A Past Master's Thoughts

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...

I am going to share something from inside the Lodge. I do not really consider this a “Masonic Secret” as much as I do “Masonic Common Sense”. But then the majority of our lessons are very common sense. Maybe that’s why it takes a lifetime to master them? So in a number of Masonic Lodges, we have a section of the floor that is adorned with black and white squares.  Of course, these are symbolic and can go a number of different directions. Light, Dark, Good, Evil, Understanding, Ignorance, Balance, Disharmony. Today I saw a meme that said something I have tried to say my whole life. Sometimes, you forget the simple lessons and make a mistake.  Sometimes, as you navigate the squares of that carpet, you do your best to walk on the white squares. But there are days you stand fully on a black one. The Meme I saw said the following: “Be careful not to dehumanize those you disagree with. In our self-righteousness, we can become the very thing we criticize in others. “ No matte...

I know the last few thoughts have been about Dedication and Initiations. I have written and thought about how I believe the first two Masonic rituals are dedications, and the third and last in the symbolic Lodge is the true Initiation. I will not go into the happenings of those rituals or even why I believe the way I do, for reasons. Masons, like many other groups, do in fact swear an oath; in fact, we swear three. That is no secret. Each one builds on the next. There are Masons who believe we are swearing an oath to the Grand Architect of the Universe and the other members of the Lodge. But again, I disagree with this thought. It is my opinion that when you take a Masonic oath or obligation. You are making a promise to yourself. Let's start with what an Obligation is.    An Obligation is something (such as a formal contract, a promise, or the demands of conscience or custom) that obligates one to a course of action or ideal. You have promised that you yourself would up...

The other day I was at a cigar lounge and started talking to a guy there. He told me he was a Mason. I thought that it was wonderful and asked him what Lodge he was from. “Oh, I am not from a Lodge.” So, I responded “You do not attend currently, What is your Home Lodge?” He continued with “No, you do not understand I have never been a member of a Lodge, I read about it on the internet and liked the ideas, so I am a Mason.” Hang on there Lone Ranger. I hate to be the bearer of sad news. But that does not make you a Mason. He looked at me a bit puzzled. I wanted to ask him if he set up a cot in his garage would that make him a car? But I also did not want to be sarcastic and rude. I know, as for the sarcasm there is a first time for everything. I do my best not to be rude, its degrading and there really is no use for it. Instead, we talked about some things I was hoping he would understand. We took the conversation down a “religious” path. It was interesting as I am in the initial ...

I went to Lodge last night, and a couple of Brothers Looked at me and laughed. You’re getting a bit fired up Brother. I knew they were talking about my post. I am not saying they agreed or disagreed. But it spoke volumes that I am turning this blog into something I did not intend. Let me say this about politics real quick before I continue. You have your view, I have mine. If you like or dislike what you see. Contact your state and federal reps and make your voice heard, then VOTE. OK Now I am done. I will be spending more of my time on Masonic Ed and looking at a new piece regarding Initiations, dedications, and the difference. Why should there be time between degrees, etc. But while I am thinking about that and working on the presentation. This thought came to mind. Have you even seen a “Perfect Mason”? I mentioned this topic when I was installed as Master of my Lodge. None of us are perfect. We are all rough ashlars doing our best to make a difference in our lives and the li...

A number of years ago there was a ride I wanted to take. Now at the time I was riding with a Masonic Motorcycle Order and wanted to go to Tennessee. I am a huge fan of Bob Segars older stuff. He does have one record I can not get anymore, well streaming anyway, and I am bumbed. But on his live album he did a cover of Nutbush City Limits. I did not know at the time that Ike and Tina Turner wrote and recorded it. Or that it was about the town Tina grew up in. The song Nutbush City limits had 2 things in it that made me ride down for. The song said that there was no Motorcycles or Whiskey allowed un Nutbush. I jumped on my bike and headed to Tennessee. Had a small issue and left the bike in St. Louis and drove to Memphis. I rented a Harley and rode to Nutbush. Stopped at a Liquor store and bought a bottle of whiskey and for at least 10 – 15 minutes Nutbush Tennessee had a motorcycle and whiskey in “city limits”.   Nutbush is a very small community. There are about 259 people that ...