Editing Freethought (section)

===Pursuit of mastery===
A core goal of Freemasonry's initiatory system is to guide men's intellectual and moral development towards mastery and enlightenment.<ref name="stevenson"/> Masonic rituals and degrees symbolically depict the passage from an Apprentice to Fellowcraft to Master Mason as a metaphor for independent learning and self-improvement to the goal of becoming a Master of himself, thus a full freethinker.<ref name="berman"/>

Attaining mastery is presented as freeing a man's mind from reliance on [[Authority|authorities]] and [[Dogma|dogmas]] so he can autonomously reason and have educated opinions.<ref name="bullock"/> The perfectibility of human nature through education and liberty is a key theme. This aligns with freethinkers' views on thinking for oneself using logic and empiricism.