MASONICFX

A commentary, a poem, some history book dissected, interspersed with jazz. Such an indulgence, But to borrow a phrase from a BBC writer- All it has to do is be beautiful.  Who can explain the format?  You really have to tune it. I found the first tentative efforts felt over done, until we settled in to a routine we could anticipate.  For awhile we invited you to pull up a comfortable chair, pour your favourite bev and for the briefest of time, let us entertain and inform about ideas related and relevent.   No one can pin point when we began meeting, but intuitively we seem to know.  I've often thought we were there- men just like us talking, sharing reactions and ideas. Everyone can't be Issac Newton or William Blake but their work and ideas was shared with the world.  For many of us, the Brotherhood did exactly that. It bundled great ideas into a format shared with a few select men, in front of the entire world.  So much was left unwritten on purpose.  We didn't have scripts to follow. We had concepts to work and rework.  Tautology was always in the background giving us a prompt and a reminder.  Everything is is a constant state of change. Everything moves. So do we and so does this interesting system of morality and virtue- whateverthehellthat means.  And so MasonicFX reaches a next stage.  Please, earch social media for us. We will find a new home and you are invited of course. Thank you for the overwhelming support Brethren and guests.

After we have received initiation, we have the ingredients. The rest is up to us. If free will exists and if we can agree on a common definition, we are free to do with the imperatives what we will.  That responsibility is fully ours isn't it?  Circumstance is never quite predictable enough. How we adapt and deal with the unexpected does begin to define.  Some men have an uncanny knack of finding they are victimized by life. We spot the excuse, they favour not learning much from experience. Imagine how insufferable one becomes when he is unable to admit there is much to learn from a frank discussion with himself.  Where studios of Freemasonry have compromised moral and philosophial rigour, those advantages will be absent.  Fortunately, there are corners of the world where we will continue to meet and talk. Fortunately less deserving types will find some other diversion for their social calendar.  We scratch the surface, of our own capability of potential. The Craft is a place where capable men go to learn beyond the barries of religion and politics. Somewhere in that we strive to find truth.

When we sit together quietly enjoying the company, our conversations are much different than when we are speaking to a classroom full of student intensity.  Our conversations are intimate. So for a moment let's consider the pros and cons of expansion.  Once upon a time, small groups of men were meeting and intelligent conversations were breaking out.  We have no way of knowing if this was by design or coincidental but we do know, when a group of intelligent people begin to mingle and relax and exchange of ideas is likely to happen. Even before we have tidy definitions we had concepts. Metaphysics was one of them. Broader, more encompassing and abstract.  We know philosophical opinion was absolutely being explored. We may not know the mechanics that transformed that chemistry to standards but it happened.  What this did to the high risk thinkers, that spoke without an intellectual support, was drive it into corners out of sightlines.  Expansion gave us so much; broader interpretation of masonic principles; increased emphasis on tolerance; challenges to authenticity and consistency; global fellowship and fraternal networks; enhanced study of symbolism and philosophy, modern challenges to traditional values; expansion enriched and complicated the study process. If I told you this was freemasonry, it would probably cause alarm, so I leave comment to you. If physics were taught in your schools by cliche', it would not stop or derail progress. We would still be watching physics returning to philosophy for help understanding contradictions.  I will wonder about philosophers in our lodges with my own sense why they have been moved from centre stage to the 'lunatic fringe'. As we know, the philosophers are active in masonic lodges somewhere, if not in ours. Fortunately we have the power to retrieve and examine their work. The Craft isn't as passive or in stassis as we might be lead to believe.

Who really knows himself? We understand archetypes but the life we live is so much more dynamic, our understanding coming in fits and spurts. Living with our own reputation, leds men into some very interesting understandings.  We aren't as we appear. Others have knowlodge of us that we do not. If we listen we benefit. If we watch we learn. The world isn't a fairy tale. There are dark forces but there are also men who have learning how to survive. They pass their knowledge on to their children. We may live in a jungle where danger lurks, but once we understand danger, we can protect and survive, even against bigger more vicious creatures, none more sinister than man himself. We can be defeated by letting doubt grow. We can be overbearing and conceited, which extracts a price. Lonely men know it well.  That man, that man striving to live well is also prone to learning. What separates him from his cynical neighbour who can say? We know exposing humans to healthy ideas influences them in ways no one has yet to fully grasp. We are not born perfect, and completely on our own most of us find ways to accommodate learning complications.  We tease ourselves thinking a machine or AI could emulate even a small part of the capacity of a human mind,  The Craft has been welcoming men into an atmosphere of enriched expectation and values. Accountabiltiy and finding our place in the Order are as uncomplicated as our ethic.  The Craft teaches nobel aims by metaphor and symbol. It even talks about the destination- enlightenment, self-awareness.  What it doesn't tell is how; how to we progress along that metaphoric path of life?  Wearing the apron is a lifetime commitment to the self. As we experience life, our thinking changes. People like me have a sense that our answers to life's questions change throughout life. With time we acquire truth. In the fullness of time. When we draw our last breath they become the most accurate.

What prepares us to pick up the tools of a Master Mason?  Our tools are practical. A hoe, shovel, pick. A hammer, chisel.  Speech, language, vocabulary, pen. Art, science. And then we are introduced to the tools of philosophers.  Tools that are as real as mathematics and geometry. But we aren't familiar with them. We hear the descriptions-of  a world undetected, like spectrums of light beyond our eye sight, that exist but aren't "seen". What is justice? What is a good man? What is truth?  These are things we already "know".  There is no need to question.  We have been told and taught at our churches and temples.Philosophy asks big questions. The calculus is logic and reason. We can't observe as we would during a walk through the woods. We observe in the mind. Like mathematicians. Answers are constants with rules, methods for consistency.  And just when we are convinced all that is right and beautiful is hard, factual science, we find physics at a standstill; quantam, string having limits; turning to philosophy in an attempt to find solutions. What is this overarching power? Why is it the foundation of the Order of Freemasons?   Such is the metaphoric 'rebirth' of an initiant. Such is the adjustment. No one apologizes to the teenager for the turmoil of leaving childhood. Adjusting to new, emerging states of emotion, intense feelings, reactions to an emerging change of the ego of childhood to the acknowledgement of one's place in family, group, friendships, education and employ.  No we are not born equal. We are genetic expressions of our ancestors. Our environment is uncompromising and demands we pay the toll.  To be invited to achieve satisfaction as part of a legendary group is not accessible to one and all. But if a man has the means and access the dice is rolled. If he is fortunate,  he will experience influences that encourage and challenge.

While mankind generally will teach us laws, Freemasonry teaches justice. At this wonderful time of year ending, we anticipate light will once again break through darkness, with every metaphor we can conjure. Rebirth, regrowth, renewal, hope. We see each day, the effects of monetized media, selling to a salacious appetite, reinforcing meanness as truth.  Unfortunately it has become opiate for the masses. When Karl Marx the jewish german political economist described religion as the opium of the masses, though maligned and taken out of context so often, he couldn't know religion would be pushed aside by media. If only life was a series of static occurances.  Telling us stories of unfairness, unjust acts, corruption, ignored the effect that would have on next generations.  Without a greater context, we had nothing to compare.  The media did become the message, to the extent meanness is anticipated. Best to anticipate and react in kind.  We see meanness turning some people into monsters, easily ignoring the fact the majority have remained kind, thoughtful and supportive of the culture.  It would be unfair for MasonicFX to curate the Nicomechian Ethic. Best we leave that to your curiosity to find confirmation of your loyalites and natural proclivities. To show the world by your work, virtues, caring, understanding are more prevailant than menacing, threats. We carry no real authority to compel obedience, But neither do we suggest people believe what they want to believe, until they have thought out the ethics of ancient Grecian philosopher Aristotle. Do they shape the argument on free will? Does it again turn our attention to our own conscience? It is always temporarily satisfying adjusting our thinking with mainstream acceptability. But the effect doesn't last. It makes us passive. Unfortunately Masonry asks men to question assumptions, to try them against and understanding of truth and honesty.

When did we try to tame creativity?  We couldn't then and we can't today. Imagine being part of a group that was asking impolite questions? Imagine asking questions that challenged the highest authority but doing it without any sense of anarchy, to understand what had happened.  In that crowd, like today, we would realize nothing lasts forever, good or bad. Life goes on and we do the best we can with what we have.  We face tomorrow with the same doubt and hopes. Somewhere in the soup of existence we discovered this idea that understanding purpose and extracting meaning was somehow advantageous.  To our skeptical minds, we wanted to know if we continued unable to escape beliefs, or whether this sense of purpose held a logic transferable to others (categorial imperative).  Coming together to examine our environment does not ruin a light hearted sensibility. Some would tell it, it is being in a group like that is validating.  The only way to know is by embracing that thinking and learning for yourself if it does; if cause does match intended effect.  ie Can the experiment be replicated?  It is hard to find a time when this type of pursuit could be monetized. Without the validation of economics it must be wasteful. We are afterall, machines with the sole purpose of acquiring profit.  Right? How do we continue to be creative and control for bizarre outcomes?  We can't.  Bizarre goes underground. We continue to mistrust innovation until we have enough evidence to overwhelm doubt.  Gas engines will never replace a horse.  Telephones and key boards can't replace a written letter.  Men cannot fly.  We cannot extend life- except sanitation did just that.  We are superior because we tell ourselves we are- except the tao and the Buddha.   Surely we allow for times when we are discouraged and tired, when we aren't sure what to trust, when we doubt. And we learn.

We were there.  No one noticed we were going to build something. We didn't know. We were getting together with our bunch, good food, good drink, good conversation. But not anyone. We had similarities in common.  What they were we will never know but the evidence tells us the group was literate. They knew enough to put events in context they would examine.  Like us, they couldn't predict. They were simply working by-the-seat-of-the-pants. As humanity has always done, people come up with answers that make the best sense at the time to explain phenomena without the advantage of hindsight.  No one really knows who or when- so we get to speculate on the ontology and epistemology. But we also don't discount myth and allegory to help our understanding. Isn't that also logic and reason?  We needed a history so we assigned one of us to write it. We needed a consistency so we had bureacrats write a constitution.  We needed function. Our debates, uncontrolled by ideology found the answer was in a format with universal, timeless possiblity- ritual that echoed categorical imperative before Kant described it. Our ritual was enriched by the renaissance experience. The best parts of ancient culture was filtered out and explored.  We had a sense that the upheaval was, at the end of the day, worthwhile.  What made in worthwhile was observation- connecting us through ideas.  And somewhere in this we  came to blend empericism and concept. How became less important than process.  Examine a life. Find answers to the essential question and then tell us if what you discovered was worthwhile too.  Since the dawn of Freemasonry, the excitment of innovation drew intelligent people together. Without manipulating facts to fit our narratives, we generated reliable rigor- and redefined science.  Alchemy became chemistry. We brought together smart men who had much in common.

Who is to say what determines interest or why some samples take hold of a man? We have all the words; obsession, preoccupation, lingering ideas, motivation. Liking, connection, satisfaction. What determines the path? Good fortune?  The insights of Tarot?  A bittersweet sensation? Fortunately the Craft takes us in hand to the threshold of profound thinking and leaves us standing there, to decide or not, to enter and make those crazy connections for reasons not always apparent.  The Craft gives us entrance but it does not and can not tell us what we will find. That would make our detractors happy. It would reduce masonry to ideology.  Does this mean no one treats the Craft as an ideology?  Of course not. Many more than I care to admit, are transfixed by the simple framework. Participate in the lodge work. Treat your mates with respect and yourself with dignity and voila! Happiness. But I have to ask, why then leave us before doors marked with nameplates- Aristotle, Spinoza, Kant, Rosseau, deCartes, Nietzsche. And why encourage men to think literary minds get the most out of the Craft?  We might still be in the cave looking at shadows on the wall with our backs to the reality outside, but Freemasonry turns us to the cave edge high above.  No doubt we are the individual in the room, with unique POV, but are we ready for what will be revealed?  Masonry presumes if we are being honest, we will find things unflattering. It is easy to see the encouragement to reinvent ourselves. Use these principles. Learn about values and apply them all. Be that man. Then teach us what you found.  If we aren't competing, but we are striving what are we actually doing? Are we creating art? Is this calculus? Am I applying geometry to my thinking?  What is this experience that dares to sort us? We begin incomplete. Eastern thinking explores adapting. Western thinking explores modifying. Which are we?

We find ourselves entering a process of a new mindset called masonry.  In all of its manifestations, we are exposed to thought provoking ideas. Some, like me tend to think they are intended with the aspiration of a Kantian categorial imperative. Our mature mind reminds us the world is not prone to understand and accept one version of understanding.  We can leave that to the arena of religion or politics.  What to do with our expanding understanding?  What to do when everything we learn and observe is not necessarily simple or confected?  Do we find ourselves metaphorically under the lotus tree in a state of enlightenment that includes suffering and degradation as well as beauty and peace? Why do our energies pool where tension exists?  Those pesky students of Hermetics send out a calming message; reality is a construct of mind. If everything is mental, then we are looking into the abyss and it is looking back at us. We are imperfect. There is darkness and it can consume us. But there is also beauty, strength and wisdom. Those too are part of reality.  While some would doubt our capacity, we also know we grow as we age. We never stop growing until we tell ourselves, for whatever reason, we are done. Too many thoughts cluttering the mind so rejecting anything new is justified.  This happens as we sink into our own opinions rather than reactions to the events around us. Age is an advantage. When we absorb values and principles put to us in the metaphors and allegories of masonry, the mind has options. Those options tend to overlap with thoughts that have been passed from generation to generation, in a variety of cultures.  I cannot explain why seeing the beauty for what it is kept behind a veil but I can say that veil is like us,  impermanent consciousness. Hundreds of explanations of consciousness, unimaginable numbers of interpretations. Let  objectivity determine the 'correctness'.

One day, while minding my own busy a knock came to the door. William Leslie Wilmshurst came for a visit and never left.  He had written a book- The Meaning of Masonry and being intrigued  he had brought along a gift copy.  Now years later, Leslie long since passed, his observations continue to refresh thinking.  Some but not all men who are made masons, arrive with interest in research.  Personally, I'm not sure if that is why we hear them criticized for being followers. I'm not so sure I totally disagree but I do find it tedious their prodigious numbers give them more influence than is justfied.  W.L. and I shared similar points of view.  I like to think in our own separate ways, we encourage readers to consider a depth of thought not always evident when we gather together.  Of course we have defining lodges doing defining things far and away.  We can't all live near Edinburgh or Barvaria or Paris or London. I don't regularly worship at Westminster or Roselyn but a visit with them was like that feeling a man gets when his moments with his soult mate are timeless; a second with her equalilng a lifetime with anyone else. I can't tell you much about taste. I like opera and jazz not as better than the rest. You're paradise is yours. Some of us travel through the minds or writers. Some of us don't. Some of us can't. Some of us won't.  When Leslie comes to your door, I will say if you have ever wondered about the scaffolding of masonry that frames the Order, you are in for a treat.  Obviously the Craft focuses on subjective experience.  It's like Richard Feynman sharing his joy with the uncertainty of  physics. I wish I could directly ask Leslie about his thoughts on determinism that he illustrates so subtlety in his writings but for now it remains a one-sided debate.  Each time we pick absorb ideas, we begin applying them to our point of view (POV).

When we realize we have a need to understand, it is our relationship with a particular way of thinking that surfaces.  It is FM. It is one of many mindsets poised for a traveller to discover while passing by. Was life easier when we relied on opinion and didn't trouble ourselves with fact?  Easier but not exactly contributing. When a boy comes of age, is when he becomes conscious of his consciousness. I've heard it said, the primary principles of FM are brotherhood, moral integrity and acquistion of knowledge. It is an opinion that fits with a need to chase something that will never completely be defined- our capacity for good.  Between the millions of men who were accepted into this brotherhood, there are standards that like the experience of masonry itself, is beyond words.  It is a feeling, a feeling we understand but can't describe in a word. Some turn to poetry, to music, to nature in search of description. Some will hesitate until they understand. I am one of them. You I hope, have avoided the trap.I am not as trusting. Blind faith doesn't work - I've seen too much avoidable damage and unhappiness. FM leaves questions of better/worse to the beholder. It is our perrogative to press on, slightly better today than we were yesterday. As the vagarities of life effect us, we face it with a sense of anticipation.  Life is not fair but it is accurate, even when we don't see it. That's the beauty of FM. It gently turns attention to the inner man. What does he see beyond what is seen? What we share is enfused into the craft.

If you were asked to describe a perfect moment, what would you say?  That's a useful way of thinking about our relationship with masonry.  Asking what it is is essential.  Is it objective or subjective?  The answer to that depends on context.  Does the Craft exist? It doesn't happen with a start point. To trace back to the beginning we would need to settle our thinking about 'what it is' we are searching. Around the 17th century socially stratified London was enjoying an expansion of coffee houses. This meant women were barred (no so in France where intellect was more objective). Penny universities; that was the monicer that came from these gatherings of smart men.  Their discussions were educational- echoing the dialogues of learning Plato wrote about encounters Socrates had that allowed him to illustrate a method of thought. Even though today our populations are huge, our achievements defining a global community, whether we are more or less sophisticated is in the eye of the beholder.  Our cultures do hold hot spots that continue to stimulate discussion over challenging problems of the day. Freemasonry being of a certain vintage, gives us a sense of continuity if not permanance. Has there ever been a science that has ceased because it had exhausted findings?   Did mathematics stop when 'fabernaci' numbers were passing through the ages from 200BC in India to the classroom?  We are experiencing an acceleration of communication. Powerful electronics have mirrored challenges and struggles. Salacious sells more product than science, until the world is confronted with crisis. Intelligence is still the currency of exchange, but it has not stopped famine, war or pestilence.  Is it better than a small handfull of men understand compatibitily and the harmonics of divergent cultures?  Maybe we need to deal first with the relationship and meaning of secular and faith.

When we talk about merit, if our goal is to tease out deeper understanding it is inevitable we will ask the question. How can I support meritocracy when I do not think I qualify?  To that I would ask, why are men able to criticism their own character with no sense of limit, but when asked to talk about strengths, find that a daunting task? Men of conscience, are raised to realize the fine line between arrogance and self-confidence is easy to violate. Reputations are hard earned and easily shattered.  Into that affray, I ask for consideration of factual ability.  Can any man admit to his talents without being overbearing? Yes, if we are talking about a mature man, he is capable in ways the rashness of immaturity can never understand.  If there is an ingredient that triggers graceful self-confidence, it needs to be put in our drinking water.  If you have ever had the pleasure of watching someone focused on their chore, oblivious they were being observed, then you know what I'm saying.  Some men do what they can to keep anyone from seeing their vulnerability. Men can live their entire life believing vulnerabilty is weakness, only to arrive at a time of reckoning. Conscience does take time off. How a culture defines conscience tells us everything we need to know.  Being acknowledged by peers is a challenge to greatness. Tell a different story. Yes we all can make withering statements about others and ourselves but where does it get us?  It is a biased opinion unless it is balanced with the consciousness of our own consciousness.  Tell the other story. Tell the story of worth, of valour, of purpose in your own life and actions. If you look for it, you will find it. If you find it, then ask if it is truth or fiction, if you are presenting a falsehood to yourself and the world round?  Likely you will find the more you attend to sensibilities, the more satisfying life will be. Not painless or effortless. Real.

As we progress into the teachings of Freemasonry, can we imagine the diversity of results?  Like any academic pursuit, there are students full of opinion and expects preserving and passing alone 'truths'. Periodically we see the monetization of some or other applications.  Science continues with carefully maintained integrity but that does not stop people from employing misinformation to give them an advantage.  An inference becomes causal. A statistical anomaly becomes a prediction.  In the broad brush sense of Freemasonry I'll invite us to accept an old arguement, that FM is both Art & Science.  Typically the Craft avoids defining how we achieve whatever destinations await the weary worker. If we pick up the working tools is infered when we obligate ourselves as Master Masons. How we apply them is left in our hands. I think it is reasonable to think this process leaves the impression our growth is organic rather than deterministic.  It is a point that deserves debate.  If we are as many believe, a science, what our process to maintain the integrity of antient intentions?  Obviously we could suggest that integrity is left to subjective understanding, indicating objective agreed upon facts do not exist. Of course context changes.  Since we are a global phenomena, we have a sense there is compatibility.  For many masons this is guarantees comparatives to test integrity.  Are our operationalizled assumptions consistent with universal interpretations? I find variation in thinking tend to pick up cultural themes. it encourages comparsion and a reminder one path is not THE path.  I also believe this deepens our understanding.  For anyone to declare outcomes and progress is determined in advance is false. The fact Grand Lodges begin with specific assumptions as does any legitimate science.  As any graduate student knows, defining the research variables is essential. Validation.

News delivered instantly has produced a feeling I am being rushed to keep up.  I can't tell you what it does to the struggle with awareness. Being defined as priviledged isn't helpful when changing contexts are being aimed at me to engage in the resolution or consequences of conflicts. It isn't an ideological link but solicitation of donations. All the while, those pesky Nigerian Princes continue to contact telling me about an huge unclaimed inheritance waiting for me in exchange for some personal information.  Oh joy. It is getting harder to fall back into ideological slumber, not counting religious zealotry.  How I ask, is this different from the thinking for any Athenian?  Aren't I responsible to participate in electing representatives?  It is hard at times to sort out accountabilities to validate information but aren't I able to make informed decisions? So many of our secrets are hidden in dense information forests waiting for erudite researchers to follow data chains.  Machines have all but replaced the need to store information in the recesses of memory. For all the advances we share today in the 'information' age the way we use libraries depends on appetite.  Against skewed odds, some people are finding ways to gain access to information and turn that information into a better standard of livilng.  Twenty-first century finds the west dominance measured by exploitation in a secular society. So of course we have to wonder if or how values and ethics are shared in a global community. Cynicism is the new optimism. Protect your interests by doubting and questioning. We don't dress like Athenians. We don't condone slavery anymore. We don't elect our generals, but here we are holding power to accounts by assuming our responsibilities as citizens. Time allows us to scrub away private conversations.  Hindsight allows us to use what we learn. For the better?

Is it possible we know more about ourselves than we reveal to others?  We come into masonry riding a desire to improve. We find the company appealing and receptive. Knowing we have been carefully screened changes our status. Ritual endorsement is effortless. Living up to it, with only your own accountability removes any burden. Secrets remain secret. We tell ourselves it's only us meeting expectations. What's a man to do? It's an essential question. Are we talking about the poor boy who is smarter than his environment? Is he the physicial who saved by child?  Is it the man coming to terms with his yearnings? He is 'too sensitive'. Best he sits down and keeps quiet?   Is it the man from a family of success? Who has no desire to carry on the family lineage?  The uneducated, wealthy farmer who fathered Issac Newton?  Charles Darwin did not want to be a doctor like his successful well stationed parents. Disappointments. Maybe Lord Byron, abandoned by his father, resentment toward his mother. Was disappointment the stimulant that triggered genius? If we compare, we are on that continuum of brilliance. No amount of rationalization changes it. So pardon me for sensing that there are pockets, caveats within freemasonry where the tendency is fear of a great unknown- fear of inner capacity.  Will I be liked by friends? Will I be accepted by family?  I am the priest sworn to an ethical presence, yet I violated oaths and became a Freemason. There is my secret. No one controls the narrative of life. We experience life as it occurs. No on predicts tomorrow. No one predicts death and dying.  it is what it is. More the reason to explore your fabric. Let's assume there is a surprise lingering in each of us. If you're prone to misanthropy it's unlikely you're a regular participant. Best we keep it that way. For the rest of us, have you noticed life is bittersweet. Wish you had known earlier?

There is something to be learned about human nature by watching an encounter between wild animals and us.  I give you a picture;  park bench or a place in the woods, a good book, a thermos of something refreshing.  In the stillness, something begins to happen.  Birds and small animals begin to come closer, going about their business as they do. A quick motion, a pop or bang sends them scurrying off. So we return to our book and after time, they overcome their hesitence as we offer no threat, and they feel safer.  You get the idea. It is a prescription for approaching other people's ideas.  I share it hoping it answers a question.  How?   The stillness and quiet is a language to connect.  It doesn't overcome. It doesn't make one any smarter or braver. It is a way to connect. Remove the tendency to judge and criticize and something happens.  Tyically people are guarded.  Being trusting is seen as a liability a moral weakness. I must admit, piety is no anecdote. Creatures like us trust our senses and experiences. I am a stranger to the world, so people must make assumptions based on their past experience. Threat, maelevolent, dangerous, so be cautious, wary.  It makes sense to men like me, that trust is earned not assumed.  Respect is earned, not assumed. Reputation is hard earned and easily ruined. The patience required to change assumptions is just enough, not a second more or a second less. Control is inside the mind. For the  rationalist in us, it explains a great deal. Not to go into the darkness about this here, when we are talking or teaching, sharing a point of view, subtlely helping listeners lower their guard has many benefits. Why not? Connections- isn't that a part of what we do?

Bear with me, I speak from masonic experiences formed by the influences around me. Some are distant both in time and space and perhaps we should add thought itself. Let me draw your attention to an assumption, that masonry comes to us, not as in form but conceptually.  How would anyone know? The answer lies in the way we are shown masonry. Priniciples, tenants, charges and interpretations of something called landmarks, each aspect is left to the imagination of the one who is introduced to the craft.  I doubt we could play up the notion of conceptual thinking anymore than has been added over the years. Metaphor, symbol, allegory we are expected to sort out what they even mean. Some, like me would say all this indicates abstract thinking is a 'talent' of sorts, each brings to the table.  Of course, nothing accounts for taste. Since we are conceptual, I found it helpful to search for some recognizable framework to bring out collaborations. So far music fits the bill.  You have your taste, I have mine. Each of us may be one note in the score, but we are performing as cords. Cords blend notes with intonation. Some prefer serious and predictable, some experimental.  Together we are about to perform Beethovens 4th. One hundred twenty-six of us, follow a notational path to ectasy. Once, one of a kind, but it seems fawning to call something so sublme predictable. There is this other group, they play sponteneously, risking it all for that once in a lifetime experience.  Think of all the experimental music we are able to access.  Miles or Mozart? It would seem odd to argue the point.  In their own way, they have tantalized imaginations by being imaginative. They knew to surprise listeners by offering something impossible to predict. All of us come into lodge with expectations. We're taught scales and encouraged to practice which we do alone. When we are ready we rehearse which we do as a group but to perform what?

History is such an advantage. It's like having a window into the past showing consequences. People will mine them looking for trends.  Intelligent minds will see what is obvious and looking behind the curtain.What other influences were in play? History reminds us constantly, nothing is static. Physics reminds us everything, including us is an a constant state of motion. Then, some of us break off probing the nature of consciousness in the infinitiy of space because we can. It isn't a question everyone jumps into. The world we live in shows us the reality of diversity.  One might be more important in a moment but then be replaced in the next.  Just because we have a defined history, our window is more expansive than that of most individuals.  We are not superior in any way, but we have access to an unusual point of view (POV). What it tells us depends on what questions we are asking.You'd be right to remind us if we had a capacity to predict, we would be cashing winning betting slips at the racetrack.  Even with the advantage of history, someone needs to weigh current information.  Roll of the dice. Our lives have qualities that are different than random selection.  The difference is in the mind of the beholder.  Think of it as a continuous source of preference- an. on-going filter pushing all else aside to leave me with my opinions for my reasons. It sounds churlish I know but you take my point. If only everyone thought like us? That would be frightening. We would accomplish less than we do now. We live and think in this soup of impressions and thoughts. We have studied the process for thousands of years and agreed, it is the primary part of our narrative to be oriented in that cocktail. It can be overwhelming 'see' everything in motion.  The path behind looks different. The path ahead changes in the blink of an eye. And here we are, with an ability to create a sense of stability. Amazing.