49 § The Black and the White
THE Masonic symbol of the 'mosaic pavement' (tessellated pavement) is among those that are often insufficiently understood or badly interpreted. This pavement is formed of alternating black and white squares, arranged in exactly the same way as the squares of a chess or checker board. The symbolism is obviously the same in the board as in the pavement, for as we have said on various occasions, games were originally something quite different from the mere profane amusements that they have become today; and chess moreover is certainly one of those games in which traces of the original 'sacredness' have remained most apparent in spite of this degeneration.
In the most immediate sense, the juxtaposition of white and black naturally represents light and darkness, day and night, and consequently all the pairs of opposites or of complementaries (it is hardly necessary to recall that what is opposition at a certain level becomes complementarity at another, so that the same symbolism is equally applicable to both); in this respect then, we have here the exact equivalent of the Far Eastern symbol of the _yin-yang_. It can even be noted that the interpenetration and the inseparability of the two aspects _yin_ and _yang_, represented by the fact that the two halves of the figure are bounded by a sinuous line, are also represented on the board by the inter-mingling of the two kinds of squares, whereas another arrangement, as for example that of rectilinear bands alternately white and black, would not bring out the same idea so clearly, and could even give the impression of juxtaposition purely and simply.[2]
There would be no point in repeating here all that we have already said elsewhere about the _yin-yang_; we will simply recall, in particular, that there must not be seen in this symbolism, any more than in the recognition of the cosmic dualities of which it is the expression, the affirmation of any 'dualism'; for if these dualities really exist in their own order, their terms are none the less derived from the unity of a single principle (the _Tai-ki_ of the Far Eastern tradition). This, in fact, is one of the most important points, for it is this especially which gives rise to false interpretations. Some have believed that they can speak of 'dualism' in connection with the _yin-yang_, probably through misunderstanding, but sometimes perhaps with more or less dubious intentions. In any case, as far as the 'mosaic pavement' is concerned, such an interpretation is most often the work of adversaries of Masonry who would like to make it the basis of an accusation of 'Manicheism'. It is certainly quite possible that some 'dualists' themselves may have diverted this symbolism from its true meaning in order to interpret it according to their own doctrines, just as for the same reason they have been able to alter symbols expressing a unity and an immutability inconceivable to them; but these are in any case no more than heterodox deviations which do not in any way affect the symbolism in itself; and from the strictly initiatic point of view, deviations of this kind are not worth considering.[3]