I MET HIRAM TODAY

I'm never sure if it is humility that makes us appreciate and value honesty. But I am sure it isn't a commodity, like music isn't just mathematics but an effect, frisson.  Packed in to our work is what the ancient Greeks talk about- trials, that require great courage. Heroics unmatched, proof to the gods.  Our Brotherhood seems predicated on a story about a guy we've never met, but that we know intimately- Hiram Abiff.  We come into his life at this sensational conclusion to underscore lessons. What they are may not be as interesting as wondering why the lessons cannot be applied uniformly and why men cannot absorb them passively. There is a natural mistrust of truth. For thousands of years we held belief as the source of all truth- physical and metaphysical. Unprovable faith explained our total existence. We lived in awe of power. But like any power unquestioned, it became overbearing. Our writers poured their talents into metaphors so we would remember a source or a lesson that was implausible to us in our natural state, and according to the popular thinking of the day, needed implausible explanations. Burning bush. Wisdom carved into clay tablets. Plausibility was unceded territory. And then came observations that told a different story and an understanding that learning and knowledge was within the capability of all humanity. In retrospect, ppl began communicating sensibility over great distances. Not just any ppl, but ppl who understood things. If only we were all receptive, but we were not. And so the world unfolded based on ability. Merit?  What you knew or didn't know had nothing to do with manipulation and everything to do with ability.  No sooner was this out of our mouth when we realized, there were powers to were about manipulation to promote their own ends. And no sooner did philosophy form an ethical existence, than science became it's footsoldier.