Building Builders!: Random Building Thoughts

-------------- MASONRY'S WEAKEST PART... --------------

Knowledge & Ritual

“The ritual is undoubtedly not to be neglected, inasmuch as it is the medium through which we convey our lessons of symbolism, and by means of which we separate ourselves from the rest of the world, and obtain the means of mutual recognition.

But it is after all, the weakest part of Masonry. The ritual alone will no more make a true Mason than the manual exercise will make a true soldier.

Too many Masons assume a high position among the teachers of the Order, simply because they can open and close a lodge, or confer a degree, with a strict adherence to, or a ready renunciation of, the exact phraseology of the ritual, and yet who, taken from the beaten track of old routine, are as completely ignorant of the history, the nature and design, and the true symbolism of the Order, as if they had never entered within its portals.

Masonry has its science and its literature, and to these the attention of the Masonic student should be directed. The ritual is its alphabet, and a knowledge of it is indispensable to a full comprehension of its language; but he who has gone no farther than the alphabet, however competent he may be to instruct others in the same rudiments, can hardly discharge the duty of a teacher of the sciences.”

– extract from Miscellanea Latomorum, London:

Feb – March 1914, p. 95-96;

originally printed in Masonic Record of Western India, 1865.

(Hat tip to Bro. David Moran!)

For Further Light:
Memory Work

-------------- WALK THE TALK --------------

FILED UNDER: PREACH WHAT YOU ACTUALLY PRACTICE!

The CORE Problem facing the Craft Today:

Selling a "Speculative" form of Stonecraft and providing only haphazard theatrical training, all based upon a cracked-facade of poorly understood and misapplied versions of Stonecraft, rather than the actual Speculative Training that was implied by the sale's hype.

In other words:

You cannot tell your prospects that you sell only fresh eggs, actually provide them something else and reasonably expect your egg buying customers to be satisfied with the chisled stone bits they find in their bags when they closely examine what they received.

When you want sweeping change,

you must start with the temple rubbish.

Then provide to your customers what you're selling.

When you don't want sweeping change,

just keep on doing what you're currently doing.

You'll guarantee the exact same results for all involved!

-------------- WASTE NOT... --------------

For Further Light:
UNDERSTAND!

-------------- WHOSE BOURNE? --------------

-------------- GET UNSETTLED! --------------

-------------- CAN YOU HANDLE IT? --------------

-------------- THIS BOURNE! --------------

If it isn't possible, it isn't probable.
Conversely, if it's not probable, it's not possible.
Inversely, if it's possible, it's probable.
Contrapositive, if it's probable, it's possible.

-------------- KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! --------------

It doesn’t take much effort to see that it is the Embodiment of Hypocrisy

to witness any Brother make effort to discredit another Brother’s Work

as Inferior by providing blatant examples of his own Inferior Work as proof

-- for both the attacker and the witness alike!

This is why the Apprentice Work is so important.

It keeps Passions and Desires Properly Circumscribed and within Due Bounds.

It also compels Brothers to take Appropriate Action

toward the attacker for to witness such malevolent behavior

in another Brother without such actions

is contrary to a Strong Masonic Foundation.

Masters know this and make sure that their Apprentices

prove themselves Proficient in their Foundation

before they Pass on to loftier pursuits.

--------------TO KNOW OR TO CHANGE? --------------

There is a huge difference between "Enlightened" and Knowing".

1) How do you know if you're enlightened enough to know what this difference is?

2) Is your clarity enough to communicate it to others so that they know?

3) Do you possess enough skill to convey is successfully?

4) Are you enlightened enough to know better?

-------------- GET WET! --------------

-------------- WEIGH YOUR OPTIONS! --------------

-------------- GET EXPERIENCE! --------------

-------------- COACH'S CHALLENGE! --------------

Rewrite this following quote directing it toward Freemasonry while maintaining the message originally intended.

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"In teaching, you have people who haven’t come into the Waste Land yet. They’re at the point of making the decision whether they’re going to follow the way of their own zeal – the star that’s dawned for them – or do what daddy and mother and friends want them to do.

"The adventure is always in the dark forest,
and there’s something perilous about it."