A Mason's Work

[00:00] And we look at the role of guide, which again, not all jurisdictions have, but is a vitally
[00:11] important role in the nourishing of essentially your brethren.
[00:17] The guide role in Preston and Webb jurisdictions, which is most of the U.S., is executed by
[00:26] the senior steward in most cases, or the junior steward.
[00:32] I'm not entirely sure which, but one of the stewards.
[00:34] So somebody please write in and correct me.
[00:37] In the emulation ritual, I imagine it's similar.
[00:40] So if you find yourself in a jurisdiction that does not have the call out for the role of
[00:46] the guide, listen for your ritual work.
[00:50] and it should be explained in, your ritual in some capacity, what that guide
[00:57] function is.
[00:58] In the Pennsylvania ritual, which is the one jurisdiction in which I was raised,
[01:04] there is this role called the guide and his entire function, is to, prepare the
[01:10] candidate and walk them through the degree.
[01:13] There have been several people in my life that have guided me, um, not just during the
[01:20] ritual, but as well outside the ritual in a mentoring capacity.
[01:25] There are some things that you want to know about guide though, before, you just
[01:30] kind of sign up.
[01:31] The guide is the person who, begins the process of creating the future for the lodge.
[01:40] Now you could argue it's the petitioner.
[01:43] You could argue it's the investigating committee.
[01:45] You could argue it's the lodge that did all of the work.
[01:49] Um, but the guide experience and the role that that person plays in setting the future
[01:56] culture of the lodge is absolutely critical.
[01:59] When we look at an organization long-term, we're looking at, not the culture as it
[02:08] stands today, but the culture that we are going to be creating in the future.
[02:13] And the place where that tone and timbre is set is in the preparing room with the candidate
[02:20] for the first time.
[02:21] It is in that place where many men, will feel uncomfortable.
[02:28] They will make jokes.
[02:29] They will say things that are inappropriate.
[02:33] They will try and make light of a situation.
[02:36] If you want serious workmen, the role of guide should be conducted with serious comportment.
[02:42] When we look at what that means, in general, the guide function is not, is not the role
[02:52] of educator.
[02:54] Uh, the guide, in a lot of situations, particularly let's, let's just abstract it
[03:00] for a moment.
[03:01] Let's take it, you know, if you were climbing a mountain, you would have a guide, and
[03:05] the guide that would help you climb that mountain would be climbing with you.
[03:08] They would be determining the right course of travel to take relative to your skills and
[03:17] abilities.
[03:17] They would be picking, the times or rest and, refreshment.
[03:24] They would be setting the pacing or the experience so much so that the relationship between the
[03:34] experience itself is largely managed and curated by the guide or by the senior steward.
[03:41] So when you find yourself in a situation where you have this luxurious opportunity, this, this
[03:48] powerful responsibility and this great chance to set the future of your lodge experience,
[03:55] take that role.
[03:57] That role is, probably the most powerful and best role that you could take in the lodge.
[04:04] If you want things to change, the best place to do it is with the new guy that just
[04:11] is coming in.
[04:11] Um, now that guide function can be played, uh, not just for other people and that mentoring
[04:20] function, not just for other people, but it can also be played for yourself.
[04:24] And so over the course of this week, we'll get into the details about what the guide looks
[04:28] like from a behavioral level, what it looks like from a relational level, what it looks like
[04:33] from a systemic level.
[04:34] And then I'll give you some, uh, uh, some of my own experience in both sides of that exchange.
[04:40] Um, and kind of keep you apprised of kind of what the guide function looks like in the
[04:47] field.
[04:48] Uh, so with that, we'll see you tomorrow.