Yesterday, on November 8, 2025, I participated in the wonderful anniversary celebration (25 years) of the "Prince Constantin Mavrocordat" Lodge of Perfection in Brașov.

In support of the opinion that Freemasonry is not the sum of our opinions about it, I evoked the parable of the blind men with the elephant: it is said that the king of the blind sent five dignitaries, also blind, to describe the novelty that had appeared in their kingdom, the elephant.

The first blind dignitary, who touched only the elephant's leg, said, sure of the impression, that the elephant was like a tree. The second touched only one of its ears and concluded that the elephant was like a palm leaf. The third touched only one of its ivory tusks and concluded that the elephant was definitely like a spear. The fourth touched only the trunk and concluded that the elephant was like a snake and the last only the tip of the tail, enough to affirm with conviction that the elephant was like a mouse.

How could anyone reproduce the real image of the elephant from these comparative descriptions?

Freemasonry, in this parable, is our elephant: how can anyone reconstruct it from the sum of everyone's opinions? In fact, the "description" of Freemasonry is contained between the covers of the Constitution and/or the Statute of the RSAA, with clear and universally valid principles. There should be no "original Romanian Freemasonry" as long as there is universal Freemasonry, with clear and unanimously accepted rules and adopted worldwide over centuries of existence. The provisions of the Highway Code, which are universally valid, cannot be unilaterally replaced with our opinions about them: mandatory right, for example, cannot be replaced with "in my opinion here we should take the left", there would only be accidents everywhere...

An Illustrious Brother from Oradea asked how the blind advisors of the king of the "land of the blind" knew what a tree, a mouse, a palm tree, a snake, and a spear looked like to describe the elephant by comparison, if they were also blind?

It "appears" that maybe they weren't blind from the beginning, maybe they allowed themselves to be blinded at some point, maybe they even voluntarily gave up their sight, just to become dignitaries...

Brother Stelian Nistor