A Brother Asks: Top 3 Masonic Books

 

 THE TOP THREE MASONIC BOOKS!

A Brother Asks: What are the top 3 books every Mason should have in his library?

Coach: That truly depends upon how you define your terms. 

 

Brother: What do you mean?

Coach: How you define the term "masonry" will determine your focus.

Brother: Would you explain this to me?

 

Coach: Certainly. Most Freemasons read the word "masonry" and think strictly along organization lines. You can spot them in the offerings below. They instantly recommend only those books that will assist in running the degree making machinery. The examples offered below are littered with these examples.

Brother: So?

 

Coach: Masons, on the other hand, read the word "masonry" and think strictly along the lines of personal development that will eventually lead to the erection of spiritual buildings. They know that organizational books will NOT do that and for good reason: These books are NOT personal development books - they are ORGANIZATION development books. 

 

Brother: So, are you saying that Masons recommend books that help build men, not organizations. 

 

Coach: Based on the above stated criteria, I am.  You can see a few of these books presented here as examples below as well.

 

Brother: But doesn't helping to build an organization help build men?

 

Coach: Great Question!  Let me put this idea forth: 

 

If you join a gym and go to it to get a work out 

and are instead put to task to run the gym 

by those who are in charge of running it, 

are you there honoring your original intent 

or the organization's?

 

The book recommendation you read below fall into three entirely different paths...

1. build men,
2.  build organizations, 
3. and things that have nothing to do with either. 

How you chose to define your term will determine what you eventually work upon and build, or not.

 

---------------

 

THREAD EXAMPLES (Which focus on personal growth, which on organizational development, and which have nothing to do with either?):

1. VOSL (Holy books), Book of constitutions, Lodge by laws
2. Law/code book of his jurisdiction, Freemasons For Dummies, Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry?
   
3. The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, Morals and Dogma, The History of Freemasonry 
4. The Book of Nature (1870 edition), The Holy Bible,  The Trivium & Quadrivium
   
5. Freemason at work , Bernard Jones guide and compendium to FM
6. Robert's Rules Of Order,  Born in blood, Hiram Key
7. The History of Freemasonry & the Concordant Orders, Sir Isaac Newton's Freemasonry, Templars in America
   
8. The Four Agreements,The Secret, The Celestine Prophecy
   
9. Rituals, Constitution, and Esoteric Books. (Not any of those Holy books)
10. Bible, Morals and Dogma, Pilgrim’s Path
11. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, First Things First, Personal Journal
12. Holy book of your faith, Robert's rules of order, How to win friends and influence people
13. An Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Holy Book 
14. The Craft and Its Symbols,The secret science of masonic initiation, The Royal masonic cyclopedia of history, rites, symbolism and Biography.
15. The holy bible, The exemplar,The craft and its symbols. (There is also a book titled "earning freemasonry" that is very good for those looking into becoming an officer.)

     

     
    
     

Random Building Thoughts - 2022-11-30

  

-------------- CRAFT FAILURE --------------

When you continuously fail to nurture a man,
it is delusional to think that inviting him back
for more of the same
shall do anything more than annoy him
and eventually entrench him in resentment. 

What is your lodge doing to prevent this?

-------------- MASONIC EDUCATION --------------

 

-------------- HUMOR --------------

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

You've been the lead person on the grand lodge
named "masonic education committee"
for near to 25 years.
It's clear that what the committee has been doing
is not helping to retain members.
If anything, the more it makes effort to stress
what it calls "masonic education" as the cure
for the dreaded "Freemasonic Attrition Disease",
the more everyone sees members' eyes gloss over,
instant yawns and agitated disinterest.
Further research reveals that you are not alone in this observation
and that this very same disease has been
infecting the Craft for over 100 years.
You decide to take a different approach to Masonic Education. 

Your Task:

1) Explore what doesn't work and hasn't worked well, ever.
What steps do you take?

2) Put together a poll for current members
and past members to find out what initially attracted them
to the organization and what eventually repelled them.
What questions would you ask?

3) Restructure membership education to address what repels members
and enhance what attracted them in the first place.
What changes would you make?

-------------- MYTH --------------

"A mythological pantheon is fluid and as the needs and the realizations of the society change, so do the relationships and the gods. Deities are really time- and space-conditioned; they are shaped from inherited ideas, inherited traditional imageries, but they are put together in terms of a local context of time and space.

"One of the great disadvantages of a literary or scriptural tradition like the biblical one is that a deity or context of deities becomes crystallized, petrified at a certain time and place. The deity doesn’t continue to grow, expand, or take into account new cultural forces and new realizations in the sciences, and the result is this make-believe conflict we have in our culture between science and religion. One of the functions of mythology is to present an image of the cosmos in such a way that it becomes the carrier of this mystical realization, so that wherever you look it’s as though you are looking at an icon, a holy picture, and the walls of space and time open out into the deep dimension of mystery, which is a dimension within ourselves, as well as out there.

"This dimension can open through the science of today even more wonderfully than it opened through the science of the second millennium B.C. There is absolutely no conflict between science and the religious mood or the mythological realization—but there IS a conflict between the science of the twentieth century A.D. and the twentieth century B.C."

Joseph Campbell, Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine, p.107

-------------- LIGHT --------------

You Want the Light?
You Can't Handle The Light!

-------------- TRUE FOCUS --------------

For Further Light:
http://www.coach.net/TCU.htm

 

 -------------- PHILOSOPHY --------------

It's most unfortunate
that some people characterize
the Seven Liberal Arts & Sciences
as the medieval equivalent of
a Complete Education,
which it certainly was not.

It was not offered as a Complete Education
at that time.
It was offered as a required Foundation
that made Further Serious Studies possible.

In other words,
the Seven Liberal Arts & Sciences
was not considered Complete Education;
it was considered the Basis of Further Learning.

-------------- BLAME --------------

 For Further Light:
http://www.coach.net/TLG.htm

 -------------- TRAVEL --------------

I've been brow-beat
and guilted untold times
for Traveling
by those who prefer staying put
in a dungeon of darkness.
I won't condemn those who enjoy darkness.
I however like the Light
and shall continue to Travel
to wherever I know it Exists.

 

  For Further Light: 

  The Journeyman Papers - Uncommonly Grimm Lessons

-------------- FOLK LORE --------------

Many Knock and Find a Wall
  Some Men Knock and Find a Stall
Others Knock and Find a Haze
  Few Men Knock and Find a Maze
I have Knocked and Found a Gnome*
His Treasures Rich are now my Home.

 * a legendary dwarfish creature supposed
to guard the earth's treasures underground.

Task: Investigate what Gnomes Guard

-------------- FACT VS ALLUSION --------------

 

Metaphors and allegories are verbal or visual vehicles
designed to deliver underlying truths about ourselves
and what we deal with.
When you take such vehicles as factual
rather than the truths they are intended to convey,
you lose all insight into what they were intended to communicate
and use them to pursue things that never existed.

-- The Craft Perfected! Actualizing Our Craft

 

 -------------- VIDEO BONUS --------------

-------------- END --------------

 Be Well and Travel Light!

-- Coach Nagy ;-)

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You can also find me on:

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Educational Materials can be found here:

 http://www.coach.net/BuildingBuilders.htm 

 

https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnSNagy 

 

 

 

 

Random Building Thoughts - 2022-11-29

  

-------------- HUMOR --------------

 

Apparently, this is not a problem in some jurisdictions!

 

 -------------- MASONIC EDUCATION --------------

 

 

Logical Fallacies! Part 1

 

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

 

Your candidates are interested in what Allegories offer.
They want to discuss its more subtle qualities .
Your WM is delighted to hear this
and believes this is a suitable discourse
to engage in with them and even the entire lodge.

You are asked to lead a discussion on this topic.
You accept and prepare for it immediately.

YOUR TASKS:

1) Develop a list of words and definitions
related to this topic, including the following:
Allegory, metaphor, parable, analogy, simile,
symbol, mark, character, image, figure, sign,
emblem, totem, token, crest, badge, device, insignia,
stamp, seal, heraldic device, coat of arms, shield,
logo, trademark, brand
and anything else related that you come across.

2) Provide examples of each.

3) Provide examples where something
is classified in multiple categories
and explain how and why this occurs.

What do you do next?

 -------------- MIXED MEANINGS --------------

Ya hafta have Stones
to Work 'em! 

 -------------- THE JOB --------------

Masonry has no job whatsoever;
it IS THE JOB! When males Mason-Up
and do the Work,
they have a job for life! 

  -------------- THE QUESTION --------------

What Fuels Your Fires?  

 -------------- WARM MEMORIES --------------

 

"The New Brother study group
has been proving this point. Br. John S Nagy
is one of the brightest Lights on FaceBook.
Follow him for more light in Masonry. "
-- Brother Mark Robson - November 29, 2015

  A Brother Asks:

What should I keep in mind as I participate in Freemasonry?

  -------------- GOD --------------

Some who find God gain Great Wisdom;
others gain Great Insight;
Countless gain Great Love;
and a select few gain Total Freedom,
from Reality.

-------------- ASSUMING --------------

Tragedy Breeds in those Moments
You Assume any Word Rendered Generations
Before Conveys Today's Meanings.

 

-------------- 2 TEASERS --------------

 

 

Now Available on Amazon!

The Journeyman Papers

 

Chapter VI "The Mysteries",
from The Craft Unmasked! 

Found here:
http://www.coach.net/TCU.htm

 -------------- END --------------

 Be Well and Travel Light!

-- Coach Nagy ;-)

 PS: Subscribe to get daily notifications

You can also find me on:

https://mewe.com/i/john_snagy

https://www.facebook.com/johns.nagy

Educational Materials can be found here:

 http://www.coach.net/BuildingBuilders.htm 

 

https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnSNagy 

 

 

 

 

Random Building Thoughts - 2022-11-28

 

 -------------- ROOTS --------------

So many Seekers assume that Freemasonry
comes from Roots that are somehow Disclosed
by or Alluded to within its very Rituals and
Lectures. Unfortunately, the very Craft
Freemasonry conceals is done so well that it
required no hiding at all! 

[Chapter I. The Grand Assumption;
The Craft Unmasked!]

  For further Light:
Grand Assumption

-------------- MEANING --------------

Tragedy breeds in the moment you assume
any word rendered generations before
conveys today's meaning. 

  For Further Light:

Hidden Mysteries

 -------------- CREDIBILITY --------------

Don't Make Me Well-Informed...
You Wouldn't Like me When I'm Well-Informed...

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

It seems the unimaginable has happened.
The candidates in your charge have gotten a hold
of some anti-freemasonic literature.
They are asking about the differences between
"religion" and "religious"
and how it applies to Freemasonry.

Your WM got wind of this (some how),
is concerned and has put you to task to address this issue
in a professional and informative manner.

Your Task:

1) Clearly research the differences between
the words "religion" and "religious",
carefully denoting their definitions
and specific manners of use.

2) Draw clear distinctions between
the two words and prepare sufficiently
to present applicable examples of each
where the other word is clearly not applicable.

3) Create a presentation for these and future candidates
explaining how this information applies to Freemasonry.

WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?

-------------- KNOW YOUR WORDS! --------------

 "Religion" and "Religious" are two different creatures
and should not be Confused.
Freemasonry is not a Religion;
it is Religious organization.
There is but one Religious requirement
for joining Mainstream Freemasonry.
That Religious requirement
is a "Belief in God".

Woe to he he confuses the two...

For Further Light:
https://www.learnreligions.com/religion-vs-religious-250712

 -------------- INSIGHT --------------

Wisdom Continually Reinforces
the Understanding that
Accepting Things at Face Value
is a Pauper's View
and that Exercised Insight
Creates Greater Wealth.

-------------- GRATITUDE --------------

The Path of Happiness Starts
with a Genuine Grateful Moment  

 -------------- LEADERSHIP --------------

-------------- WORD PLAY --------------

FILED UNDER: Quackery

 

Induction: The act of inserting ducks

Deduction: The act of removing ducks

Reduction: The act of shrinking ducks

Abduction: The act of exercising ducks

Eduction: The act of emailing ducks

Subduction: The act of undermining ducks

Conduction: The act of misleading ducks

Adduction: The act of adding ducks

Seduction: The act of seducing ducks

Production: The act of making ducks

Reproduction: The act of mating ducks

 

-------------- HISTORY --------------

-------------- HISTORY 2 --------------

-------------- END --------------

 Be Well and Travel Light!

-- Coach Nagy ;-)

 PS: Subscribe to get daily notifications

You can also find me on:

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Educational Materials can be found here:

 http://www.coach.net/BuildingBuilders.htm 

 

https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnSNagy 

 

 

 

 

Random Building Thoughts - 2022-11-27

  

-------------- PRIORITIES --------------

"Such Masons are distinguished 

not by the amount of knowledge that they possess,

 but by the number of the jewels that they wear. 

They will give fifty dollars for a decoration, 

but not fifty cents for a book."
-- W. Bro. Albert G. Mackey, 1875

 <sigh> ...and then there are those of us who seek and find Light
and write those books that these Freemasons will never seek...

-------------- HUMOR --------------

 

They are coming up sooner than you might expect!

 

(Hat Tip to Bro. Thomas Hamilton)

 

   -------------- MASONIC ED! -------------- 

 

Yes!  There are THREE!!!

-------------- OLD STUFF --------------

 

The Craft uses archaic words like "charity"
as a way of inviting men
to think deeper about words in general.
 

For those who don't want to think deeper,
it invites them to run fundraisers. 

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

The candidates are getting restless once again. 

They were very disappointed that they were not told 

before their initiation that they were to be 

setting foot on sacred ground during the ceremony. 

You find yourself scratching your head and wondering 

why they are making such a big deal about it.  

 

Your Task:
 

1) Research Scripture for anything that denotes 

Solomon's Temple as being holy ground 

and write down each section you find.
 

2) Explain each passage's validity as to the claim 

that the ground is sacred 

and what difference this knowledge should make 

toward candidates' ritual experiences.
 

3) Justify either informing or not informing candidates 

before their ritual experience as to their treading 

upon sacred soil during ritual.

-------------- METAPHYSICS --------------

Without Well-Founded Arts and Sciences
Education, Metaphysical Study
Brings Forth Its Own Infidelities. 

-------------- MYTHOLOGY --------------

"It has always been the prime function 

of mythology and rite to supply the symbols
that carry the human spirit forward,
in counteraction to those constant human fantasies
that tend to tie it back. In fact,
it may well be that the very high incidence of neuroticism
among ourselves follows from the decline among us
of such effective spiritual aid."
- Joseph Campbell,
"The Hero with a Thousand Faces" , p.7

 

-------------- VISION --------------

What Lack of Clarity Blocks Your Vision? 

-------------- PSA FOR THE DAY --------------

“The further a society drifts from the truth,
the more it will hate those who speak it.”
-- Selwyn Duke (2009)

For Further Light:
Source

-------------- THE MOMENT --------------

 Furthermore,
the moment you blame them
is the moment you become responsible
for taking your life in new directions.

-------------- NO FURTHER THOUGHT --------------

 

The experience most members have of the Light provided 

by most Jurisdictions is that what Masquerades as "Masonic Education" 

is actually Strictly Enforced "Freemasonic Training" 

which requires no further thought 

than to do what they are told.

FOR FURTHER LIGHT: 

 Freethought & Education

-------------- TESTIMONIAL --------------

Coach, we (lodges in NW, CO),
have put on a handful of EA degrees over the summer.
I'm guessing I'll be called upon soon
to conduct these Brothers up a flight of winding stairs.
These will be the first times that I give the lecture
since reading "Building Athens".
Thanks to you,
it will be a different experience for ME this time!
You have added many new layers of understanding of it for me
and I'm anxious to start "shining it up"
with a new and extra perspective.
And about "Athens"...
...this is weird...
I went to Ohio U in Athens,
and majored in Interpersonal Communication
(Speech Communication, Persuasion, etc).
Minor in Sociology.
Just an observation..but ironic nonetheless.  

-- David Moran‎ to John S Nagy
-November 27, 2011 at 2:58 AM 

   -------------- BOOK #16 NOW AVAILABLE! -------------- 

 

 JUST IN CASE YOU
DIDN'T HEAR THE GOOD NEWS!

MY 16th BOOK 

IS NOW PRINTED 

 and BEING SHIPPED!

The Craft Mastered!  

is now available!

PLEASE put your orders in now 

if you would like a first edition copy

 for your collections.

You can order it here:

http://www.coach.net/TCM.htm

Also, please share the link 

if you want to inform others

of its availability.

Thank you in advance!

-- Coach Nagy

 

Are you all caught up 

on your reading?

 

  -------------- END --------------

 Be Well and Travel Light!
-- Coach Nagy ;-)

 PS: Subscribe to get daily notifications

You can also find me on:

https://mewe.com/i/john_snagy

https://www.facebook.com/johns.nagy

Educational Materials can be found here:

 http://www.coach.net/BuildingBuilders.htm 

 

https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnSNagy