A Past Master's Thoughts

What came you here to do? That question has three specific answers. All are very interesting in some conversations I have had with Masons and Non-Masons alike. A while back, I spoke to an Elder Priestess in my Spiritual Tradition, and she talked about being “Lost in the Mysteries”. When a person has so much “tunnel vision” that they lose focus on their goal. Can that happen within Masonry? Of course it can. Is it possible that we spend so much time being “Masonic” that we lose sight of what Masonry is all about? Do we lose sight of that very question? What came you here to do? Have I lost sight of myself? Maybe I have. Maybe I need to look at my shadow self and evaluate myself and my journey? My favorite card in the Tarot is The Hermit. That struggle for growth and the quest for your inner being. The card shows a wise man standing on a mountain top holding a lantern of light. Is that light held for others or for you first? This is a very important question. When we climb that...

I spent the weekend doing spiritual work for my personal spiritual tradition. There were several things that happened that were a comedy or errors. I learned a few things I will not and can not go into here.  While Masonry is an oath-bound Tradition, so is my spiritual practice. While I was out of town, there were a few discussions about a post and people being “children of God”.  I want to share my thoughts on this for a moment. No, I am not a Christian, and I have not been shy about that at all. However, I do my best to honor all people of all faiths. Why? Well, that answer is pretty simple.  I see the GAOTU as the Great All That Is.  In other words, God.  Now I see God as a very generic term that can only be defined by the person and their relationship with the Divine. It is so very personal, and should be. I see the Divine as a single entity in balance between both Masculine and Feminine forms. Why? It takes both positive and negative energy to bring a...

I am tired. Getting worn out, really. Slick as a set of retread tires. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it - it's like pieces of glass in my head, all the time. Can you understand? Today is National Holocaust Day. One single day, when we remember not just our Jewish Brothers that suffered ethnic cleansing and eradication. The Holocaust touched Soviets, Jehovah's Witnesses, Gays, and Freemasons, etc., according to the Holocaust Museum.  Basicly if you did not fit the “mold,” you were an outsider. I am not saying this to take away from our Jewish Brothers who suffered greatly at the hands of a madman. But the root cause is hatred and fear. Fear and hatred still exist, sadly. Just today, I made a comment on a post and someone “jumped my case.” I went and looked at his Facebook profile and images. I saw an image of a “madman” from the 1930s with the initial...

I know I can get very passionate. Sometimes I will have a thought, write it out and share it here. I know not everyone agrees with my thoughts and ideas. That’s ok, you don’t have to. I am not asking you to. I only ask that you read with an open mind and share your thoughts and ideas too. Lately I have been very angry. I try not to be, but I am. I am not going to go into the whys and such. But I want to leave this one simple thought. The way that you treat the person you like the least is how you love your God the most. When you look into the eyes of the most marginalized person you encounter, you are looking directly into the eyes of God. When we look at the “undesirable” person on the street. When we pass judgement on the single Mom doing her best with what she has. The homeless Vet. The disabled person. The gay person. A person of a different faith. The person from a different country or ethnic background. The lyric of a song has been coming to mind “We think we have no la...

Last night we taped an episode of the Old-Fashioned Masonic Podcast. Bryan always does a good job with content, and this one will be no different. It is a teaser for a Masonic Ed piece I was working on, and I will add more to it. I do not want to give much away, but it will drop in June. I woke up this morning and started thinking maybe I just scratched the surface of the discussion. It all started from a strange place. This morning over coffee, we were sharing stories, and somehow John Chapter 8 came up. I love this story for so many reasons. For those who do not know it, let me give the highlights. Jesus was teaching, and the church leaders had a woman who broke the law by committing adultery, and they were going to “take care of business”.  They run across Jesus and decide to ask a few questions. Now my first question was this. If she was caught in the act of adultery, where was the guy? I mean, was she breaking the law with herself?  We will get to that in a moment...

Today is Dr. Martin Luther King Day. A day we honor a man and his work to instill human dignity. From what I understood, Dr. King was a Brother in his Prince Hall Lodge. After some research, I found that it was not the case. There was discussion that Grand Master Benjamin Barksdale, of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia, had made Dr. King a Master Mason posthumously.  Again, this was not to be the case. The discussion came up in an article in The Phylaxis , a magazine from the Phylaxis Society, where MW  Barksdale confirmed that it did not happen.  However, a scholarship was created in his honor so students could attend Morehouse College. Dr. King and his family had close ties to Prince Hall Masonry.  His grandfather and Dad were both Masons, and the headquarters for King’s civil rights organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was located inside the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia on Auburn Avenue. Normall...