A Mason's Work

I want to step up to the 50,000 foot view here for just a moment and talk a little bit

about esotericism.

You know, as as Freemasons were taught that a lot of the ritual and the things we talk

about have this esoteric meaning that is deep and profound and you'll get it one day

kind of thing.

There are lessons that are built into the craft and they're hidden because they require

growth to understand them and things like that.

And there's some truth to it, right?

There is some things that if you tried to explain them to your younger self right now,

there's nothing you could say to convince the younger version of you of the truth of

what you currently believe.

And that's kind of normal, right?

That's just growth and development.

But we oftentimes pursue esotericism as this sort of journey into this deeper knowledge.

And in fact, it's not there.

It's the equivalent of trying to teach math to someone in a book and that book is written

in Braille and they don't know Braille.

That is not esotericism.

That is just bad teaching, right?

It's just bad organization.

And so when we look at esoteric concepts and esoteric ideas, there may have been a time

when you would throw a bunch of concepts into a diagram and say, this is the secret of

the universe, you know, get to it.

And I'm pretty much confident that that is a horrible, horrible plan.

There are guys out there that are going to tell you that they're, you know, they're

alchemical sort of process that they go through or the magical systems that they use or any

of the kinds of mystery traditions that they use are there because there is some sort of

deeper hidden meaning.

And yet at the same time, you talk to these fellows and some of the basics about time

management or some of the basics about understanding, you know, the sort of role of scrutiny of

the craft and trying to just observe and evaluate your own behavior, they kind of quickly

want to go to like space wizard boot camp.

And I'm not trying to suggest that there may not be something there for some people,

but I'm going to tell you that the basics of blue lodge masonry, you could spend the

rest of your life with just the working tools and the ritual provided in blue lodge masonry

and you will never run out of stuff.

You'll never run out of things to understand subtleties to explore behaviors to improve

and remedy.

And everything else, every appended body, every other bit of stuff that's claiming to

have advanced knowledge that's claiming to have a more profound understanding.

Again, I'm not suggesting that they might not, but as your free masonry is your free

masonry, don't play shiny objects in drill.

Don't go chase yet another appended body or yet another thing if the behaviors that you're

working on or the objectives that you have from a Masonic development perspective are

not being currently fulfilled at your blue lodge.

If you're not able to solve the problems where you're at, there is no appended body that's

going to fix it.

Free masonry in my opinion, and again, you'll go back to episode one.

A lot of this this entire podcast is driven by my opinion and my experience.

In my opinion, you can do appended bodies whenever you want.

If you tell me exactly how the 24 inch gauge works and how you're using it to add new skills,

grow yourself, become a better person.

You can do that for everyone of the basic blue lodge tools, then go nuts.

Go find the next bit of knowledge, another lens, another perspective.

If you're not able to do that, you're not going to find what you're looking for.

One more else.

That's not the set.

There's not value there.

Again, I'm not trying to trivialize the experience or the value for some people.

What I'm trying to suggest to you is under the veil of esotericism, a lot of guys will

tell you that this the thing you've always wanted is behind door number two, and it's

not.

It just isn't.

Stay with door number one.

Learn as much as you can there.

Stay with your blue lodge.

Spend your time there.

Travel with those brothers.

Walk with them and then go together into an appendant body experience.

Go together into a layered conversation about your understanding of the current tools

that you've been given, and what other tools might be available to you in these appendant

bodies to help you grow.

That said, and I expect some hate mail.

I mean, almost, I'm in a fair number of the appendant bodies, and I don't dislike the

experience.

But again, my behavior modification, my becoming a better man is 99% informed by my

blue lodge experience.

Think it over.

Reach out to me if you have questions or comments, and we'll see you next time.