Tenacity, Technology, and Toil

Just a short while back I was having a hard time with what was occurring, or actually not occurring at my lodge. Frustration, like a mold was growing upon the edifice I had constructed in my mind. It starts in the small shadows that receive no light and quickly, unoticeably, multiplies and becomes larger. It is often overlooked as a natural occurrence and left untouched, but left untreated it can quickly cover the perfect cornerstone and more, and turn an architectural masterpiece into an appearing abandoned structure, no matter what dwells within.
I am in utter amazement and awe that I am writing this post sitting in the crisp New England winter evening air, enjoying a lovely snifter of the amber water of life sending smoke signals to our creator, my face lit by the unnatural glow of a small 10 inch screen connected to the entire world wirelessly via the ingenuity of man. WOW!
How can anyone believe that this existence is just a random happenstance of a single cells evolution from a primordial slime to this! I will not judge, but come on...
Anyway, I can say that the mold on my lodge is fast being cleaned away and the treasure underneath is being revealed one stone at a time.
As Senior Warden, free of the toil of providing the meal to the Brethren, I arrived at our last meeting fashionably late. My candidates, and I say this because I was the first line signer on their petitions, were enjoying a meal with their soon to be Brothers when I arrived at the parking lot next to our lodge filled with cars and a basement full of Masons enjoying the fellowship of our order.
I gladly shook every hand and felt the warmth of being among gentlemen who care about what we are and what we were doing. The nervous newcomers were in the midst of it all, not sectioned off alone to their thoughts, but in the midst of welcoming warm comrades. The vibe, as it has been lately, was extremely positive because the labor we were about to undertake was for the good of us all. There were a couple of Masons among us who wore the purple of our fraternity (we were being inspected after all) but you would not have known it until we all donned the ceremonial garb of our craft. We were and are all on the level.
I was gladly the first of the officers to be taken into the preparation room to be tested for my competency by a man I really respect when it comes to our order, and except for a temporary brain freeze when it came to the Grand Masonic Word, there we were in the five points of fellowship and my mind went completely blank for a couple of seconds, it was a breeze.
We initiated our newest Brothers almost flawlessly and if it weren't for an accidental activation of a particularly loud child's toy when the candidates were first brought to the center of the lodge for prayer ( I nearly burst out loud in uncontrollable laughter) it was almost a perfect Entered Apprentice degree.
And get this, no one was in a rush to leave after the meeting!!! There was a fellowship after the degree which I had not seen in my lodge yet and it made me so happy.
We are getting there.
There is still much work to be done, but.......work can be fun when it is good work!

E.A. or M.M.

Recently I was having a discussion with my Worshipful Master about the new database I was creating for the lodge. I was entering in the names, addresses(physical and electronic), phone numbers, and birthdays of our hundred or so members. When it came to the three dates important to us Masons the date they were initiated, passed, and raised, I chose to enter just the date of their Entered Apprentice Degree (in the interest of my time because it was a lot of data) because I felt it was the more important date in the history of a Freemason. My WM strongly disagreed with me saying the date of a Brothers raising is the much more important date and that it is the date most lodges commemorate. I still disagree.

My argument is that the day you are initiated is the day you became a Mason. Yes, the night I was raised to the sublime degree was one of the most memorable in my life, but not as important as the night I was initiated. You can not become a Master Mason, or a Fellowcraft for that matter, without that most important step of being made a Mason. I will always remember being brought to the North East Corner of the lodge and being told by the WM that I then stood a just and upright Mason and forever to walk and act as such. It is such a powerful moment in our ritual and one of my favorite parts of any degree. Before you were just a man, a regular Joe Sixpack, but after your initiation you are a Freemason and have an important image to live up to. Not every man is an EA but every MM is one.

What do you think?

What date would you rather commemorate in your Masonic life?

What date does your lodge hold more important?

Twenty Years and Two Hundred and Forty Four Years

This months issue of my Grand Lodges newspaper contains the first installment of the story of how some brave Freemasons on both sides of the color line took the first courageous step towards the true Brotherhood promised in our ritual. It was a milestone and turning point in American Masonry and with all that is happening in our country today it is important for us to realize that only a short 20 years ago "mainstream" Freemasons and Prince Hall Freemasons did not recognize each other as Brothers. The story in the paper linked to above, left me excruciatingly wanting more and I, of course, will eagerly anticipate the next installment.
Although American Freemasonry has taken many more steps since the two Grand Lodges in Connecticut decided to recognize each other, we have still not reached the summit of universal Brotherhood across the Nation.
We are all Brothers.
I have written many times on the subject of Prince Hall recognition and have clearly made my opinions in the past so I will not repeat them again, but I will say that I am especially proud to be a Connecticut Freemason during this anniversary year and hope the Grand Jurisdictions that have not lived up to their Brotherly obligation will see the LIGHT.
On February 5 my lodge will do something that has not happened in its 244 year history, we will initiate an African American man into our brotherhood. If you remember back a year ago I was struggling how to broach the division in American Masonry with a certain potential candidate. I wanted to explain to him the existence of two Grand Lodge systems in my State for informational purposes without coming across as some kind of racist and thanks to the help and advice of some very wise readers I did it successfully. I laid out two roads to the same Brotherhood and he, thankfully, chose to follow the same one I did and join me in the labor. Although it has taken much longer that I thought it would due to scheduling conflicts, I am thoroughly excited to finally welcome him into the order not because of the color of his skin but because he is a good man, husband, and father and I will be honored to call him brother. I want to belong to a lodge of all men and we are on the way towards that lofty goal.
Twenty years ago the Grand Lodge of Connecticut and Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Connecticut took the first step towards a color blind Brotherhood and agreed to recognize each other and allow inter visitation. Proud traditions and long histories are the more innocent reasons that there are still two Grand Lodges in my state, perhaps, like the Ancients and Moderns in Masonic history who, despite all of their differences were able to unite as one, some day there will be a United Grand Lodge of Connecticut where both Prince Hall and "regular" Masons will labor together under the same banner.
I can dream can't I?

Christmas in Kentucky

Its funny how things work.

Last August, after reading a good Brothers now removed blog, I was inspired to use my tuxedo for something other than conferring Masonic truths and I bought some tickets to the Metropolitan Opera in New York. I thought it would be nice to dress up and take the wife into the city for some operatic enjoyment and perhaps a good dinner. I carefully perused the titles for something that might be fun for us both. I finally decided on Tristan and Isolde, figuring a tale of an Irish princess would be good for my first attempt at the opera. I also bought three tickets to Mozart's The Magic Flute to bring my daughter to her first opera. Now I know some may say that a five year old and opera are two things that shouldn't be combined but as I was surfing through the HD channels one day I came upon a broadcast of The Magic Flute and my Masonic curiosity overcame my aversion to opera and I started to watch it and my then four year old was transfixed. I enjoyed figuring out the masonic allusions and she loved the singing and wonderful costumes and sets. I soon realized that I liked it too and fast forward to buying tickets.

As a man and husband I have a general idea of when the holidays are just not the exact dates. I know Thanksgiving is in the twenties of November and Christmas is on December 24th or 25th. My wife is from Kentucky and that means packing up the kids for a loooooong drive on or near one of those dates. Due to extenuating circumstances we have enjoyed the last two years of holidays at our home in Connecticut near my family, soooo it was decided that we do the two big holidays this year down below the Mason Dixon line. Now back to the opera.

After I bought the tickets I announced to my wife that I was taking her to the opera which received a mixed reaction when she asked me when. I said we are going to see T&I on the 28th of November to which she said we would be in Ky so you'll have to get rid of them. I also announced that we were all going to the Magic Flute on December 22 which was also unpopular because that would be right around us driving back down there again. After some clearing of minds I agreed to get rid of the T&I tickets and we would leave for Ky after seeing the Magic Flute. Thanks to the wonders of a certain "list" I was able to sell the T&I tickets at a very small loss and looked forward to the Magic Flute. Rewind to just a few days ago.

My one year old who had been fighting two ear infections came down with a stomach bug on top of it all. The next to go was my wife (who never gets sick) and then my 5 year old. Leaving me to clean up all of the wonderful things expelled while battling the evil stomach yuk. I had somehow avoided it and hoped upon hopes everyone would be better for the opera....of course they weren't and I was forced to donate the tickets back to the Met so they could resell them and so went my attempt to elevate the cultural level of my family. Which brings us to the current day.


We made the looong journey down to Kentucky in what was good time until we crossed the state line and a batch of freezing rain that shut down I-64 for over an hour and forced us to travel the final two hours of our trip at a snails pace. Which turned the final two hours into five and somewhere in between let the evil stomach funk grasp me in its wicked tendrils to leave me holed up in my wife's old room for the past two painful days.


On a good note I have used my time in exile to catch up on all of the Masonic blogs that I had missed reading for the past month and I have to say it was good to be among "friends" again.
Merry Christmas.
MMM

A New Hope

I have not posted in what seems like an eternity and there is due cause.

I recently lost my job of 11 years and started a new one, very different from what I was doing. A big change.


I re-enrolled in college after a 8 year hiatus and have been busy studying and writing papers. Another big change.


As always, I have my little family to attend to, and there has been a lot going on at my lodge so I have had little time to write to my dear Blog.


Tonight, I was installed as the Senior Warden of "Old St. Johns" at a building that was not the one that had pulled me like a magnet to the craft, and it was a great night because it is not the brick and mortar surrounding the Brethren that makes the lodge it is the men themselves.

My lodge is regenerating. We raised 8 new Brothers while I was JW, and what really matters is that we are starting to bond together into the Brotherhood the craft was meant to be. The vibe at our meetings is increasingly positive and I can't wait for the next meeting nowadays. Our nearly 250 year old lodge is moving into the 21st century at, and forgive my Spaceballs reference, ludicrous speed!

We have a goal, we have a plan, and we are starting to gather the laborers to meet our dreams. The work is starting and the trestle board is full.

Thank you to all who have supported me through my "dimmer" moments of the last year. I am looking forward to bigger and better things.

Hopefully soon, after the adjustment to my new schedule and responsibilities, I can resume, more often, my exploration of the deeper meanings of my order and write of the great things we will accomplish in my year in the West.

The Struggles of an Esoterically Inclined Freemason

I'm sure many of my Brethren know exactly what it is I'm talking about when I say that it is a struggle to be an Esoterically inclined Freemason. You have probably read "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" along with other works by Hall, along with Pike and Wilmshurst and any other esoteric book on or related to Freemasonry or anything else esoteric. You have probably combed through Internet Sacred Text Archive and studied and discovered new jewels of thought and philosophy that sent a chill up your spine or just "lit" your mind like never before. Perhaps, like me, as you pour over this information you dutifully highlight phrases and passages that speak to you, ever preparing for that time when you will be able to exchange these pieces of light with someone of a like mind.

You spend your days and nights pondering, thinking, and brooding over higher thought. The deeper you get the farther away you are from most of the people you know because they are not there with you.

One definition of Esoteric is: understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest. I think there are two key words in that definition. Only a few actually have the interest. So in no way are we elitist or exclusionary, we are just a small group of people that want to know about the arcane.

Freemasonry draws more men who have this particular interest than other groups because of the secret nature of our order. The symbols and ritual are like a beacon drawing the esoterically inclined to the West Gate of the craft. Unfortunately for the few who's interest lies in the esoteric they are just that, a few. Far more men are drawn to the fraternity out of family history, comradeship, or simple curiosity than a yearning for a deeper meaning in life.

So we enter the West Gate expecting a group of enlightened sages and usually wind up in a sort of fancy Rotary Club. When we went through the 3 degrees and we reveled in the drama and symbolism while some of the Brethren just wanted it to be over so they could go home. We quickly took charge of our membership and learned the ritual and helped out as much as we could and even became officers of the lodge in response to that deeper yearning, ever searching for that mystic tie. It is often not found but we keep searching because that is our nature, us few.

I recently had the tremendous pleasure of raising my dear friend to the sublime degree. As my lodge somewhat stumbled their way through that great drama, many with that deer in the headlights look on their faces as they played it out, I came to the realisation that I would always be in the minority. Maybe someday I will find that group of enlightened sages or even organise one myself but for now I must remain on the periphery watching and waiting for more of the few like myself.

The Attentive Ear

Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding;

Proverbs 2:2



One of the most important lessons delivered in the ritual of Freemasonry kind of gets slipped in during the Fellowcraft degree. It is described as one of the three jewels of a Fellowcraft and like most of the important guides of the Order, it sneaks in under the radar so to speak and only gains importance with much thought and reflection, it is the attentive ear.

The gift of hearing allows us to do many things; notice something out of our range of sight, enjoy the sounds of the wonderful world around us, and most of all receive verbal communication from our fellow creatures. With this gift we can hear the reflected harmony of the great architects plan in music. There are many who unfortunately take for granted this gift and use it only to hear what is going on around them and not really listen.

There is a enormous difference between hearing and listening. If you have the gift, you can hear everything around you. The cacophony of sounds that surrounds us is ever present, but until you train your ear to select a sound to concentrate your mind on, you are not listening. Do you remember those Charlie Brown cartoons? Whenever there was a scene inside the classroom and the teacher spoke to the kids all you heard was the classic "wup waaa waaa wup waaa" of a muffled horn but never the words they were saying. This is a perfect example of hearing but not listening and I can certainly relate. When I was in school I never listened to anyone, my parents included! For some, that is how they go through life, hearing but never listening.

"And he goes through life, his mouth open, and his mind closed"

William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

We have to force ourselves to listen, myself included. Our sometimes brief encounters with our friends or Brothers forces some to try to get all the things in their head out, all at once like a shaken up beer bottle exploding with foam. All of your old stories that you want to share with someone else need not to be recited in every conversation, in the rush to get out your story you will miss important things others want to say.

"Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak."

Epictetus

Remember this important lesson when you are in the presence of your Brethren. There is an important give and take in a conversation that we are admonished to adhere to. An attentive ear is truly a jewel to a good man and Brother.

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force...When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand. Ideas actually begin to grow within us and come to life...When we listen to people there is an alternating current, and this recharges us so that we never get tired of each other...and it is this little creative fountain inside us that begins to spring and cast up new thoughts and unexpected laughter and wisdom. ...Well, it is when people really listen to us, with quiet fascinated attention, that the little fountain begins to work again, to accelerate in the most surprising way."

Brenda Ueland.