UNEXPECTATIONS

How do we remain grounded when there is so much happening around to discourage any reasonable man? A few re-readings of ritual produces some interesting findings. This is one that landed on my desktop quiet unexpectedly. Definitive? Absoulutely not. No more or no less interesting that your own. More compelling? If we compare to the extractions passed along to us in good faith. we can ask if our own thoughts resonant?  Mine, they automatically do not. If there is another idea, it is always better than mine- except when it isn't. But by combining them, doesn't it make sense that we might find undiscovered synergies?  Masonic motifs we are told, are not always on the surface. Some, and we have no idea how many, are allegory within metaphor, within symbolism.  If that makes them puzzles then they are secrets from me and likely from you too.  What is it that keeps us grounded? I can't say what it is for you, but for me, it is the erudite conversation said in whispers. Disclosures of critical thinking said as if that alone is a violation of commitment.  Except, masonry does give legitimacy to skepticism and even cynicism. It is the premise with which we begin- first darkness, then the penetration of light chasing away ignorance and superstition.  Of course, when we learn this, we expect the world will now fall at our feet, amazed at our intellectual dexterity. We will be unchallenged when equipped with this secret knowledge.  Entitlement and we can measure it's ability to last with a simple experiment.  With stopwatch in one hand, push the other into a bucket of water.  Begin the count by pulling your hand out and measuring how long the shape of it lasts.   Or is that the amount of time our significance lasts when we are gone?