My Journey Through Lebanon and Turkey

Lebanon has turned out to be more extraordinary in every aspect than I could have imagined.

We were met at the gate by security, who said in a Arabic meets Aramaic accent, "Timothy Hogan and Mr. Porter." We said a collective, "Yes?" and looked at one another with equal curiosity. Ushered to the Diplomatic Line at the passport stand and ushered into Lebanon with great speed we met Brothers Peter and Rabi with their driver and were underway on the adventurous highways of Beirut before we really understood what that means. Lanes are only a suggestion in Beirut and for Peter's driver...they are not taken as recommended.

Lebanon is a contradiction as plain and beautiful as humanity. Lush trees and countryside, next to rocky hills stripped bare of cedar from the push of human destiny. Rich next to poor, old and new, bombed and remodeled all huddled together under the canopy of a sky that has shined on these cities which have bustled in similar fashion with similar people for millennia. 

Byblos, or Giblum (stone squarer) is the longest and most continuously occupied city in the planet. Home to one of our passwords and the center of the "The Book"...literally taken from the city that would change history...over and over and over again.

Taken to lodge we met native Arabic speakers, English speakers, French speakers, and I am sure something else speakers....truly and international lodge whose charter is from the Grand Lodge of New York...America helping unite...it was nice to be reminded of America's potential to bring men together as Tim and I began our presentations on 4th of July. 

Several Brothers would wish us a happy Independence Day. And happy, thus far it had been. 

We had begun the day in search of ancient ruins. We found them and they did not disappoint. Once again the symbols of our philosophies poured out in stone, but this stone as old as 10,000 years. Symbols of the Entered Apprentice due guard, the six pointed star, the five pointed star, network, lilies, and pomegranates. The desire to unite and to understand ones self clearly a part of the most ancient of mystical initiatic traditions.

Standing in the old Baptismal pools of Jupiter more than 4,500 years dry...but a BAPTISMAL POOL none the less.

A mosaic coming to us from a thousand years before Christ of a Shepard hold ing a crook and grapes and wreathed in garland that look a lot like thorns...a familiar look to Christians...but much older than the story of our Christ.

Dinner with men from several Continents would follow a day of temples, lodges and fellowship. The food was a feast and was enjoyed with Lion's Milk, Mezzo and friends. Tim and I shared a Hookah of light mint and lounged in couches in an open air restaurant where the waiters wore tuxedo type jackets and the guest lounged for hours dressed in everything from formal dress, the gowns of a Sheik, to jeans.

More lodge visits would follow in the wonderful mix of Masonry called Lebanon.  Grand Lodges from all over the world meeting in Lebanon and I was able to hear the opening of lodges in the constitutions of Scotland, England, and America.  

The second lodge visit was much different than the first.  The building bigger.  The Brothers dressed mostly in tuxedos, and a visit from the Grand Master.  There was a little more tension in the air for me.  

Lodge opened and Tim and I were received to the East and then the Grand Master took the Gavel and presided over lodge.

Tim would open and I could tell from the outside that there were some Brothers who didn’t appreciate alchemy as a topic.  The majority of these brothers were Christian and in Lebanon this is both a religious and political statement and they took it with seriousness.

“I read the Bible” one Brother said in broken but understandable English, and if the Bible says the flood is the flood, then it is about faith and not alchemy.  The Bible, faith, this is what it means.”

It was fitting that the next discussion would be about perceptions and words.

The question was posed, “If one man reads the Bible and finds love of God, proof of the Divine, and an outpouring of desire to know God by his Brothers that came before him, what do we call it?”  

No takers, the question to charged with emotion for a place where the last war is still heavily evidenced in bombed out buildings and unpatched bullet holes.

We continued, “If one man calls it faith and another calls it alchemy, are they really talking about different things?  Or are these expressions from the same God?”  

The same man who challenged Tim came to me later and kissed me (common in Lebanon), hugged me, and called me friends.  Later he sat with me at dinner and we learned much from another.  

Bridges and tears I thought.  Religion, faith, hope, love, and Freemasonry; building bridges over rivers of tears.  Where once was misunderstanding and argument, was complete Brotherhood and tolerance.  Freemasonry, powerful medicine.  Its good to be an architect and builder in a world of destroyers.  We have hard work, but glorious labor in front us my Brothers.

The Druze.

We met many during out trip and heard one say, “Freemasonry is the religion of the Druze” and he laughed.  The Druze, a secret society that requires lineage to be accepted.  Stricter than Masonry, you must be born into it.  You have grips, hollow columns, reverence of Pythagoras, reverence of Hebraic mystical traditions, circumabulation, etc.  It is so similar to Masonry that one its own members calls Freemasonry the religion of the Druze!  It is interesting that the Druze degree was removed by the Scottish Rite for the Sufi degree because it was determined Pike was mistaken.  I wonder if someone didn’t jump the gun.  Because the Druze themselves would claim him correct.  This I heard from the mouth of Druze, not from the mouth of experts who claim to know them.

Dinner in Byblos is worth noting.  A vibrant and undying city.  We sat in an open air restaurant with a view of an Ottoman ruins and at a giant tray of deep friend fish, heads and all with a light sesame and dill sauce.  The meal itself would look scary, but tasted out of this world.

Christians, Druze, Muslims, Gnostics and an Agnostic man of science  sat around this table of fish frozen in death throws by boiling oil, there little eyes creeping me out just a bit as the discussion grew deeper.

Strange to have such a diverse conversation, running from transmigration of souls to radical Islam in the shadow of a war ruin, in a country torn by war, but utterly alive.  They use an old bomb shelter as a dance club now, but flags of Hezbollah fly in castles of old as a reminder that the threat has not left.

It almost seems surreal that a people as open, loving, and desirous of simply enjoying life could turn to war.  Wars that seems driven by those who are far away.  It is almost as if the powers of outside nations ravage the beauty of a people that is so deep the country has been a lighthouse and a flashpoint for millennia.

The Club.

Open only two days and a large line to get in, it was too behold.  Built as a coliseum, but couches, tables, and chairs taking the place of bleachers.  A three story stage lighting set up surround a 360 degree bar that must of had a 25 meter diameter it seemed, the music booming from rock concert level speakers draped three stories above.

We walked right in.  Things go like this with Peter around.  He, being one of our host.  It would seem that we could go nowhere where smiles, hugs, and kisses did not meet this man.  

Wives, friends, Brothers, cousins, sisters, all passed by, sat with us for a minute, and headed off again.  The booming music, the lighted tunnel to get in, the friendly but charged atmosphere inside seemed to highlight the dichotomy that is Lebanon.  Farmland to cities, ruins to nightclubs, and the most deadly traffic I have ever closed my eyes and prayed in, to the most loving people on earth.  Lebanon.  Lighthouse and flashpoint for another million years I would guess.

Istanbul.

My return.  It was wonderful to see old friends.  The hotel was an old Ottoman prison, now a 5 star.  The air condition broke in my room and the mattress seemed extra hard.  I laughed thinking maybe the spirits had gleaned my employment and thought “finally” we have one of the “them.”  

The schedule would be the one for which we had kept in Lebanon and the one for which I had grown accustomed in Istanbul.  Go, go, go and sleep little.  We averaged three hours a night I believe and it seems the current of powerful energy that runs deep in this ancient place charges you completely until you leave it, then slump exhausted and trying to recoup and reclaim your lost hours of sleep.  

Mr. Oktar would say on air that Islam would be the religion of the whole world and would talk of the end times.

I smiled to myself knowing how this would be received in a very different Western culture that is my home.  

It is important to understand words.  Islam means to give oneself completely and utterly over to God.  In the Gospel of Mark we read, “But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

So it is that the idea of submission to God is also a Christian ideal, but the fear that the terrorist and Islamic fundamentalist have driven into the minds of the American psyche will cause a visceral reaction.  This is normal and proper I imagine, but the idealist in me still hopes for a world where Christians, Jews, Muslims, and all of God’s children can embrace with the same love and respect for one another that is found Masonic lodges around the world.  

Lodges, microcosms of hope.

Power, Truth and Symbol

The power of the symbol is unmistakable. We only need to drive a vehicle, holding it steady, to one side or another of a dotted line to recognize its power and hold over our psyche and our behavior. If it were not recognized as such a powerful tool it would be enough to train drivers to simply stay on one side of the road. Yet, we provide this symbol as a strong and powerful reminder of just where we are supposed to stay.

If this word picture is not compelling then I ask you to imagine a man going to a large evangelical church with a pentagram on his chest, exposed for all to see and the reaction that he might receive.

The symbol is so powerful that simply rotating it can change the psychological and physiological response to it. Take the same pentagram worn by our churchgoer and rotate it upside and it seems more ominous and evil than before. Let’s take the cross, widely accepted in today’s culture as the central symbol of the Christian faith, and turn it upside down; now it is a symbol of Satan and the dark arts. I find it amazing that a simple 180 degrees can change a symbol of hope and regeneration into a symbol of black magic, demons, and despair.

Allow me to digress for a moment in an attempt to illustrate a point. One morning I had listened to CNN and the words “moral responsibility” popped out of someone’s mouth and what riveted my attention afterward was that it had been preceded by the words “Federal Government.” History teaches that whenever the government begins to administer and inflict a moral responsibility upon you, you can be certain that it has little to do with morality, responsibility, or common sense; so I listened.

This particular story was in regards to the Jenna Six and the noose as a symbol of hate. The story continued that the symbol of the noose should be banned because of its attachment to the innocent killing of African Americans. There will be those, with whom I will lose a little ground because once such a symbol enters into the story, the emotion attached is so powerful that reasonable debate and articulated reason leave the room. Regardless, I will continue with the illustration as I think it is a good one and an important one.

Trying to ban the noose as a symbol is a failure in recognizing the true power of the symbol. The problem with the logic of banning a symbol is that it is based on a presupposition that is completely false. That presumption is that banning the symbol of will ban or remove the belief behind it. This does not eradicate the true power of the symbol which is the belief system they represent. You could ban the cross and there would still be Christians, you could ban the noose and there would still be hate and bigotry.

This story also illustrates the degradation of the symbol to the worship of the symbol itself. When faith is not reasoned, educated, or investigated it has the tendency to move toward the favorite religion of the ignorant and lazy, which is idolatry in its most base sense. What is meant is that the worship of symbols without truly understanding the stories, allegories, and belief systems behind them. This shallowness of believe manifest in religious wars, bigotry, and religious intolerance so prevalent in today’s world. The ease of allowing someone else to tell you what you believe is intoxicating in ways and leads to the ignorant obedience to the pulpit. Never having picked up and read their own holy books, these so called believers, these worshipers of the symbol itself, have the audacity to condemn others who actually read theirs, screaming aloud that they are heretics, sinners, and doomed to some fiery fate. For instance, this was the threat of the Gnostic current within Christianity and why it was so harshly stamped out by those who saw the church as a political foundation for power to administer on behalf of God, which of course, they do through degrading the tradition to an almost superstitious belief in the symbols themselves. All of a sudden the wine is literally blood, holy water can repel evil spirits and the like.

Why all this talk of religion, of current events, of hate, idolatry, bigotry even and what can it have to do with Freemasonry? In a word: Everything.

If Masonry has a religion it is the symbol. Not the ignorant worship of the symbol for the thing it represents, but for the devoted research, study, and inculcation of the meaning behind the symbol. The reality that the symbol, by itself, is a beautiful allegory of meaning when combined and mixed with the inquisitive mind and the working spirit that does not lay idle in hope that someone will tell it what to believe.

Understanding this truth, and the reality of the situation, is important to save Masonry from devolving into a system of ignorant tradition that becomes what it should vehemently labor against.

When, for the sake of harmony, for the sake of expediency, for the sake of laziness, we move quickly through the work, fail to uphold the highest standards, or fail to guard the West Gate against the ignorant and lazy Masonry is destined to the fate of foolish leadership or egomaniacal title collection that will bulldoze and destroy the philosophers of the Craft for fear that their own ignorance will be exposed and their titles recognized by others as ill received.

Allowing these men to lead results in a fundamentalism of sorts that holds highest the most ridiculous elements of the Craft while sacrificing its most sacrosanct to the fringe and barely tolerated. All of a sudden, and at once, the obligation becomes a gray area, we argue with anger, we guard foolish behaviors because we know no other behaviors, because we have opted for habit instead of devoted research, one being so much quicker and easier than the others.

We tell ourselves that someday we will study, that someday we will learn, but until then we spend our energies in Masonry climbing ladders and arguing against progression because we fear it for we have not studied it.

Preposterous statements that the Chamber of Reflection is a purely Christian Rite entitled to the Commandery are made by ignorant men whose only knowledge of the Chamber is their participation in it during a particular Christian Rite. Insufferable jewel collectors claim that Masonry is being wrongly crafted into the image of a few. They do this and claim this because a five minute Internet search is the pinnacle of their research and they fear discovery as a fraud armed with shallow philosophies if the true aim of Masonry is adhered to.

These men worship the symbol, dig no deeper than a facial examination of the lectures, and believe wrongly that some of the legend should be taken as literal history and that the discovery of alchemy and mysticism is a “stretch.”

These men commit the greatest of Masonic sins if such a thing exists because they allow the ritual and rites, without study, to become Masonry; the very thing Free Masonry should stamp out. The power of the symbol is the beliefs in the archetypal spirit of man that they tug at and represent. If Masonry is allowed to degrade into a set of working tools with elementary lectures explaining rudimentary moral concepts the Fraternity will die because its philosophies already have.

We must, within the Craft, utilize the philosophies of the Craft. We must educate and inform our Brothers so that they can form their own opinions without relying on the opinions of others. We must combat ignorance with logic. The brick of mortar of any institution is just that. It does not possess a conscience and does not have a “moral” anything. The minute we are put down, relegated, or denigrated for philosophies that stand behind the symbol and are told that there is nothing more to the symbol than a simple explanation or definition, or that the symbol is powerful for the symbol itself we should rise up, study, educate, and remember that if we put aside Masonic philosophies to fight on their behalf we have likewise been infected with the virus of ignorance and fundamentalism.

We must combat these things with Masonry, with philosophy, with open minds, loving hearts, and education.

What is the relevance of Masonry people wonder….well I wonder where in the world would a philosophy designed to unite and eradicate ignorance and laziness serve a great good. Then I wonder where in the world it would not.

No Second Chances

He had known about the assignment for weeks. He didn’t want to do it, he had little interest in old English literature and nothing seemed more boring or pointless. Wrestling practice, Sophia Calloway, and several other things in life had taken his attention and upon close inspection by him, seemed more worthy of his time.

So, in the end, on Wednesday he showed up with no paper in hand, and a really great story. Mr. Philips, the 22 year old recent college graduate and newly crowned high school teacher, had learned how important self esteem is to his students and he provided an out. He would hate to see this young man fail and damage his ego…er um self esteem. So, more time is given with little thought to those that actually completed the assignment on time.

We had Dr. Casey Blood speaking in lodge the other day. Dr. Blood is a quantum physicist and Sufi mystic. He was relating an excellent presentation of the mathematical evidence for the existence of a soul and explaining his belief systems for what might happen to such a thing in this cycle of life.

The question of a “hell” came up as well as reincarnation and Dr. Blood’s response has caused me to contemplate much. He said, stating it as his opinion, “I think you get one shot.” He followed up with the belief that if your soul fails to progress it simply ceases to exist. Can you imagine…one shot or you simply cease.

I wondered how much different our lives would be if all things were approached with such speculation. How often would we choose to remain idle or ignorant if failure meant that we would simply no longer be?

There is a lesson in Masonry that goes hand in hand with such a philosophy. Work. Masonry is work, progression is work, self improvement is work, raising a Brother is work, morality is work. Labor is revered in the Craft, so much so that our allegories are inundated with it. We labor in the quarry of life and spirituality with our respective “working tools.” Masonry is work.

I thought of the times in my life that my actions or words were based on the very fact that I believed I could take it back or repair it later. The consequences, weighed even briefly, seemed tolerable and the “right” or moral choice was not picked.

I mused on the times that I had neglected something important in my life with the belief that I will choose the other “next time.” What if there were never a “next time.” How many times had my beautiful little boy run up to his daddy for a little playtime and I refused because I was tired or busy? What if there was never a “next time.”

What would my priorities be if there was never a next time?

There are teachings in Masonry about the ideal man, three times he is given a chance to fail, and three times, even unto death he chooses morality, courage, and secrecy.

I decided that day that I would try a little experiment. I decided that I would stop living my life like I might get a second chance. I would stop believing that finality was negotiable. I would live like every chip from my rough ashlar would count like the first chip and that it might be the last.

The relevance of Masonry? In a world where self esteem is more important than the truth, in a world where the third chance is the norm, in a world where consequences are subjective and up for compromise, in a world where justice depends on the quality of the attorney……I will choose to live my life like a Mason…I will choose to do the right thing first, for its own sake. I will fail and I will stand ready for the consequences and I will continue to work, without compromise, for that perfect stone.

Welcome to Leadership

It was the big weekend soccer game. The tension hung in the air like a warm fleece blanket, as welcomed as one on a stifling summer day. The minivan was loaded, the mini-players ready to run, kick, jump, and slide. It would be a big day, one to remember regardless of the outcome. Dad had always said it was not winning that mattered, it was how you played the game.

Dad always said that….but today he didn’t really show it. He screamed profanities from the side lines, he yelled at the referees, he shook his head in disappointment so many times that the little guy had lost count.

Years would pass, Timmy was now coaching soccer and the method he tended to employ was the yell, bicker, scream technique. He had been honed by the example of his father and now this was how he chose to lead.

I have heard it said that leaders are born and not made. Hogwash I say. Leadership is not completely genetic and the role models in our lives and the systems they put in place have much more to do with our capabilities as leaders than some X or Y chromosome floating about.

As important as leadership is, there is very little in the way of productive leadership formation in the community for the young adults entering that community as contributing members. How many times have we looked at a political race and said, “Geesh, I don’t like any of the choices.” Yet, what do we do collectively as a community to raise the next set of leaders for our local HOA to the Presidency? If we, as a society do not take an interest in raising our leaders, who will?

I have recently found myself in several leadership type roles within Masonry. I have had the opportunity to help grow education, to help grow a lodge, to help progress Masonry. I love Masonry and want to serve it, but to help lead it, to guide it?

I have been filled with doubt lately as more responsibility is placed upon my lap. I wonder if I will make good and right decisions that will be lasting and do the most possible good. I wonder if not only will I render my decisions effectively, will I deliver the information properly so that it is well received and well executed. I wonder why me?
I have laid awake at night and wondered if the Craft has done itself a disservice by putting so much trust in me.

It hit me the other day like a ton bricks, my responsibility to the Craft, and then a kind Brother helped me to understand.

First, when you sit in the East and look out upon a group of men that you respect, that you look to as friends, Brothers, and mentors; as they look back to you as a leader, they never loose sight of the fact you are their Brother. From the time you are initiated into the Craft, this body of men is building you as a leader. They sculpt you, hone you, and chip away at you. They give gentle guidance, firm redirection, and use persuasion to explain to you. You are not in the East alone, you do not sit by yourself, you sit surrounded by men who continue to guide you and grow you. The position is one of humility, first your friends instruct you, and then let you use that instruction in the form of leadership.

In a world where children are raised by the XBOX and the idiot soccer Dad is the example, Masonry teaches a kind humility and social confidence. It builds leaders out of good men, it seeks to improve the man, and the man then seeks to improve his community.

It is no accident that so many of the world’s great leaders were Masons. Masonry naturally refines good men, so that they can one day be leaders in their own lives, and sometimes, in the lives of their community.

Second. I shared my fears and doubts with a friend of mine in the Craft. He said, “So, sometimes you doubt yourself? Sometimes you don’t get any sleep while you worry? Sometimes you have to give a lot of thought to your decisions?” He paused, “Welcome to leadership.” He went onto explain that the man who believes himself perfect for the role and has little doubt in his abilities is likely arrogant to the point of failure. That the best leaders care and care deeply…and this is not a fault.

In a world where we complain without a solution, where we find fault for its own sake, where our leadership training in life is to “knock them down a peg,” Freemasonry is quietly and consistently growing leaders of their own lives, confident men who care about their choices, who have the courage to fight through doubt and make a decision, even when it is difficult to do so. So you have doubts, so you wonder if you are making the right decisions, you care that deeply about yourself, others, and your world….welcome to leadership…welcome to Masonry.

The Royal Secret

They didn’t dress very nice, always looked a little like the entire family had been dumped from a bag. They tried, their hair was combed, they were clean, but always a little haggard. Dad worked three jobs to make ends meet, but still found time to put Jimmy in soccer and to make the games. Mom worked two jobs, both under the table type stuff, and the money went a long way to making sure the car ran and the house payment was made.

When the offering plate was passed, they put money in, for those less fortunate than they. For on this Christmas Eve, they would have a nice family dinner.

Yet, in the upper middle class neighborhood brimming, the large church with a membership into the thousands, this family was “different.” Not in a good way as the Christmas Christians packing the parking lot with Toyota Highlanders and mini-vans of various types and sizes packing the pews would leave, in a church packed to the gills, the remainder of this wonderful front row empty. No one wanted to sit next to the poor family.

Prior to services begining the pastor would make a plea for involvement in the church, explaining that the new “small groups” programs would begin in January with the New Year and to please sign up early to guarantee a spot. You could hear all the programs rustle as people began checking off the groups they would participate in. A lady stood in front of the church and spoke of their bread ministry where they would bake loaves of bread and drop off a flavorful banana bread or zucchini bread to the door of every new visitor to the church with a small informational brochure in the event they decided to return.

These are “good and loving” people as the pastor would describe his parishioners later in the evening, yet the pew remained empty except for the “poor” family.

Many of the Prada bearing PTA moms would discuss how the church program handing out groceries for the poor was a huge success as they sipped Starbucks coffee in the church “café” following the service. The poor family headed home quickly to their own dinner. Dad never could stomach paying three dollars for a cup of something he could make for twenty cents. The whole practice seemed wasteful in a world where waste had become common place.

The Prada parade would head to restaurants where only half of the over portioned meals will get eaten, the rest disposed of so that their waist size doesn’t get too big when the other girls in the Pilates class will all be looking for who may have gained a pound during the holidays. The poor family will freeze leftovers and nothing will go to waste. Yet, their pew remained empty.

It would seem sometimes that we allow ourselves, in our busy lives, to believe that the ills that have befallen the world are their own fault. They have not worked hard enough, they are lazy, or they drink too much, etc. Our life, because we have been lucky and because we have worked hard, is blessed. And, since we own your blessings more than we should and because we believe ourselves separate from the remainder of the world, we are disconnected from it and do not see the unity of it all.

This disconnect can manifest in many ways. A church full of “good” people who will help the poor so long as they don’t have to sit next to them or share their god with them is only one common example. As harmless as this might seem there is a danger in it.

The Christian that can fail to share a pew is the Christian that can feel removed from their community. This is the Christian that can feel so disconnected that they look upon the affairs of the world, the wars, the sickness, and famine with glee as they hail them as signs of a depraved world and as evidence that the end is about to come. They offer praises of this debauchery as evidence of their saviors return. What if the savior wants us to love and care for our planet, what if we are connected to its oceans and soil in ways that we can never truly appreciate and the stories of this savior are ones that, when understood, call upon you, with intellect and reason, to care for the entire universe, not just a simple planet?

The Muslim that can feel separate from the Christian is the one that can bomb him without thought, can praise the radical, and destroy the peaceful adept.

The Buddhist that can detach himself completely from the world’s affairs is the one that can not share the beauty that exist in his Nirvana.

Let’s jump backwards to one of first lessons in Masonry for minute.

A network, at least to most, would describe some sort of intra or Internet, a wireless network in their house or from their cell provider. But, to the Fellow Craft it is something entirely different. It is described as one of the ornaments adorning the pillars that flanked to doorway to King Solomon’s temple. The lesson the second degree Freemason learns from this, or is supposed to learn from it is UNITY.

I’ve written before of balance and equality and some of the misunderstandings that occur in trying to grasp the concept of balance in regards to esoteric mystical philosophy and I think similar misunderstandings occur with unity, but for different reasons. Balance need not exist. It is a generative product from the creative force of the macro and microcosm. It assists us in an understanding of freewill because it exists as a product of it. In the end, it is likely the universe will balance itself, but this is difficult to comprehend while we ride the ride upon the diurnal rotation.

Unity, on the other hand, exists in spite of us. More importantly, our collective ignorance of it creates a dangerous and deadly situation for us.

Let’s use some word pictures to better illustrate the point and let’s use nature as our guide. There was a time that we, as a collective people, did not realize the connection between earth and water. We thought, as recently as the 1960’s that you could dump something into the ground or bury it underground and be fine. It took scientific discovery to realize that this could affect drinking water, plants, crops, and the people that ingested the water, the plants, and the fish from the water. We did not recognize the connection, but it existed in spite of us. We can choose not to recognize it, but it remains connected, mercury will continue to leech from the ground, to the water, to the fish, to the person.

This line of thinking is equally as dangerous in the philosophical world as well. The failure to recognize unity has resulted in death, war, and hatred.

Returning to the Christian for a moment, consider the early Christian Church since is the most common religion in the world if taken collectively even though they will not consider themselves collectively…keys to heaven, lack of unity, etc. The priest craft was often referred to as “papa” or father. The papa’s began to argue their particular supremacy and the Pope was born. The “papa” or priest craft created a system where the follower of God comes to the priest as an intermediary between them and God. The priest craft itself further divided and the positions of deacons, bishops, and cardinals grew. Now, man had quite the road to travel between himself and God.

If God is omnipotent and omnipresent it is arguable at best that we as a people, planet, or universe can even be separate from him. But, if we fail to recognize the unity of G-d and man, then it is a short step to surrendering our relationship with G-d to the intermediary. Because we fail to recognize our connection and lack of separation with G-d, orthodoxy and dogma appear to create separation. Because this is our perception, we act on it as truth.

The early Christian church, coming to believe its own dogma, divided and separated into factions and the protestant movement was born. Each protestant denomination, believing that the silliest of things can cause separation from G-d, further divided for fear that a relationship with G-d is a fragile thing. Heaven became a far off place with this line of thinking and grape juice instead of wine, Masonic affiliation, or improper dress could buy you a chariot ride to the dark place.

Further, because heaven, G-d, hell, earth, and such are all separate, we are able to commit our sins in private. We can harm and then hope for salvation. We can war against one another and destroy whole peoples because they are separate from G-d.

But if the Muslim and the Jew saw themselves as the heart and eyes of a singular body, if the Christian saw himself as this same bodies legs, would we be so quick to destroy the other? If we understood that the darkest of rooms does not separate us from G-d would we be so quick to murder, to lie, to cheat? How about this? What if the darkest of actions still does not separate you from G-d, from your neighbor, from the earth, from nature, or heaven?

This brings us to the lesson of the 32nd degree of Masonry. Equilibrium. This should not be understood as a concept that exists in singularity. Nor should it be taken to mean that there should be absolute equality in all things. Equilibrium is the result of unity recognized and balance applied.

The most frightening separation that has occurred within humanity is a belief that our consciousness is granted from outside of us, that we are separate from the faculties of reason, logic, faith, and hope. That these wonderful attributes granted by the Creator are without us and not available from within. Know thyself is a physical formula for equilibrium that is simple and profound all at once.

If one man can find himself within, and express it without, the entire universe is changed. We can choose to deny unity, to live out of balance, and to pretend that the universal equilibrium is a dream. Or, we can take responsibility for our actions and own the decisions we make. We can decide to live now instead of seeking a separate heaven while creating a hell of ignorance in the present existence.

This is the relevance of Scottish Rite Masonry.

Monday, Morality, and License Plates

It had snowed the night before and Monday loomed large as a day that was not going to be pleasant. That thought hit home, or more appropriately his arse, as he fell in the driveway in a pricey blue suit, ruining the suit, bruising his butt and ego, and causing a further delay to the day as he would now have to change before proceeding.


Limping to the car, getting in carefully this time, he plugged the key into the ignition, both in a hurry and still dreading Monday; when he was met with a dead engine. Jack Frost had robbed the batteries energy and it would now need a jump. Oh good, he thought, more time in the cold and on the icy driveway.


The car finally started, he began the slippery crawl to work. At the first opportunity a teenager, going way too fast for the conditions, was nice enough to run a stop sign, cut him off, and almost collide with him. They made eye contact, and the temptation to give the single finger salute was great. He started almost, and then remembered, and withdrew the phalange of force, the finger of revenge.


It didn’t take long before some square chinned, small brained giant of a man in an even more giant and jacked up four wheel drive that did not realize that four wheel drive did not always mean four wheel stop and slid several yards before missing our disgruntled Monday commute soldier by only inches. The middle pillar began to twitch again and the fleshy digit of animus almost shot up another time to deliver its delicate message that is consistent in every nation and the same in every city. But, dang it, he remembered and withdrew.


It was at the next lighted intersection his determination would truly be tested. A ninety year old plus women, in a Buick moving four miles an hour, managed to run the red light without even attempting a stop. The little matriarch of mayhem behind the wheel managed to turn her head, provide a toothy grin as she drive right through the intersection, release her death grip on the steering wheel with her right hand, and send up her own one finger salute.


It was almost too much. The anger exploded in him and he reached to roll down the window so that his one finger wave would be higher and so that he could scream the appropriate salutation as loud as he possibly could. Oh, the agony of it as he remembered and stopped himself.
He finally arrived at work, parked, and made it into the office. A hot cup of coffee later and he found that he felt better. He was not as angry as he should have been. It seemed that not acting on his frustration and allowing his acrimony to rule the drive, had allowed agreeability to sneak in and find refuge. He would have to remember that lesson, even when he wasn’t driving that dastardly car that kept reminding him that morning.


That car had Masonic plates on it and it had proved a strong reminder of his commitment to morality. It was amazing how just that little symbol on his license plate had pulled at his conscience and he was uncomfortable displaying behaviors that were inconsistent with Masonic teachings. He, after all, behind the wheel, displaying that plate, was going to advertise for Masonry, what would that advertisement be?


In the end, Masonry had proved powerful and relevant in his life, with a simple license plate.

Who Can Be A Mason

It is ironic that we (The Craft) spend a great deal of time discussing membership. A bit too much really. When you are facing the community to shuck and jive for membership, your back is to the door and little is done for the enriching of the members in some lodges. Herein lays the danger of the membership drive.

Here is the little piece of irony for you irony addicts. We spend a whole lot of time in parking lot discussion after lodges has concluded discussing just who should be allowed to be a Mason. We go back and forth discussing different reasons a man or woman should or should not be made a Mason. Yet, some miscreant shows up with a petition and $20 at the door of some dying lodge and boom…he is a Mason. Heck, three days later in some places, he might just be a Shriner. I digress and this particular topic is not the focus of this piece of literary genius…or mad ramblings, word smith how you would like.

I had an interesting conversation the other day that got me to thinkin’ which is different than caused me to muse. It started with the question, “Can a Wiccan be a Mason?” Well, I stood shivering from the light chill that always precedes the rush of bright red blood to my face when I am not completely sure how to answer a question. I went with the most scholarly of answers and one that bought me a little time. I said, “Well, that depends.” The sneaky son of gun immediately followed with, “On what?” and I was back at square one.

I thought about the Wiccan service I had seen and could not think of anything out right that would stop a member of this community from being a Mason. I thought of fact that the founder of the Wiccan faith as we know it was a Mason. I thought of my conversation with a neo-pagan who believed in a single God that manifests through different aspects of nature. I said, “It would depend on if the man fit the qualifications and I proceeded to pontificate upon the aforementioned in the eloquent pros of someone who was not quite sure himself.

Then someone said, “What about the ritual sex that Wiccans participate in, having sex out in the open in nature and all that.” I have to admit, I have heard of some groups that practice ritual sex, but had not heard that the Wiccans do this. So I mused a bit and tapped my foot a little hoping to buy a scant of time that my mental juices could pick up to more than the trickle that I normally experience. I asked, “How about a group of people that participate in a cannibalistic ceremony where they symbolically tear at the flesh of their G-d and wash it down with a big thirsty gulp of the god man’s blood so that they can become one with their Deity?” Of course it was immediately agreed that this group should not be made a Mason. Then one of my fellow word smiths recognized that I had described, although much differently than normal, the Christian act of communion.

I did not describe it as such to offend, but to cause reflection. We all see things a bit differently from our personal perspectives. It would be different if someone said, “Can a man who has ever had sex in nature be a Mason?” Well, for a lot of 16 year old boys parking at the local park on prom night would be immediately excluded. How about a religion where a man and women make love to consummate the most beautiful act and power act of nature which is creation?

The point being is that it is all in how you say it sometimes. I am not promoting some sort of Wiccan agenda as I am not a Wiccan and down really know that much about it. I do believe that labels are a foolish mechanism for exclusion even when people choose to label themselves. Because a man says that he is a Christian does not mean that he is a good man. He might still drink too much, lie all the time, and beat his wife and kids when he gets home from work. Conversely, the neo-Pagan man completely devoted to G-d, family, and country who earnestly follows the precepts of his religion, lives a moral and upright life, and seeks admission into the Fraternity is the better choice in my estimation even though the public portrayal of his faith is a bit “scary” and conjures up people cloaked in black stirring a caldron of steaming brew.

I think that we meet with the man, get to know the man, LISTEN to the man when he talks of his faith. Then make a decision on whether to admit such a man based on a totality of the circumstances and labels be damned.

Can a Christian be a Mason? Most would answer sure. Should we be so quick? It is not about religion little “r” really. It is more about the man’s inner belief systems and whether he can practice tolerance of those belief systems of the man he will call a Brother.

It is easy to say, “To each his own.” It is Masonic to say, “This man, with whom I do not share a particular religion with is my Brother. I respect his path to G-d. I will fight for his right to have such a path.”

Grab the Kids' Ma...Its the End of the World

You know, you go through life believing there are just certain things you can depend on. Even the science junkies I talked about in my last rambling depend on certain constant physical laws. Without them the universe falls apart and Republican Anti-Abortionist Missouri Synod Lutherans sitting in the center pews who have never prayed with a Baptist go to heaven and the rest of us head to Hades….kidding everyone know Baptist go to heaven.

Santa is fat, mom’s are loving, and the ol’ guy from the Price is Right has had more women than your average rock star; these are the constants that hold together the fabric of space and time.

So I am on my way to work the other day when I hear a debate on the radio about a movie set to premier called, “The Golden Compass”. It is based on a book trilogy (this struck me as funny and you will understand why in a minute) called Dark Material. The author is Philip Pullman. Mr. Pullman is a devote atheist. See, that’s why the trilogy cracks me up…an atheist trilogy! Okay, I guess I am the only one laughing.

Anyway, the radio commentator, a hardcore religious fundamentalist was claiming that Pullman is the right hand of the devil, blah, blah, blah. He based this in part on an interview with Pullman where he admits that his characters are on sort of an atheist quest in which the goal is to kill G-d and be freed by the truth of your own actions.

Later that evening while pretending I had serious business to attend to so that I could abscond with the wife’s laptop, I researched Pullman for myself and I was confronted with an absolute oxymoron (and a bit of emphasis on the latter part of the word please). This guy is violating one of the rules of the universe; there are no fundamentalist atheist. Well, until there were a bunch. I am amazed to find that atheism has become as dogmatized as orthodox religion and has, in turn, been completely infiltrated by fundamentalism. And, it is as dangerous, as toxic, as poisonous, as hate filled, and as terrible as it ever was to community and society.

This man and others like him are specifically targeting children with a zealot mentality in hopes of creating a league of “free thinkers” so Mr. Pullman says that are indoctrinated with his atheist credo and belief systems. In other words, instruct subconsciously the youth of a nation so that they believe they have made a choice to believe or not believe and then claim them free thinkers so long as they agree with your version of the truth. Hey, I wonder if he learned that at Al Qaeda University. It seems to me the same system used by fundamentalist in inculcating the terrorist mindset in the unsuspecting youth of Arab nations when what they should be doing is educating them in reason and logic so that they can make their own conclusions.

Pullman says himself, “I'm kind of relying on Harry Potter to deflect all that [attention being brought to his atheist message, his two gay male angels, etc.], actually. I was quite happy for Harry Potter to get all the attention so I could creep in underneath all of it.”

Creeping in underneath it all is what truth and reason need to do right? I mean, hell, if you have no agenda, creeping in is the best way?!?

I have no beef with atheism. I do have a beef with fundamentalism, the virus of ignorance, and I amazed to find it as part of the atheist agenda now as well.

So we live in a country where every aspect of a child’s life is filled the Christian, Islamic, scientific, and now atheist fundamentalist competing to influence them before they are mature enough to think for themselves! It is sickening folks!

I thought atheist weren’t supposed to care, weren’t supposed to have an agenda! Well they do, and with Mr. Pullman’s and others like him, they are creeping in and silently competing for the free thought and free will of your child. They want him young, so that free conscious is never born and, therefore, harder to defeat.

For those of you in the Masonic community that have ever wondered why we support so vehemently public education and a strong education in the liberal arts and sciences, it is because Freemasonry recognizes the relevance a good education and exercise of the intellect as the only vaccine against fundamentalism. As with any vaccine, it is not 100%. It is a good start and apathy never is. Educate your children and teach them to think for themselves.

--The Relevant Mason

Soup is for Suckas

Okay this is my last food analogy until some other one pops up and I digress to the sundries to influence the typed word…I promise the last one for awhile. Let’s talk soup and stew, because quite frankly I think soup is for sucka’s.

Science is rooted in fact, not truth. Fact is an empirically proven circumstance based on a physical law. Truth is a philosophical premise and is not fixed such as a fact. Two plus two is four is a fact and remains constant. It is wrong to eat pork is a truth for a man of one faith and quite the opposite for the man of another. Science has little room for the philosophical.

Reductionism is the scientific belief system held as a fact by most scientists. It can be defined as: Everything in the universe, to include the universe, can be explained by understanding the sum of its parts and how they work. All these molecules, atoms, stings, or whatever, bouncing to and fro are not conscious or sentient, they simply are. The idea of a soul, of collective conscious, etc. is just mystical bologna and is not fact and is never truth. Even thought is an illusion of sorts, as the mind is nothing more than just a set of parts banging out electrical impulses misunderstood as consciousness and thought. Reductionism is, in the end, completely and utterly materialistic.

To the reductionist, everything is a soup of small particles and can be broken down to its ingredients and understood as such. Well my friends and fellow seekers of relevance, soup is for sucka's.

What the reductionist has failed to understand and taken into account for is the stew. Stew is similar to soup for sure, but to simply combine the ingredients, as you would with soup, misses the key to a good stew. It is the time that the stew simmers and slowly cooks. As the flavors leech out and mix and congeal to a new and wonderful mixture. The stew is much more than the some of its parts. It is the long slow intermingling of inner juices that flow out slowly and mix with one another that create the stew. The stew is your spiritual side my friends. The stew is the mystical part of man that science can not explain and the reductionist claim relies on midguided faith…using faith as a dirty word.

Here is the kicker, they require that you have faith that physical laws sprang from nowhere, that multiple universes exist, that consciousness is an illusion. All these things the reductionist dogma passes off as hard (albeit improvable science) with little in the way of being any more probable than any other unproved theory. That my friend is faith and it is a heck of lot more than is required for a faith in the mystical. The idea of my consciousness being an illusion is down right foolishness.

Besides reeking of the same flavor of fundamentalism held true by the religious groups, this system is intellectual cowardice of the worst kind. It covets falsehood if the truth or fact of the matter fall outside of currently accepted rules and syllogisms. Because something challenges the current DOGMA of academia, it is heretical. Sound familiar?

Dogma, be it scientific or religious, combined with fundamentalism, creates poverty of the material and the spiritual in a populace. There is not a division between science and spirituality. It is perceived at odds with one another only because fundamentalist zealots on both sides can’t see the foolishness of their single sided approach. The religious zealot sees only religion and the scientific zealot is equally as guilty.

It is the ancient wisdom of systems within the Craft and other Hermetic traditions that have ensured that throughout history, some small group recognizes the singular source of all things to include that of science and religion. Equilibrium occurs whether we choose to recognize it or not. When we live out of balance, we begin to convince ourselves that the side we see is the only side.

Box Makers Unite...We are at War!

The conundrum of the Freethinker is a difficult one. They run around with ideas and opinions, with logic and reason, and often cause the box makers and label makers a problem. A real problem and I am tired of it.

In order to make the world an easier place the box makers of the world have created a nice little series of boxes that everyone is supposed to fit into. Right now on the world stage the political collection of boxes are on display. We have the liberal box, the conservative box, and in America, we have two smaller boxes we throw into them to help us out labeled Democrat and Republic. It makes the whole political process nice and tidy without a lot of real choices…nice and easy, Ranch or Italian. (You know, I have been throwing out a lot of food allegories lately, that dang low carb diet must be getting to me).

There are other popular box collections, all fitting within one another. The Christian box, which was not nearly small enough for most, so a bunch of other boxes need to be made to into the Christian box. For instances, we have the Catholic box, the Protestant box, the Latter Day Saints box, etc. Then the Protestants found the title of Protestant far too broad and we went ahead and developed some other boxes and labeled them Denominations. It is at this point boys and girls you will want to stop reading and purchase yourselves some stock in the box company because they are doing well. The denominations were simply not limited and tidy enough, so….in come the box makers to help us define ourselves because, apparently, we can’t be trusted to do this, and the evangelical, fundamentalist, and literalist boxes were created. Take a breath folks, boxing up the average day conservative, Republican, Lutheran, Missouri Synod, literalist, fundamentalist will take some time, but its worth it. Once your done with all your boxing, no room for free thought or thinking outside of such a nice tidy little box. And, holy cow, if some outside the box thinking really happens, it is captured by one of the several outer boxes and is pretty safe inside the box thinking anyway. Oh, and don’t let the aforementioned box know that his box is right next to the Southern, Democrat, Baptist, Evangelical, literalist box or we are going to end up with another dang box!

The nice thing about boxes is they are small, they limit the content by their size, and they come with labels. We don’t have to think for ourselves and the CEO of Narrow Minds, Inc., the leader in box manufacturing in the entire world, prefers in that way.

Enter the FREETHINKER and boom, the whole system comes crashing in. He would like to stand with his left foot in one box, right in the other, dabble and pick out of some other boxes with his left and right had. Some of those crazy b*s**ds like Newton, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Francis Bacon, and others didn’t think we needed boxes! Of all the cheese in Wisconsin (another food blurb), what would the world come to if we defined ourselves. What if we used reason and logic to govern our own actions and concerned ourselves primarily with this activity instead of worrying about how to define and control others? I don’t even want to think about it.

Another irritating thing about these guys is there distaste for labels. Just when the label makers, working in close conjunction with the box makers, have printed off a nicely defined label and adhere it to a box, these guys promote ideas and espouse logic. This is something that doesn’t fit within the narrow margins of the box or label. What gives?

Let’s discuss Freemasonry, the current number one enemy on the FBI’s most wanted list. Oh, and let me clarify, the FBI is not the same one that jumped into your thoughts right away. I am referring to Fundamentalism, Bureaucracy, and Ignorance (FBI), the World’s watch dogs on free expression and free conscious. On a side note, they dropped their guard once and a group of these runaway thinkers tore up a bunch of boxes and started this completely insane experiment called the United States of America. Don’t worry though, the FBI have been working diligently ever since behind the scenes to makes sure this doesn’t happen again and to change America to a nicely dogmatic society of uniformed folks that are “too busy” and to ignorant really, to have a valuable voice in their government. This way, the vocal minority, made up of intelligently planted box makers, can dictate the sway of the government and speak for all the boxes…err um, I mean people.

Freemasonry with its heretical anti-box tendencies has the audacity, in a modernized and nicely stacked system of boxes, to claim that society should be free to govern itself, that we can put aside religious differences and come together in conscious decision making and rational thought. If that were not off its rocker enough for ya, sit down in your box because this one is going to knock for a loop, they teach that you can learn to respect one another’s religions because, and this is really why they are dangerous, get this, they claim “GOD DOESN’T FIT IN ONE OF OUR BOXES!” Yep, can you even fathom the thought of a G-d that isn’t easily defined by human thought. A God that has room for everyone under his canopy of creation and love. A God that loves all his children and promotes the idea that all of God’s children should and could love one another. A God that does not divide, argue, and dictate petty divisions among his people. For some of the Christian fundamentalist box collection, this idea of a truly universal Deity this is hard to stomach, because the Masons even let a group of men in who worship a god that prayed with prostitutes and recruited tax collectors. Clearly not a universal god.

---The Relevant Mason