staffs
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Post by staffs on Mar 7, 2007 8:42:04 GMT
I was sent an e mail this morning asking the following question ..
What is the purpose, what is freemasonry trying to accomplish...??
Your thoughts and opinions please !
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Mar 7, 2007 8:44:10 GMT
i dont think that Freemasonry itself is only the tool to help oneself to look at themselves and how they live their life and treat others... a sort of karma ?
Freemasonry is just the tool .
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Post by leonardo on Mar 7, 2007 9:04:30 GMT
i dont think that Freemasonry itself is only the tool to help oneself to look at themselves and how they live their life and treat others... a sort of karma ? Freemasonry is just the tool . Yes, and one of many, albeit a more direct and expedient one than most. What you said above Lee could almost describe one of the main aspects of Buddhism. The Buddha made it very clear that how we live our lives, as suggested in the 8 fold path, helps us find inner peace and harmony. Only when this is achieved are we ready to be of real benefit to ourselves and others.
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Tamrin
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 7, 2007 9:34:14 GMT
I was sent an e mail this morning asking the following question .. What is the purpose, what is freemasonry trying to accomplish...??Your thoughts and opinions please ! To put the official position on the table, I quote from the opening lines of, what in my experience, are the sadly neglected Sectional Lectures ( emphasis added): BRETHREN, Masonry, according to the general acceptation of the term, is an Art founded on the principles of Geometry, and directed to the service and convenience of mankind. But Freemasonry, embracing a wider range, and having a more noble object in view, namely, the cultivation and improvement of the human mind, may, with more propriety, be called a Science, although its lessons for the most part are veiled in Allegory and illustrated by Symbols; inasmuch as veiling itself under the terms of the former, it inculcates principles of the purest morality.
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Post by wayseer on Mar 7, 2007 11:02:01 GMT
Freemasonry is an Initiative Order and as such an Order it is a vehicle for those who find the pursuits of the world mundane and without real meaning. I can offer no better explanation than does Wilmshurst -
For Masonry means this or it means nothing worth the serious pursuit of thoughtful men; nothing that cannot be pursued as well outside the Craft as within it. It proclaims the fact that there exists a higher and more secret path of life than that which we normally tread, and that when the outer world and its pursuits and rewards lose their attractiveness for us and prove insufficient to our deeper needs, as sooner or later they will, we are compelled to turn back upon ourselves, to seek and knock at the door of a world within; and it is upon this inner world, and the path to and through it, that Masonry promises light, charts the way, and indicates the qualifications and conditions of progress. This is the sole aim and intention of Masonry. Behind its more elementary and obvious symbolism, behind its counsels to virtue and conventional morality, behind the platitudes and and sententious phraseology (which nowadays might well be subjected to competent and intelligent revision) with which, after the fashion of their day, the eighteenth-century compilers of its ceremonies clothed its teaching, there exists the framework of a scheme of initiation into that higher path of life where alone the secrets and mysteries of our being are to be learned; a scheme moreover that, as will be shown later in these pages, reproduces for the modern world the main features of the Ancient Mysteries, and that has been well described by a learned writer on the subject as "an epitome or [sic] it reflection at a far distance of the once universal science".
Emphasis added.
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Post by billmcelligott on Mar 7, 2007 11:18:14 GMT
i dont think that Freemasonry itself is only the tool to help oneself to look at themselves and how they live their life and treat others... a sort of karma ? Freemasonry is just the tool . Absolutely ...... the study of oneself. Its not about ME making YOU better, its about ME making ME better. Since time began man has asked the question 'why are we here'. The answer starts with, 'why am I here and what is my purpose'. Each one of us is a pebble in a pool and we affect each other day in and day out. Try to understand what kind of pebble you are and what affect you will have on all the other pebbles. Freemasonry is just a ritualistic form to help with this undertsanding. It is a tool to this end , it is not the end. IMHO
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staffs
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Post by staffs on Mar 7, 2007 17:03:44 GMT
i dont think that Freemasonry itself is only the tool to help oneself to look at themselves and how they live their life and treat others... a sort of karma ? Freemasonry is just the tool . Absolutely ...... the study of oneself. Its not about ME making YOU better, its about ME making ME better. Since time began man has asked the question 'why are we here'. The answer starts with, 'why am I here and what is my purpose'. Each one of us is a pebble in a pool and we affect each other day in and day out. Try to understand what kind of pebble you are and what affect you will have on all the other pebbles. Freemasonry is just a ritualistic form to help with this undertsanding. It is a tool to this end , it is not the end. IMHO Bill, wooooooah ....i AM impressed. You are a very large pebble and i am not being personal.
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giovanni
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Post by giovanni on Mar 7, 2007 18:38:05 GMT
It's the consequence of reading Lodge Room Int. Magazine, Little Staffs!
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Post by maat on Mar 7, 2007 21:58:48 GMT
Wayseer/Wilmshurst post says it all!!
...to gently lead from the material to the spiritual....
Maat
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Post by hollandr on Mar 8, 2007 3:11:51 GMT
So is the group ritual only directed to improvement of the brethren?
Is it possible for a whole lodge to approach the Blazing Star? What would happen then?
Cheers
Russell
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Tamrin
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 8, 2007 8:25:07 GMT
So is the group ritual only directed to improvement of the brethren? Is it possible for a whole lodge to approach the Blazing Star? What would happen then? Cheers Russell Bro. Russell,What do you mean by "the Blazing Star" in this context?
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Post by hollandr on Mar 8, 2007 12:08:30 GMT
>What do you mean by "the Blazing Star" in this context?
The Blazing Star may be on the floor of the lodge - if you have a pavement - or in the ceiling perhaps or at the head of the ladder in your EA Tracing Board - if you have one
And by the Blazing Star I mean whatever Masonry means by the Blazing Star
Cheers
Russell
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Tamrin
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 8, 2007 14:03:10 GMT
>What do you mean by "the Blazing Star" in this context? The Blazing Star may be on the floor of the lodge - if you have a pavement - or in the ceiling perhaps or at the head of the ladder in your EA Tracing Board - if you have one And by the Blazing Star I mean whatever Masonry means by the Blazing Star Cheers Russell I suggest you are again begging the question: Surely one may reasonably ask what another means when they express a seemingly ideosyncratic remark. I therefore rephrase my original question as: Firstly, 'What do you think Masonry means by "the Blazing Star"?' Secondly, I add, 'In what sense could it meaningfully be said to be approached by a whole lodge?' One explanation given in relation to the first question is: The blazing star in the center of the lodge has a multitude of meanings. It is emblematic of the sun at meridian height, which is the beauty and glory of the day. It is symbolic of a true Mason who by perfecting himself in the way of truth, or by advancing in knowledge becomes like a blazing star, shining in the midst of darkness. The star is therefore a symbol of truth. The blazing star occupies a prominent position in the center of the tracing board upon which the chief architect of King Solomon's temple drew his designs and represented beauty. It is fitting that the Junior Warden who represents that architect (the pillar of beauty in our ritual says in both opening and closing a lodge: "As the sun at meridian height is the beauty and glory of the day." However, this explanation does not seem to answer or ever provide much insight into the second question. Do you simply allude to a whole lodge of Masons approaching ritual or moral perfection, as perhaps symbolised by the blazing star, and to the ensuing greater effectiveness of the lodge? Or do you have something more concrete in mind, (in the general direction of either the Sun or Sirius, for instances)?
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Post by hollandr on Mar 8, 2007 22:31:18 GMT
Philip
I mean that whatever it means for the individual Mason to use Jacob's Ladder to approach the Blazing Star, does that meaning also apply to a whole lodge?
So, if the brethren attach any meaning to Jacob's Ladder leading from the VSL to the Blazing Star, do they consider it is possible for a lodge as a whole to apply that meaning?
In this instance I am not concerned with what brethren think is the process. I am only asking if brethren consider there is a group process or if lodge work is only about individuals
I apologise for not asking more clearly
But your questions about the Blazing Star are interesting and some may wish to speculate upon that in another thread or even try for some direct experience
Cheers
Russell
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Post by sid on Mar 8, 2007 22:47:20 GMT
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Tamrin
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 8, 2007 23:03:18 GMT
I mean that whatever it means for the individual Mason to use Jacob's Ladder to approach the Blazing Star, does that meaning also apply to a whole lodge? So, if the brethren attach any meaning to Jacob's Ladder leading from the VSL to the Blazing Star, do they consider it is possible for a lodge as a whole to apply that meaning? Sorry, I still do not comprehend your jargon. Effective communication requires that the intended meaning is understood by both parties—I am seeking clarification. `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.'
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Post by hollandr on Mar 9, 2007 1:47:29 GMT
>Sorry, I still do not comprehend your jargon.
Well perhaps your ritual does not refer to:
- Jacob's Ladder (usually in the EA TB) - VSL (volume of sacred law) conventionally the resting point for the ladder/stair in the EA TB - Blazing Star (usually at the top of the ladder in the EA TB)
If so, then I supppose you could look at other rituals
Cheers
Russell
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Tamrin
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 9, 2007 2:04:39 GMT
>Sorry, I still do not comprehend your jargon. Well perhaps your ritual does not refer to: - Jacob's Ladder (usually in the EA TB) - VSL (volume of sacred law) conventionally the resting point for the ladder/stair in the EA TB - Blazing Star (usually at the top of the ladder in the EA TB) If so, then I supppose you could look at other rituals Cheers Russell It refers to all the above but not in any sense which renders your comments meaningful. I therefore presume you are attaching a peculiar meaning to these familiar terms.
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Post by hollandr on Mar 9, 2007 2:21:25 GMT
I give up
Cheers
Russell
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Tamrin
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Post by Tamrin on Mar 9, 2007 3:21:06 GMT
Is it possible for a whole lodge to approach the Blazing Star? Would any other readers care to speculate on the meaning of Bro. Russell's question?
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