Brian Mattocks
Host and Founder of A Mason's Work - a podcast designed to help you use symbolism to grow. He's been working in the craft for over a decade and served as WM, trustee, and sat in every appointed chair in a lodge - at least once :D
Appears in 252 Episodes
The Entered Apprentice Mason Series – Part I: The Work of Beginning
Every Masonic journey begins with openness — the willingness to learn, to labor, and to make first attempts. In this episode, we explore the behavioral dimension of th...
Dark Rhetoric Series – The Game of Definitions: When Meaning Becomes a Maze
When reason fails to persuade, some retreat into semantics. This episode explores the game of definitions — a rhetorical tactic that twists clarity into confusion. By ...
Dark Rhetoric Series – Baiting: How Provocation Becomes Power
Baiting is the dark art of pulling others off balance. In this episode, we unpack how manipulators provoke emotional reactions to seize control of the narrative. What ...
Dark Rhetoric Series – Ad Hominem: How Ego Replaces Evidence
When logic fails, ego often steps in. In this episode, we explore the ad hominem attack — the rhetorical sleight of hand that targets a person instead of their ideas. ...
Dark Rhetoric Series – Gatekeeping: How Power Hides Behind Standards
At its surface, gatekeeping appears to be about quality, tradition, or protecting standards — but beneath it lies a hunger for control. In this episode, we explore how...
Dark Rhetoric Series – Tone Policing: How Control Masquerades as Civility
When emotion enters a conversation, truth often follows close behind — but so does discomfort. In this episode, we examine tone policing, a manipulative tactic that si...
Dark Rhetoric Series – Weaponized Ignorance: When Not Knowing Becomes a Shield
Ignorance can appear humble—an admission of “not knowing.” But when used strategically, it becomes a shield and a weapon: a way to flatten discourse, deflect accountab...
Liberation Begets Liberation
When you’ve untangled your own loops, you start to see the loops in others. Real help begins when projection ends—when you can observe behavior cleanly, without the ne...
Everyone You Know Starts Out as an Imaginary Friend
Before we ever meet someone as they truly are, we meet the version of them in our minds—the story we create based on fragments, memory, and meaning. In this episode, w...
We do live in a simulation - The real question is who's?
We don’t experience the world directly—we experience our idea of it. In this episode, we explore the nature of perception and the realization that all of reality is fi...
Choosing Real Community Over Algorithms
Algorithms can provide us with endless streams of curated content, but they cannot replace authentic community. In this episode, we reflect on the difference between b...
The Square and the Lens: Depths of Focus in the Craft
Focus is often misunderstood as an on-or-off switch—something you either have or don’t. In this episode, we reframe focus as a spectrum of depth: near, mid, and distan...
Tracing the Path to This Moment
Every present moment is the result of countless causes: generations of ancestors, chance encounters, technological progress, and the choices we and others have made. I...
Beyond Silence: What Freemasonry Teaches About Risk and Openness
Silence can be powerful—but beyond silence lies the deeper work of vulnerability. In this episode, we examine what vulnerability really means, why it feels risky, and ...
The Lodge in Stillness: Silence as a Tool for Growth
Silence is more than the absence of noise—it is a discipline, a tool, and a posture of openness. In this episode, we explore how cultivating silence creates space for ...
The Lodge and the Open Space: Making Room for Growth
Patterns and rituals give us structure—but they can also crowd out possibility. In this episode, we explore the Masonic lesson of creating space: setting aside time, h...
From Stone to Ashlar: Softening the Hardened Heart
In tumultuous times, it is easy to harden ourselves against pain and call it strength. But endurance without openness risks becoming pride in suffering for its own sak...
The Pillar of Faith: Testing What We Truly Trust
Faith is more than religion—it is the unseen ground upon which we build our lives. In this episode, we explore faith as the foundation for identity, belief, and behavi...
The Apron and the Ego: Rewriting the Story of Who We Are
Identity is less fixed than we imagine—it is the story we tell ourselves about who we are and who we want to be. In this episode, we explore the relationship between i...
Cognitive Dissonance and the Work of the Craft
When our beliefs, identity, and behaviors don’t align, we face the uncomfortable tension of cognitive dissonance. In this episode, we examine how Masons often rewrite ...