits, and evolve as a person, which implies renouncing ignorance, fanaticism and prejudice.

The tradition is connected with Kabbalistic and Gnostic interpretations of the Bible, and refers mainly to themes linked to the universe-building angels, of which Jehovah Tsabaoth is the Supreme Master. All Master and Fellow Masons know the name Tubalcain. It is used as a password in one of the degrees of the Symbolic Lodge. Tubalcain, in the Bible, is a great-grandson of Cain, the cursed son of Adam and Eve. He is referred to as being a forge worker, that is, a smelter. He and his brothers Jubal and Jabel, are the workers, the workers whose hands build the "temple". Thus, Tubalcain is the representative of all those who work with their hands and Hiram the representative of those who work with the intellect. Hiram also symbolizes command. One represents technique, the other science. The quarrel between the Master of command and the Masters of execution, which ended up turning into a tragedy, with the murder of the former by the latter, reflects the conflict between the Creator and his Demiurges. The legend of Hiram reflects on the capacity for personal transformation, redemption and personal construction, it is a legend that has at its center the liberation of the initiate (Hiram), on the material, psychic and mental planes, represented by the three murderous companions, Jubelo, Jubelas and Jubelum, doors of the three planes of the profane world, which the initiate will have to overcome to reach internal reconciliation and the change that allows him to lead his own life, his free will oriented towards the divine plan, and only then will he be the true Teacher. Redemption, that is, repentance in relation to past behaviors, is the only way to evolve, having action on us, the appreciation of the inner mission, of our essence, on what the ego is, this is the path to elevation to starting from the material, psychic and metal planes, which we reach through death to the world, the death of the initiate (Hiram), which puts us on the path of self-knowledge, through the action of redemption that results from this.

What motivated the three fellow killers was each one's internal ego, their desire to be recognized as masters and not exactly the need to learn values ​​that would transform them as beings and as men. It was the prospect of reaching high levels of self-knowledge, without effort, by inertia, sensuality and arrogance, which are the vices that prey to the plans of the profane world, prevent us from showing the best that exists in man. In this way, they effortlessly hoped to rise to the status of masters, without developing their good habits, and to be the best version of themselves. What is at stake is solidarity with the other companions, and with the initiate (Hiram), who they betrayed and murdered in a vile way, together, since although the last blow was the maul blow, there is no doubt that without the ruler 24 inches, the iron square, it would not have been possible to leave the initiate (Hiram) in a vulnerable situation, which would allow Malhete's blow to finally reach him.

In the ritualistic ceremony that basically represents all of us, the use of these instruments is carried out by the guards and the responsible master, the symbolism indicates that the ruler belongs to the second guard and that it represents beauty, the iron square that represents strength and which is wielded by the first vigilante and finally the gavel used by the venerable master who represents wisdom. The ruler, precision in execution, fails and hits the throat, the square that is rectitude in action, touches the heart, seat of the soul and emotionality, and the gavel, will in application, hurts the forehead, seat of the intellect, thus generating the triple death. Hiram's name is connected with science, with the knowledge of the secrets of nature, with the energy that transforms metals. He knows, dominates fire, transmutes the elements. It is a legend that serves both alchemical traditions, whose work consists of obtaining the philosopher's stone, synthesizing the process by which nature produces chemical elements, and Kabbalah, an esoteric practice that seeks the secret of the universe through the synthesis of number. More important than all this, however, is the moral meaning of this allegory, the murder of Master Hiram symbolizes the death of man through the violence and ignorance of tyrants. In fact, once tyranny is implemented, the first violence that is practiced against the lover of freedom is to silence his voice, preventing him from expressing himself. Then, his heart is violated, his feelings are hurt, seeking to destroy his honor, his name, his family, his self-esteem, while taking away all types of freedom; finally they silence him completely, either by the threat of physical elimination, or by carrying out the threat itself. This is the fatal blow, to the head, that takes away reason forever, although, like the Hiram of the legend, the man thus violated always emerges, much stronger in the reason he defended and the example he left.

In this allegory lies the core of the Masonic catechism, as its creators wanted to portray it, who were from an era of obscurantism, tyranny and violence against the human spirit. An analogy that can be made in relation to Jubelos is the Vedic theory of gunas. Literally, guna means rope, and can be understood as the ways in which the human psyche is constructed, in each incarnation, to tie us to matter. There are three gunas, or ropes, that bind us to the world of maya (matter). They are Sattva (the guna of kindness), Rajas (the guna of passion) and Tamas (the guna of ignorance). How much we are tied to one of them is dictated by our way of living in previous incarnations. Thus, a man with a dissolute life, given over to laziness and drugs, is tied to the way of Tamas, the guna of ignorance. In turn, a man tied to matter by the Rajas guna is a man who only lives for passions, for enjoyment, for material pleasures. Now a man moved by recognition, riches, social prestige, concerned with his own honor, with the acquisition of a certain intellectual refinement, a certain education, concern, which properly developed and guided, will enable him to be reborn, in the manner of Sattva , which is the way of kindness, of knowledge, of the search for spiritual elevation. This is the last stage of human development, but it does not guarantee overcoming the karmic process. The Sattva man, if he believes that he has reached a stage of perfection, may become too arrogant and pretentious and, instead of the natural overcoming that this phase provides, he will devolve.

Note that the development of Hiram's Drama in the higher degrees of the Scottish Rite has precisely this purpose. First, we seek to recognize the death of “conscience” itself, represented by Master Hiram, then we seek to discover, arrest and punish his murderers, so that, only after their destruction, we can acquire the wisdom that liberates. And there, in possession of the liberating Gnosis, the brother is able to search for the Lost Word, the key to life and knowledge.