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... Who was the Widow?

A Brother Asks: I know who the widow's son is, but who's the widow?

My Response: Like so many other things that are presented to us in Allegorical form, it, "The Widow" to whom the son is connected, is not a who; it is a what.

Brother: Please explain.

Coach: Sure. When you know to what it is that the "Widow" is referring, it also tells you what you need to focus upon to become its offspring.

Brother: To what is "Widow" referring?

Coach: Good question!  Should you want to pursue this in depth, I recommend you look at the intimate connection between the words "Winnow" and "Widow".

Brother: Okay...

Coach: Afterward ask yourself, what widowing are you required to do through your Masonic Journey from Profane to Mastery and what must you actively participate in to achieve that Mastery?

Brother: Does the widow symbolise our separation of the material world to that of the spiritual Father?

Coach: I guess this all depends upon how you desire to see it. In the paradigm I present here and hold to, we have both Wheat and Chaff in our lives - symbolized by the threshing-floor of Ornan. It is through our choices, decisions and subsequent actions that we divest ourselves accordingly. In the case of Freemasonry, we divest ourselves though the Masonic Work that Freemasonic Ritual and Process offers to us. I know of at least 4 fundamental life changing divestitures that it offers. What do you think those divestitures are?

Brother: As widow's son do we symbolise our human physical nature?

Coach: If we are to be called a "Widow's Son", according the Freemasonic paradigm offered through its Ritual and Process, we are the offspring of the separation process! But not before hand.

Brother: Are we bound to the mother (creation / material / earth) after the symbolic 'Fall' of mankind?

Coach: Only if you believe that this paradigm applies to you and you wish to embrace and live it. There are other paradigms one can live that do not include this paradigm. Some actually believe the fall alluded to in your question was not a fall at all and was actually a necessary step toward adulthood.

BTW - Winnowing and Threshing clues can be found upon the threshing-floor.  You might find it enlightening to explore.

Brother: So, can't we take the allegory that is Freemasonry and assign it a name?

Coach: Indeed we can!  Allegory assign personas to their characters.  And just like allegories of old, The Widow is definitely a characterization within our organization.  

Brother: Now you have my head spinning.  Who then is the Widow of Freemasonry.

Coach: That would depend entirely upon which of her members you ask and how astute they are at detecting her allegorical clues.

F&S,

Brother John S. Nagy