Have you ever sensed a voice within you that knew what things needed doing? What voice within you directed you to pay for a person’s groceries or jump-start a stranger’s car battery? Masonry has a clear answer to this question, and it is surprising. It simply calls this voice “duty.”

Duty appears to be an inner urging toward virtue. Trying to figure out where it comes from and why it is so pervasive in the human experience is a whole branch of philosophy, known as deontology, from the Greek deon (δέον), meaning essentially “that which is necessary or binding.” Deontological literature exists in abundance, spanning from the eighteenth century to the present day. While the study of deontology is complex, Masonry offers a starting place for the question.

According to the Rite, Masonry itself is the performance of duty. If this is a higher-level definition that summarizes the definition of Masonry as “a continuous advance … toward the Light,” then duty logically is the pull of the Light. If Light is the Deity’s own nature, then duty is the soul’s directedness toward the Deity. Duty therefore comes directly from the Deity.