MASONRY IN A COMPLEX ERA

If at the end of a given day we experience an approximation of the original thinking that was built into FM, it is because of the diligence of men bent over their work in the laboratory.  Idea theives. They borrow, not to take credit due another as middle managers and bureaucrats tend, but those flashes of ingenuity, compressions of ideas.  The collective unconscious, what Jung described as unconsious mind and shared mental concepts. The corridors and rooms in our minds that feed a narrative, not always understood.  We have been asked to share the single most important volume of knowledge on Freemason and distribute it to literate confidants. Knowing they would have their own valuations they will succumb to yours for the sake of discussion and illustration. Together the work is read and debated, page by paragraph by sentence, by word.  And yet, what comes out of the exercise is more than what went in. If we want to move through time, we pick up a book. It is artificial to think ideas spoken are stand alone, because continuity. There is no beginning, no end. We study snippets knowing this. We refer to stereotypes hoping for clarity, being a reminder that what we experience, what we know is of continuum.  If not for geometry and philosophy to guide us, it too would seem chaotic instead of complex. As time wraps around us, we have particular characteristics to emmulate. Joy of understanding is not the bliss of ignorance. Faith is not fact. Happiness is more than a passing emotion. Do we even set our goal to surpass our complacency? Do we commit to the challenges and accept the dignity that our ways have been instilling for 700 years?  Assuming we have cultivated a relationship with ritual and released the geni for this bottle, a life time is never going to be enough and yet will be more than ample.  Be the Mason that you can be.