|
Pardon me for saying, but for some
brethren the end all and be all of Freemasonry is “Fork
and Knife Freemasonry”. They remind me of the report
of a French Commission on alcoholism which declared
that the French drink to get lossened for an event,
to celebrate an event and even to recover from an event.
Pardon me also for saying so but it
cannot be denied that for a vast majority of brethren,
the Ritual in the Ritual Book is Freemasonry. Whilst
the ritual is of great importance, more important are
the lessons taught by the rituals. These lessons are
succinctly mentioned in the Exhortation delivered in
the Ceremony of Raising. They teaches us the lessons
behind the three degrees in Freemasonry which we need
to learn and practice in our daily lives. They are :
- We came into this world in a state of helpless indigence
- We are mutually dependent and naturally equal
- We must seek solace of our distress by offering
relief to our fellow creatures.
- We must submit to the will of the Great Architect
of the Universe
- We must dedicate our heart to His Glory and to the
welfare of all creatures
- We must develop our intellectual faculties to the
maximum possible extent to enable us to fulfil our
mission in life.
- And finally Freemasonry asks us to reflect on the
meaning of life and by contemplation it prepares us
for the closing hour of our existence. It teaches
us that to the just and virtuous man death has no
terrors equal to the stain of falsehood and dishonour.
Freemasonry calls upon you to be not
merely involved but committed. The difference between
involvement and commitment is like an egg and ham breakfast
- the chicken is involved - the pig is committed.
Freemasonry calls upon you in the final
reckoning to seek your own divinity by means of contemplating
on your inevitable destiny.
When the Gods had stolen from man his
divinity, they met in council to discuss where this
divinity should be hidden so that man could not find
it. One God suggested that let it be carried to the
other side of the earth and buried; but it was pointed
out that man is a great wanderer and he may find the
lost treasure on the other side of the world. Another
proposed that it may be dropped into the depths of the
sea- but the same fear was again expressed - man in
his insatiable curiosity may dive deep enough to find
it even there-and finally the oldest and wisest of the
Gods said - Hide it in man Himself for that is the last
place he will ever think to look for it.
Freemasonry teaches us to believe in
aristocracy - not an aristocracy of power, based upon
rank and influence but an aristocracy of the sensitive,
the considerate and the plucky. It’s members are
to be found in all nations and classes and all through
the ages and there is a secret understanding between
them when they meet. They represent the true human traditions,
the one permanent victory of our peculiar race over
cruelty and chaos. They are sensitive for others as
well as for themselves, they are considerate without
being fussy, their, pluck is not swankiness, but the
power to endure and they can take a joke. Their temple
is the holiness of the Heart’s Affection and their
kingdom though they never posses it is the wide open
world.
There was never a time when so much
official effort was being expended to produce happiness
and probably never a time when so little attention was
paid by the individual to creating the personal qualities
that make for it. What one misses most today is the
evidence of widespread personal determination to develop
a character that will in itself, given any reasonable
odds, make for happiness. Our whole emphasis is on the
economic structure - the government approach - and so
little on man improving himself.
The ingredients of happiness are so
simple that they can be counted on one hand. Happiness
comes from within and rests most securely on simple
goodness and clear conscience. Religion may not be essential
to it, but no one is known to have gained it without
a philosophy resting on ethical principles - which generally
to a lay person like me is through religion. Selfishness
is its enemy; to make another happy is to be happy one’s
self. It is quiet, seldom found for long among crowds,
most easily won in moments of solitude and silence.
It cannot be bought’ indeed money has very little
to do with it.
No one is happy unless he is reasonably
well satisfied with himself, so that the quest for tranquillity
must of necessity begin with self-examination. We will
not often be content with what we discover is this scrutiny.
There is so much to do and so little done. Upon this
searching self analysis, however, depends the discovery
of those qualities that make each man unique, and whose
development alone can bring satisfaction.
Happiness is to live content with small
means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement
rather than fashion; to study hard, think quietly, talk
gently, act frankly; to listen to the stars and birds,
to babes and sages with open heart; to bear all cheerfully,
do all bravely, await occasions; hurry never; in a word
let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up
through the common.
It will be noted that no government
can do this for you; you must do it for yourself. But
Freemasonry teaches us the way.
Nothing I studied in school and in
college has been of direct use to me in my various occupations.
But what I did learn was how to learn, how to organise,
how to educate myself. And since then experience and
observation have taught me that it is not so much the
original education that counts; it’s the reeducation,
the self discipline that keep a man driving towards
hard and distant goals the human values he believes
in. This is all the more true in Freemasonry.
The end and the means, and the endless
ambiguities that lie between are like a multiplicity
of tightropes. How do you navigate them? A perennially
nagging question much larger and enduring than the international
cricket circuit. Perhaps the problem lies in the perceived
distinction between means and ends, between the journey
and the destination. A journey of a thousand miles begins
with a single step. But doesn’t a single step begin
with an already completed journey to a pre-established
destination. Did not the present begin 10,000 years
ago but past began one minute ago?
The road is always better than the
inn. Those who settle on fame and fortune as the inn,
and having arrived call it quits miss the whole point
of life. Realistically there is no inn, no ultimate
point of arrival. It is the road now and forever - finite
man probing infinity, finding his way endlessly. All
that matters are the lessons learnt along the way. And
thee are several lessons I have learnt along the way
- The only real voyage of discovery consists not
in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
- When one door of happiness closes another opens;
but often we look so long at the closed door that
we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
- When a blind man carries a lame man; both go forward.
- We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected
the Sermon of the Mount.
- The most beautiful things in the world cannot be
seen or even touched. They must be felt by the heart.
- The holiest of all holidays are those kept by ourselves
in silence and apart - the secret anniversaries of
the heart.
- The virtue of all achievement is victory over oneself.
Those who know this victory can never know defeat.
- Never confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence
we can reach for; perfection is God’s business.
- In the race for money some men may come first,
but man comes last.
- The price one pays for pursuing any profession
is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.
- The only difference between a Saint and a Sinner
is that every saint has a past and every sinner has
a future.
- It’s good to have money and things money can
buy, but it is good to check up once in a while and
make sure that you haven’t lost the things money
can’t buy.
- If there is something lacking it might turn up,
if you went after it, saved up for it, worked for
it but never if you waited for it. Of course, you
had to be lucky too although the more you work the
luckier you seem to get. Besides most of the happiness
lies in the pursuit.
As my uncle used to say, “It’s
not the sugar that makes the tea sweet, but the stirring.
To conclude let me tell you a story
I heard a long time ago which I believe epitomises the
most important message of Freemasonry.
A man stood before God, his heart breaking
from the pain and the injustice of the world “Dear
God” he cried out “look at all the suffering,
the anguish and distress in your world. Why don’t
you send help? God responded ‘I did send help.
I sent you’.
How Should Freemasonry,
As It Exists Today, Be Judged?
By
Jack Levit, PGM (CA)
The first principle of judging the
value of a fraternal organization should be the measure
by which it enhances the life and character of its constituent
members. How should the fraternity of Freemasonry, as
it exists today, be judged? To answer how, it is necessary
that three propositions be considered. First, that Freemasonry’s
purpose is to make its members wiser, happier and, above
all, better, so it teaches ways to improve character
and suppress material desires. Second, as espoused by
the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, that character
lies in the will and not the intellect. And thirdly,
that morality should not be the doctrine by which we
make ourselves happy, but rather the doctrine by which
we make ourselves worthy of happiness.
As to the first proposition - making
members better - Freemasonry instructs in the mysteries
of life, relationships and the spark of Divinity within,
by use of symbols and allegories. But, as Plato reasoned,
knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has little
hold on the mind. So, memorization alone of a required
proficiency doesn’t necessarily assure understanding.
Freemasonry extracts a charge for understanding its
principles - study, reflection and discrimination. It
recognizes that ignorance is not bliss, but is akin
to unconsciousness; that only knowledge, accompanied
by understanding, can allow one to share in the shaping
of one’s own fate. The degrees give the instrumentalities
to accomplish mental growth, but the rest depends upon
our study and absorption. Herbert Spencer tells of a
Frenchman who, having been in England two weeks, proposed
to write a book on England. After three months, he found
he was not quite ready. After three years, he concluded
that he knew little about England. Similarly, every
Masonic scholar agrees that merely being exposed to
the degrees does not equip one to know much about Freemasonry.
Education should be a continuous growth of the mind
and a continuous illumination of life. There is no reason
why learning should stop before one’s death. Each
Mason should apply himself to study Freemasonry and
thus continue himself upon the track of personal improvement.
The second proposition - that character
lies in the will and not the intellect - is shown by
the evidence of the mechanical skill of animals. For
example, a young dog fears to jump down from a table;
it foresees the effect, not by reasoning, for it has
had no experience, but by instinct. Hence, Freemasonry
teaches that men can begin to be less like the beasts
and begin to be more like a deity by exercising moral
like a deity by exercising moral sense in the face of
temptation, i.e., moral sense of what is right and wrong,
not by reasoning, but by vivid and immediate feelings.
If truth is a divine attribute, to anyone, irrespective
of intellectual application, not to lie should be a
categorical imperative. Everyone can exercise his will
not to lie, even if no lie would be to one’s advantage.
Everyone can choose honesty by following the moral law
in one’s heart, which should be unconditional and
absolute.
The third proposition - that morality
should be the instrument by which one makes oneself
worthy of happiness and not a doctrine for necessarily
acquiring happiness itself - arises from fact that what
a man is, will ultimately contribute more to his happiness
than what he has. Hence, through Freemasonry, one should
seek perfection, whether it brings immediate happiness
or not, and despite the fact that the universe in which
perfection arises is itself imperfect. One who is wiser,
and thus becomes better, is more moral and consequently
becomes happier.
After considering these three propositions,
additional questions arise:
Are Freemasonry’s Lodges providing
: (1) the incentive to appreciate the value of the Craft’s
teachings?; (2) the desire to learn more?; (3) the “open
sesame” of improved morality?; and are Freemasonry’s
candidates even being informed of the necessity to study
further? If the answer to any of these additional questions
is in the negative, wouldn’t that indicate the
necessity to change the Masonic drive from one of primarily
seeking candidates to one of stressing the duty of every
Freemason to learn and improve? Wouldn’t it further
indicate the necessity to change the emphasis from merely
obtaining the degrees to learning to strenuously enforce,
by precept and example, a steady obedience to the tenets
of Freemasonry? If these changes were made and observed,
wouldn’t Freemasonry then properly be judged of
great value?
The Montana Masonic News,
57:457, June 2002
BROTHERLY LOVE
By K.G.W. Wells, PDGM
Do you know what is meant when we refer
to “brotherly love” and of its use within
our ritual?
These two words appear in the answer
to the question “name the grand principles on which
the order is founded’ which the candidate has to
answer when being questioned on his proficiency to be
passed to the Second degree.
This is the only reference to “brotherly
love” in our ritual. How then is the candidate
expected to understand this answer?
Some uninformed people, including members
of our fraternity, persist in associating it with other,
more diverse connotations of a sexual nature. This leads
to false accusations of what Freemasonry teaches and
what goes on behind our closed doors!
The full answer to the question put
to the candidate is “brotherly love, relief and
truth”, which can be said to constitute the motto
and characteristic of Freemasonry.
Charity
Brotherly love and relief are interwoven
into “charity”, which is the predominant theme
that runs throughout our entire ritual.
Recent authoritative Biblical references
have replaced the word “charity” with “love”,
which has left the door ajar for some anti-Masonic people
to seize on the common meaning of that four-letter word.
The cornerstone of Freemasonry is charity.
Charity is said to be the brightest star in the Masonic
crown. It adds strength, beauty and grace into its fabric.
Let us then define charity as listed
in the dictionary:
Charity is a disposition to think kindly
of others and to do them good : an act prompted by this
disposition : liberality to the poor or alms giving
: liberality in judging of men and their actions : a
gift to an institution : relieving poverty and sickness.
The word charity has a wide range to
meanings denoting the impulse to give friendship, love,
aid and service. It denotes a personal and social endeavour
to ameliorate the conditions which prevail in society.
Social Service
Charity can define a specific association
or institution promoting some form of social service,
usually the relief of the poor and distressed - is this
not another name for brotherly love?
The Greek word “agape” and
the Latin words “amor” and “amicitas”
primarily express the affections and of the relations
existing between husband and wife of parents and children.
While, on the other hand, the Latin “caritas”
and the Greek word “charis” being similar
in meaning to “charity”, refer to the relationship
outside of the family to gratitude, grace and kindness.
Love
In the authorised version of the New
Testament, “charis” is translated as “charity”,
while it could easily have been translated as “love”.
The most well-known references in the
King James Bible are found in the first epistle of Paul
the Apostle to the Corinthians : “knowledge puffeth
up, but charity edifieth”. We speak with the tongues
of men and angles and have no charity, we are as sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. If we have the gift of propecy
and all knowledge and faith to move mountains, yet have
not charity, we are nothing. If we give all our goods
to feed the poor yet have not charity. It profiteth
us nothing.
Paul then goes on to tell us that charity
suffereth long and is kind; envieth not; vaunteth not
itself; is not puffed up; does not behave itself unseemly;
seeketh not her own; is not easily provoked; thinketh
no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in
truth; beareth all things; believeth all things; endureth
all things. Charity never faileth.
The chapter finishes by saying : “And
now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the
greatest of them is charity.” Charity surely is
brotherly love and relief.
The foundation
This recalls the question asked of
the candidate : “Name the grand principles on which
the order is founded”. The answer : “Brotherly
love, relief and truth”.
One of the ancient charges calls brotherly
love “the foundation and copestone, the cement
and glory of this ancient fraternity”.
The copestone
The copestone is the topmost stone
in the building - the last stone to be laid; whereas
the foundations stone was the first. “To celebrate
the copestone” is to celebrate the completion of
the edifice, a custom still observed. Copestone is sometimes
incorrectly written as capestone.
Charity therefore, is not necessarily
related to the giving of alms. While it is used in this
context in parts of our ritual, it is also closely allied
to the sense of obligation, well-being and affection
to our fellow men as a whole, and to the view that society
has a collective duty (brotherly love), to ensure the
well-being of its members.
|
