THE PRACTICES OF MASONRY

Quitting. We have not discovered what we set out to learn. Time is up. If we aren't  careful with our screening, of course there will be those amongst us who do not embrace our values. It is unfair to them. When we stopped communicating symbolically, we risked loss of valuable ideas.  How then do we receive masonic lessons?  Have we dismissed that form of learning without much concern? ss along those learnings? I would hope they would have a gentle encounter, talking, bantering, sharing ideas, eventually effortlessly sliding into meaning.  If I had my way, every mason would have good taste. They would enjoy the arts and take upon themselves the amazement of science, discovering and reveal more of the great unknown. If there is a shared expectation, it is that we preserve and live according to the ancient landmarks.  Of course this won't be possible, if they are not taught and learned. Time has been gnawing away at these simple focal points.  A squawking cord organ or out of tune piano has given way to exquistitely reproduced musical presentations. Idles suppositions are held up against instance validation. We can do all that and still need an intitmate encounter, to entertain dialogue to draw out what meaning we require.  If I met an old King with three daughters, and he favoured the selfish two at the exclusion of the loving third, it still would not match the scholarly critique of Shakespeares work. On occasion, we would benefit from the same latitude unless we are thinking the Craft is a calculus that requires the precision of mathematics and philosophy to work it. Would you allow, that we might need to see the play repeatedly to learning all that it has to offer?  Might we agree that each time, we bring presence of mind to serious considerations about the human condition? What beckons to us isn't a pressure external but an internal desire to know.