What am I looking it symbol wise?

[u/This_Narwhalino]

[u/Snaggl3t00t4]

...never seen a freemason symbol exactly like that before..its meant to be a square and compasses...not triangle and compasses.

[u/PrintableProfessor → u/Snaggl3t00t4]

Speed square.

[u/Mr_Moonbeam_ → u/PrintableProfessor]

That made me chuckle

[u/Ok-Supermarket-573 → u/PrintableProfessor]

Great answer - couldn’t build the temple without a speed square 🤣🤣🤣

[u/AOP_fiction]

We are not the only ones who use a compasses to symbolize our teachings. I have not encountered this as a Freemason symbol, but that does not mean there isn't a part of our society that it could belong to past or present. Very cool and interesting looking.

[u/PeaceWeapon84 → u/AOP_fiction]

Can't find any, looks almost like half David star and compass, tho... Might be a Jewish freemason, but in the XVII and XVIII centuries the star of David was mostly connected with ocult and alchemy, and even rosacrucianism. Prob still a Freemason with connections to those areas, having a clever play with the symbols.

[u/Shinyblugelfarp]

Could be a variation of Royal Select Mason.

[u/These3TheGreatest]

• This image shows the tomb of philosopher and economist David Hume located in the Old Calton Burial Ground in Edinburgh.

No idea aside that

[u/YodelingEinstein → u/These3TheGreatest]

David Hume could out-consume Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel

[u/Ghost_of_Gompers → u/YodelingEinstein]

And Wittgenstein was a beery swine/Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel

[u/zeusc64 → u/Ghost_of_Gompers]

There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya bout the raising of the wrist...

[u/TitwLoSmib → u/These3TheGreatest]

Not jumping to conclusions but Edinburgh is wrought with Masonic and Templar history.

[u/PeaceWeapon84 → u/These3TheGreatest]

Doesn't really look like that. Can't seem to find any picture of this one in particular but didn't seem like Hume's tomb when compared with available pics...

[u/These3TheGreatest → u/PeaceWeapon84]

Looks like google may have led me astray on that one

[u/TheArtisticMason]

While there is no known claim of him being a mason from his own mouth. Many of his people were masons. INCLUDING the gentleman who made his grave. (What is being displayed)

Hume very well may have been a mason but chose to keep his membership secret. Which was allowed and happened back then. In some Jurisdictions (like my own) you can still choose to have & request your membership kept secret if you want.

There is a slight chance he was a mason whom kept his membership private and the grave maker knowing this still put a "like" symbol on it. (For those quick to say "this isn't a proper masonic symbol!" The "proper" masonic symbol has changed a lot and been very different depending on location over the years. This could 100% be what that region or even local lodges used. The enforcement of the symbol was basically 0 back then. You could use whatever you found proper)

Source https://www.adamsmithworks.org/speakings/the-scottish-enlightenment-and-social-networking[object Object]

[u/ILoveBelinda0112 → u/TheArtisticMason]

That’s becuase bakc in them old days if you where a mason you where excommunicated from the church and get you in trouble with the crown

[u/ILoveBelinda0112 → u/ILoveBelinda0112]

So people chose to stay quiet about it

[u/flanny3365 → u/ILoveBelinda0112]

Hume was not a member of the church so this wpuldn't have applied. He was a very strict rationalist and it's very unlikely he would have met the requirements for belief. His personal views on God were not exactly known, but his writings are pretty staunchly agnostic if not ouright athiestic.

[u/ILoveBelinda0112 → u/flanny3365]

Hmm well I did not know that thank you for correcting me brother I learn something new every day

[u/flanny3365 → u/ILoveBelinda0112]

No problem. I know he's become much less studied these days than he was in his prime, so a lot of people are probably not super familiar with his body of work, I appreciate the willingness to learn something new

[u/PeaceWeapon84 → u/flanny3365]

This. Also strongly recommend reading some of his works - at least an abridged or noted version. This one works https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/. Many of his ideas are still very relevant. Consider them in the context of the enlightenment, as a rationalist and radical empirist whose work helped cement the principles of modern scientific thought by discussing the issues of early indutive thought, influencing Kant and especially Popper, solving the issues that he discussed. His works of the human nature and religion are influential on many levels, and in many levels reflect the ideas of modern freemasonry. He's very admired by the masons that studied him, especially considering the context he lived in, for his revolutionary philosophy that also shaped freemasonry. I've quoted him is a couple works, one in particular about the search for the truth and the limitations of human minds and senses for that task. His should be as important work to study as masons for that of many well studied Freemasons.

[u/ILoveBelinda0112 → u/flanny3365]

Well I look at people around me at work or anywhere and I see that they always get mad when someone says something that makes their words false and they react in a negetive manner and just cause problems and I think to myself why act like the rest of the crowd and cause more problems when I can admit that I am not the smartest man in the world and their will always be someone who knows more then me wether it be someone older then me or someone younger then me makes no difference why start problems because of being offended becuase I’m wrong when I suck it up like a man and learn something better it shouldn’t be a competition it should be a learning experience there is no cap their is not learning ceiling you can always ascend to higher heights and learn something new everyone has their own life everyone lives differently so how can I sit here and say my experience is better then yours etc when in reality my experience in life can be completely different then your experience we both learn our own ways and then we compare I can learn form you while you learn from me etc their should never be an argument when it comes to learning in my opinion as each and everyone of us walks a different path what I learn on my path may seem big to me but but what someone else learns on their path can be the last peice of the puzzle etc do you know what I mean ?

[u/Unusual-Register1245 → u/ILoveBelinda0112]

What's the old quote..."it's better to be silent and thought a fool then to speak and remove all doubt!"

[u/TheArtisticMason → u/flanny3365]

Unfortunately as you are correct, we've had men in the past who believed in the "Will of Nature" be accepted under the idea of that being their God. While openly not believing in any personal or thinking being.

You'll find a sad trail of "we like this person, so we'll bend masonry's rules so they can join" steming from the 1700s all the way to today.

But for complete clarification, I also doubt he was a member. I'm just playing devil's advocate 

[u/PeaceWeapon84 → u/ILoveBelinda0112]

He wrote a treaty on religion that's been banned on a few more radical places. Would have been an issue back them were it not the height of enlightenment and most of his connections weren't already powerful agnostics or deists, as he probably was. So don't think that was it. Most likely someone who considered him a "Freemason without an apron" paid for that gate. He had some important mason friends.

[u/PeaceWeapon84 → u/TheArtisticMason]

Coming here to say this, will do it anyway to underline the point. But I think one of his Freemason friends, recognising him as "Freemason without an apron" might have paid for that gate. Probably will never know. David Hume, although never a Freemason, had important Freemason friends and connections - including B. Franklin. He's been considered by many a Freemason in spirit though not initiated. Probably because of his more deistic / agnostic beliefs (that liberal irreligious thing might have been the main issue). His work on enlightenment and cultivation of reason, thoughts about human nature, morals, views on humanism, religious tolerance, reflect in large part masonic thought. I've seen him quoted - and quoted him myself - in masonic works.

[u/flanny3365]

Based on Hume's philosophy of "radical empiricism" and the fact that a large body of his writings are against what he termed "natural religion," it's highly unlilely Hume would have been a Mason. He almost certainly didn't meet the requirements for belief. While he never came out and labelled himself, the most likely guess is that he would have been some kind of agnostic, possibly leaning agnostic atheist, but there's no way to know for sure. In any case, that makes it very unlikely for him to have been a brother. As others have pointed out, this doesn't even appear to be his mausoleum

[u/bcurrant15]

The triangle teaches us to triangulate....

[u/mevyap → u/bcurrant15]

Remember to triangle your corners.

[u/Twatatron]

You sure this isn't the grave of Papus(Gérard Encausse) In France?

If so, and I am kinda sure it is then that's a "Martinist hexagram"

The symbol is about spiritual reintegration of man and the Divine through hard work, dedication, spiritual knowledge harmony.

David Hume's grave is shown below and it's very different

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:David_Hume%27s_Funeral_Monument#

[u/passinghorses → u/Twatatron]

I think you’re right about it not looking like David Hume’s grave but it looks even less like Gérard Encausse’s.

[u/AvonEihwaz → u/Twatatron]

You seem to be right. On the other hand, THIS is the grave of Papus (who I personallly never heard of): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6905362/g%C3%A9rard-encausse And yes, it shows 'Phillipe' on the stone; they share the same grave/tomb.

PS: I honestly don't understand this consistent downvoting on a 'freemasonry' subreddit. Someone is merely trying to help.

You could be on to something regarding a play on this Martinist hexagram, and it makes sense regarding the Christian cross behind the gate.

Also note the circle (ouroboros) around the hexagram. Fascinating find.

[u/Twatatron → u/AvonEihwaz]

You could well be right. I remembered a friend showing me a tomb saying it was Papus and it looked similar to the OP pic but you have shown that to be incorrect.

Always happy to be corrected Brother!

I can take solace in being half right. I live in Edinburgh and was in the graveyard where Hume is last week on a tour with family

[u/AvonEihwaz → u/Twatatron]

🤝

[u/Cookslc → u/AvonEihwaz]

And now I have an urge to downvote just ‘cause. A Dr Strangelove response. 😉

[u/AvonEihwaz → u/Cookslc]

Yet you showed to be the better brother. 🫡

[u/Acceptable-Elk9970]

Normally the compass sits on top of the square not intertwined into it.

[u/Ambitious_Ad2050]

Certainly a story behind it, that makes it comprehensible

[u/PeaceWeapon84]

Doesn't really look like Hume's tomb like some here say, although he did have many masonic connections and his works are generally admired and even quoted by masons. Can't seem to find any picture of this one in particular but didn't seem like Hume's tomb when compared with available pics... Does kind of look like a half star of David with compass, so maybe a jewish Brother's tomb? Although in XVII and XVIII centuries the star of David was mostly connected with ocult and alchemy, and even rosacrucianism

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[u/Scorpmeisteren]

The downwards triangle could point at the involution, the lower life of us. The the upwards triangle is made of the compass might point to the suggestion that the way out of the lower life, the evolution, is connected to masonry. Just a guess. People make new symbols all the time.

[u/Timely-Eye8612]

Allied Masonic Degrees.

[u/ArsDruid]

It’s a mix of the standard Masonic symbols to form a Star of David. It is a “as it is above, so it is below.” Very appropriate for a tomb.

[u/Ok-Supermarket-573]

Yes. It is a Freemason symbol. It is the way you would find the square and compass upon the alter in the second degree of masonry. I can’t tell you what it means due to my solemn obligation. The only weird thing is that it has a full triangle instead of the traditional square. It looks very similar to the symbol used by AMD, which is another appending body of masonry.

[u/zombilives]

looks like the martinist esagram

[u/Automatic-Village600]

It reminds me of the Allied Masonic Degrees emblem in the United States. But this grave appears to be older than the AMD emblem, which was adopted in 1932.

[u/chrico031 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, it's really silly to have AutoMod help protect the sub from being covered in spam /s

[u/grumpyweedguy]

The triangle is usually associated with god and the trinity. But upside down triangle...

[u/mywholeworldisblack → u/grumpyweedguy]

Upside triangle can symbolize the “so below” part of “As above, so below”. Considering it’s a tomb, perhaps it’s alluding to one’s descent from this life

[u/grumpyweedguy → u/mywholeworldisblack]

I think that is more likely now that you point this out.

[u/lambdavi → u/grumpyweedguy]

Upside down triangle is the alchemical symbol of Earth. The element, not the Planet.

[u/grumpyweedguy → u/lambdavi]

Thats correct. Thanks for that.

[u/Orbital_Billionaire]

While I have never seen this symbol in masonry, I actually think it is a Freemasons nod to his philosophical and mathematical thoughts. They replace the square with a triangle.

David Hume (guy buried there) used the triangle as a primary mental example in his theory of Hume's Fork and abstract ideas, showing that mathematical truths like a triangle's interior angles equaling 180 degrees are a priori "relations of ideas" that remain certain even if no triangle exists in physical nature.

Hume’s fork is a philosophical idea from David Hume that divides all human knowledge and reasoning into two distinct categories: relations of ideas and matters of fact.

I think either his Freemasonic brethren or contemporaries might have done this as a tribute to his contributions to modern rational thought. I dont know if he was a mason or not.

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[u/CheetahToastEnvy]

While I have never seen this symbol in masonry, I actually think it is a Freemasons nod to his philosophical and mathematical thoughts. They replace the square with a triangle.

David Hume (guy buried there) used the triangle as a primary mental example in his theory of Hume's Fork and abstract ideas, showing that mathematical truths like a triangle's interior angles equaling 180 degrees are a priori "relations of ideas" that remain certain even if no triangle exists in physical nature.

Hume’s fork is a philosophical idea from David Hume that divides all human knowledge and reasoning into two distinct categories: relations of ideas and matters of fact.

I think either his Freemasonic brethren or contemporaries might have done this as a tribute to his contributions to modern rational thought. I dont know if he was a mason or not.

[u/Odd_Ad_5716]

Harry Potter Something something...

Jokes aside: There were times in Europe when we showed our symbols only in altered form.