A Mason's Work

So there is a implied symbol in Freemasonry and the level of how implied it is versus how

overt it is is a different conversation, but there's an implied symbol in Freemasonry

related to correspondence.

And I've included it in my work as a symbol in the symbols that called as above so below.

You'll find reference to this everywhere.

The notion here is very simple that there is a patterned understanding of the way the

universe operates that is mirrored in sort of as above, right, in the heavens or in this

last Yolspher and here on earth, right?

So you'll see the exact same patterns in heaven as on earth or on earth and below as it

were.

You'll also see the same patterns as within so without.

This principle of correspondence is romantic and it is in a lot of ways as any of the cognitive

tools useful and completely false, right?

The idea that there is some elements that you can find are true.

You can find some examples of this in the world where for example, the organizations of

planets and solar systems and galaxies seems to track to the organization of atoms and molecules.

It's awesome and at some level might be functionally useful for you as a cognitive tool.

There's plenty of evidence though where that's not the case.

You can't compare.

It's an apples and oranges comparison, right?

So you'll continue to find these kind of patterns throughout the world, throughout your

own internal landscape as well as in out in nature.

Those patterns, again, don't necessarily need to be true or accurate to be useful.

This is an important distinction because a lot of folks want things that are useful to

be true and accurate.

The reality is, and I think you'll find this with even just a modest inquiry, that the

things that are true are relative and your understanding of truth as a concept is

emergent with your level of understanding of the world.

For example, the answer to why is the sky blue changes depending on your ability to

understand the complexity of the underlying physics and mechanics and all of that kind

of stuff.

And the further you trace that line of inquiry, the more you have to describe the operation

of the entire universe to get to an abstraction that, again, may or may not have any meaningful

impact on your day.

So when we talk about as above so below or this as within so without correspondence, it's

important to note that this is useful to the extent that it is useful and when it stops

being useful, discard it as a symbol that you're trying to work with.

So when we operate with this in mind, we can start making reasonable projections and assumptions.

When you, for example, clean out the place where you're working.

When you take all of the distractions out of your office or out of your home, that creates

a clearer or clearer space for you kind of to be in.

It also creates a clearer headspace for you to operate it.

This is why one of the first things we do when we work to change our exterior is we tend

to clean up or work to change our interior.

We tend to clean up our exterior.

This is both cosmetic, but it's also cognitive.

And a lot of the reason why this works is a concept and we'll get into it a little bit

more as we go.

But there are concepts here in psychology that we kind of use to understand how all these

things fit together.

That fundamental truth of as above so below is effectively an application of the frequency

illusion.

I mean, if you have, are familiar with the frequency illusion as a thing, the beta-minhoff

phenomenon, it's called as well.

It is this idea that the more you see a thing or the more you think a thing, the more you

see a thing.

So if you buy a car, for example, and the car is the kind of analogy that everyone uses

when they discuss this, when you buy a car, you tend to see more of that car on the road.

This is not true.

The number of cars didn't change.

What did change is your awareness of them.

What again, further reinforces the as above so below as within so without because your mind

changed, your literal perception changed.

This is again, the veracity of this scientifically is almost trivial in comparison to its effective

use for you cognitively as you go forward.

So when we talk about this throughout the course of the rest of the week, we'll talk

about it just like everything else at a behavioral level, at a relational level, and again at a

systemic level.

And we'll then wrap up the rest of the week with, you know, what does this mean to you

and how can you use it?