Montaigne on Aging: A Surprising Connection with Freemasonry
An hourglass sits on the table. The sand flows, undisturbed, from one globe to the other. At first glance, it shows us something obvious: the passing of time. But look longer, and you see more. The sand that falls does not return. The upper chamber empties; the lower one fills. What if this image is not just about time, but about how we relate to what passes, to what shapes us, and to the brothers and sisters who stand beside us as the sand falls? Michel de Montaigne wrote about exactly this tension in his essay on aging. And anyone who reads his words through the eyes of a Freemason will discover surprising resonances. The Sand as Mirror: Montaigne’s View of Mortality In Essay 57 of the first book of his famous Essays, Michel de Montaigne holds the passing of years up to the light. He does not write as a gloomy chronicler of decline, but as someone who looks honestly into the mirror. Montaigne observes, matter-of-factly, that age changes us — both physically and mentally. He sees no reason to glorify growing old, nor to despise it. Instead, he invites us to accept the process as an inseparable part […]