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: Orders of Architecture

A Brother Asks: Coach, Would you tell me how the columns figure into our Masonic journey?

Coach: I sure can.

Brother: Great!  Please do!

Coach: The first thing you must realize is what each column actually denotes allegorically.

Brother: Allegorically?  You mean the columns are standing in symbolically for a quality that a Brother must embrace Masonicly?

Coach: Exactly!

Brother: Wow!  I had never considered that approach before.

Coach: Many don’t.  Yet, they first are presented in a symbolic lodge and you’d think that most members would. I mean, it is a symbolic lodge.

Brother: True enough. Let’s start with the Tuscan.

Coach: No.  Let’s start with the Doric.

Brother: Why the Doric?                                                                 

Coach: Great question. What do you know about the symbolism of the Doric as it relates to the officers of the lodge?

Brother: I know that the three principle officers are denoted by the Ionic, Doric and Corinthian columns.

Coach: Meaning?

Brother: The Worshipful Master, Senior and Junior Wardens respectively.

Coach: Great! So which officer is the Doric?

Brother: The Senior Warden.

Coach: Correct.  And what quality does the Senior Warden represent?

Brother: Strength.

Coach: Agreed. Using this understanding, what do the Ionic and Corinthian columns represent?

Brother: The remaining officers respectively, and by default, the qualities of Wisdom and Beauty too.

Coach: Yes.  So, you’re telling me that the Ionic, Doric and Corinthian columns represent Wisdom, Strength and Beauty?

Brother: No. Ritual is telling us this through our ritual lectures.

Coach: Indeed! 

Brother: How does this play into our Masonic journey?

Coach: Let’s overlay these qualities.

Brother: Okay.

Coach: The Doric column represents any Brother who demonstrates that he has worked sufficiently upon his Strength.

Brother: You mean sufficiently doing the Work pointed toward by the apprentice ritual to bring Order to the Chaos of his heart?

Coach: Precisely!

Brother: That makes perfect sense.  What about the Ionic column?

Coach: The Ionic column represents any Brother who demonstrates that he has Worked sufficiently upon his Wisdom.

Brother: You mean sufficiently doing the Work pointed toward by the fellow craft ritual to bring Order to the Chaos of his mind?

Coach: Yes. 

Brother: I like that! What about the Corinthian column?

Coach:  The Corinthian column represents any Brother who demonstrates that he has Worked sufficiently upon his Beauty?

Brother: Beauty?  How is that possible?  How do we work upon our appearance?

Coach: It’s symbolic my Brother.  And it means that a Brother has applied what he has learned within the first two degrees to create a recognizable masterpiece of Beauty.

Brother: You mean sufficiently doing the Work pointed toward by the master ritual to bring Order to the Chaos of his spirit?

Coach: Indeed!  You’re getting the hang of this symbolic stuff.

Brother: Thanks… your coaching helps a lot.

Coach: So does your ability to grasp the allegorical elements and apply them.

Brother:  Thanks... so, what about the Tuscan?  What does it represent?

Coach: The Tuscan is the plainest and simplest of all the columns presented to them within the staircase lecture. 

Brother: Okay…

Coach: When this is to symbolize any quality assigned to a member, it is to denote any Brother who demonstrates that he has yet to Work upon any aspect of his Wisdom, Strength or Beauty.

Brother: So, they have yet to do any of the Work pointed toward by the first three degrees?

Coach: Exactly!  They may have done the memorization work, but they have not applied anything that they have memorized toward their lives.

Brother: So, they are rough ashlars?

Coach: Yes, they have yet to even take up their Working Tools and applied them toward their Ashlars.

Brother: So, they are members, but they have yet to truly do anything other than fit in.

Coach: Sadly, I have to say "yes."

Brother: What about the Composite column?  How does that apply to our Masonic journey?

Coach: The Composite column is any Masterful Mason.

Brother: As in?

Coach: As in any Brother who demonstrates that he has Worked sufficiently upon his Wisdom, Strength and Beauty to create a masterpiece, most especially of himself.

Brother: You mean the Work that is pointed toward by the three symbolic degrees?

Coach:  Yes! Furthermore, he has integrated this Work fully and suitably into his being and everyday manner such that they all are present and they all agree.

Brother: Wow!  That’s a lot to take in?

Coach: Yes, and the sad aspect of this whole thing is that its hidden within plain sight and most members do not see it.

A Brother Asks... Wisdom and Prudence's Relationship

A Brother Asks: What is the "relationship" between Wisdom and Prudence?

My Response: Well, to be totally honest...

Wisdom wants Prudence with all his heart, and has wanted her since Time Immemorial.

But since Wisdom is as old as the hills and is not quite up to the task of pleasing someone like Prudence in only the ways that a comparable youth, say like that kid Fortitude can, Prudence has got her eyes set upon something a little more "invigorating".  

And she has learned through experience that Fortitude sure does have staying power in that realm.

Sure, Prudence hangs out with Wisdom and has some fun and worthwhile spiritual perks from him, and she enjoys how Fortitude can keep up with her, but she also has an adventurous eye that only a level headed guy like that youth Temperance can provide.

She's learned that, as inexperienced as Temperance can be in some things, he always knows when enough is enough and Prudence appreciates that most of all.

And then there's this other virtuous guy Justice that she keeps an eye on, but he appears to be a bit too demanding at times and tends to turn a blind eye to superficial things and that simply takes a bit too much for her at times.

So, when push comes to shove, what it all comes down to is, there is no Justice in Prudence's relationship with Wisdom.  

Well, there might be some Justice on the side, but being Prudence, she ain't talking about it.

F&S,

Brother John S. Nagy

PS - Wisdom leans toward knowing what's best; Prudence leans toward doing what's best.