Initial concepts

Wisdom : It comes from the Latin Sapere A set of broad and deep knowledge that is acquired
through study or experience. The power of people to act sensibly, prudently or correctly.

Strength : Its word comes from the Latin fortia. Strength is the ability to perform physical work
or movement, as well as the power or effort to support a body or resist a push.

Beauty : It comes from the Latin Bellus=Beautiful. It is an abstract notion linked to numerous
aspects of human existence. Beauty is studied within the philosophical discipline of aesthetics;
beauty is commonly defined as the characteristic of a thing that, through a sensory experience
(perception), provides a sensation of pleasure or a feeling of satisfaction.

There are three members who run a Lodge. These three lights, or columns that support it, receive
symbolic names, and respectively personify the three ideal Lights and Columns of the Order:
Wisdom, Strength and Beauty.
The first corresponds to the East and the seat of the person who presides over the meeting: the
Master par excellence and first among equals, who receives the name of Venerable, in relation to
the position that falls to him and the function he represents: That of "illuminating the brothers
with the light of their Wisdom.” He sits there, in a high place, "as the sun rises in the east above
the mountains, to give light to the earth," animating and promoting the activity of all nature, and
directing men, to each which in his path and in his particular task.

Just as the sun regulates the activities of the day with its course, so does the VM.·. He is the one
who opens the work of the Lodge, and establishes and presides over its order. Near him appears
the statue of Minerva who, like Metis and Demeter the venerable, symbolizes Divine Wisdom,
the inspiring principle of all knowledge, science and human wisdom; The goddess, emerging as
an adult and armed from the head of God the Father, is therefore the one who, although
inaccessible and unattainable in her virginal purity, is most willingly associated with the tasks
and activities of men, as protector and inspirer of all sciences. , arts and industries, and that
which encourages and helps heroes in their superhuman tasks.
To Wisdom we owe the conception of every work truly worthy of that name; for a work is such,
and is distinguished from ordinary work, precisely by virtue of the wisdom that it expresses and
attests by bearing its seal. But, that Wisdom remains virgin and sterile, when it is not joined by
the Force of Intelligence, which understands and realizes it. This intelligent force is symbolized
by Hercules, whose statue is on the throne of the First Warden, to the West of the Lodge.
Hercules is the hero par excellence, that is, the prototype of those men who, although simply
human by birth, recognize their divine origin and filiation; and, in this way, allying themselves
with Omniscient Wisdom and following its guidance and inspiration, they are enabled to
accomplish great works and emerge victorious from every hardship, danger or external trial. It
thus symbolizes the true strength that only belongs to human Intelligence, through its faith, hope

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and alliance with Celestial Wisdom, and in this way it is enabled to carry out its works or
manifest its ideal plans.
Therefore the P .·. V.·. sitting in front of the V. ·. M.·. On the opposite side of the Lodge, it
represents the constructive attitude of Intelligence, allied with Wisdom and constantly on a level
with it; He is the one who watches over the workers who have already completed their
apprenticeship, so that they put their strength into the expression of the Ideal of Wisdom, and
who also appreciates those efforts, marking the hour of rest with the setting of the sun, and
giving them the salary. that they deserve, at the end of their day.
From this point of view, it is also an emblem of the Law that in the World of Effects (the West)
presides over all individual activity; and at the end of it (the hour of rest), he gives each person
the compensation that their effort deserves, whether as inner growth, talent or acquired or
developed faculty; and as an external condition in harmony with that activity and with internal
growth, of which it can be considered the result.
To the Wisdom that conceives the work, and to the Force of intelligence that understands and
executes it, is joined the ideal of Beauty, as a principle of harmony, represented by the statue of
Venus, near the Second Watchman, who has his seat on the side of Noon, that is, in the place that
corresponds to the Sun, when it is in the middle of its diurnal career.
The beautiful, Plato tells us, is the splendor of the True. Harmony and Wisdom, or Beauty and
Truth, are two aspects of the same Reality, whose union and identity become more intimate in
proportion to their respective elevation. This means that, seeking the highest degree of Harmony
and Beauty, Wisdom and Truth are also found with these; and likewise, whatever is in reality
wise and true, cannot fail to be at the same time harmonious and beautiful. There can only be
divorce apparently in its lower aspects; but, then it is no longer a question of true beauty, nor of
true Wisdom.
An ideal of Beauty can thus be the path that guides us and takes us to the Truth; and equally,
when Wisdom is what truly inspires our actions and our activity, it can only guide us along paths
of peace and paths of harmony, towards the realization of an Ideal whose Beauty demonstrates
its Truth. The artist sincerely in love with the Beautiful is solidly headed towards the Truth; and
the philosopher who seeks the True can also recognize it by the light of beauty that accompanies
it, in his highest discernment.
Everything that pleasantly affects the sight can only do so by virtue of the light that reveals it to
us, whose fullness also symbolizes midday. When that same light is made in our intelligence, we
will be able to perceive and conceive the Beautiful, as the very light with which the True is
clothed and in which the True shines.

Thus, Venus, and the Second Watcher sitting in its shadow, can be related to the sense of sight,
and the faculty of internal vision, that is, imagination, which is the eminently fertile and
productive element or factor of our psychic life. . In the same way Minerva, and the Master who
interprets Wisdom, are related to the sense of hearing and the faculty of understanding, from
which every word is born, an element more subtle, more impalpable and spiritual than light

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itself, since It does not consist solely of the vibrations of the air, but sets in motion the dark
depths of the being.
As for Hercules and the First Watcher, they have an equal relationship with the sense of touch,
and with the correlative faculties of judgment and action. The Masonic Lodge or Workshop is,
therefore, also the symbol of the individual workshop in which the logical or rational activity of
each human being is verified; and its three main lights correspond to the three main senses and
faculties that illuminate and govern it. Through hearing and understanding, man can direct
himself on the path of Wisdom; by touch and judgment he forms a just idea of things, and has the
most appropriate guide for all his actions; Through sight and imagination, he is able to see and
appreciate the beauty of nature and the world that surrounds him, and his own intelligence
becomes fruitful, conceiving and carrying out works in which beauty accompanies the judgment
of intelligence. and the understanding of the truth.

Minerva Hercules and Venus

The three lesser lights are called wisdom, strength and beauty. They are said to help make

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Freemasons better men. Naturally, we could have added other virtues to the list: patience,
fortitude, or peacemaking, but the fact that there are three is striking.

The rhetoric of listing wisdom, strength, and beauty in this order gives importance to beauty.
Beauty is a strange ideal for a fraternity. However, beauty is seen as the resolution of a life that
overflows with wisdom and strength. Men who exhibit wisdom and strength create harmony.
Harmony is itself a characteristic of beauty in social settings, as in aesthetics.

Lodges use triads to train our minds. As we grow in understanding, we tend to use more complex
triads. Intelligence, strength and harmony provide elegant synonyms used today for wisdom,
strength and beauty. Likewise, religion, law and morality are pillars of Masonic teaching.
Through religious study and contemplation we seek wisdom. By force and the rule of law, we
establish a strong and orderly society. And through the inculcation of personal morality, we
strive for beauty in our private and public lives.

Wisdom, Strength and Beauty (that is, the Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence of the
G.·.A.·.D.·.U.·.), patented as Principles of Truth, are located in the East, to the West and the
South respectively, where the three qualities are manifested. The performance of each of these
dignities, for the interpretation that corresponds to the “Being” that we wish to consider, is
established in the drama of the ancestry and descent of man. Here we are taking the Lodge as a
representation of him and the three main personalities as personifications of the activity of his
Spirit (which he calls the Supreme Being), his mediating Soul (his Higher Self) and his body,
that is, his personality ( which we call the Inferior Being), without forgetting for a moment that
he is an image of the G.·.A.·.D.·.U.·. in all its details.

The drama that develops in each event by the spirit, the soul and the personality in action
function in our evolutionary stage, called in Freemasonry, “apprentice degree”, in the following
way: the V.·.M.·. It is that brother with a solid reputation and recognized authority acquired by
the maturity of his judgment, by his knowledge and great virtues, he is the one who illuminates
the brothers with the light of his wisdom; It personifies divinity, spirit and divine power. It is
located in the highest place in the Lodge, thus representing our supreme being. Its image is the
expression of the spiritual Will and manifests through the Higher mind.
The P.·.V.·. As Soul, he personifies the “Son” that is, the synthesis or relationship between
Spirit and Matter, he is neither one nor the other. He is, therefore, the mediator between the two
opposites (Spirit and Matter). It expresses Force in action and its predominant characteristic is
unlimited or horizontal Love, distinguished by its action and balance. This is symbolized by the
Level, which he wears as a badge, during work in the Lodge. Because he is facing the East, he
can clearly see the Plan from his location, which is why it is the builder in us. It reflects the
S.·.V.·. the light that comes from the East.
The S.·.V.·. It personifies the personality or the material aspect of the Being. It constitutes
the instrument through which the Supreme Being in us expresses itself, and carries out its work

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of spiritual construction of the Temple. Gather the Workers, that is, their instruments, so that
they reveal divine beauty through their works. Its distinctive quality is intelligence or mental
light. It is distinguished by its action in a vertical sense, in contrast to the horizontal attitude of
the Soul. For this reason, its distinctive feature in the Lodge is the plumb line, which in turn, in
its pendulum character, indicates the temporal nature of its existence. At the intersection of both
at a high point of synthesis, as expected, is the first objective of the personality, which requires
its fusion with the Soul. This is confirmed in the Squadron carried by the V.·.M.·.; which
symbolizes man, since it is a combination of the Level and the Plumb line; of the vertical and
horizontal of life.

CONCLUSIONS

In this journey of my Masonic life, little by little I am finding a little more light in the search for
the correct path to understanding. As apprentice Masons we are a rough stone. We represent
perseverance to become virtuous individuals; We must remember that to put one more stone in
our temple, we must perfect that stone through work. In other words, I interpret that we need,
first of all, Strength to face and overcome the obstacles that arise. Beauty, in the actions we take
to reach our goal and Wisdom, which is the purity of thought.
We need Strength to face the problems that arise in life as an individual and as a social being; In
other words, I would call it the character to face everything we do with the repercussions it may
bring.
We need Beauty to possess the attitude that should prevail in the actions we carry out in our
lives, both Masonic and secular.
And finally we need Wisdom that at a certain point represents the reach of our objective, virtue.
Basically on our way to the East, we need to possess these three qualities which we must work
for ourselves from our QQ.·.HH.·. and of society itself in our jobs and homes in the profane
world.

It is how much V.·.M.·.

Bibliography:

Apprentice's Manual, Aldo Lavagnini.

The Masonic Secret Aldo Lavagnini.

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Manual of Freemasonry Prolegomena of the apprentice, Lic. Juan Rafael Sánchez.

Internet references:

http://www.masonicworld.com/education/files/wsb.htm

http://www.gadu.org/antologia/las-tres-luces-las-tres-grandes-luces-y-las-tres-pequenas-luces-
de-la-francmasoneria/

http://www.ks-mason.org/wsb.htm