INDENTIFICATION IN A TIME OF CONFUSION

Time has been a good friend to masonry over the centuries. The ideas we entertain are best served up in contemplative calmness. We need time to digest meanings, assuming we know meanings can change as time goes bye.  What was once a difficult point of view to grasp, can with patience become familiar and helpful. Time buffers us from intense emotional conflicts. When we realize metaphor and symbol lead back to something inside us, it's too late to abandon our inquiry.  Whether private or gregarious, there is a place in the brotherhood. Ritual enables us to address our commitments to one another as we perform, becoming  part of the proof, the replication of earlier findings from lifes grand experiment with each of us.  Since the Craft is raised on a platform of 'truth' over superstitions, it was bound to show us uncomfortable things. Nature and science aren't much for sentimentalism or for that matter fearing a loss of friends. In fact, if the Craft was anything less that frank, it would dissolve at our feet.  How to be frank without being offensive? We have philosophy to thank as we explore those questions others avoid. Everything is not what it seems. Permanance is illusion. Life is illusion. Enjoying what we can, while we can, with a dignity, showing compassion for our fellows, companionship, do we need much more?