The Light in the Garden – A book review by Jason Johnson

 

The Light in the Garden is what I would call, “transformative!” If you have ever struggled with the reconciliation of Biblical passages with your gut feelings, especially regarding the story of Adam and Eve, Sacrifice and Salvation, you owe it to yourself to read this book from cover to cover.

Rev. Nagy presents his points and observations with strong attention to references and masterfully documents his sources. This process should give the reader a firm assurance that the text is not only carefully thought out but backed with substantial evidence.

The best part is that the research was done with a pure spirit of curiosity, and sans a desired outcome. In other words, Rev. Nagy would have written his findings regardless of their outcome and with the heart of a teacher.

I can honestly and emphatically say that reading this book has transformed the way I now approach life and, frankly, the afterlife.

Read this book! Then take a subjective audit of your current situation and your past, especially those times when things didn’t work the way you expected them to.

From there, always, always “Own it!” 

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

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 Thank You Jason,

 I'm delighted you enjoyed it.

 "Own It!"

 Rev. John

 

The Summons Silenced

 

Don't expect to bring back to the lodge

those who have fled for good reasons...

 

A member of a certain Lodge, who previously attended meetings regularly, had stopped going. After a few months, the Worshipful Master decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening, and the Worshipful Master found his brother at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.

Guessing the reason for the Worshipful Master’s visit, the brother welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited. The Worshipful Master made himself comfortable, but said nothing.

In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After several minutes, the Worshipful Master took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth, all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent.

His host watched all of this in quiet contemplation. As the one, lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow, and its fire was all but gone. The host Brother soon reached out and put the ember back into the flue’s draft.  He then scooped up the other embers with the ash shovel and put them in an ash bucket, closed its heavy lid down upon it, and sealed them off from the natural draft.  He sat back and enjoyed the warm glow of the remaining ember, now flared up in brilliant glow brought about by the swift flow of the flue draft.

The Worshipful Master raised his eyebrows but remained silent.  After a while he glanced at his watch and chose this time to leave. He slowly stood up, removed the lid to expose the cold dead embers that were sealed away, and placed them back in the flue draft with the one remaining glowing ember. As they were exposed to its warm heat, they sprung to life and began to glow once more and with all the light and warmth of the one burning ember that had remained in the flue’s draft.

The Worshipful Master turned to leave, and as he reached the door, he turned back toward  the host Brother and said with a tear running down his cheek, “Thank you so much for your fiery response, my brother. I’ll make sure we make the necessary changes before I visit with you again.”

-- Brother John S. Nagy
(with sincere appreciation to both the original and the unknown authors*)

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* The Silent Summons (Based upon "The Lonely Ember**")

   A member of a certain Lodge, who previously attended meetings regularly, had stopped going. After a few months, the Worshipful Master decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening, and the Worshipful Master found his brother at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.
   Guessing the reason for the Worshipful Master’s visit, the brother welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited. The Worshipful Master made himself comfortable, but said nothing.
  In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After several minutes, the Worshipful Master took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth, all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent.
   His host watched all of this in quiet contemplation. As the one, lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow, and its fire was no more. Soon, it was cold and dead.
   Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The Worshipful Master glanced at his watch and chose this time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember, and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately, it began to glow once more, with all the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
   As the Worshipful Master reached the door to leave, his host said, with a tear running down his cheek, “Thank you so much for your fiery summons, my brother. I’ll be back in our Lodge next meeting.”

-- Author Unknown

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The Lonely Ember by Dr. John MacArthur

  A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going.
  After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.
  Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs.
  After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination.
  As the one lone ember's flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and "dead as a doornail."
  Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting.
  Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
  As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, "Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday."
 

A Brother Asks... Why Allegory?

 

A Brother Asks: Why is Allegory used within Ritual?

My Response: It is used because it is the Primary Method used throughout history to convey Theological and Philosophical Principles and Concepts.  Such training is invaluable in laying a foundation for future studies of Ancient and Modern Theological and Philosophical Literature.
 

He Continues:  Why Train to Understand it?

My Response: It is the primary challenge and obstacle presented to and faced by anyone making effort to decode what has been encoded in languages long forgotten and things conveyed today that are masked, veiled, concealed and hidden.  Its use has side benefits and annoying side effects.

He Continues:  What are its side benefits?

My Response: It is an extremely effective method of cleverly masking, secretly veiling, carefully concealing and blatantly hiding valuable information in plain sight.

He Continues:  What is its annoying side effect?

My Response: Unskilled and ignorant individuals usually make more of it than it is ever meant to convey and use it as an excuse to:

1. Create huge organizations of people who expend inordinate amounts of time, energy and other resources chasing mythical creatures for sacrifice,
2. Build expensive imaginary cages that are believed to hold them temporarily once caught, and
3. Create accurate historically veiled accounts of their imaginary exploits for posterity.

He Continues:  What makes Allegory fun?

 

My Response: Did you not read my last Response?

He Continues:  What makes Allegory interesting?

 

My Response: It invites curious minds to embrace contrasting information and to dig deeper to cultivate insights into things, issues and situations that require them to transcend what might appear contradictory at first.

F&S,

Brother John S. Nagy


 

Lodge Wars: Episodes XXXi through XXXvi

 

LODGE WARS!

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: 

THIS IS ALLEGORY! 

ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ACTUAL HISTORICAL DRAMA IS SHEAR COINCIDENCE. 

AS WITH ALL ALLEGORY, THERE ARE LESSONS PRESENTED AND IT IS UP TO THE VIEWER TO LEARN FROM THEM. 

LET THE LEARNING BEGIN!

F&S,

Brother John S. Nagy

To Whom We Serve Weekly – Chapter Two

For your consideration: An Appropriate Craft Allegory for our times.

Be wary of the Gym that sells you membership based upon Body-Building but puts you to work behind the cash register.

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Body-Building attracts interested men when it looks the part.

The Approach

It was back in the summer of ’01 when I unknowingly began a life-changing discourse with a man I had known for some time.  The subject was one of which I was very fond, personal development.  The conversation didn’t initially start out on topic though.  At first, we discussed self-care, as in, things that we were doing to take care of ourselves.   Very soon into the talk however, the focus turned from Maintaining health to Establishing new ground.  That new ground was “Body-Building[1]”.  

Within an eye’s blink, our exchange sprang to life and more quickly than I had expected.  This shouldn’t have surprised me for it wasn’t as if I was new to the topic.  I had been Body-Building for many years and the mere mention of it brought much excitement to our talk.  He appeared to be well versed in the subject and our dialogue continued at length.  

Unbeknownst to me at that time, my talk-partner had also been a Body-Builder[3] for quite a while. When I found this out, I was a bit shocked.  Eyeing him up and down, he did not show any of the traditional signs of a man involved in such practice.  As someone who was personally involved in this Work, the outward signs of his Body-Building efforts were not obvious to me, even though he sounded like he knew an awful lot about it.

As our chat unfolded, my initial observations went unheeded.  His enthusiasm for Body-Building overwhelmed me.  Furthermore, his excitement in my interest was only overshadowed by what he earnestly believed he needed to share about his Body-Building love interest.  His energy directed much of our conversation in those moments.

He told me that he held Body-Building to such high esteem that he wore an odd-looking “B” shaped nose-ring denoting how far he had progressed in his devotion to this concern.  This revelation alone explained well why he wore it so proudly.  He claimed that there was so much involved in Body-Building that other interested devotees, people he knew personally, had created multitudes of affiliated Body-Building clubs and groups whose sole purpose was to promote Body-Building.  It was no surprise to me that I soon learned that he was a member of all of them!'

As I listened to him, I was dazzled by the shear magnitude of Body-Building’s systemic expansion. I had no idea of its shear magnitude.  That expansion was quite telling. And he gleefully hinted that these other affiliate organizations could be joined also, but only after I joined the first.

Applying

I was intrigued by all his information.  Having been both interested and actively engaged in Body-Building for some time, albeit on my own terms and with my own equipment, I was startled by the possibility of further Building with others.  I asked him how I could possibly join in on all this fun.  He quickly pulled out of his back pocket a signed membership application to one of the many local Gymnasiums[2].  

This specific application was to the one that he belonged to only a few miles down the road from my home.  He conveyed to me with a smile and a wink that it is best to belong to a Gym[4] where you knew members locally.  He added quickly that it was a common belief held as a truism by the membership that new members fared much better in their Body-Building efforts when those they surrounded themselves with were familiar to them.  

Well, I must say that his enthusiasm for his Gym swept me away.  Within a very short time, I witnessed my intrigue driving thoughts and actions toward joining.  I reviewed the application with great scrutiny.  I talked it over with my wife, several times in fact.  I kept circling back to two questions that seemed to be truly unrelated to what I perceived to be Body-Building.

The first question left me confused.  It focused upon what I believed. I couldn’t see the relevance of what I believed in relation to Body-Building.  It simply didn’t make much sense to me to ask such a question considering the focus of the Work that I desired to do.  I tried rationalizing it.  I tried looking at it from a spiritual side.  I even tried looking at it from the viewpoint of other Body-Builders having to Work out beside me.  After much thought I concluded that it was a harmless question overall and that sharing what I believed shouldn’t affect my progression in any way.

The other question left me giggling.  It had to do with any thoughts that I might have about overthrowing the government.  I could not help but laugh as I imagined myself dressed up “Rambo-style” accompanied by a group of middle-aged weekend Body-Builders showing up for work at city hall. I guess there might be some who take Body-Building in that direction but I didn’t see myself doing so.  I couldn’t foresee this question being problematic in any way.

The rest of the questions seemed routine for applications of this type.  There were requests for general family information, background, dates and such.   Nothing asked that seemed too prying.

Fully satisfied that I had examined it carefully, I finally filled out that application and submitted it to the intake person at the Gym.  The deed was done.  The die was cast.  I was on my way toward membership.

Clock Watching

Then, I waited... quite a rather lengthy time too.  Finally, a Gym member contacted me.  It seemed he wanted to “interview” me to see if I was a good fit for the Gym.  I thought this very odd since my interest was in Body-Building and I truly thought that the Gym would be grateful for another interested member.  Nevertheless, I consented to the “interview” and set up a time for some members to come over and “talk”.  

I found out also that such interviews typically took place away from the Gym and usually at the prospect’s home.  They even wanted my spouse to be present so that she would know more about my involvement at the Gym.  I thought this unusual since it was me who would be Working out at the Gym and not her.  When I asked about this, I was told that a good reason for this would be provided at the interview.

It was just about two months later when my interview day arrived. I was so excited that I couldn’t sit still.  The carry over from my previous conversation two months earlier still echoed in my mind.  My wife was less excited.  She already knew the Body-Building I had done in the past would make me a natural for any Gym. Her manner that day, and for that whole two months leading up to it, was cool, subdued and collected.

My manner was another matter.  I’d heard of these Gyms before.  I knew that their criteria for membership was high.  Although my interest and experience in Body-Building was above the norm, I couldn’t help but think that I might not measure up to their standards.

In short, my anxiety was so tight that it nearly caused my ears to ring!

With all this occurring for me, I still managed to last long enough to hear the knock at my door.  I walked over to it, took a deep breath saying to myself, “Show time!” and opened the door.

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Author’s Note:  This story is fictitious.  Any reality to resemblance might hint greatly that you have Mastered the lines of reading between the art.

F&S,

Brother John S. Nagy

 

 [1] pursuing betterment

 [2] Lodges

 [3] betterment pursuers

 [4] Lodge

Cracking Ritual

“The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.” 
– Obadiah 1:3-4 (AKJV)

How subtle Ritual truly is.  Its soft embrace cleverly disguises many nuances unseen by those who seek them not.  Returning its embrace often brings forth Light hidden by the Shadows of Ignorance.  Seek it and you shall Find wonders.

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Sometimes it’s the little things that go unnoticed, until they begin to irritate you.  This occurred recently when I was tickled in a most annoying way by the phrase, “cleft of the rocks”.  I didn’t know why it kept fluttering under my nose, but it was clear that it was not going away on its own. 

After numerous unwanted assaults, I finally took a mindful notice of it and grabbed hold.  As I did, I was reminded that I was a Mason and I Work on Rocks.  This hard reminder compelled me to look up the word, “cleft[1]” to obtain a more solid understanding. I’m glad I did!

Upon its examination, I connected further to subtle Allusions within Ritual. There was the obvious connection to the Ruffians that were found hiding in the cleft of the rocks.  There was another one to the hollows where our heels find solace as we progress from candidate to Master but no more once there!  There was also the not so common connection to the now obsolete meaning of the word, “cowan”, that meant at one time “hollow, gap, crevice, indent or hole”.

The matter continued to roll around within my mind as I found more associated Allusions and connections.    When I laid each of them out upon my working slab, I had a profound insight.  These Allusions point to Unfinished Work! 

Masons are told that specific Work must be Completed to Achieve Mastery.  That Work is clearly pointed toward by Ritual (but is not the Ritual itself.)  Even the Third Degree Allegory directs us back to Completing that Work.  This Allegory also warns us about making any effort to dismiss any of Work.  Ritual also tells us through Allusion that, when our Work remains unfinished, our Word’s Value is ripped from us, our Desires become fodder for beasts and fowl and our very Being is Torn in Two differing Directions; Allusions and Warnings that few Brothers glean initially.   

But do all Brothers heed such warnings?  Many don’t.  Ritual tells us how to recognize them though. Their very looks betray them!  How?  Let’s review this!

It tells us that we can Recognize Cowanistic Brothers[2] by their unfinished Work. 

1) The cowans of their feet are only used as resting places for heals that have yet to walk the path. 

2) You’ll always see gaps in their Work. 

It is not their concern though.  They remain complacent to Progress no further and to receive less for unfinished Work.

It also tells us that Ruffian Brothers are quite a different matter. 

1) They desperately want what they have yet to earn. 

2) They feel entitled to more and attempt to dishonestly receive it but are unwilling to legitimately Work for it. 

3) Their Ashlars are wholly divided.  Their entire being is “Severed in Twain!”  Recognize them by their arrogance but more so by the cleft in their Ashlars, where you shall find their true selves hiding.

It’s truly amazing the insights you can glean when you take a crack at probing what irritates you.  Sometimes you get to view new holes.  Every time though, you get whole new views!

Points to Perpend:

1. What have you yet to Pursue?
2. How does this Affect you and others?
3. What can you Do about this?

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[1] Cleft (noun) – a fissure, rift, break or split; a deep division between two parts of the body.

[2] Brothers who remain complacent with their unsquared Ashlars and untempered Cement.