Getting to the Big Picture

BY: ROBERT G. DAVIS, 33*, GRAND CROSS

I attend a lot of Masonic meetings throughout the country; have personally got to know hundreds, perhaps thousands, of men. For decades, I have watched men go about the daily activities of being Masons, whether in their conduct of lodge business, performing degrees, participating in statewide and national conferences, giving community service, or just hanging out together as men. I pay particular attention to how Masons do things together and relate to each other in their conversations. I observe these things because we claim, as Masons, that we are supposed somehow to be different than the rest of the world of men.

The theory is that, through our unique experiences of joining, we have a different insight about the inner nature of things. We have been transformed as human beings.

It’s hard to explain to someone on the outside what it actually means when we say we have been transformed—that Masonry is a transformative art. In what ways are we actually changed by our experience of becoming, or being, Masons? Sometimes it is easier to answer these kinds of questions with other questions.

What would it be like to live your life as a work of art? To think of your life as a masterpiece in progress. To build your own temple which is your life. That is what our building image is all about in Masonry. How would you shade it, mold it, shape it into whatever it is that you think would be an absolute ideal for your contribution while you are here on this planet? What should be the unfolding of your humanity? What is it you would really like to have said about yourself? Whose life would you look at and say; “that is what I would like to have said about me. That is the right example for me.”

I suppose these are just other ways of asking the age-old questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What am I supposed to be doing? But these are the central questions in Masonry.

Most people, at some point in their life, wonder what constitutes real success in life. Is it the creation of wealth, property, or assets? Is it to be popular, or to serve others, or to have abundant amounts of free time? Is it to be blessed with a loving family, close friends, and lasting relationships? I imagine all of these things have to do with our perceptions of success. Certainly, they all “feel” like success to me. But Masonry suggests we take a slightly different approach to how we think about success. It’s all very personal. If it could be described with words in a "first-person" context, it might read something like this:

As a Mason, I wish to consciously create a sense of what I am here for. How I’m going to live my life that I have, doing it in service to others, affirming a sense of spirituality about myself; and maintaining a sense of compassion and caring and love and decency for others that I meet. Treating conflicts and difficulties that come my way not as something I have to conquer or overcome, but as opportunities to see how I, as a human being, may transcend these things. And, in the practice of living, not to use hatred or anger and bitterness in beating someone down in order to get where I want to be. 

That's a pretty good start toward living a respected life. If we focus our thoughts and actions in a direction that enables us to feel at peace with ourselves and the world, it would be difficult to argue we have not been successful. Freemasonry facilitates how we look at and respond to life to achieve such success. For example, it teaches us how we go about making our life unfold as the universe unfolds, with a real sense of perfection, harmony, and peace without abdicating our usual role in life. We learn that such balance is indeed possible and attainable. I should think such an ideal would have wide appeal. I know it appeals to thoughtful Masons because it is a recipe for success.

In fact, I think it is a lesson that’s been told for centuries. It’s an attitude of knowing that we truly are spiritual beings, even while having a human experience. And we make the quality of that experience available through our thoughts—our mind—through our divine connection.

Freemasonry does not concern itself much with the labels of society, politics, or religion; rather we talk about kindness, and love, and forgiveness, and gentleness of spirit. Our teachings admonish us to understand that we are all connected in a divine way, so the real goal is to determine what it takes for us to get to the big picture—what does it take for us to change so we can always feel harmony and balance in our life?

The answer, of course, is different for everybody. But that’s not the point. The path to the big picture may be different for everyone, but the understanding has to be that the big picture is there and its availability is there for everyone.

We call this big picture Masonic Light, which simply means the awakened life.

Freemasonry transforms men through the process of its initiatory experience, by the repeated liturgy of its ritual, and by its many associations with the ideals of manhood. It enables us to get in touch with that part of our psyche which allows us to become transformed--to get in touch with our mind, to experience the metaphysical--to truly practice the big picture and know in our heart and soul there is more to life than what our body experiences. There is something underneath life that gives it purpose; that works, and has a lesson for each of us. It reveals to us that every experience is a teacher. Everyone we meet is a teacher. We are all students of life. And even when our life is in turmoil, there is an underlying law that will bring us harmony. There is order, even in chaos.

My observations of Masons everywhere lead me to suggest we all tend to have the same sense of reverence with everyone else in the fraternity. Maybe this happens because our ritual experience enables us to become more acceptable to love. We understand we are one and the same as brothers. We begin to treat our fellows with the same respect that we want for ourselves. We recognize they are, in the overall scheme of things, a mirror of us.

We come to realize that what people think about expands. And we always have a choice. We can concentrate on the negative, let our passions rule, be judgmental of others, feel hate. And we can be assured these negative feelings will expand in our own minds, and to our circles of friends. Or, we can be brothers, feel brotherhood, take our duties and obligations seriously, and convert what we feel to others. It is a great truth that the collective consciousness begins with each one of us.

As Masons, then, what we believe and think about as Masons expands. If we want to make men better, we must believe that that will really happen when men become Masons. If we want to bring brotherhood to the world, we have to believe that brotherly love will be experienced and understood by everyone who enters the fraternity. If we want to make the world a better place, we have to believe that we can make a difference in it with our own life. If we want people to know that Freemasonry has great value today, we have to believe that it is relevant in our own hearts, and can be as real in theirs.

The Sufis said; “If you don’t have a temple in your heart, you will never have your heart in a temple.”

Freemasonry is about having a temple in your heart.

So our message to the world is really very simple. If we but keep our character, our morals, our ethics, and our reputation as fraternal men as pure as our Masonic teachings would have them, then we can’t help but be successful. It is nothing less than our journey into the unknown to discover our relationship to the big picture—our own awakened life.

That is a pilgrimage worth making. Because it is right—and right expands.

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Footprints in the Snow

By: Wor. Jason Eddy

The snow was falling steadily as I pulled my car into the parking lot of my office building this morning.  Being one of the early arrivals, per my normal routine, the lot was largely vacant.  I pulled into my parking spot, sat for a minute or so to listen the end of Andrea Bocelli’s rendition of Ava Maria, and gathered my things to head into work for the day.  I should note that much to the amusement of my co-workers, I always park in the parking spot in the far corner of the lot.  No matter the availability of closer spots.  I do this so that I can enjoy quiet time on my lunch break for meditation and contemplation.  So as I walked across the new fallen snow, feeling the snow crunch softly beneath my shoes, I was struck with a thought.  To help solidify the thought, I stopped and looked back towards my car.  There in the snow, as clear as could be, were my footprints highlighting for all to see the path I had taken from my car to the door of the building.  With that, one word came to me.  Obligation.  So, what do footprints in the snow have to do with an obligation?  Perhaps nothing.  Perhaps Much.

Allow me to expound a bit on this epiphany and how it relates to Masonry.  As I trekked across the snow, I left an impression.  This impression could now serve as a map or guide to those behind me who were walking into the building.  Just by looking at my footprints, they would be able to tell if I had slipped, fallen, or stepped anywhere that was undesirable.  More generally, by looking at my footprints, those behind me could see a path.  Such is the way of Masonic Light.

Though disagreements abound concerning nearly every aspect of our Craft, one concept that all Masons can agree with is that we are all seeking “that which was lost”.  This lends itself to the belief that it was once “had”.  As with this parking lot that was once clearly marked and able to be navigated by all who wished to do so, “the Lost Word” was once within the reach of any who desired to know it.  To the modern Mason, we know only that what we seek has been lost since time immemorial.  How then do we find it?  Perhaps we never will, but those who truly seek it do one of two things.  They either travel the Path by following in the footsteps of those who have gone before them, or they step forward into the unknown and leave a Path for others to follow.  Yet we have still not connected to the word “obligation”.  Please continue to follow my footsteps.

As Speculative Masons, we are all seeking Light.  We seek Light because we are in darkness, lest we would never know when the Light was found.  So it is with all of society.  Society, since time immemorial, has been plunged into darkness, lost in the Forest of Errors.  Many Seekers find themselves close enough to the perimeter of that forest to see the Light.  For those, it is simply a matter of having the courage to emerge, much like Plato’s allegory of the Cave.  For others, the perimeter is far from view.  They can see nothing but darkness, despite having an internal desire for Light.  How then are those seeking Light from deep within the darkness able to find it?  Various Masonic monitors include some variant of the following text: “from a point to a line, from a line to a superficies and from a superficies to a solid".  So it is with traveling the Path from within the Forest of Errors towards that divine Light that we all seek.  One Seeker begins his journey, a point.  He travels as far towards that Light as he is able, creating a line.  This Brother’s line ends at the starting point of another Brother’s journey….and so the progression starts towards building a solid edifice.  That House not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.

How then does this pertain to the word “obligation”?  I remind you that “to relieve the distressed is a duty incumbent upon all man, but particularly Freemasons”.  I would suggest that all of humanity resides in a level of distress.  As not only Seekers of Light, but as Bearers of Light, we are obligated to not only carry the torch, but to ensure that we leave a trail that those who seek what we seek may follow.  This is a call to arms to those within our Gentle Craft who have found Light.  This is an admonishment to share that Light so that those behind you on the Path might find what you have found.   Though we must each walk our own Path, we can travel much further with the help of our Brothers.  Perhaps, as with the footsteps in the snow, your impression will disappear over time, but perhaps before doing so another Seeker may catch just a glimpse of it.  This glimpse may provide them with, at the very least, a direction to travel.  So, my Brother, as you leave your Masonic legacy, do so with the awareness that others can and will follow in your footsteps.  Ensure that the Path you forge is a Path worth following.

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To Live In Hearts We Leave Behind Is Not To Die

BY: ROBERT G. DAVIS, 33*, GRAND CROSS

It is the custom of many fraternal societies to come together once each year to remember and honor those friends and brothers who have been called from their earthly labors. The winter and summer solstices are good times for this duty, as both are symbolic of death and re-birth and the cycle of life. In every true brotherhood of men, it is an act of fraternal courtesy to remember those we have lost whom we personally knew and most admired in life.  

But this comradely connection is true of many thoughtful men, even beyond the ceremonies of fraternity. Men remember the men who are no longer with them who made the biggest difference in their lives.

These were the men who showed us what integrity looks like. They taught us that our own transformation to an improved being, fully capable of making a difference in the lives of others, is up to us; and can be realized in the example we leave for others.   

In our fraternal society, those special few who have come before us and been an influence in our own life have always been the agents for this transmission. This is true in our Lodges and our Rites. But, on a broader scale, it is also true in occupations, communities, families and social relationships. The significance and meaning of social honor and integrity can only be carried forth in each generation by those honored men who have lived their life in such a way that the attributes of their good example seem right and compelling to the next generation. We should never forget that the kind of man we are will ultimately be the kind of man others see in us. Then, through us, to those who come after us. This is the chain of union in manhood. This is the legacy of good men.

And it is one reason we annually commemorate the memory of our forefathers. We do this to show manly respect; and we do it to check our own progress against the standards they bequeathed to us.

It is the way legacy works. The real ideals of heroism do not come from movies or comic books. Our heroes are found among those whom we have known and followed and admired to be the best models for our own life. They were once real live men with whom we could relate and touch and talk. They are the men we selected to best represent who we wanted to be like when we grew up. We craved their anointment. And, to a large degree, they now define us.

We face life with their kindness and honesty; their confidence and determination. We confront death with their faithfulness, courage and disinterestedness.

So, you see, if we have paid attention, the examples of the fathers, father-figures, brothers, companions and knights we once knew and most admired have prepared us to be worthy as men in our own time. Our task is to carry on the work which they have furthered so that it may also be said of us, as we can truly say of them, that the world is better because we have lived.

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.

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