tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11067621061635793362024-03-13T07:43:30.594-07:00REFLECTIONS OF A MASONGREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-51088679469966478472012-10-23T04:25:00.003-07:002012-10-23T04:25:38.752-07:00A Timeless Moment...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pfz8byhBnTA/UIZ-nt3fwdI/AAAAAAAAAHM/DOPgqhFCFAI/s1600/3658926607_d427194ccf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pfz8byhBnTA/UIZ-nt3fwdI/AAAAAAAAAHM/DOPgqhFCFAI/s320/3658926607_d427194ccf.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">My Dearest and sole reader, today I will attempt to excite you
(alternatively I’ll bore you to death), writing to you about the Nature of
Time, and how this may be perceived in Masonic terms.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Countless books have been written up until today, by people who happened to
be considerably more learned and eloquent than your humble blog writer,
therefore it would be rather pointless to tire you with all these theories
since the beginning of Time and up to the moment Albert Einstein proved that
Time, as we perceive it, is never constant, but it is a function of speed and
mass.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Your humble blog writer (that’s me) therefore, will stay in a couple of
points which may have some social extensions. One of these points is the
ancient Greek myth of Cronos who was eating up all his children produced by his
wife, Gaia. The only child who managed to escape that fate was Zeus himself,
who eventually became the supreme ruler of Gods and humans alike.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">This myth, in essence, is the ancient story of Time (in Greek Chronos and
further paraphrased as Cronos), that destroys everything produced by Gaia (the
Nature), with the sub note that whoever defeats this fate is beyond the effects
of any physical Law. Later, the scientists called this erosion process “Entropy”
and the 3<sup>rd</sup> Law of Thermodynamics tells us that the Entropy in the
Universe is always positive, which means that the disorder of all energy and physical
structures increases with Time.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">If by any chance, my Dearest Reader, you manage to abstain from all bad
habits that usually put us in a position where all daisies will have turned
their butts on us, and you stay still, so that Time will forget about you, you
may be lucky enough to see the last twinkle of the last star fading away and
Darkness spreading all over the Universe, just before the phrase “<i>Let there be Light</i>” sounds once again.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I am fully aware that it is a huge task for you to perform. Therefore,
please allow me to assure you that the coming of Darkness is more or less a certainty,
even if we will not be around to testify for it. If you don’t believe me,
please have a look of your 50-year old body at the mirror and think that the
trendy coat and the tight jeans you wear, cannot delay the fact that pretty
soon you will look exactly like your 98 year old grandpa (if you are very
lucky, that is)…</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Furthermore, as we grow older, my dearest friend, we realize that the 3<sup>rd</sup>
Law of Thermodynamics is also applicable to all social structures and
interactions of the so-called “intelligent” creatures. You see, Life is an
exceptional audacity against this Law, if we perceive Life as an extremely
complex interaction of numerous exotic chemical compounds, which demand a huge
amount of energy in order to take place.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">On the other hand, I tend to believe that Life is acting as a helping hand
to the eroding actions of Time, by creating an additional disorder in the
Universe. Of course we cannot see it that way, therefore we call this activity
as “ecosystem” and, in the process of preserving it, we constantly increase
Entropy, which would be much lower in stable inorganic systems of low energy
transformation.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">If you have not dropped
comatose, until now, my dear Reader, you must have realized that by nature, we
are nothing more that Entropy enhancement mechanisms and as such, we should not
feel surprised by the constantly increasing Chaos all around us, because we are
made to create it, either by our activity or by the lack of it.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">And at this very moment, the
tragic duality of the Human Nature is revealed to us. We are creatures whose
evolutionary process has allowed them to realize the Supreme Mind behind the deterioration
of Matter and Energy. Among all creatures around us, we are the only ones
condemned to know that Time will take us away from the perfect Platonic Form,
towards annihilation, while our Soul dreams of the moment it will meet again
with Light.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">If you consider all the above,
my dear friend, you will come much closer to understanding the nature of the
Masonic ritual. One group of men, connected with brotherly ties, meets in a
never-changing manner, in a place that is decorated in a very familiar pattern
all over the Earth, following the same dress code and performing always the
same set actions that we call Rite.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">What could that ritual be, my
friend, if not for a repeated Moment, a small piece of timeless Time, where
Entropy is halted temporarily, our Social status is left outside the Temple
like an unneeded coat, and what’s left is a small group of spiritually
connected people, devoid of riches, titles and honors, who repeat a Perfect
Moment again and again, until they fully realize its meaning, thus being able
to approach the Light?</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Maybe this is the essence of
Freemasonry, my friend. To live and relive the same timeless Moment, always
initiated and always taught by this process, until your Heart and your Spirit
become able to find the road towards the Light within……</span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-46728625969662300452011-10-31T04:01:00.001-07:002011-10-31T04:01:28.678-07:00The Humble Tyler...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">My
Dearest friend and Sole Reader, it has been a bit more than a year that I bug
you with issues relevant to Freemasonry and the relationship each one of those
who “knocked at the door of the Temple of Reason” has with it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">However,
our travel through Freemasonry, regardless whether we are Entered Apprentices or
Grand Masters, has begun from the unique point of our initiation to the Lodge,
an experience that may very well be the most significant, for a Brother who has
joined the Masonic Fraternity.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">It is not
my intention to discuss the Ritual; therefore I shall not tire you with all the
tedious details regarding the initiation procedure for the degree of the
Entered Apprentice. However, I want to focus on the officer who is the
protagonist of this procedure and whose office is unjustly regarded as a
secondary one, that of the Tyler of the Lodge.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">The
role of the Tyler is a non-rewarding one, most of the times. Depending on the
Jurisdiction, he may sit inside or outside the Lodge, with his sword always
drawn and protect the proceedings from any possible intruders. Furthermore, in the
case that a visitor without proper recommendations wants to participate in the
proceedings, the Tyler is testing him in order to ascertain that that visitor
is a real Mason. In addition to that, the duties of the Tyler include his making
sure that all the entering members of the Lodge wear the proper attire.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">However,
when there is an initiation day for Entered Apprentices (usually 2-3 times each
year), the role of the Tyler becomes more important than any other of the
participating Brothers. He is the one who will receive the uninitiated
candidate from the outside world, will tie his eyes as a symbolic
representation of his ignorance and his prejudice and will guide him through
the various tests that will lead him to the Light. It is a procedure dating
back to the hierophants of the ancient Egyptian and Greek Sacraments.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">Many Brothers,
who are more oriented to the esoteric view of the Ritual, regard the role of
the Tyler as a “jinxed” one, because they claim that the Tyler is receiving all
the negative energy of the initiated person, in order to hand him “clean” of
it, to the Brotherhood. As a wise and learned Brother once said, “the Tyler is
the person bearing the sins of the uninitiated”. For that reason, some of our
Brothers refuse to serve in this office for more than a 2-year term.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">In my Mother
Lodge, for a considerable number of years, we have (and will have) the same
person acting as Tyler. He is a meek, kind and always smiling Brother, who is
regarded as a very learned person, having a true sense of the important role
that he has undertaken. He is the same Brother who led me, a long time ago,
with my eyes tied into the Temple and since then I have witnessed him doing the
same for a lot of newer brothers, in the same ancient and unique ritual.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">A few
days ago I had once again the opportunity to witness the initiation ritual for
three new brothers and I also had the privilege to see, for one more time, our
Tyler in action, in his very special role. It may seem strange for an
uninitiated person, but the participation of even very old brothers in this
procedure, helps them find yet a new message in what they experienced
themselves, so many years ago. Therefore, the initiation is never a boring and
tedious procedure that would not be worth attending for one more time. On the
contrary, the participation during initiation days is very impressive.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">When
the persons under initiation are more than one, it is natural that the Tyler
will require assistance from other Brothers holding the degree of Master Mason,
in order to lead the initiated people inside the Temple for the ensuing tests.
However, it is always the Tyler who sets the rhythm for that unique procedure.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">So, I saw
for one more time, our beloved Brother entering the Temple holding tightly, yet
with great attention and tenderness a new brother, who was making his first shy
and careful steps into the Temple of Reason. And</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">what</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">I</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">witnessed</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">in</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">the</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">expression</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">of</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">our</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">brother</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">Tyler</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">was</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">Love</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">At that
particular moment, the Tyler and the initiated person in his charge were one and
inseparable entity, pretty much like a pregnant woman ready to bring her baby
into the light of the world. And while the newcomer seemed a bit afraid and
uncertain, having temporarily lost the main sense that gives us all the
information about our environment (after all, no baby was ever born smiling and
happy), the expression of our Tyler was that of Joy, Tenderness and Love, not
much different than that of a woman facing her newborn baby for the first time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";">Maybe
this is the reason our dearest Brother has endured the “jinxed” position of the
Tyler for so many years. Because he erases the negative energy with the most
potent antidote, that of Love.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></div>
</div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-84698603139655204292011-09-08T22:57:00.000-07:002011-09-09T12:47:14.295-07:00"Sir Knight"............<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">It has been some time, since I had a relatively clear mind and time to invest, by writing to you, my ever faithful and sole Reader. After all, summer is a period for all of us to charge our “batteries”, while doing nothing more productive than watching the ice cream dribble on our shirt, without moving to correct the problem.</span></div><div style="color: #660000;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">A lot of my observations are unfortunately limited to the posts of my Facebook friends from all over the world. It would require tremendous effort to observe <i>in vivo</i> and my budget would not allow it at any rate.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">However, more and more I have noticed that I receive friendship requests from people who have confused the ideals of Freemasonry with those of a peculiar religious fanaticism, or even racism, through their devotion to various obscure knight Orders.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Observing that trait, I cannot help reminding myself the ideological, racial and religious orientations of that lunatic who massacred 100 innocent people in Norway, just two months ago. Therefore, I feel compelled to clarify a few things to all those Knights-To-Be, who believe that adding a shield and a cross in their profiles automatically make themselves members of an elite group.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">This is NOT Freemasonry, my friends…..</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">A Freemason, first of all, does NOT bring Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Satanism or any other religion or denomination into his Lodge. Freemasonry was able to achieve the moral, spiritual and personal development of its members, over the Centuries, by keeping Religion out of its Lodges, thus allowing its members to communicate their ideas, free from any form of religious dogmatism. This is exactly the reason why we refer to the Supreme Being as The Great Architect of the Universe, because the only common truth we all hold is our belief of His existence and His power, NOT the particular Dogmata each one of us has chosen to follow in our private lives.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Furthermore, a real Freemason was never a racist and he will never be. All those orders of white knighthood are completely alien to the ideals and spirit of Freemasonry, which believes in the true Brotherhood of men.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">As I have explained in previous posts, a true Freemason must be humble and be distinguished through his humility. All those regalia that may be impressive for the uninitiated people, DO NOT underline some sort of authority over other people but they show a level of duty which may be very heavy on the shoulders of those who wear those impressive attires. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Agreed, the York Rite has the Knighthood levels, but if you do not know what this exactly means and what its philosophical foundations really are, I would advise against your attempting to imitate it by just wearing a robe with a red cross and holding a tin sword. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">At best, you’ll look more like an ambulance than a Knight.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Constantia","serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">If it was not so sad, receiving friendship requests from 20 year-old boys who call themselves “Sir Knight”, it would definitely be hilarious.</span></div></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-86385405836175990952011-06-02T01:48:00.000-07:002011-06-02T01:50:11.121-07:00Let’s keep it simple… It's beautiful as it is…<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">I would not dare call this post a Theory, much more claim that it emanates from deep and knowledgeable thought. This blog is nothing more than going out on a limb and exposing my personal (and far from scientific) thoughts to people which I consider to be my friends, alas in a rather vague and generalized meaning of the term. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">All my life I have been questioning most of the religious dogmatism that thrives within the official Christian denominations. Unfortunately, ever since I was a little boy I was never blessed to fully accept a matter of belief, “just because that's the way it is”. Such an acceptance would definitely make my life easier. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">However, as time passes by, I have become a true believer of the existence of a Divine Mind behind the evolutionary process of our Universe. I shall not examine whether it was that Mind that created the Universe, or the Universe found a way to express itself through the gradual development of such a Mind. I shall not tire you with religious beliefs and theories and I would never dare question your personal views on the subject, whichever these may be.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">I will, however, attempt to direct your attention towards an awe-inspiring process. Out of a theoretical point, 13.5 billion years ago, an unthinkable quantity of energy explodes outwards, creating the known space and time continuum we call our Universe. And this colossal energy is organized, through a number of processes, still examined and theorized by the scientists of our time, into Matter, gaining the mysterious property of Mass along the way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">And this Matter, in its turn, organizes itself into Life, a process completely insolent to the powerful and constant action of the ever-increasing loss of physical Order, which we call Entropy. The Universe is so vast, that it allows this local reversal of the arrow of this entropy on the surface of our planet (at least), since its increase elsewhere, more than compensates for that local phenomenon. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">The final developmental stages on our planet include the domination of Homo Sapiens-Sapiens on its surface. Should the path of that giant asteroid had not crossed that of our Earth, 65 million years ago, it is very possible that the dominant intelligent species of today would be a warm-blooded descendant of the dinosaurs, which roamed our planet for more than 200 million years. Therefore, my statement that Intelligence is something just waiting to occur at some evolutionary point is not too far from the truth and it should constitute a lesson in humility for our entire species. We have been very fortunate, so far, to be allowed to wonder where we came from and for what reason.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">The vastly superior intelligence of our human race, as compared to that of the other inhabitants of our planet has provoked, over the centuries, a number of anthropocentric religious views. It is only natural for the superstitious people of antiquity and the middle ages to conceive Man as an exact image of the Supreme Being and claim domination on all living and non-living things on Earth, but it is time for us to abandon this ludicrous view, to the benefit of the search for our true Nature.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">You see, my dearest and sole Reader, I find it very hard to deny the existence of the Soul to any other living organism on Earth, just because we happen to be smarter than those creatures. Indeed, the inhumanity and cruelty exhibited by many of our species leads us to believe that certain animals not only are smarter but much more “humane” than certain human beings. It has been scientifically proven, over the last decades, that animals have all capacity for compassion, grief, solidarity, love, devotion, art appreciation, even humor, so who are we to put a dividing wall between us and them, just because we happen to have a higher quotient (most of the times) for the above feelings and have a better analyzing capability?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">Up until today, we have accepted Religion to be the only Authority on matters of the Soul, because we have connected it with our religious beliefs and have never conceived it as just another physical property of our existence. I am certain that, had this text ever been read by a “hard core” scientist or engineer, it would provoke a sneer or a kind of rebuttal, at best. On the other hand, this is exactly the reaction that would be expected by a “hard core” religious person, as well. The scientist would reject this notion on the basis that any physical property should be measurable, while a religious person would recite a bunch of passages from his Holy Books, in order to claim exclusive Divine property of the Soul.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">And of course, everybody in-between those two opposing points would repeat to me that the existence of the Soul is entirely a matter of Faith. What a convenient way to say that we have no crappy idea about the issue at hand and therefore we put it on the metaphysical realm of our collective experience until further notice...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">The existence of the Soul is not an issue argued only by Christianity. It was expressed much earlier by the ancient Egyptian priests and Greek philosophers and Mysts, while all ancient religions described in detail everything that was expected to happen to the soul as it was separated from the body, at the time of death. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">The Christian Dogma used the same term (</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">Ψυχή</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">-Psyche); however, the Holy Fathers posed a number of “rules” before they include it into their glossary, regarding its nature. The most important ones where that our psyche (please allow me to use the Greek term, as more accurate) is not pre-existing to our physical existence (thus separating the Christian theory from that of the Hindu and Buddhist religions) and that the human psyche is not like those of the animals, because, further to its nature as a life force, it has also received the Divine Grace that has rendered it immortal (speaking of separating walls). In addition to that, the Christian faith claims that our soul is not a part of God, but it is created by Him at the time of our conception, therefore it has the liberty to select, in the course of our lives, between the Good or the Evil. It is immortal, not by nature, but through the Grace of Jesus Christ, otherwise it is destroyed as our dead bodies do and those who have not followed Christ’s Holy Word should not expect resurrection on the coming Judgment Day (no mention of Paradise and Hell is being done, at least in the serious theological texts). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">The bottom line is that all big religions on our planet have set a number of specific rules, with regard to the fate of our soul, while they all agree that this soul is immortal, one way or another. Some of these theories regard our living body as the inseparable kingdom of our soul, while others see it as just a prison holding our soul captive, while certain cryptic religious philosophies, such as the Jewish Kabbalah believe in a multiple nature of the soul, each one responsible for a different level of existence (Life Force, Mental and Spiritual).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">………………………………….</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">I bet, my dearest and sole Reader, that you expect me to come up with a theory or a belief, regarding the human soul, which would better reflect the Masonic view on the subject. After all, Freemasons are known for their religious devotion, all over the world, while certain Rites, such as the York Rite have an intense religious orientation, giving its members the rank of the Knight Templar.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">However, what I am really attempting here is to justify a contradicting notion, that of the belief to the immortality of our soul and our dedication to Reason. My thesis, therefore, is that the indestructibility of the human soul does not have to be a religious belief. It can very well be a belief coming from physical laws, observation and Reason. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">If we accept that our Soul is the organized Energy that turns a non-living matter into a living organism, which, along the way is enriched by the resonance of our experiences, thoughts, teachings and interaction with the environment, we can go one step further and believe that this part of our existence, from the time we acquire a sense of our own self, cannot be dissipated or destroyed. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">From the moment that matter is organized into life, it crosses a threshold that cannot be crossed back. Existence cannot turn into non-existence, pretty much in the same manner that we may not have a sense of time on the operating table, however, there comes the moment we come back from anesthesia and regain consciousness. No matter if the time we have lost that sense of existence is 2 minutes or 50 million millennia, we eventually <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have to</i> come back. And, pretty much like the particle that finally manages to escape the black hole has no memory of the spin, charge or mass of the particles that entered the event horizon of that hole, some billions of years ago, we may expect the same to happen to what we call our soul. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">I KNOW VERY WELL, that the above view may be simplistic, devoid of every religious or philosophical ornamentation and reminding you of all these New Age theories flying around, these days. Even my metaphors seem crappy to me, now that I am reading them on my screen.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">However, what I am trying to underline, is that we, as Freemasons, DO NOT have to bring Religion into our Temples, simply because Freemasonry is, by nature and scope, a path to make us better men, to help us know ourselves through Reason and Observation, and to give us the tools to work towards a better world. All these are stages which will have to take place BEFORE our ultimate Initiation of our death, for which we can only prepare but not see behind the curtains. We may have our theories and beliefs, regarding the fate of our immortal soul, and still keep Religion on our personal agenda, separate from our Fraternity.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">However, more and more every day, we see dogmatism, religion and absurd metaphysical theories infiltrating our Brotherhood, under the pretext of philosophical research. In certain countries (mine included), this happens because there is an inborn distrust, exhibited by the official Christian Dogma towards Freemasonry and, as a result, some of our Brothers are eager to prove that a Freemason may also be a devoted and learned Christian. In other places, Freemasonry has acted as a large shopping bag into which many brothers try to keep all their philosophical and metaphysical issues in one place, without being able (or willing) to separate them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">My humble opinion is that we should perceive the myths and stories of our Brethren for what they really are, symbolic methods of helping us understand ourselves and our position in the World and make us better human beings. We should not attempt to give to these myths any metaphysical dimensions which were not included in the founding scope of our Brotherhood, otherwise, the coming generations of Freemasons will have no way of separating our Rite from “Hare Krishna”!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">Let’s keep it simple… It is beautiful as it is…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-56562147510515293022011-05-04T07:48:00.000-07:002011-05-04T07:55:13.013-07:00Swimming against the Current...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A few weeks ago, a dear brother and exceptional scientist who recently completed a long and fruitful academic career in astrophysics, presented me with a small book he wrote, which is the distillate of his personal life experience.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I knew that I could expect only the best from such a man, so I paid the proper attention to his book. However, I could not help but notice that all the poems and texts included, were permeated by an intense melancholy and sometimes pessimism, with regard to the life that slips through our fingers and is lost forever.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I expect you to agree that on a personal level, there is nothing to assure us that the all-powerful Third Law of Thermodynamics is not happily at work, in every aspect of our lives. Time passes like a turbulent stream, slowly eroding all we fought for, negating all our dreams and plans, undermining the foundations of everything we have created. Like a sadistic god, it happily reminds us that there is nothing that cannot be destroyed due to a number of unforeseen factors.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The consequences of this unrest and erosion are visible, wherever we turn our gaze. War, misery, poverty, sickness, economic breakdown of whole countries, moral crisis, inability to adapt to an ever-changing environment, ecological crisis, and so on, and so on... Sometimes it makes us wonder whether it is wise to bring new people to life, with the purpose to hand down to them a life that will be subject to thousands of indeterminable factors, all hostile to their very existence.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">However, if we were ever able to travel in outer space, we would be blessed to witness our lonely planet from a distance. We could see a beautiful, tranquil sphere floating in the hostile void that surrounds it. In this sphere, for the last 2.5 billion years, there is an ongoing process that can only be perceived as the ultimate insolence against that powerful Third Law. It is called “Life”.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="el-GR" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Just by realizing the indescribable wonder happening around us, we should probably question ourselves whether Man is indeed the Measure of All Things. Agreed, as intelligent beings, we have the capacity to perform complicated mental processes which induce a sense of awe for the things we experience. However, have you ever wondered what do we really experience? If you ask ten different persons who have witnessed the picture of the lonely Earth, to describe their feelings and perceptions, you shall receive ten different answers, some of which will be extremely eloquent and deep, while others will be plain stupid.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Is it possible, therefore, that our pessimistic perception for the Third Law, or, as some people call it, “Murphy's Law” cannot escape the limited boundaries of our individuality? Is it possible that we are incapable of fully appreciating the unbelievable wonder of Creation that commenced so many billions of years ago, and of which we, as humans, are parts only during the very last, infinitesimally small period? Finally, do we really believe that we are the high point of that magnificent Creation? To believe such a thing is nothing but a Hubris, as it is perceived in the ancient Greek tragedies.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We are plain constituent items of a huge ecosystem, which, like a newborn baby, is constantly developing. In truth, this baby is immortal, having the capacity to change, to adapt, to assimilate new mechanisms of survival and to reject all those cancer cells that could threaten its existence. Therefore, can we really expect from the Divine Intervention to take care of each one of us, any more than we can take care of each individual cell in our body?</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="el-GR" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I realize that my position may sound tough, even inhuman. Such a view puts us in a very inconsequential spot within the Universe and makes us feel subject to uncontrollable forces ready to crush us without a warning. How can we have any control to any of the things, destined to come?</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="el-GR" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The choices presented to us are not limitless. We can either feel miserable with all these thoughts, or consider the true meaning of the ancient myth of Prometheus. This semi-divine personification of the evolutionary process underlines the fact that the human race, in the course of its biological development, received an infinitesimally small piece of the Divine Spark, a tiny fraction of the Mind behind all these billions of years of the magically audacious expression of Life. This small defining element helped us break free from the eternal Predator-Prey circle of life, which defines all other living creatures, and take our fate in our own hands. To put it simply, our gift was that we became “cells” of the brain of this “organism” and not of the sphincter (however useful that may also be).</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="el-GR" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As such “cells”, in our entirety, we hold a huge capacity to create an Intelligence whose powers could be infinitely larger than those of its constituent parts. Each one of us may not be a god, however, our combined capacities may approach to a far greater degree the Divine nature, pretty much like a bunch of mindless neurons that constitute our brain.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In a previous article of this humble blog, I had beaten you to oblivion with the notion of the Collective Soul of the Masonic Ritual. That is the collective spiritual and mental unification of a number of Brothers who convene together under a team process we call our “Ritual”, by “descending to the depth of our conscience, observing the Natural Phenomena and adapting to the Universal Rhythm”. Should the same mechanism be applied on a global scale, it would be capable of altering Reality as we perceive it.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="el-GR" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">However, in order to bring such a mechanism into existence, it is imperative that certain “infrastructures” must precede our actions, such as interpersonal communication, information, personal development through a sound educational process and spiritual connection. It would be naïve to expect such levels of communication between a Harvard graduate and a poor outcast in Bangladesh.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="el-GR" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">However, even the largest planets in the universe were formed when 2 particles of dust stuck together, slowly attracting more and more particles, through gravity.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="el-GR" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The only institution that guarantees the prerequisites for an egalitarian spiritual and mental connection between humans, without the intervention of political or religious dogmatism, is that of Freemasonry. The realization of these powers we may have, should make us take our participation, as well as the selection of new Brothers, very seriously, since the all-powerful Third Law has proven time and again that we cannot swim alone, against the current of the relentless Time.</span></span></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I know that I ask too much, that I dream of our Brethren to be something much more than we have managed to make it, however, I hope you allow me, through these humble posts, to coarsely sketch the ideal Platonic Form, towards which we should strive.</span></span></div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Candara,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Maybe, one day, we may achieve that....</span></span></div></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-8923589505732467042011-03-30T07:30:00.000-07:002011-03-30T11:32:52.353-07:00On Masonic titles and humility...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="color: #660000; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the course of the history of Humankind, all esoteric philosophical systems, have developed a number of built-in “safety valves” or “traps”, by which they are capable of expelling all possible intruders. Beyond all conventional initiations, these systems contain hidden “trials” for those who must be further tested, in order to verify their spiritual stamina. It goes without saying that such tests have no similarity, whatsoever, with the conventional initiation types of the various masonic degrees.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Some of the most elaborate, time-enduring and brilliant tests that Freemasonry applies to its members, are the various titles, honors and positions bestowed upon them, because they act exactly in the same manner as the mirages and illusions do for a holy man self-ostracized in the desert. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Indeed, there is a contradiction that provokes questions and criticism by all uninitiated people, especially by those who hold a skeptic position against our Brethren. Freemasonry is a philosophical system that teaches (and demands from its members to demonstrate) moderation and humility. It requires that all newly initiated members learn the way to avoid vanity and instead aim to become familiar with the real nature of things, beyond and above all appearances. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On the other hand, Freemasonry has instituted a plethora of impressive-sounding titles, ranks and grades, most of which may sound outdated, obsolete or even dead. It also utilizes designations such as Worshipful, Most Worshipful, Thrice Illustrious etc. which may be regarded as exceeding all acceptable limits of solemnity, especially if one considers that such titles are always accompanied by medals, ribbons, gold ornaments, swords, stars, collars and gold-embroidered aprons and are worn not by kings or generals, but by common people.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When people are governed by Common Sense and are in contact with Reality, all these titles are perceived by them as a part of the Masonic Ritual and they try to understand the inner meaning and the real purpose of these titles. When a Freemason has achieved a personal high level of self respect in the outside world, he is fully capable to balance these peculiar designations and leave his Metals outside the Temple. A truly initiated individual sees all these titles and honors as real burdens and duties. He avoids boasting about them and he hands them over to his successors with a sense of humility. In addition to that, he feels the duty to prepare his successors, before he withdraws with a sense of relief and happiness, because he prepares himself for the end of his cycle, and when that end arrives, he must show the same humility.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Masonic titles can only perceived as continuous and hard reminders of our material and spiritual imperfections and sarcastic notions of the perfect state we all strive to reach, usually in vain. Julius Caesar used to have a slave holding his triumphal wreath, riding with him in his golden chariot, at times of his greatest triumphal processions and whispering to him that we are all unimportant, fools and mortals. The Masonic titles act exactly in the same manner. They remind the wise and modest men that their possession is just another milestone to the path of their Ultimate Initiation before our Maker.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On the other hand, a hollow man is tantalized by the shine of his Masonic titles. He crawls towards them, and he is prepared to suffer numerous humiliations in order to achieve them. And when he finally manages to reach his target, he clings on these titles as the sole defining qualities of his miserable life. Such men regard themselves as authorities and behave as tyrants against anyone who might present a difference of opinion. They see conspiracies all around them, fearing that someone will strip them of their much deserved titles.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In this case, these titles act as magnifying glasses, showing in the worst possible manner our imperfections and prejudices. They, cling on their bearer like a carcass, showing to everybody, every repulsive detail of his character.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This is, most probably, the real reason so many titles, regalia and honors exist in Freemasonry. To act as tools, separating the wise and modest men from their impostors.</span></div></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-49233126415089142792011-03-17T03:55:00.000-07:002011-03-17T04:06:15.099-07:00Fast Track to Freemasonry (?)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">One could say a lot of negative things about Facebook; social isolation under the pretext of communicating, spilling of our personal data to anyone to see, wasting billions of working hours, being exposed to the bad taste and absurd ideas of various individuals etc. etc. etc.</span></span></div><div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">One very positive aspect though, is the ability we have gained to exchange ideas and to communicate with people we share common values with, no matter how far away these people may be living.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Under the FB identity of “Greek Freemason”, I have been fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of a large number of exceptional brothers throughout the World. These people consistently express their ideals regarding Freemasonry, in a manner that makes me proud to be counted among them.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">However, this improved communication capabilities have brought to the surface some procedural differences between various Jurisdictions; differences which, most of the time, prove that Freemasonry is not a rigid path towards the Light, but it can twist and turn in many different ways, to accommodate our individual ways of living.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">One of the Brothers I have the highest regard for, is <i>Michael Gillard</i>, from Noblesville, Indiana, USA. His accomplishments in the 39 years he is serving in our Fraternity from various posts are too many to even attempt to put down and I consider myself honored to have him among my FB friends. Every time I log in, I visit his “wall” for new and exciting information and thoughts, concerning our Brethren. It goes without saying, that Michael’s posts attract additional comments from many other wise and important brothers, therefore his page is a virtual “watering hole” for many inquisitive minds.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">A few days ago, visiting my brother’s page I read the announcement: “Indiana Grand Master's One Day All Degree Class begins in about 5 hours...” I had heard about this expedient manner by which a lot of our American brothers pass the first 3 degrees in one single day, but I thought that it was an exception and not a common practice. In our ensuing dialog I realized that this is the usual way to reach the Master Mason’s degree, and I admit I felt quite surprised.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">You see, in my country we have to stay in the Entered Apprentice degree for at least 1 year (sometimes 2 years), before we are eligible to proceed to the Fellow Craft degree and stay there for a minimum of six months and then be regarded as eligible to become Master Masons. These time constraints were regarded as the minimum requirements, with the provision that we attended at least 80% of our Lodge meetings which took place every week.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">The point presented by my dear American brothers, who participated in the discussion, was that a good and fruitful 1-day class is more than sufficient to give our new brothers all the tools required for understanding the concept of the 3<sup>rd</sup> degree. After all, we live in fast times and an educated individual, capable of handling, on a daily basis, a large number of new information on his job, is more than capable of handling the symbolism, history, procedures and requirements, of the first 3 Masonic degrees. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">I shall fully agree to this point. After all, following 24 years of education, I consider myself as adequately trained to <i>learn</i>.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">However…..</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Our experience from our participation in Freemasonry has taught us that it is not the quantity of retained information that counts, but the quality of it. I still regard the day of my initiation to the degree of Entered Apprentice as one of the most important of my life. Apart from the bonding I felt with my brothers in my Mother Lodge, I felt proud to wear the humble white apron that so many people, much more important and wise than me, had worn in the past, throughout the World. And through the period I held that degree I had the opportunity to participate in many more initiations of new brothers and experience this unique ritual from a viewer’s standpoint, a fact that enabled me to further contemplate on the symbolism of my degree. Furthermore, I had the chance to learn the virtues of Silence and of listening to the Masonic Pieces presented by a large number of brothers, before I was able to offer my humble opinion to them.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Becoming a Freemason is a life-altering experience. It introduces you to a new set of ideas, behavior, morals and duties, which are transmitted from the older to the newer brothers, not only by books or dumping of information, but mainly through exemplary processes. The Master Mason is not only entitled but also obliged to be lenient to his 1<sup>st</sup> degree brother, when he makes his first insecure steps into the Temple. He must show compassion, brotherly love and guidance and feel proud when he sees his new brother progress and become more assertive and participating in the collective Soul of their Lodge. It is the building of an unbreakable bond that lasts for many years to come and makes us feel pride and love for our very aged brothers who still feel obliged to participate in our lodge, even after 50 or 60 years of service.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">This is exactly the reason why the quality of a person should be much more important than the quantity of our roster. You select real brothers and you want to make sure that they shall stay at your side, come rain or hail, for the years to come. In past times, a person had to ask for admittance (and be ignored) at least 3 times, before he was considered, as a token of his real interest to participate in our Brotherhood. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">This should be the guiding spirit, to my humble opinion. The same spirit that was expressed in Bro. Rudyard Kipling’s poem “<i><b>Mother Lodge</b></i>”:</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">THERE was Rundle, Station Master, <br />
An' Beazeley of the Rail, <br />
An' 'Ackman, Commissariat, <br />
An' Donkin' o' the Jail; <br />
An' Blake, Conductor-Sergeant, <br />
Our Master twice was 'e, <br />
With im that kept the Europe-shop, <br />
Old Framjee Edujee.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Outside - " Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!<br />
Inside - 'Brother," an' it doesn't do no 'arm.<br />
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,<br />
An' I was junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there! </span></i><span lang="EN-US"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">We'd Bola Nath, Accountant,<br />
An' Saul the Aden Jew,<br />
An' Din Mohammed, draughtsman<br />
Of the Survey Office too;<br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">There was Babu Chuckerbutty,<br />
An' Amir Singh the Sikh,<br />
An' Castro from the fittin'-sheds,<br />
The Roman Catholick!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">We 'adn't good regalia,<br />
An' our Lodge was old an' bare,<br />
But we knew the Ancient Landmarks,<br />
An' we kep' 'em to a hair;<br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">An' lookin' on it backwards<br />
It often strikes me thus,<br />
There ain't such things as infidels,<br />
Excep', per'aps, it's us.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">For monthly, after Labour,<br />
We'd all sit down and smoke<br />
(We dursn't give no banquets,<br />
Lest a Brother's caete were broke),</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
An' man on man got talkin'<br />
Religion an' the rest,<br />
An' every man comparin'<br />
Of the God 'c knew the best.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">So man on man got talkin',<br />
An' not a Brother stirred<br />
Till mornin' waked the parrots<br />
An' that dam' brain-fever-bird.<br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">We'd say 'twas 'ighly curious,<br />
An' we'd all ride 'ome to bed,<br />
With Mo'ammed, God, an' Shiva<br />
Changin' pickets in our 'ead.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Full oft on Guv'ment service<br />
This rovin' foot 'ath pressed,<br />
An' bore fraternal greetin's<br />
To the Lodges east an' west,<br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Accordin' as commanded.<br />
From Kohat to Singapore,<br />
But I wish that I might see them<br />
In my Mother-Lodge once more!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">I wish that I might see them,</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">My Brethren black an' brown,<br />
With the trichies smellin' pleasant<br />
An' the hog-darn passin' down;<br />
An' the old khansamah snorin' </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">On the bottle-khana floor,<br />
Like a Master in good standing<br />
With my Mother-Lodge once more.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Outside - Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!'<br />
Inside- Brother," an' it doesn't do no 'arm.<br />
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,<br />
An' I was Junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there!</span></i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-16693698367318253472011-01-24T04:25:00.000-08:002011-01-24T04:37:46.886-08:00V.I.T.R.I.O.L.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">In previous posts we have attempted to address various issues which deal with the desired role of Freemasonry in modern Society. You see, a large number of Brothers are anxious to establish an effective and viable role for our Fraternity, so that we shall not end up as a peculiar middle-aged gentlemen’s club with funny aprons and handshakes.</span></i></span></div><div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">This urge, which, to my opinion, is very encouraging, emanates from the comparison each one of us makes, between the practices and behaviors adopted within our Craft and those of the uninitiated society. It is only natural for each brother to wonder whether those moral rules and conduct could be applied in the society, since something like that would dramatically improve the attitude between our fellow humans. Is it so difficult to expect love, humility, acceptance, kindness and solidarity outside our Lodges? And if such an achievement is so difficult, what could we, as Freemasons, do to improve the situation?</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">Unfortunately, my friends, any recipe given to us by any other man, would be doomed to fail and please allow me a chance to explain myself:</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">Each one of us, who chose to become a member of the Freemason’s fraternity, did it on his own accord and for himself. Agreed, the Masonic experience is a personal issue and if I was able to paint a picture for you, I would depict millions of individual paths, followed by each one of us, leading to a common direction, towards the Light. This is our Polar Star and this is the point each one of us strives to reach, with a greater or lesser degree of success. And we achieve it by “descending to the depth of our conscience, observing the natural phenomena and attuning ourselves with the universal rhythm”. In short, by making ourselves part of the collective Soul of Freemasonry.</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">The Alchemists of the middle Ages used the word V.I.T.R.I.O.L., the initials of which refer to the Latin phrase </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">«<i>Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem</i>», meaning “Visit the interior of the Earth and by improving yourself you shall discover the hidden Philosophers’ Stone”. This was nothing else than an invitation to the searchers for the Truth to descend to the depths of their own conscience, to know their own Self, their soul which emanates from the Immortal Word springing from within and connecting them with the Divine Creation.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">However, my dearest and sole Reader, whoever has not already burned out his little gray cells, in his attempt to decide which color he should choose for his new Beemer, is capable to realize that this invitation calls for a very tiring, lonely and soul-wrenching process which shall be fruitful for only a very small number of our brothers. For those very selected and unique people, the real Masons, this trial honors and enlightens their Human nature. Their lives are enriched by Truth, Love, Humility and a huge capacity to accept and to give these virtues to all humanity.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">By converting in this manner their human nature, they connect with the Light. “Only then, the real Kingdom of the Divine Word becomes visible to the supremely evolved Human, with Love and Justice bestowed upon him. With the release of his capacity to choose, from its constant fight with his heredity and his needs for survival”.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">It is only natural for a man to ask “How is it possible for such an advanced human being, to change society?”</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">As History has taught us, my dearest friend, it was never simple.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">The actions, decisions and moral directions of such an enlightened human being are not clearly visible to those who have not followed the same spiritual path, as such a human being has followed. Furthermore, History has taught us that those great men were never in a position to alter their social environment, simply by transfusing their wisdom to it, but they achieved this social change by offering a life example. They chose to enter their personal Jerusalem on top of a little donkey and they offered their lives in exchange for the spiritual improvement of their fellow men, the same men who put them on the cross or gave them the hemlock to drink. History has to offer a multitude of such examples through its course. Of course, not all of those people were Freemasons, but our Fraternity follows similar spiritual paths, therefore, a certain degree of generalization is allowed.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Since, my dear Reader, we, as humble and lowly brothers of such enlightened and great men, can do nothing more than strive to approach a dim reflection of the Light (and never the Light itself), I am certain that we cannot have either the power or the inspiration to alter our society by ourselves. The best we can hope is to give our fellow men a humble example of what could be a little better in their lives.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">If I achieve this, for just one other man around me, I shall regard my choices as justified. The rest of our society can wait…</span></span></div></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-40299348683462970222010-12-07T00:51:00.000-08:002010-12-07T00:54:39.721-08:00Holding the Line...<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">A great deal of things has changed in our Society, since the 18<sup>th</sup> century, when Freemasonry became what it is today. Some of these things changed to the better, others to the worse, while others are still in the appraisal stage and will remain so for the centuries to come.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In the beginnings of the 18<sup>th</sup> century, feudalism was the “preferred” method of governance. Human and civil rights did not exist even as a notion, while superstition was the accepted method of “education” for the masses, aided by the official Church, to the benefit of the ruling class. In short, from birth to grave you belonged to someone higher in the food chain.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Freemasonry was a genuine product of Enlightenment and for that reason it harbored all the ideals and dreams that shaped our society to its present state. The Temples of Reason were the hospitable nurseries for the minds of many historical figures, throughout the world, who led people to achieve goals such as fraternity, equality and liberty for everyone, and for that reason we, as freemasons, should feel proud, no matter which particular rite we have chosen to follow.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">As I have mentioned in earlier posts, my dearest and sole Reader, more and more clouds seem to be gathering in the horizon of the human race. We managed to develop a very advanced legal, financial and political system, for our Western world; however we cannot help but feel sometimes that the social stability we strive for is nothing more than the calmness preceding the big storm.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">……………..</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Our modern societies have a lot in common with a pressure cooker and let me explain why:</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">At a personal level, very few people have achieved the mental and spiritual balance to face the numerous challenges posed by today’s social interactions. Each one of us is, most of the times, in dire need of a shrink, whether we know it or not. We go around performing everyday’s chores, with a growing sense of alienation from our fellow human beings, while we grow a stronger dependence on the advancements of pharmaceutical biochemistry, in order to keep a passable social picture.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The institution of the Family is not as functional as it used to be, for the majority of the population. Behind the peaceful façade of most modern families, one may see a progressing alienation between their members. We shouldn’t forget that most social adjustment problems begin in the family and spread to the rest of our circle.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Religious conformity seems to be incapable of providing solutions to the problems of our modern world. Furthermore, Religion has proved to be one of the main points of friction between societies, having caused more bloodshed than any other institution in History and this trait doesn’t seem to change in the near future.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The ideal of the Country and Ethnic identity grows more hazy every passing day. We have lost that sense of belonging to a defined society of common values, to the benefit of faceless corporations that aim to expand all over the world at any social or political cost. That Globalization, without sharing of common values and ideals is extinguishing local cultures and identities, much faster than any historically recorded conquest.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Greed has proved to be the main force behind all political, financial or social changes in the last 2 centuries. The young revolutionary student throwing stones at the police today, will become in a few years the next little gear to move a senseless, heartless machinery whose main objective is to amass as much wealth as possible. All that happening at the expense of the Little Man, most of the times.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Modern Man has lost his capacity to survive without the constant aid of Technology. Our societies would crumble to dust, should we experience a major power outage that would last more than a few days. Our existence is valid only through the memory banks of a computer, someplace. The next glass of water we drink, our transportation, our fighting of the natural elements can only be ensured through technology, us having lost all necessary skills that kept our forbearers alive through the ages.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">We are slowly sawing the branch we sit on, by destroying the only environment that can keep us alive. Our planet is more than capable of surviving under a different ecology, but are we?</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">All these tensions, being much more pronounced in more vulnerable, populous and poor societies have caused a massive immigration wave, throughout our planet, that is threatening of further de-stabilizing our fragile societies, while the chance of this immigration to become aggressive in the near future is more than possible. However, our greed does not allow for viable alternatives, at the moment. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">What is more frightening, is that in the era of Globalization, a local catastrophic economic failure will affect the entire planet, through a complicated and unpredictable domino effect, in which we shall be unable to determine which piece we should remove, in order to stop its rapid expansion.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">…………..</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In the 6<sup>th</sup> century A.D. the Byzantine emperor Justinian withdrew his forces from Western Europe, following a plague that annihilated more than half of the European population of his Empire. All the western territories of the mighty Roman Empire returned to the Dark Ages, as they have been named by modern historians. The peoples of these areas fell to the hands of barbaric warlords, lost all the culture of their forefathers and were limited to their villages, unable to determine their fate for the centuries to come. Everything had been lost and it took another 900 years for Civilization to re-establish itself at those areas, following the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans and the subsequent spread of its scholars to the West, a fact that instigated the age of Renaissance. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">This is not ancient history, my friend. It is a very possible scenario that could happen over a period of our lifetime. Our mighty societies constitute an organism that preserves a large number of channels of communication between its members: Scientific research, Education, Religion, Economy, Political and Military affiliations, etc. Have you wondered how easy it could be for all these channels to be severed by a major catastrophic event, leaving our societies not only incapable of communicating but in an antagonistic mode? The New Dark Ages shall have arrived.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The myth of World Governance is just a myth, since it does not take the social centrifugal forces, into consideration. One has only to see what is happening in a modern society, with all political, racial, religious or monetary unrest and multiply it a thousand fold. The bonding material is not strong enough to hold such a huge organism as a World Government, together. Furthermore, one of the first principles of Quantum Physics is that the more energy you spend in order to determine the exact velocity and position of a particle, the higher the uncertainty of these properties shall become, thus altering your readings to a greater extent.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Religion cannot be a common ground in separated societies. From the time its Doctrine cannot be communicated in a uniform and consistent manner, it tends to be altered to suit the needs and beliefs of its conveyors as it has been proven in so many historical instances.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">However, there IS an institution that has proved to be a viable common ground for people of different religious, cultural, political and social backgrounds and that is (yes, you guessed right, my friend) Freemasonry. This is, at last, my thesis in this post and I’ll be happy to explain it to you, provided you do not fall asleep in the next 5 minutes.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Freemasonry managed to survive as an institution, through weak administrative, but very strong fraternal bonds. All that is required is for each local fraternity to recognize the fact that its sister fraternity follows the same rite in its functions and sometimes even this requirement is not necessary in order to ensure fraternal bonds between Freemasons.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In short, Freemasonry has proven over the centuries that it is a system non-antagonistic to the 3<sup>rd</sup> Law of “Social Thermodynamics”, which would dictate a constantly increasing rate of entropy, capable of destroying the bonds of our Fraternity. The reason for that resilience is that we have excluded all those factors that could contribute to internal frictions, such as personal religious and political beliefs and we hold anthropocentricity and philanthropy as our main reason for existence. In its own unique manner, Freemasonry is a “post-modern” entity that is powered by the purest ideals of our human race.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">These qualities may ensure that Freemasonry could act as a Guardian of our common values, even if our societies experience a long term or catastrophic crisis, pretty much like the monasteries of the middle Ages. It could be the only channel of communication between societies that have lost all other means to understand each other and this, my friend, would be the most important function our Fraternity could have for the years to come, if the poopoo really hits the proverbial fan.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Do you think that this proposition is worth discussing in our meetings?</span></span></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-20215086884395523412010-11-18T03:53:00.000-08:002010-11-19T22:40:01.327-08:00The Collective Soul of the Masonic Ritual<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Many things have been said about the Masonic rituals in the lodges, some of them not particularly friendly. The enemies of Freemasonry claim that these secret activities are nothing more than satanic rituals; therefore, every Mason who will depart for the Eternal East will find himself in a huge pot full of hot tar, with all the demons poking him to make sure he is done.</span></span></div><div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In such a case, my dearest and sole reader, it would be rather futile quitting smoking to avoid tar into our lungs, since we will be swimming in it for all eternity.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">It would be very simple to give a credible answer to all these accusations made by every religious fanatic throughout the world, by inviting them into our lodges to witness by themselves our activities and realize that the virgins are not in danger of losing their most precious possession during one of our rituals.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">However, my dearest and uninitiated friend, it is only natural to wonder why we, as Masons, are so protective of our secrets (which, by the way, are not secrets anymore, since all our rituals are readily available in the Internet) refusing to publish them, write them on video and show them in a reality show called “The Worshipful Brother”.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">It all has to do, my friend, with what we call the “Masonic Collective Soul”.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">There are brothers, much more eloquent and learned than myself, who would be capable of analyzing the philosophy behind this term in a way that you would either understand completely, or fall down awestruck, depending on the neural synapses you managed to develop since your mom was shaking the rattler in front of your eyes, wondering if you will react somehow, or she will have to send you to college after 17 years, cockeyed and drooling.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Your good friend (that is me) will attempt to analyze this term for you.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In the final game of the World Series, the coach of a team is priming his players in the locker room, so that they will come out on the field determined to bring the trophy back to Boston (fat chance!!). The same happens with the leader of a platoon in the eve of the battle, or the priest in your church. This is called “spiritual tuning”. It is the process of the spiritual and mental unification of a group of people into a solid set, whose powers are far greater that the collective powers of its constituents.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">In the same manner and for the same objective, the Masonic Ritual foresees a procedure which aims into tuning the participants into a common target, which, in our case, is the elevation of the team on a higher spiritual level that will not include the everyday problems and worries of our lives. This spiritual tuning of many people into a common objective is called the “Collective Soul”.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">It would be very simple (and exceptionally effortless) for me to stop at this point, having covered a large portion of your questions, my good friend. However, the logic I mentioned to you is based on philosophical principles, which sometimes transcend the ability of the oral or written Word to fully explain them, and they emanate from the symbolic and mystic level of the human experience. Therefore, please be patient and I will elaborate further.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Every esoteric teaching is based on myths and allegories, so that its student or its researcher will be capable of de-symbolizing its messages, since the logical part of our experience is not always capable of achieving that. In short, the myths and allegories constitute the dramatic string of a purely initiating procedure, which leads the researcher through complicated paths, to the explaining of cryptic messages and esoteric meanings.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">The Old Testament, the Holy Quran, the teachings of Jesus Christ, the ancient Greek Dodekatheism and so many other philosophies and religious teachings, present to us a plethora of additional messages by de-symbolizing their narrative. As Orthodox Christians we should not forget that the real theological and philosophical stature of Christianity is based on the explanations given to us by the Holy Fathers, the de-symbolizing of the allegories of the teachings of Jesus and the Holy Drama and not to the dry narrative of a number of historically questionable events and scriptures.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Every newly initiated student who enters the Masonic Fraternity and participates in the workings of his lodge is tuned with the existing collective soul. He is led into the existing energy reserves of the Masonic Fraternity in a purely experiental way, he tunes himself into the universal rhythm in order to participate in turn to the advancement and evolution of this process, through his individual work within the Fraternity.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Although I have not a high regard for Paulo Coelho, I fully agree with one of his writings: “If you really desire something, the Universe conspires to the fulfillment of that desire”. This exactly happens when the spiritual energy of many different people are tuned into the realization of a single aim. The tuned mental energy is creating something called by some theories as a “mental entity”, which is a mental structure which is created by the repeated thoughts of an individual or a tuned group of people. Based on this theory, the collective soul is a mental/spiritual entity which is created by the collective meditation of many brothers, which becomes autonomous from the constituent minds and constitutes in turn a spiritual reservoir which affects everyone who will come close to it with his thoughts. It is, in short, the collective soul of our Fraternity.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">A lot of the opening and closing rituals aim into collecting and re-distributing that mental energy to the participating brothers. I shall not elaborate further, since it is not my intention to bring out all aspects of our Ritual.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">That means, my dear friend and reader, that even if all our Rituals are readily available in the Internet, they are as useful to the non-participants and the uninitiated people as a space shuttle manual would be useful to you to qualify as an astronaut. However, bringing an uninitiated or hostile person into our lodge, as a witness, would be equal to throwing a metal rod into a high-voltage substation. </span></span></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-68901133016772258392010-10-27T10:28:00.000-07:002010-10-27T10:28:47.617-07:00Moral Development and Justice<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EL</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">It happened by accident to come to my possession, part of the research performed by one of the most notable psychologists of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987), dealing with the Stages of Moral Development of the humans.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">I am fully aware, my dear brother, that my analyses have made you fall asleep on many occasions, especially during <span> </span>our notorious philosophical nights accompanied with something quite stronger than water. The combination of my boring and monotonous voice with hard liquor can be devastating. However, certain reference points must be established, if we want to determine the social behavior and moral development of our fellow humans, therefore, please pretend you are interested in what I say and hide your yawns, because I am constantly afraid that half of your head will plunge on the floor and roll under the couch.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Our pal, the late L. Kohlberg (who committed suicide in 1987, following bouts of severe depression caused by a tropical disease he contracted in Africa), explained to the rest of us, who cannot tell schizophrenia from runny nose, that there are six (6) distinct Stages of moral development and sense of Justice and each of us makes it up to a certain stage during his adult life.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ol start="1" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">The first Stage is defined by the behavior of infants. They have not developed any sense of justice and their decision-making mechanisms are fueled solely by their basic biological needs. The only inhibitive factors in existence are those of the negative stimuli (when an infant is burned by the candle flame once, he won’t touch it ever again). </span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US"> In the Second Stage, the little child acquires a basic knowledge of what is “good” or “bad” entirely based on the reaction of his guardians and the possible punishment bestowed upon him.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">The Third Stage personality shows a blind obedience to certain Rules. He follows orders, unquestionably, just because these orders were given to him by certain authority figures (parents, teachers, officers, supervisors, priests, holy books, etc.). I suppose that most of the Auschwitz<span> </span>guards, the Stalin-era NKVD executioners, the blind followers of a TV-evangelist or the Islamic Jihad bombers belong to that Stage and their motto to each accusation is always “I did it because I was ordered so”.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">A Stage-4 personality continues to follow rules; however he becomes conscious of the opinion of the Majority. Such a person is easily distinguished by holding torches or nooses in a Pogrom, asking for a vote to expel Jews, immigrants, coloreds or commies out of their neighborhood and in general by defining Good or Bad by the general consensus of his peers. <span> </span>Whatever may be regarded as “good” by his community it becomes good enough for him.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">People belonging to the 5<sup>th</sup> Stage of Moral Development strive for the good of the entire population. They are aware of what may be unjust in the society and they try to make it better by introducing new rules and laws. They do not attempt to protect only their social class but they extend this protection to all their fellow citizens, regardless of social, racial or religious status. Such types become successful human rights lawyers and idealistic politicians.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">The 6<sup>th</sup> Stage defines humans who transcend the legal system and the various social acceptances and define Justice on a much larger scale, which is above any racial, national or religious norms, in order to achieve their moral standards. They are the moral leaders of our society, such as Dr. M. L. King, the great philosophers of humanity, the visionaries of dramatic political changes and some notable br.: Masons, whose wisdom opened new roads of thought for the rest of us.</span></span></li>
</ol><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Later in his research, L. Kohlberg defined two more stages, Stage-0 and Stage-7.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Stage-0 personalities are rare, and are characterized by a total lack of moral development. They are the psychopaths and sociopaths among us, those who are capable of killing a newborn baby, or a thousand of them, with the same ease and lack of emotion that they would pick their nose.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">On the 7<sup>th</sup> stage, Kohlberg put those extremely rare people whose sense of Justice responds only on a Universal level, such as Jesus Christ, M. Gandhi, Buddha or Muhammad. <span> </span>The problem with those super-humans has always been that their teachings are finally interpreted by people belonging to much lower moral Stages than them and eventually they are distorted beyond recognition, by time, to fit the ideas of those disciples. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Since the people belonging to the 0-Stage (do not think of your mother in law, I see the gleam in your eyes), as well as those of the 7<sup>th</sup> Stage are rarities and statistically inconsequential, I suggest we forget about them and try to understand some things about the other 6 stages that represent the 7 billions of humanity.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Let us recognize, to begin with, that the final Stage of Moral Development that will be achieved by a human being (and they are not only the 6 distinct stages I was telling you, while you were nodding off, but intermediate ones, as well), is a combination of hereditary and acquired capacities.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">It goes without saying that we cannot do anything on the hereditary part of the equation, if we do not aspire to be called Little Hitlers. Furthermore, it would be quite stupid to act on that, knowing that some people who defined Western Civilization with their work, (e.g. L.V. Beethoven), were genetically compromised.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">However, I hope you agree with me, when I support that a society can do a lot of things, with regard to the Education of its young members. With the term Education (with a capital E) I refer to the teaching process, sometimes by example, which will lead to the real moral development of the student and not only to the reproduction of dry knowledge that is not connected to his personality and his character. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Teaching is an initiation process, which cannot have any relationship to mediocre and lazy teachers. It is an Art, which unfortunately has been forgotten by the 3- and 4-Stage halfwits who abuse our system of education and our children and lead to a homogenized society that acts as a huge lawnmower, cutting anything that springs above the rest.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">You see, my dearest and only reader, in essence it is not envy of the Have-not’s against the Have’s that will drive a fight between Classes, as Carl Marx wrote. Sometimes it is the insecurity of a less morally developed person against an individual with strong and advanced moral status that causes this clash. These are the hidden parameters of the equation which render the whole “Struggle of the Classes” issue erratic and thus obsolete, as Jesus Christ or Socrates can testify.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">As you very well understand, my brother, the process of the perfection of our stone calls for us to reach a high stage of moral development and this is not based on some obscure theory but on some very strong scientific studies and data; and Freemasonry is an institution that is fully capable to offer such development to people who have completed their formal educational process and look for something more substantial in their lives.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Listen, Look and Learn and you will not lose..</span></span></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-32104876676126541262010-10-20T02:19:00.000-07:002010-10-20T02:32:34.879-07:00Fighting the Fear<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">I am an ardent supporter of fraternal bonding. I really like to see brothers opening out to Society, through Charity, Masonic cookouts, Masonic Motorcycle Clubs, social events, etc. It is the American Way, stating that Freemasonry is an integral part and a constituent of what is the American Nation today. A Nation fathered by enlightened brothers who wanted to let Liberty and Equality flourish in a new, fertile land.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">However, my dearest and </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">only reader, as you may already have suspected, I am, by nature, a devil’s Advocate. I constantly question myself, as well as my brethren, to ascertain that our path leads us always towards the Eternal Light. It would be futile for each one of us, to strive for more Light when we have taken the wrong path in our quest for it.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">It would be useful, therefore, to examine some historical data, regarding the influence of Freemasonry to the development of our Western culture. However, given the fact that (after many technical publications I had in my career) I am a lazy bum who wouldn’t cite a bibliographical reference to save his life, I will have to exploit whatever has been hastily stored in my brain, right next to that killer Texas chili recipe and the Second Law of Thermodynamics.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">It all boils down to a simple statement: Freemasonry has been the Driving Force behind the Enlightenment of the 18</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"> and 19</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"> centuries. It helped abolish the feudalism and the oppression of the peoples of the Western World and in that capacity instigated the great independence revolutions that took place in America and Europe. It has been the womb that gave birth to new, revolutionary ideas that helped shape the world as we know it. It was not the Lever, but the Leverage Point for these changes. And we, as Masons, have any right to feel proud of our predecessors and their deeds. </span></span> </div><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">This pride, however, brings responsibility. Who am I to fill Benjamin Franklin’s or Voltaire’s shoes, if all I can do for my Fraternity is to organize a successful BBQ event, or ride a Harley with Freemasonry’s emblems stuck on its tailpipe? In short, the constant question to my conscience, as a Mason, is whether there is something more substantial that we can do, in order to justify our identity. </span> </div><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church utilized a fairly simple and straightforward message, which would be quite understandable by the illiterate masses: “If you are not obedient to the Church, the lords of your land and Authority in general, you will be condemned and blacklisted as a sinner. You will go to Hell, where thousands of demons will torture you till the end of time. Is that what you really want? Or you’d prefer to be silent and obedient and ensure a seat next to Abraham and Jacob?”</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">The message was very simple and exceptionally potent, especially with the “encouragement” of the Holy Inquisition, reserved for some skeptics. And that message’s influence continued undeterred up to the time of the birth of the enlightenment movements in Europe, most of which emanated by the ideals of Freemasonry.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">The social structure of the 18</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"> and 19</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"> centuries was such that the same part of the society that had the biggest influence was at the same time the part that fed the structure of the Freemasonry organizations. Only the privileged and the literate could participate in our Fraternity and those were the same people who comprised the ruling cast of the society, at that time. It was, therefore, considerably easier to bring change, since that change was fought and decided at the top of the social pyramid.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">What is happening today? My guess is that it’s always easier to convince the masses to adopt a revolutionary change that will ensure their human rights and civil liberties, than to bring change to a typically free and advanced society that has been buried underneath its own garbage. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Furthermore, the movers and shakers of today’s society may be people which do not give a fart in a bottle about all these ideals and their only interest is to buy that 200-ft yacht they were invited at their buddy’s party (fully equipped with all those gorgeous ladies on the deck).</span></span></div><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">We do not strive anymore to bring change to a corrupt Constitution or bring down a totalitarian Regime. Our western republics have almost excellent constitutions and we live in democratic societies governed by elected fellow citizens. And still, some things seem to go totally wrong in our little Paradise.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Okay, most of my learned readers (you see, I am an optimist to use plural on the term “reader”)</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"> must have already suspected that I am trying to re-invent the wheel. I hope they show a little patience and not let me write all these in vain, since I am getting to the point in a while... </span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Man, according to Aristotle, is a Political Creature. This characterization includes the inborn tendency of every free-thinking man to utilize philosophy, in order to categorize and assimilate all the information he receives from his environment. It is the process that helps Man put this information at work in a greater ideological </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">context, thus defining his position in Society and Nature. It is our </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>descent to the depth of our Conscience and our watching of the natural phenomena</i></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">, in order to find the Light.</span></span></div><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">What could happen, however, when the rate of the information provided to us, is far greater that our ability to ingest it? What might happen when these pieces of information are so overwhelming in their number that they pass “unfiltered” into our brain, since there is no more time available for us to analyze each and every one and include them in our personal system of ideas and beliefs?</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">In my discussions with many young people, I’ve heard them boasting that there is almost no information that they cannot find in the Internet. In order to save some time, I shall concur to that. However, I wonder, how many of these young people (and us, as well) have wondered, which of these pieces of information may be wrong, half-truths or belonging to the sphere of urban legends? Do we really possess the capacity to analyze all these, or our brain is already fried and we have reached the point that we have an anxiety attack, every time a Dairy Queen employee asks us whether we want vanilla, strawberry or chocolate shake?</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Have we reached a point that Freemasonry has nothing more to offer to the enlightenment of people and it can now rest, in the role of a peculiar Gentlemen’s Club, with funny-looking aprons, handshakes and picnics? Not that I have anything against cookouts, I can pig-out with the best of them, but I still see all these activities as cheap filler for a very real Void.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">“</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">So, Mr. Wise guy, what do you suggest we do?” I know this question comes naturally to your mind. Assuming that we are all intelligent people and utilizing Socrates’ methodology, I will have to ask you a few questions first:</span></span></div><ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Are you convinced that this information storm we receive, has increased our knowledge?</span></span></div></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Do you believe that this multitude of information has rendered you more capable of distinguishing True from False?</span></span></div></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Do you believe that all this information contains the tools that will help you utilize it for the benefit of your mental and spiritual advancement?</span></span></div></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Do you suspect, sometimes, that some of this information may be “cooked” by Perception Management techniques, to lead you to pre-defined conclusions, to the benefit of certain people and/or organizations?</span></span></div></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Do you sense that a lot of this unfiltered information aims at causing a sense of fear to its recipient, since fear is the best tool to direct the masses to certain decisions and conclusions? Is it possible that we have become a flock of sheep, directed by the stick of the shepherd? </span></span> </div></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Is it possible that this unbelievable mass and rate of information may hide large quantities of “toxins”, which your critical capacity is insufficient to isolate, anymore?</span></span></div></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">How can we characterize this process, if not “New Dark Ages”? Is it possible that Man escaped the old-time feudalism, only to fall into a new type of oligarchy, led by people who know in advance what is actually true and what is “glass beads”?</span></span></div></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">A goldfish may die if you feed it too little or too much and its memory lasts for about 3 seconds. How much can we become like a goldfish, without our knowledge?</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">A lot of businessmen will argue that “Information is Gold” and I shall agree to that, with the provision that this information must also be true, otherwise it becomes just another tool to direct the masses, as we have seen so many times, happening.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Therefore, we, as informed people, must look for those tools that will allow us to distinguish the Truth when we see it.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">To attach ourselves to any kind of political or religious Dogma is as useful as to own a thermometer that shows only 97,6°F, regardless of the actual body temperature. These systems of belief are in dire need of free thinking, therefore they cannot be trusted in an ever-changing environment, except for peace-of-mind purposes.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">On the other hand, accepting everything as True is the same as getting candies from strange men on the street, a habit your mom warned you sternly against.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Of course, rejecting everything as False shall lead you to wear peculiar black clothes and silver scull pennants and listen to Gothic Rock.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Therefore, the proposal of Freemasonry for Reason, knowledge of ourselves and examining of the natural phenomena may be a quite viable alternative. </span></span> </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">What could be a bigger Liberty that our capacity to think freely and decide correctly within a tempest of misinformation?</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">What could be a bigger Equality than the equality of reasonable and well-informed people, communicating with each other?</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Finally, how can we feel Fraternity if we cannot trust our brother that he is talking to us straight from his heart?</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Therefore, if we really want to uphold the spirit of our predecessors in Freemasonry, we must re-direct our efforts to teaching Reason to people, all over the world. Education, free thinking and questioning of all types of doctrines will be the tools to avoid these New Dark Ages and we, as Freemasons, should be leading the way. On the other hand, these cookouts seem a good idea too...</span></span></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-71145399422704871882010-10-14T00:55:00.000-07:002010-10-14T08:19:20.006-07:00On Masonic Love...<div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I had the fortune to participate in the presentation of a Masonic Piece, given by a very dear and learned brother and I hope that I shall be able to publish it, one of these days, in this blog, so that you'll be able to read something much more interesting than my boring comments.</span></div><div></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The subject of that speech was that of Love, as it is perceived by the Masonic Ideal. If I may summarize that presentation in one sentence, I would say that its thesis supported that real Love is never targeted at a certain person or society but it is Universal, emanating from the divine spark within, our Soul.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">With so many learned and wise Masters who have preceded my humble existence and have spoken on this particular matter, it would be rather futile for me to attempt to add one more stone to the enormous philosophical structure that has been built over the last 2000 years. I am in dire need of both, eloquence and spiritual capacity, to perform such a task, without running the risk of being embarrassed in the process. </span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, an engineer (like me) is a very peculiar creature. Without him being a real scientist (I regard myself as a noble grease monkey), he is the one who takes a brilliant scientific theory and puts it to work. This is the only way we (the engineers) know how to be useful to Society. As an old and dear professor used to say, “an engineer must be smart and lazy. Smart, to find the solution of a problem and lazy, to find the easy solution”. </span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Therefore, what's left for me in this particular philosophical matter, is to define it through simple, sociological observations, since I was always interested in understanding (and explaining) how each thing or system really works. It must be a genetic thing, since I remember myself as a little boy, tearing apart all of my toys and playing with their spare parts.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">A long time ago, I had a client who could be characterized as a model of family man. He adored his wife and his children, he was doing everything for them, he had secured an enviable quality of life for them. At the same time he was a very religious man. At that time he was building a very large residence for his family and he also built a whole church at his backyard, inviting on a very frequent basis the local bishop to perform Mass. He was also a philanthropist of sort, donating money for charity. Pretty good and loving man, wouldn't you agree?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">At the same time, that same person was one of the biggest loan sharks in Greece, with profits well exceeding $1.5 mil. every month (18 years ago). He had a small army of lawyers, henchmen, police officers, judges and bank managers on his payroll and he had driven to bankruptcy and suicide a lot of our fellow citizens. Later, riding the wave of the stock market “boom” of the late 90's he was transformed into a big-time investor, filling the market with “soap bubbles” and leading even more people to disaster.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am sure that I do not have to reach a moral conclusion, out of respect for your intelligence my dear and sole reader. My example is so extreme as to state that <i>Adolf Eichmann</i>, the Commandant or <i>Auschwitz</i>, was an excellent and loving family man.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">During the opening of the works at the level of Entered Apprentice, the Worshipful Master says: “<i>My brothers, we are not anymore in the uninitiated world. We left the metals in front of the gate of the Temple. Let us ascent our hearts in brotherhood and let our eyes turn to the Light</i>” (free translation of the Ritual from the Greek language, I'm afraid, please excuse my discrepancies).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Is it possible that the targeted love is another metal? Something that defines us socially but not morally? Something that we must leave behind, when we enter the Temple?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">From courtrooms to eulogies and to everyday newspaper articles, a “good” fellow citizen is defined by his quality as a family man. How good a husband and a father he was, how much he was adored by his children and wife, how good a son he was to his parents, etc etc etc. Widening that circle, the deceased/defendant/award recipient is noted for his heroism and self-sacrifice for his country, his fellow citizens, his trade union, his Church or his Party.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Would you be, therefore, justified, my dearest and sole reader, to say that I am writing gibberish, by devaluing great heroes of your country's History, such as (if you're American) George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Thomas B. Jefferson, just because their love for their country was a targeted one? Is it possible that a young medical doctor who gives tetanus shots to little children at a remote African village, is more justified to the eyes of God, than Benjamin Franklin, Dwight Eisenhower or (Lord have mercy on us!!) our mother???</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">What sort of (unheard of) morals are you trying to impose on us, buddy?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, the extreme examples are useful, to the extent that they can define the frame of our thinking. Beyond our love for our family, our country or our religious doctrine, we, as Masons, must sense, “through our descent to the depth of our conscience and the observation of natural phenomena”, another dimension, much larger and universal, where all God's creatures are included, and through that dimension we must connect with the Divine.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">All Doctrines, my dearest reader, are useful as road signs for somebody who trusts third parties to show him the road to the Light and never searches by himself. That's why, my friend, the Masonic path is such a lonely and difficult one. </span></div><div lang="en-US" style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1106762106163579336.post-20003874412467457612010-10-13T03:54:00.000-07:002010-11-05T03:04:11.373-07:00The Written Word (or, "Scripta Manent")<div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Each one of us, who have joined a Masonic Order, has his preferences with regard to the parts comprising the Masonic Ritual. Each of these parts is targeting into achieving an advanced state of concentration, helping the participants escape from their everyday lives and see themselves as integral parts of the Masonic symbolism and drama, by descending to the depth of their conscience.</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">For many of us, the most favorite part of the activities in a Lodge is the presentation of the Masonic Piece, as it is presented by a brother. It is the ritual of the propagation of Knowledge and Ideas to the participating brothers, as well as the cause for the production of some very fertile (and sometimes emotionally charged) discussions. Furthermore, it is the written History of each Lodge, indicative of the unrestrained Spirit born in it.</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">From the moment Man began to produce sounds in order to communicate, he attempted, at any cost, to immortalize his thoughts. Maybe that urge came from our inborn laziness to repeat what we already said once, or from a selfish temptation to immortalize our wisdom (that's why I'm keeping this blog, in the first place). Thus, the Written Word was born.</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, as many people can testify, the Written Word is something much more than a mere schematic reproduction of the spoken word. In essence, it has such a relationship with the spoken word, as to using a GPS device to get somewhere, compared to getting instructions from my aunt Betsy, whose brain has become like Swiss cheese (actually I have not so many aunts, however, in order to make some literary impressions, I invent some, which later fade into the mist of History, along with GPS devices and Swiss cheese).</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Written Word is something living and breathing and immediately after its birth and propagation, it alienates itself from its creator, to the extent that he (the creator) has just another opinion about it, among the multitude of opinions created from reading of the text. It has become a small or large reference point and much like the Fine Arts, the intelligent and persuasive Written Word creates a multitude of ideas and emotions to other people, some of which are totally different than the original thoughts of its creator.</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The fact that some writer achieved a notable mental creation, may be an honor for him, however, that creation cannot be controlled by him, anymore. It is a spiritual path that leads men into uncharted territories. When you drive to Chicago, you never wonder as to who designed the Interstate, as far as it is modern, well-built, safe to travel and it gets you through some interesting landscapes (well, not many to find on your road to Chicago). Therefore, the Written Word incorporates the wisdom of its creator, but it de-personifies it, makes it its own and spreads it to other people making them co-owners of that wisdom.</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The built-in Anarchy of the Written Word, meaning its power to create a multitude of different thoughts and emotions, is the foundation of human Freedom, given the fact that nobody, not even its creator, has the right to impose some particular path of thought, an action that would lead to Dogma, a state which by its nature is constrictive to the Freedom of thought. Nobody can know in advance the shape of the tree that will spring from the seed we have dropped, except if our purpose is to create a bonsai which, regardless of its beauty, is an abomination against Nature.</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jesus Christ existed only through the writings of the (much later) evangelists, as Socrates existed through the writings of Plato and Homer through the writings of a much later generation of bards who put on papyrus or clay whatever they could remember from the oral tradition, handed down to them. The oral Word of all the above great men, no matter how enlighted and wise it may have been, would be lost in the mist of Time, if somebody else had not immortalized it on a tablet, for the generations to come. Much later, Muhammad, the founder of Islam, fully appreciated that fact and took care to leave his Written Word by himself, thus maintaining a much closer spiritual relationship to his philosophy, than the previous great men. However, all the problems emanating from these two large Religions, started when some “wise” men decided that they were the sole holders of the Truth behind the Word...</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Written Word is the Power that can modify Reality in ways that not even its writer can imagine. Since “Scripta Manent”, therefore, that Power is capable of acting in our society many years after the physical demise of its creator.</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">All the above, my dearest friend, brother and sole reader, are indicative, I believe, of the spirit that should govern the Speaker of the evening. Freemasonry is possibly the last shelter of free thinking, imposing no obstacle to the search for the Truth. We, therefore, must honor the privilege given to us to speak in front of our brothers and we can honor it only by ignoring all these repetitive references to bro.: Albert Pike's work and allow our Spirit to roam freely, with a sense of “anarchy” and love for our listeners, so that we may produce something that (if possible) could alter the way they see Life itself.</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">And this, my brother, shall be accomplished only if we allow our Psyche to speak.</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was extremely fortunate to listen to 1-2 speeches of this nature, so far.</span></div><div style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div>GREEK MASONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00536518133666489095noreply@blogger.com0