A Brother Asks: Masonry's Beginnings - It's Not What You Think

 

A Brother Asks: Franklin states that masonry began with Nimrod and the tower of Babel instead of with King Solomon and Hiram Abiff. I have an original copy (this is a screenshot shown). Manly P Hall's book "Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians" also backs this theory of an older age.   

What can you tell me about this excerpt from JH Franklin's 1910 book called "The Rebuilding of King Solomon's Temple?"

Coach:  The problem that all Freemasons (and interested others) face is breaking through the veil of allegory offered by both the fraternity and authors who write about it.   

This author present his best thoughts as if it is a possible historical account.  It is presented this way but it is not the right focus.  You must get it into your head that what the author offers must be understood symbolically if it is to have any assistance to you as a aspiring Mason!

Let me emphasis this again. When you want to comprehend this passage in Franklin’s book (and MPH’s works as well) and do so within the context of Masonic Development, you MUST stop thinking linearly and historically! It's all symbolic!

Let me break it down for you.

1. Our Masonic Purpose (as stated in our first degree and written out in plain text in our monitors) is to erect a spiritual building and to do so agreeably to God’s rules & designs. This building is not the temple that must be completed that is referred to in the 3rd degree. It is an entirely different construction. The temple in the third degree is merely a necessary precursor to this second building.
   
   
2. To accomplish the spiritual building construction, you MUST understand God's Word (Our Master's Word!) Any and all Babel present within you will prevent this from occurring. Your Masonry begins with you understanding that Babel exists, that it is WITHIN YOU, and this Babel must be removed to accomplish your Masonic Purpose!
   
   
3. Your Work proceeds by committing to a Masonic Mission: Deconstruct your Tower of Babel and Build within you the Order you need to accomplish your Masonic Purpose!

This means...

1. Bringing Order to your Heart, and then
   
   
2. Bringing Order to your Mind.   

To accomplish this you must do the Work espoused by the first two degrees!

Once this Work is completed, you then will recognize TheMaster’s Word and seek to understand it so as to glean God’s rules & designs so that you can use them both to erect your spiritual building.

You cannot to this without dealing with your own personal Tower of Babel!  

Once recognized, your Masonic Work has begun!

 

 

A Brother Asks: What's your "Take" on Our Obligations

 

A Brother Asks: Coach!  I'd like to hear your take on the MM obligation, perhaps our obligations in general, and whether they mean as much as I think that it should to obligate myself to my brethren, or if it is simply antiquated ritual.

Coach: This is an outstanding request and kudos to you for wanting it responded to.  

My "Take", and some quick supporting thoughts: 

1) Freemasonry is a full-immersion role-playing theatrical-society with a moral purpose. 

a) It is an introduction to Masonry only 

b) It offers to its members a path to follow that will lead them to Masonry and its practices

c) It offers obligations that assist in committing to a Masonic way of being 

d) It is not in any way itself Masonry

2) Freemasonry offers morality plays for its initiates and members. 

3) The morality plays Freemasonic organizations offer are scripted allegories put forth that convey principles, ethics, concepts, and ideals relevant, significant, and pertinent to those experiencing them with the sole purpose of having that experience leverage moral change with them and for the better. They have within them a call to action to obligate oneself to improve and, as most all morality plays do directly or indirectly, often have this call put forth as obligations. 

4) In Freemasonic morality plays, these"Obligations" are burdens that members take on to: 

a) Improve themselves morally 

b) Support others as they themselves would expect to be supported 

c) Assure that do not ruin the experience for others by conveying information that has not yet been earned - usually in the form of confidentiality ("secrets" to be honored) 

5) Those experiencing these morality plays can use these experiences to: 

a) Claim that they have "been there and did that" to fit in 

b) Use them to claim "rights, lights, and benefits-privileges" barred from others who have not earned them 

c) Use them as a springboard-roadmap to improve-better themselves in ways that would otherwise be unattainable to them if no similar improving-bettering actions are not taken. 

d) Use them as a guide-roadmap to that improvement-betterment 

e) Disregard their significance as just scripts that are required to be experienced to become a member. 

f) Apply them figuratively and/or literally and in the spirit in which they were conveyed and to do so rigorously within the limits therein established by the length of your cable-tow and without fail.

The option(s) that each member exercise(s) can be seen overtly in his behavior, heard in his words, and felt through the impact of his choices and decisions. Literally, his very looks betray him, continuously. 

And those surrounding him should treat him accordingly.

Why do you ask?

Brother: I asked you this because the WM who brought me into the fraternity, downplayed these obligations as "just rituals" and seemed to not think much of them beyond this. He is also a brother that has proven to be one I feel that I cannot trust. 

Coach: He is dismissive, doesn't want to be responsible, and doesn't want to be held to account for his given words.  You see him for who and what he is. Treat him accordingly. But do not let on that you know who and what he is. He will resent you for what you reflect back to him and for being seen by you for what he is and chooses to be and he will treat you as a target thereafter. No one of his caliber needs to know that you see him for what he is.  These people cannot be trusted.

I hope this response provides to you my "take" on these obligations worthy of your consideration.

 (Hat tip to my Bro. for the inspiration for this post.)

 

A Brother Asks: Will Freemasonry make me smarter?

 
 

A Brother Asks: Will Freemasonry make me smarter?

Coach: No! You will never be smarter than you are now.  You can get better informed. You can get wiser.  But you're stuck with your smarts.  So, when you want better for yourself, get better informed and wise up!  These are your best options.

And following the Masonic path that Freemasonry offers is a great start!

Here is an expansion of this theme:

The Path to Personal Growth: Learn and Wise Up

Your intelligence —your "smarts"— is a fixed starting point.  It is not the whole story though. Life offers you two incredible tools to reach higher, achieve more, and become better: learning and wisdom. These tools, unlike intelligence, are limitless in their capacity to grow.

Here's how to harness them effectively:

      1) Learn What You Can

Learning is growth’s cornerstone. Knowledge opens doors, deals with doubts, and equips you to navigate the world more effectively. Commit to a mindset of curiosity and exploration:

• Stay Curious: Ask questions about everything. Curiosity keeps your mind sharp and your world expanding.
• Embrace Change: New technologies, ideas, and challenges are opportunities to learn. Don’t resist them—use them.
• Learn Actively: Read, observe, listen, experiment, & PLAY! Passive exposure doesn’t cut it; you have to engage with the material.

      2)     Wise Up

Wisdom is the discerning art of applying knowledge. It comes from reflection, experience, and understanding the nuances, dangers, and benefits life:

• Reflect Often: Wisdom grows in the quiet moments when you think about what you've learned and how it applies to your life.
• Seek Perspective: Wisdom flourishes when you step outside yourself. Learn from others' experiences, failures, and successes.
• Practice Resilience: Life tests you. Wisdom comes from learning from success & failure and rising stronger.

Why This Matters

You’re not limited by where you start. Intelligence can only take you so far; learning and wisdom take you the rest of the way. Whether you want to improve your career, relationships, or self-understanding, these are your most powerful tools. They are your way forward, no matter your current situation.

A Call to Action

Start today. Read something new. Take time to reflect on your actions and decisions. Ask for feedback, listen to advice, and don’t fear failure—it’s a great teacher. Intelligence may be fixed, but your capacity for growth is boundless. Use it wisely.

One again, following the Masonic path that Freemasonry offers is a great start!

 

 

 

A Brother Asks: The Winnowing Process?

 

A Brother Asks: I always thought the winnowing process was done by the investigation committee. Once candidates made it past that stage, and were initiated, they started working on their own ashlar, if they were serious about being Masons, and not just members.  Am I missing anything here?

 

Coach: It's true that the investigation committee affirms a choice of the petitioner's choice to join and confirms that it would be a good fit.

 

However, our collective Craft Problem is that we have created a Freemasonic Tower of Babel.  And this includes the term "winnowing" when it is applied to our Craft.

 

As a result, word meanings are all over the place and due to our babel tower, we have created our own divisions.

 

So you are clear as to my understanding, here are my best thoughts:

1) FREEMASONIC PATH: Winnowing (as you alluded to in your candidate work comment) occurs throughout the overt Freemasonic progression through the organization's degrees. Proficiencies (memorization) and behavior determine progression.

 

2) MASONIC PATH: Additionally, this winnowing process continues throughout the actual candidate's implementation of what the degrees espouse for him to do.

 

Here are the levels of winnowing that a candidate must engage in should he want to follow the Masonic Path successfully, not just the Freemasonic path.

1) Stepping through the West Gate - Winnowing yourself from the profane and into the sacred temple.

 

2) Apprentice's Work - Winnowing yourself from the burdened (vices & superfluities) and weak (Virtue challenged) and into the world of the unburdened and virtuous.

 

3) Fellow Craft's Work - Winnowing yourself from the uneducated and unknowing and into the educated and knowing.

 

4) Master's Work Part 1 - Winnowing yourself from the Ruffians and into the completed Temple World.

 

5) Master's Work Part 2 - Winnowing yourself from the seekers of the Master's Word and into the Comprehension of The Master's Word.

 

6) Master's Work Part 3 - Winnowing yourself from those who just comprehend the Master's Word and into the erectors of the spiritual building world.

 

As you can see, a whole different set of proficiencies and behaviors come into play, should this path be taken as well.

A Brother Asks: A Place of Darkness

 

A Brother Asks: Could you give us some information on the place of the North in masonry? 

Coach: Sure.  It's claimed that, because King Solomon's temple was situated north of the Tropic of Cancer, no light rays were able to show through any opening on its north facing side.  Due to this fact of nature, a tradition arose among many Jurisdictions that honors this location in its Lodge rooms as a "Place of Darkness" where no light
shines.

That's about all that is revealed directly through Freemasonic Symbolic Lodge Rituals and Lectures.*

Brother: Some lodges have a station in the North; some don't. Some past masters like sitting in that station. Like it's a place of honor.  

Coach: There's typically a station or chair in the North in many Lodges.  However, it is most atypical in many jurisdictions to have anyone sit in it, unless there is an actual shortage of chairs and the person sitting in it who is so well-liked that the usual tradition of it being kept vacant is overlooked - I have seen this quite a few times while traveling around the country visiting a wide verity of Lodges.  In many jurisdictions it is frowned upon for anyone to sit in that chair if there are other chairs available.  Yet, I have seen well-liked Brothers sit in the chair with a facetious grin while getting an affirming murmur from the other attending Brothers.

Brother: What is the North's proper role in a lodge?

Coach: To represent a "Place of Darkness."

That being said, that "Place of Darkness" is given a symbolic and honorable place within the Lodge room, It represents for all Brothers the symbolic places that they as Apprentices must go to  Complete their Apprentice Work - not physically, but internally.  They should know that when they do not travel there, and they do not seek and properly address what is in their dark places, it will be absolutely impossible for them to Complete their Apprentice Work.

Additional to this, It also represents the unknown and what we as Masons must willingly face who desire further Light in those places where it is most lacking. 

And more especially when we KNOW a dark place exists that NEEDS a Light bearer!

 

* Esoteric related Light related to religious and mythological information on "North" can be found in numerous articles on this subject and within Bro. Mackey's Encyclopedia under "North."

A Brother Asks: Our Disenchanted Masses

 

A Brother Asks: Where to Masons go who have grown tired of those members within the Craft who perpetuate the play but do not live or work towards the direction of what the play espouses? 

Coach: Ah!  A great question about our disenchanted masses! I take it that you are referring to people who you never see either in The Symbolic Lodge or any associated bodies.

Brother: Yes!

Coach: These members typically fall into three categories.

1) Most all of them eventually join our massive ever-growing alumni association.

2) A few remain members of the Lodge, even some associated bodies, but you will never see them ever attend any of them again, unless they are asked to attend to receive something. 

3) A very rare few stick around anyway and actually do become what our ritual directs us to become. And some of these become likened in spirit to the little boy in Hans Christian Anderson's tale "The Emperor's New Clothes" where you'll find them actively and continually pointing out the naked emperor either directly or through extremely subtle yet potent satire, parody, or associated educational pieces directed at those who actually do want to do the Work our Ritual directs us to do.

Brother: I presume the alumni association term to be figurative and not literal. If I'm wrong, I respectfully ask for more information.

Coach: LOL! Sorry about that.  Our Alumni Association is a euphemistic term conveying a reality that we have a huge body of ex-members who, for all intents and purposes, "graduated" from our unique style of education by quitting (either by demitting or ghosting) and never return even for class reunions.

 

 (A Hat tip to my Brothers!  You KNOW who you are!)

A Brother Asks: How can you Prove Previous Light?

  

A Brother Asks: How can you prove previous Light?

Coach: Great question! 

Here's a quick list of 12 things off the top of my head...

Proving Previous Light (APPRENTICE LEVEL)

1. Explain to another human being exactly what a vice and a superflity are and how they are divested successfully.

2. Communicate how you identified and divested yourself of at least 5 vices and/or superfluities. 

3. Explain how one goes about setting one's plumb. 

4. Communicate how to create one's square of virtue. 

5. Explain how setting your plumb is related to your use of your twenty-four inch gauge. 

6. Communicate the differences between a desire and a passion. 

7. Explain how you can tell when someone has not circumscribed and subdued their passions. 

8. Communicate: 

        a. what our masonic purpose is, 

        b. where you will find it clearly spelled out in our ritual, 

        c. and how you go about fulfilling it. 

9. Explain: 

        a. where one finds God's rules & designs, 

        b. how one prepares one's self to both understand and employ them, 

        c. and what structure one applies them to. 

10. Name 12 reasons and 8 premises justifying the belief in God to fulfill one's masonic purpose. 

11) Share and explain what 17 Working Tools are used, displayed, conveyed, and need to be used or developed to perfect one's Ashlar before moving on to Second Degree Activities. 

12) Explain how the modern day definition of the word "perfect" is different from the definition employed by our original ritual writers.

You have 24 hours to complete... yeah, open books are okay.

Begin!