FINDING FAMILIARITY IN A HURRICANE

Begin with a story, your story and let me ask you a question.  How did you approach the idea of Freemasonry? Did you assume your understanding of it was comprehensive?  When did you become receptive to exploring the behaviour of a freemason? Most people believe what they want to believe.  Science calls it confirmation bias. We select that which is consistent with our own ideas and push away those parts that contradict us. How easy it is to find kindred spirits along the easy path.  Add some embroidery to this thinking and soon you will stray from the very bond that you pledged to accept.  There are even signs of this. Let me share a list of more familiar; Gossip. Judging. Negativity, Complaining, Excuses, Embroidery, Dogmatism (confusing opinions for fact). When you hear them, do yourself a favour: do not be the audience.   When you speak, speak honestly, be authentic, express integrity and with care and concern. What would you make of an old man, defending the honour of a woman who has no knowledge of his actions?  What if the old fool was motivated by chivalry?  What if wealthy people mocked him for their own pleasure? Is he teaching us something helpful?   Today, we can succumb to algorythms that 'anticipate' our interests and what we ought to know.  If we accept someone else thinking for us, are we any more grounded than Don Quixote? Best to progress along masonic lines, that encourage curiosity and a search for meaning.  Eventually transformation takes us not as a passive member of the audience but an actor on the stage- to a place where understanding is the norm.