The Sun as a Symbol of Leadership

The Sun is a central symbol in Freemasonry. We mention it at the opening of every lodge. 'As the glorious Sun rises in the East to open and illumine the day, so the WM ....'

The Sun appears on the Grand Master's Apron and on the flap of many Scottish PM's aprons (including our own as an option).

How should the Masonic leader symbolically representing the Sun act?

Our Brother Robert Louis Stevenson captured a few thoughts about this in his poem Summer Sun. Whether he made the Masonic connections himself is conjecture but I think you can see some conceptual links.

 

Great is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven with repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.

Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.

The dusty attic spider-clad
He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles
Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.

Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy's inmost nook.

Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes.