Papers for Sequoia Council No. 228 (AMD)RmOlano
10Oct07
It is amazing to watch how a subject of dirty pictures and green jokes could elicit so much interest in one of the popular Masonic yahoo group. Despite of personal appeals and clarifications from the owner and moderators to drop the subject, the repeated hits on the issue is simply remarkable. When one consider the level of participation on a subject which the VW Ben Apacible called "Recent Events in Philippine Masonry," one does not need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what issues takes precedence over the other in the minds of the participants.
Many interesting annotations and rationale were exposed in order to justify the attention. Some memorable comments were from father-knows-best insinuation that one should be man enough to tell the wife to mind her own business, using family as an excuse to oppose such contents in a Masonic discussion group, and to a sort of transcendental perspectivism philosophy which deduced that the subjest is only dirty if at least two people accepted it as dirty. You have to love that one! The jaw breaker was when someone who claimed to be a priest chimed in and briefly laid out a philosophical and historical connection between clothes and Freud’s psychological thoughts, another one posted a one liner asking for “any reaction from the self-proclaimed moralist?”
So before some of the pretenders start throwing rocks or promising again to host a "San Diego Jubelum Party" to this writer, allow me to quote some lines taken from a proverbial Masonic lecture about a symbol that is represented in every regular Lodge.
"A certain point within a circle – the point representing an individual brother, and the circle, the boundary line of his conduct, beyond which he should never suffer his passions, his prejudices or his interest to betray him. This circle is supported by two perpendicular parallel lines, representing Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, and on its top rest the Holy Writings. In tracing its circumference we necessarily touch upon the parallel line and also upon the Holy Bible, and while a Mason keeps himself thus circumscribed ..."
“Any reactions from the self-proclaimed moralist?” An intriguing question indeed if one would consider this familiar theme during conferrals of Degrees in Freemasonry.
In Entered Apprentice Degree, we heard the Charge, "...men preeminent for their moral and intellectual attainment have encouraged and promoted its interest..."
"Masonry is a progressive moral science divided into different degrees..." is in the beginning address of the Fellow Craft Degree Charge.
Freemasonry is an ideal, as Albert Pike wrote in 1888 in response to Albert Mackey's Landmark or Unwritten Laws, "…it is a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." We can infer Freemasonry as a collection of thoughts acting in unison to live in a righteous conduct rather than law or customs though the use of partly concealed or decorated representation of models usually seen as signs. From the article, Concept of Freemasonry .
Relative to the subject of intriguing inquiry, maybe the question could be rephrased as "any thoughts from self-proclaimed Masons?
As Masons we are being taught to be morally upright and so forth and so on. Being at Master Mason stage, we should know what is right or what is wrong. For a member who cannot tell the difference between what is moral and what is not, may be should grow up some more before calling himself a Mason. Somehow, many of us still need to learn to subdue our passion and improve ourselves in Masonry. Some of us never get "it" in the first place. And a few of us should never get in at all.
Many interesting annotations and rationale were exposed in order to justify the attention. Some memorable comments were from father-knows-best insinuation that one should be man enough to tell the wife to mind her own business, using family as an excuse to oppose such contents in a Masonic discussion group, and to a sort of transcendental perspectivism philosophy which deduced that the subjest is only dirty if at least two people accepted it as dirty. You have to love that one! The jaw breaker was when someone who claimed to be a priest chimed in and briefly laid out a philosophical and historical connection between clothes and Freud’s psychological thoughts, another one posted a one liner asking for “any reaction from the self-proclaimed moralist?”
So before some of the pretenders start throwing rocks or promising again to host a "San Diego Jubelum Party" to this writer, allow me to quote some lines taken from a proverbial Masonic lecture about a symbol that is represented in every regular Lodge.
"A certain point within a circle – the point representing an individual brother, and the circle, the boundary line of his conduct, beyond which he should never suffer his passions, his prejudices or his interest to betray him. This circle is supported by two perpendicular parallel lines, representing Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, and on its top rest the Holy Writings. In tracing its circumference we necessarily touch upon the parallel line and also upon the Holy Bible, and while a Mason keeps himself thus circumscribed ..."“Any reactions from the self-proclaimed moralist?” An intriguing question indeed if one would consider this familiar theme during conferrals of Degrees in Freemasonry.
In Entered Apprentice Degree, we heard the Charge, "...men preeminent for their moral and intellectual attainment have encouraged and promoted its interest..."
"Masonry is a progressive moral science divided into different degrees..." is in the beginning address of the Fellow Craft Degree Charge.
Freemasonry is an ideal, as Albert Pike wrote in 1888 in response to Albert Mackey's Landmark or Unwritten Laws, "…it is a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." We can infer Freemasonry as a collection of thoughts acting in unison to live in a righteous conduct rather than law or customs though the use of partly concealed or decorated representation of models usually seen as signs. From the article, Concept of Freemasonry .Relative to the subject of intriguing inquiry, maybe the question could be rephrased as "any thoughts from self-proclaimed Masons?
As Masons we are being taught to be morally upright and so forth and so on. Being at Master Mason stage, we should know what is right or what is wrong. For a member who cannot tell the difference between what is moral and what is not, may be should grow up some more before calling himself a Mason. Somehow, many of us still need to learn to subdue our passion and improve ourselves in Masonry. Some of us never get "it" in the first place. And a few of us should never get in at all.
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