My Friend Walt

He is an interesting guy by his own right. An artist, a mystic, and good friend. He stands out to me when compared to most as he possesses a simply unique and unnerving quality that most can never hope to achieve. He is humble.

We were lucky to have Kirk MacNulty as a special guest and speaker at a recent lodge meeting. That is not the real story though.

The night prior to the big day, I was having dinner when the ol’ cell phone went off. I saw that it was the man I mentioned above, we’ll call him Walt, and I took the call. He explained that he was having a little trouble walking and was wondering if I might be able to assist with a ride to lodge. I was going in a little early, but knew my neighbor and Brother would love to assist and put the two in contact.

The point though. I asked, in passing, what was wrong. I inquired as to whether he had bum a knee or ankle knowing that extreme weather, hot or cold, seems to make my joints angry at mother nature on any given day. “No,” said the Brother, “I had a stint put in my heart.” He said it as matter of fact as one might say, “I had a wart removed” or “I stubbed my big toe.” The Brother continued, “That’s really not the issue, I just want to make sure I get to lodge on time.”

I was taken back a bit, but after ascertaining myself that the Brother would live, I hung up the phone. I reflected a bit upon this Brother as I have come to know him. He walks with bit of a shuffle, purposeful but not rushed. He listens intently and you can tell by the look in his eyes that he is absorbing all that goes on around him. He speaks softly, but chooses his words wisely. He is empathetic, kind, and hardworking.

He knows many of the world’s great mystics and introduced me to good friend of his that, it turns out, is worshipped as a god in Sri Lanka. He worked hand in hand with Manly P. Hall for many years and counts performers and famous authors among his close friends. He seldom refuses an opportunity for learning and takes no heed of bobbles of titles.

He is humble and he is a Mason.

The deepest and most esoteric philosophies of the Craft are well known by this Brother. He would never think to “bash” someone with them, to seek titles because of it, or to harm physically or intellectually those less equipped. He works in the quarry of everyday life for self improvement and in doing so improves the universe.

Ben Franklin once said, “Alas, if I were ever to become truly humble, I know that I would be proud of it.” This Brother has achieved it without so much as a blink. A natural and wonderful part of his nature.

In a world wear titles, achievement, and esteem are valued more than morality, kindness, and humility….I thought someone, somehow should bear witness to the fact that on a small plot of land, in the Midwest, is a relevant and humble Mason, teaching, both with is words and his actions, the life of the artist, the Mason, and Mystic. My friend Walt.

My Father is My Brother

I sat in lodge yesterday for my good friend’s installation as Master of his lodge. I have been to more than one installation, and although I normally enjoy the process for what it is, I had no idea, walking into the lodge room that day, that I would be reminded at a deep and spiritual level of the profundity of Masonry in a man’s life.

The installation had gone well. No hiccups as is the standard it seems. It was following nicely, moving along at a nice clip and I was looking forward to the fellowship at the formal dinner that would follow.

My Brother took the podium in the East and began to speak. His voice quickly choked as he began to tell his story about how he came to Masonry. A little background here will prove necessary for the uninformed. My Brother was adopted at as an infant. He found his biological father in 2003 and this is where his story begins.

He sat across from a man in a small café, far from his home in Colorado, yet he felt altogether at peace and at awe as he stared into familiar eyes. The glow that emits from my friends eyes is unique. It has a glimmer of love, passion, fire, and determination each separately but all at once.

To hear my friend tell it, he will say that the gaze of the man he looked at felt familiar. He could feel a tie that years of separation could not break. As a man who knows them both, I can describe that look and I knew, probably better than my friend what he meant, because I had just seen that same flame flickering behind the eyes of his father when I had just been introduced to him.

The conversation with his already familiar, but newly discovered, father in that little café turned to Masonry of all things.

My friend’s father had missed a lifetime of experiences with his dear son. First words, first steps, first loves were all a distant memories for my friend and they would never be known by this man who was his father. There was of course a desire to express, to share, to understand one another. I believe there was love, a synergistic connection, that was immediately understood and this is why this desire for shared experience was fostered.

So, the father, this man, this person who wanted to impart not just those things that occur genetically, but he wanted to imbibe those values, morals, and truths that he held dear. How should he accomplish these ideas, these principles in such a way as to say, “Long lost son, these are the things I value.” He told his son that he was Freemason and his son, my friend, shortly followed suit.

So there he stood in the East having made two journeys that have changed him forever. One to the rough and rugged lands of Montana to stare back at his own eyes and meet a man that would be his father, the other from darkness to light to arrive as Master of a Lodge.

His voice chocked, his eyes glassed with tears he said, “I want to say thank you.” There upon the steps of his lodge, he beheld his friend, his father, and his Brother and he continued, “..for many things, mostly for Freemasonry.”

It appears that a father and son both understood the message. They had found one another and both had received some light.

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

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