…“And what if I told you that the Freemasons are those who have set as one of their goals to minimize – as much as possible – the divisions that make people extremely foreign to one another?”…

With these words, Falk describes the dream of people living together, united and brotherly, in an Enlightened society, while indirectly characterizing Freemasonry as a reservoir of free thought and a space for social progress.

In “Ernst and Falk - Dialogues for Freemasons”, the emblematic figure of the European Enlightenment G. E. Lessing, in Five Socratic-style Dialogues, opens the doors and offers a sober picture of the world of Freemasonry, beyond “sanctifications” and “demonizations”.

The two friends, the curious and skeptical Ernst, a young aspiring and ultimately disappointed Freemason, and the caustic Falk, an experienced middle-aged Freemason, who is a master of the art of rhetoric and a skilled user of allegorical metaphorical language, discuss the role of Freemasonry, both within and outside society, and approach the “raison d’être” of the Masonic Brotherhood:

…“They work for all the good that will come into the world in the future. (...) The real Works of Freemasons have as their ultimate goal to render unnecessary the actions that are commonly referred to as good”…

Lessing, who was initiated into Freemasonry in 1771, with his work “Ernst and Falk”, left a philosophical legacy to all of humanity. The literary form of the dialogue and the Socratic method adopted by the author allow us to participate step-by-step in this journey of knowledge while simultaneously leaving room for our own conclusions. An exchange of views on individual freedom, independent thought, political society and its creation, as well as bridging the political, religious, and social gaps that divide people.

“Ernst and Falk – Dialogues for Freemasons”, which has decisively influenced everything from the Rites and teachings of the Illuminati to the subsequent Humanistic Masonic systems, to the ideas of the first French Utopian Socialists and the German communists of Paris in the mid-19th century, has been justifiably characterized as:

“The gospel of true Freemasonry” and “A milestone text in the History of Political Philosophy”.

240 years after its writing, it lives a second life and continues to be a captivating and timelessly relevant work!