WHEN WE WERE YOUNG

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.