The Cube: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science
By Edgardo Gonzalez-Lopez
Disclaimer: The interpretations proposed in this article are the author’s view and do not represent any official view from the Grand Lodge of RI or any other Masonic institution.
It is well known that every Masonic Lodge has a cubic stone as part of its ornaments, but what symbolic interpretations could we derive from this geometrical figure?
Ancient Wisdom: Plato's Vision
Let's turn back the clock to Plato's time around 360 BCE. In his Dialogues, particularly in Timaeus, Plato proposed a captivating idea: each of the four elements – earth, air, water, and fire – was associated with a specific regular solid, or polyhedron.
According to Plato, air was represented by the octahedron, water by the icosahedron, fire by the tetrahedron, and earth by the cube. This association wasn't just symbolic; Plato believed the cube's properties mirrored the earth's characteristics. Its stability, solidity, and ability to perfectly fill space were seen as reflections of the earth's nature.
The cube's significance extends far beyond Greek philosophy. Its six faces, pointing to the cardinal directions—North, South, East, West, Zenith, and Nadir—made it a perfect symbol for the totality of space itself. The ancient Jewish mystical text Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation) describes how these “six directions were ‘sealed’ by Yah, the ‘Lord of Hosts’, thus describing a cubic spatial model.”[1]
The Cube in Sacred Spaces
This sacred geometry manifested in architecture too. The Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple was designed as a perfect cube. Islam's most sacred site, the Kaaba—literally meaning "cube"—stands as a black cubic shrine in Mecca. Even the New Jerusalem described in St. John’s Revelation takes the form of a massive cube, suggesting divine perfection.
Modern Science Validates Ancient Wisdom
Interestingly enough, a team of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Debrecen, and The Budapest University of Technology and Economics made an astounding discovery in 2020: the average shape of rocks on Earth is, indeed, a cube![2] The research concludes that when rocks naturally fragment, they tend to break into roughly cubic shapes due to fundamental principles of physics. As noted in the research paper: “The interesting thing here is that what we find with rock, or earth, is that there is more than a conceptual lineage back to Plato. It turns out that Plato’s conception about the element earth being made up of cubes is, literally, the statistical average model for real earth. And that is just mind-blowing.”[3]
Mathematical Perfection
The cube's six faces hide another fascinating detail: the number 6 is the first "perfect number" in mathematics, meaning its factors (1, 2, and 3) add up to itself:
1 + 2 + 3 = 6
This mathematical curiosity adds yet another layer to the cube's rich symbolism.
Conclusion
The cube, a simple yet profound geometric shape, continues to captivate us. From ancient philosophies to modern science, its symbolism of stability, order, and cosmic connection endures, making it a powerful emblem in various cultures and institutions like Freemasonry.
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[1] Lamb, Jaimie Paul, “Approaching the Middle Chamber: The Seven Liberal Arts in Freemasonry & The Western Esoteric Tradition”, (The Laudable Pursuit Press, USA, 2020) , 277
[2] Unger Baillie, Catheryn, Plato was right. Earth is made, on average, of cubes
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/plato-was-right-earth-made-average-cubes, (2020)
[3] G. Domokos, D.J. Jerolmack, F. Kun, J. Török, Plato’s cube and the natural geometry of fragmentation, (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 2020), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2001037117.
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Cubic stone in Mount Vernon Lodge No. 4, RI

Cubic stone (AI generated)

Cube of Space (AI generated)