WHAT FREEMASONRY STANDS FOR !!
No one can dispute the fact that we are living in a disturbed world and this is brought to our attention every day we live by the news we get on the T.V., radio and the newspapers.
This unrest should teach us who belong to the masonic fraternity that we have masonic obligations and masonic wages to earn.
We must be taught to realize our obligations to our fellow men as well as to our brothers in masonry.
We must obtain clearer and more definite understanding of what masonry is and what it stands for.
We must learn how to apply to the problems of life and principles taught within the lodge room.
We must obtain ritual interpretation as well as ritual instruction.
We must help in that building of character which is the cornerstone of our masonic edifice.
We must be brought to realize that the whole duty of man is contained within the ritual instruction of the three degrees of masonry, and by constant discussion and constant search we must learn to dig out for ourselves every little bit of symbolism and every lesson contained in each word of our ritual, every little bit of our lodge furnishings and every article of masonic use and clothing.
We must learn new meanings of the word “Fraternalism“, and learn the true significance of the masonic ritual in the relation to business life, to home life, to everyday life and social obligations.
The challenge in masonic instruction lies in its teaching of practical application.
The real mason is he who practices outside of the lodge those virtues inculcated in it, not he who is able to deliver a realistic recital of those principles and then forgets or ignores the fact that they form a real working formula for life and conduct twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and fifty-two weeks in every year of life.
Masonry is a never ending study and a study that grows on one.
The average mason does not give much attention to the never ending symbolism of masonry, to the meaning of the working tools, to the level, the square, the compass and the apron. But he only needs waking up a little to discover how valuable and beautiful are the lessons conveyed by each act done and every word spoken and by each and every object used in a masonic lodge.
When masons realize that the ritual of our order is not an empty thing, not a string of words to catch the ear, but an ancient composition, every word of which is full of symbolism and every act of which is full of meaning, then and then only can masonry become that which it is intended to be – a great moral force for the up building of their character.
If masonic education realizes its ultimate logical conclusion, our order will be lifted to an immeasurably higher plane. We shall cease to become merely members of the greatest fraternal order on earth, but will become members of the greatest fraternity that ever existed, a fraternity that will live as well as speak the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God.
To reach this high ideal the masonic ritual, masonic emblems, masonic symbolism and every little act ordained as part and parcel of our work provide the machinery.
By the study of masonry as it is we bring to ourselves the realization of our duties, our duty to ourselves, to our families, to our masonic brethren, to our associates in business or pleasure – in a word, to practice outside of the lodge those virtues taught within it.
By masonic study we learn the meaning and everyday application of all masonic symbolism. To keep ourselves as spotless as the piece of lambskin, to be willing to learn and stand in the northeast corner of the world so as to be near the fountain of knowledge and follow the rising sun from the east by way of the south to the west and thence to the happy contentment of a life full of years and good deeds.
We need to make our fraternity truly fraternal and a power in a materialistic would of selfish behaviour. We possess the weight of numbers, we have the greatest system of ethics, we need no change, neither in our ritual nor in our teachings; all we need do is to bring home to ourselves just what our obligations obligate us to do.
And after we have driven that home to ourselves we shall be able to conduct our lives in such a manner that those with whom we come in contact may recognize our masonic membership by reason of our consistent practice of the ethics of masonry.
By R. W. Bro. E. A. Davies
Published in The Tracing Board. circa 2003
Comment
WOW= I have been invited by Aurora Lodge #165 (BC&Yukon) to speak at their regular Lodge meeting tomorrow evening Nov 24th, and have been deliberating on what to say. So I go through my Library and discover this paper from at least 13 years ago.
What else can I say except THANK YOU to the G.A.O.T.U.
Have a Wonderful Day & God Bless
Norm