A Mason's Work

It's series of podcast episodes over the next couple of weeks.

We're going to be going over the Masonic symbols in kind of three different levels, a sort

of practical behavior level, more of a relational level, reflective in a way, and then philosophical

or kind of high level systemic level.

So you can understand kind of how all these pieces fit together.

Today, we're going to start with the Enter to Prennace.

On the Enter to Prennace, Mason's sort of apron degree, whatever you want to call it,

is a wonderful perspective for helping in everyday life when it comes to learning something

new.

So there is a moment in every life where we kind of begin new things, not just once, but

over and over and over again.

That moment where we take off the hood wink, we realize that there's an issue and are

confronted with a mountain of things we have to learn.

That moment and the mind we have in that space is the Enter to Prennace sort of moment.

In the lodge, it's initiation.

It's first contact with a new skill or a challenge or a new version of ourselves.

The work of the apprentice isn't about getting it right.

It's about getting as many attempts or many opportunities to learn as possible.

It's movement, not mastery, right?

In baseball, we would say that you just need more ad bats, right?

In life in general, we have a tendency to prioritize getting it right.

You want to get all the answers right in the test.

But what you don't note more often than not, you only look at the results of the test

and not the homework that you do before you take the test.

The Enter to Prennace Mason's perspective is the homework.

You want to go into that with an open mind and get messy, right?

Your curiosity is your friend as you go through this process.

You put on your Enter to Prennace Mason's apron and you embrace curiosity.

You try not to bring any of your preconceived notions about the work, about what you're trying

to learn.

Leave all that behind so that you can explore the Enter to Prennace Mason's tasks without

judgment.

When you can do that, you'll find that the work itself teaches you everything you need

to know.

Doing the work is the instruction.

There is no, well, you have to tell me how to do this.

It is the work itself that gives you all of the insight that you need to know.

When you do this well, when you learn how to put on the Enter to Prennace mind well from

a practical perspective, from a behavioral perspective, you begin to quickly determine what

information is relevant to the task and what's a good question and what's not a good question.

What is a good place to practice, a good way to practice or manner to practice, versus what

would be sort of mindless, foolish repetition of the same tasks?

It's from this place that certain truths emerge like slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

If you're not familiar with that, I encourage you to get more ad bats so you can figure

that out.

When you're trying to do this on your own, there might be some really valuable practice techniques.

Pick something you already understand, something you already know.

If you already know music or if you already know how to write, if you're already new

math, pick it up as if it were the first time, as if you've never seen it before.

Ask yourself as you're looking at it, reflecting on it.

Then would I be seeing right now if this were the first time?

What might I learn if I stop making assumptions about what I already know?

You can start to do this, put on this beginner's mind, even in old situations where you already

know a lot of stuff, by letting go of those preconceived notions and allowing the opportunity

to emerge for you to grow.

By practicing this, we are really becoming, using the inner-printed sort of Mason's mind

or understanding to become that craftsman who can really turn any opportunity into a place

where you can get even more understanding, more outcomes, better insight, a deeper experience,

a more meaningful understanding.

In doing that, you're going to be able to, again, shorten the cycle time in future adventures

because you can just kind of click into this behavioral way of being whenever you need

to.

That's a big part of the way the inner-printed sort of Mason's process is supposed to go.