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Question: Why is the Masonic symbol of the "All Seeing Eye" present on the Salt Lake Temple?
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Question
The Masonic symbol of the "All Seeing Eye" was at one time displayed by the character of Satan during the LDS endowment, along with the Masonic square and compass. Does this suggest that Joseph Smith or Brigham Young was trying to teach that Masonry was evil, or was imitating Masonic ritual?
Answer
The All Seeing Eye, as well as the Square and Compasses and many other similar symbols, were displayed by the Satan character during the endowment's ritual drama.[1]
These same symbols can be found both on the exterior of the Salt Lake Temple as well as in the interior paintings.
Why would these images be used to represent Satan's "power and priesthoods"? FAIR is aware of no writing which addresses this matter, but it seems logical to conclude that the symbols were used to show how Satan can usurp the symbols of good. In this instance, these symbols are used by the Mason to teach a variety of principles:
- the All Seeing Eye (of God) represents God's omniscience
- the Square represents virtue or rectitude
- the Compasses circumscribe our passions
Satan's appropriation of these symbols demonstrates his tendency to be the great counterfeiter; he seizes on good or even holy things, adopts them, and twists them to his own purposes. In doing so, he ultimately inverts and perverts their meaning.
The lesson here was that just because someone has the appearance of Godliness, just because he comes before you with the symbols of good does not make him Godly or good. One should, as the endowment teaches, look for true messengers from God, having genuine authority and not merely the outer trappings of such.
In the end simply having the symbols is not enough.
Rather one seeks those who have, as the Masonic ritual says, "squared [their] lives and circumscribe[d] [their] passions".
Attitude of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
Symbolism continued in Utah through the efforts of Brigham Young who caused its usage to expand-both as to variety and frequency. While Young had been a Mason and personally owned Masonic handbooks, after Nauvoo troubles with Gentile Masons (including their probable participation in the martyrdom and subsequent persecution and expulsion of the Saints), he had no love for the group. Yet the ornamental trappings planned for the Salt Lake Temple (originally extensive but much diluted after his death in 1877) demonstrated a continuing implementation of Joseph's selected Masonic symbols...Even more dramatic was Young's extensive use of the all-seeing eye motif on signs of ZCMI stores during and after 1868. Though the parallel with Masonry is obvious, some say Brigham could have obtained his ideas from the Egyptian Book of Breathings. Orson Pratt and W. W. Phelps have also been considered possible sources for symbolism of the astrological type. Whatever the actual source, Young, like Joseph, was open in his use of symbols and did not feel that he was borrowing from Masonry (which did not exist in Utah for several years after 1847) but was rather employing metaphors belonging to the universal body of truth.[2]
Decline of the symbols in the twentieth century Church
Today, of course, there is no reference to the All Seeing Eye and the other symbols. We no longer live in a world steeped in symbols, as was the case when the endowment was first developed. The decline of Masonry as a social institution means that (as this question demonstrates) such symbols confuse rather than enlighten the modern member of the Church. Therefore, these symbols are not used in the present endowment—as we have seen, the symbol is not the key, but rather the underlying message or truth being taught. If the symbol does not help teach the truth, it is of no real purpose.
Endnotes
- [note] This article was created by Greg Kearney, Franklin Lodge #123 A.F. & A.M. of Maine, and includes edits by other FAIRwiki editors.