THE RICHNESS OF IDEAS

King Solomon could have asked for anything. G-d was so satisfied with his service that he made the offer. Wealth. Power. Land.  But he would have none of it. Instead he asked for an understanding heart.  So what did Solomon know about wealth? The idea of understanding is oddly satisfying. Some ideas resonant. Some tantalize. T.S.Eliot reminds us in his 1942 poem Little Gidding - "Not known, because not looked for". Learning is as easy and as challenging as looking, asking. Greece turned understanding inside out when they turned to an Oracle at Delphi. And from that period we are left with their maxims to ponder as they did. Three may be better known than the rest:  Know Thyself. Nothing In Excess. Surety brings ruin. So as we bend to our labours, we have work to do in the background just to understand. Stobaeous gave up 147 of them: Be Thyself. Control Your Temper. Exercise Nobility- three I've selected at random to be shared.  As many of us learning, teaching others is a good way to learn, so doesn't this suggest a good use of Delphic maxims when we are introduced to a person about masonry?  Would it have changed your set point to be asked what a particular maxim means to you? No declaration. Just asking for an observation.  I believe we would not be speaking with him or her without also having a sense of their ability to contribute, to compromise, having a sense of tolerance, and a questioning mind.  We cannot share ideas with a person who has no inclination to trust them.  It is what we understand and how we apply that understanding in our constructions, that sets us apart.  I like to think there are Brethren with a vision of cathedrals requiring generations of commitment to complete. Right you are Cluny no longer exists except in history as a remarkable achievement. Are we going for immortality too?