Pedagogy of Freemasonry

By: Jorge Manuel Manuel Aguilar

Teach progressively, in accordance with the rules of Initiation, or else remain silent. Above all, beware of flaunting your knowledge. The Initiate is ever discreet: he never pontificates, shuns dogmatism, and strives in every circumstance and in every place to seek a truth which he knows, in all conscience, he does not possess.

— Oswald Wirth, The Initiatic Ideal (1928/2007, p. 115)

I. Initiatic Foundations of a Masonic Pedagogy

As Oswald Wirth (1928/2007) suggests, Masonic initiation is not the imposition of content nor the display of erudition, but rather an art of gradual guidance toward inner knowledge.

In his work Le Idéal Initiatique, Wirth insists that the true Master is one who honors the pace of the neophyte, offering symbolic keys without violating their discernment or hastening their conclusions. This principle embodies a pedagogy of discretion and epistemic reverence.

This emphasis on gradualism and the non-dogmatic marks a distinctive form of initiatic education, one that distances itself from vertical structures of transmission. In this context, the Master Mason does not pose as an absolute source of wisdom but rather as the custodian of a language that the other must discover, integrate, and re-signify.

As Wirth (1928/2007) warns, the initiate must avoid pontificating, for at the heart of the initiatic process beats a silent and profound pedagogy—one grounded in the humility of knowledge and an acute awareness of its limitations.

From this vantage point, Masonic initiation may be understood as a pedagogical process that, rather than saturating the individual with information, confronts them with symbols, experiences, and silences that awaken self-consciousness.

In his corpus, Wirth (1928/2007) articulates a transversal reflection on the art of formation that resonates with broader definitions; pedagogy, as Durkheim asserts (in Gras, 1985), is a theoretical reflection on educational practice conceived as a social phenomenon.

Furthermore, it may be defined as a practical theory of education that systematically reflects upon teaching-learning processes in light of social, philosophical, and political ends (Molina Aguilar & Díaz Velásquez, 2024; Lara-Martínez & Molina Aguilar, 2022).

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II. A Pedagogy of Freemasonry

Since its speculative origins in 1717, Freemasonry has been understood as a school of ethical, symbolic, and spiritual formation, whose ultimate aim is;

“the improvement of the individual in every aspect of life”

 United Grand Lodge of England [UGLE], 2022

Far from being a merely ceremonial space, the Masonic temple stands as a laboratory of the soul, wherein symbolic work is inseparable from the moral and intellectual growth of the initiate (Hamill & Gilbert, 2010).

The Pedagogy of Freemasonry may be defined as a practical, symbolic, and esoteric theory of teaching-learning processes that unfold within the initiatic space.

Its purpose is not merely the transmission of knowledge, but the holistic formation of the human being through ritual, word, symbol, virtue, and silence.

This pedagogy is neither vertical nor didactic in the traditional sense; it is gradual, inward, and experiential.

Masonic symbolism offers a personal path toward self-transformation. Yet this path, as W. Kirk MacNulty observes, demands an internal disposition toward study, meditation, and meaningful repetition (MacNulty, 2006).

The Lodge thereby becomes a “school of virtue” (Harper, 2015), wherein the process of learning is both introspective and dialogical.

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III. The Symbol as a Pedagogical Method

Within the Masonic temple, every word, gesture, and silence fulfills a pedagogical function. From the perspective of initiatic instruction, the Apprentice does not memorize dogmas; rather, he encounters archetypes that awaken his intuition, evoke ancestral memories, and bind him to the numinous.

Carl Gustav Jung states that the symbol has a vital function, as it expresses latent psychic energy and transforms it into a form accessible to consciousness (Jung, 1964).

Thus, the Masonic ritual becomes a pedagogy of the soul. In this light, learning within the Lodge does not operate solely on a rational plane; it engages a symbolic-affective process.

According to Jung (1981), archetypes manifest in consciousness through symbolic images that arise from the collective unconscious and carry significant affective charge. Masonic instruction, therefore, does not shape the mind—it awakens awareness.

The initiate does not merely learn the degrees—he traverses them; nor does he recite the ritual—he embodies it.

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IV. Evaluating through the Lens of Diversity: Neurodivergence and Inclusion

In the twenty-first century, it is no longer tenable to uphold a singular model of teaching or assessment without acknowledging the substantial differences in how individuals learn.

Neurodivergence—which encompasses conditions such as autism, ADHD, and dyslexia—demands the recognition that there is no single valid way of acquiring knowledge (Armstrong, 2012; APA, 2023).

Evaluation rooted in homogeneity may lead to practices that are exclusionary or unjust.

UNESCO (2020) affirms that truly inclusive education extends beyond access; it requires meaningful participation. In this regard, initiatives such as Harvard Project Zero (2016) encourage us to conceive of assessment not as the enforcement of standards, but as a dialogical and adaptive process.

Rose (2016) is unequivocal in stating that the “average student” does not exist; hence, to design for the average is to design for no one.

When applied to the Pedagogy of Freemasonry, this calls us to recognize that each initiate may relate to the symbol, the ritual, and the silence in a unique manner.

Therefore, assessment must not consist in the rote replication of ritual formulae—or worse still, in mnemonic exactitude.

Instead, pedagogical and didactic proposals emerge that aim to accompany the initiate’s integration of symbolic meaning in accordance with their capacities and individual rhythm.

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V. Final Reflections

To teach within Freemasonry is not to repeat what one has learned, but to offer paths whereby the other may discover it within himself. Instruction must not—and should not—be authoritarian, much less founded upon fear.

In Jung’s vision, the educational act does not rest upon discourse, but upon the very being of the educator. For him, every formative process involves a symbolic and affective transference that operates beyond explicit content; it is the integrity, authenticity, and inner maturity of the teacher that truly shapes the learning of the other.

The educator—the Master, in this context—according to Jung, does not teach by what he says, but by who he is and by the manner in which he embodies his own inner transformation (Jung, 1954). This axiom extends to the Masonic Apprentice, only he who lives what he teaches can transmit it with efficacy.

Complementarily, Paulo Freire affirms that authentic teaching demands from the educator a coherence between being and doing. In his Pedagogy of Autonomy, Freire maintains that;

“to teach is to require respect for the knowledge of learners”

and that the educator must be

“an ethical being, coherent, one who lives what he teaches”

Freire, 1996, pp. 33–34

For Freire, education is an act of love and courage, where the teacher does not impose knowledge but accompanies the learner in the construction of their own understanding, making their very life example the fundamental pedagogical tool.

The Master Mason is not a ritual technician, but a builder of meaning—a craftsman of the soul. The Pedagogy of Freemasonry must encompass ethical and hermeneutic tools that welcome the one who learns differently, without deeming them any less initiated.

Both Wirth and Jung converge in the view that to teach is to guide without owning the truth, to show without imposing, to care without dominating.

This vision finds deep resonance in the thought of Paulo Freire, who declares:

“no one educates anyone else, no one educates themselves alone, men educate each other mediated by the world”

Freire, 1970/2005, p. 72

Indeed, for Freire, teaching is not the transmission of knowledge, but a meeting of subjects who learn and teach one another in an ethical relationship founded on respect for the other’s autonomy.

To teach without possessing the truth, in this sense, is to acknowledge that all knowledge is partial, historical, and shared.  That is why ;

“to teach demands the embodiment of words by example”

Freire, 1996, p. 37

.. just as Jung proposed from the perspective of depth psychology, and Wirth from the art of initiation.

The true teacher, then, does not dominate—but accompanies; does not proclaim—but listens; does not impose—but sows (as in sowing seeds of meaning and transformation).

And today we know—thanks to the contributions of contemporary educational science—that only a truly personalized teaching, one that respects cognitive and emotional diversity, can contribute to the blossoming of a free consciousness.

Initiation then, begins the moment we cease to teach from fear and dogma and begin to build paths of learning founded upon the recognition of the Other.

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