Oaths & Obligations: Optional?

Why have we lost the sense of an Oath. Too often an obligation is mocked by behaviour.  Let me share a thought about that.  An oath taken does matter if the fellow doesn't care. Faced with such potential at the brink of masonry, it takes a dramatic lack of character to make ones obligations optional. One actually swears an oath to live byprinciples that we agree to study, then quickly discovers what I call the Big And First Dissappointment,  learning that the betterment of self, is not on the minds of one and all in the same way it is on yours and mine. Within the gentle craft, do we step ahead alone? Perhaps the boy in us fathoms this as a quest but some boys are braver, some are foolish but it takes a smart boy to know when he needs to apply himself.  My brother who is not a mason by the way, taught me  about tolerances and I think the lesson applies with masons most stridently.  We grow older, we let matters slide and I can tell you it is letting go that changes our tolerances...when we accept far less than our best effort AND WE KNOW IT.  Then the lying starts- oh my goodness did I mention our human ability to tell ourselves fantastical lies long enough that we can actually begin to believe them?

Overcoming desire is a terrible challenging task. If one wants to see the reflection of a mature man when he looks in the mirror, he waits for that moment when he has understood and conquerored his own ego and the desires that pour from it like honey from the comb.

For thousands of men, freemasonry has been a classroom of the world.  When we're dealing with the big picture, we are all small students, trying to get bye. Stop in for a visit- we'll talk as if we're old and close friends- about things masonic and things of interest to a mason.  Then when you're all recharged, I'll expect you will commit scads of random acts of kindness.

See you soon,  Graham