By the time masonic philosophy was being refined into a coherent organization, europeans had already replaced determinism with a phenomenological sense of the world. Well crafted history and the wealth of our culture, allows us the time and means to understand how superstition was replaced by science.
Today, the accumulated knowledge of ancient and advanced cultures is available to us. As if the progress we have made is permanent, our children follow the lead of the adults, being indifferent to learning and understanding the values and morays of our nations. The estates of politics, religion and media mute the appetite for learning. Conspiracy theorists and the weakminded playing on the notion that uninformed, or what the academics call ignorance, are people more easily controlled than well educated conjure stories that is this a planned or deliberate outcome. Television: the opiate of the masses.
Why then, am I galled by the lack of appetite for masonic education? Why do I find it intellectually offensive that decades of freemasons have not educated themselves in the way of freemasonic thought?
Enlightenment is the singular purpose of freemasonry, but each man must alone and according to his own initiative, enter the into the world of philosophical reasoning essentially blind to the scope of the challenge at hand.
I find it useful to do the heavy lifting first. So to avoid the embarrasment of rigidity, let's look at context with what I think is the most absorbing of all ways of thinking. Buddhism. Here is something I lifted from the internet...
"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity" A widely cited, but apparently spurious quotation attributed to Albert Einstein 1
"The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances." Atisha.
"If you live the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion." Lin-Chi.
"Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.” Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh.
"When the mind begins to become still, we then begin to truly see it. When you first try to stabilize and pacify the mind, initially it will become very busy because it’s not accustomed to being still. In fact, it doesn’t even necessarily want to become still, but it is essential to get a hold of the mind to recognize its nature. This practice is extremely important. ... Eventually you will find yourself in a state where your mind is clear and open all the time. It is just like when the clouds are removed from the sky and the sun can clearly be seen, shining all the time. This is coming close to the state of liberation, liberation from all traces of suffering. ... The truth of this practice is universal. It isn’t necessary to call it a religion to practice it. Whether one is a Hindu or a Moslem or a Christian or a Buddhist simply doesn’t matter. Anyone can practice this because this is the nature of the mind, the nature of everyone’s mind. If you can get a handle on your mind, and pacify it in this way, you will definitely experience these results, and you will see them in your daily life situation. There is no need to put this into any kind of category, any kind of "ism." Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche
2 comments:
My thoughts are that as the institution grew, the majority of masons made the transition to the social aspects that seemed to dominate in the mid 20th century. The texts existed, and most every lodge had volumes of masonic encyclopedia and a knowledge base, I think that there were likely a lot of brothers than who had read them and knew what it was about.
But slowly, over time, they have passed, and sadly few have picked up that mantle of the knowledge base. The concerning part is that as the numbers continue to contract, even fewer understand the nuances to the fraternity, and even fewer still have opened the encyclopedias or even understand the value of them.
And that is still within the lodge. As you move out of the lodge, and bring in other wisdom traditions, you encounter a whole set of other hurdles.
But, like any task, all it takes is one to start to make change.
Let's imagine that men were much the same then as now. Some were more, some less motivated. In the past, literacy, religion, rac and social rank were more significant barriers than they are alluded today.
That said, it is possible aways at the core of the Order has been a small knot of men, surrounded by larger numbers of the uninformed. We are better equipped today to define the order in a broader sense than a quasi service club. The introduce of a salon lodge is one option; purposeful but casual discussion of a selected topic. Another is a discussion roundtable.
The observations have been stated and restated. Solutions are within our own grasp; put out the word that a meeting is going to be held at a stated time and place for the purpose of masonic discussion.
Thanks for your comment.
D. Graham, FCF
Post a Comment