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Have standards really been lowered?

LAMason

Premium Member
For many, it's not about that anymore. It's not about learning, much less applying what you've learned to your life. It's about paying dues to simply belong.

“There are few more vexatious problems which the Worshipful Master has to meet than that of increasing the attendance in a Lodge in which the members have, to some extent at least, lost interest.

It is a fact no less true than sad, that, on the average, an attendance of ten per cent of the membership is looked upon as a “Good” turnout. Yet there are Lodges which have a greater number at almost every communication.”

Increasing Lodge Attendance

by unknown

SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.VI October, 1928 No.10
 

pointwithinacircle2

Rapscallion
Premium Member
This isn't related to Masonry (maybe) but if you would like to learn a lot about how the mind and the brain interact you could consider taking this free online class https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn I learned a huge amount about how to work with my brain instead of against it. There is some great stuff about memorization in there too. And there are some great examples of how the brain gets fooled sometimes. Just FYI.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
This isn't related to Masonry (maybe) but if you would like to learn a lot about how the mind and the brain interact you could consider taking this free online class https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn I learned a huge amount about how to work with my brain instead of against it. There is some great stuff about memorization in there too. And there are some great examples of how the brain gets fooled sometimes. Just FYI.
Thank you for this! I can't say for sure when I'll get around to it, but it looks very interesting and I look forward to it.
 

Companion Joe

Premium Member
Genuine secrets revealed:
How to turn junk metal into gold: At the end of the day, take the change out of your pocket, put it in a jug, and when you have enough saved, visit a jewelry store.
How to live a long live: Eat right, exercise, and look both ways before crossing the street.
How to achieve immortality: Treat people in a way that they will remember you after you are gone.

As for Masonry, it has taught me to hopefully be a better man and member of our community, but there is no secret to it other than thinking before you speak and act.
 

Companion Joe

Premium Member
You keep using the word "secret" which always sets off conspiracy nut bells and whistles with me. Sorry, it just does. I don't know what kind of secrets you seek. Alex Jones might be able to help.
Freemasonry is not a secret society. The only secrets in the fraternity are the modes of recognition and the ritual, and those haven't been "secret" for nearly 300 years. Perhaps in the operative day the way you built a flying buttress was a closely guarded secret. As far as speculative Freemasonry, there is not now, nor has there ever been, any kind of occult magical power. Our founding fathers didn't consult magical scrolls to form a more perfect union; they used the precepts they found in Masonry. I don't call those "genuine secrets." I simply call them good ideas.
I have been a Master Mason for more than 21 years. I still don't know where the secret trap door to the stash of gold is.
 

hanzosbm

Premium Member
I have been a Master Mason for more than 21 years. I still don't know where the secret trap door to the stash of gold is.

Well, our craft is known to be 'veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols' so, let's use your example of the stash of gold. Have you looked for it?

"Seek, and ye shall find." Have you sought out these 'genuine secrets' you seem so convinced don't exist?
 

Bob Reed

Registered User
Read The Alchemical Keys to Masonic Ritual and The 32 Secret Paths of Solomon. Many will say there is nothing hidden when pressed because they have never bothered to look themselves. It just sounds cool to say. So much of the ritual is very alchemical. Heady stuff but it's fun to dig!
 
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LAMason

Premium Member
Dumbing down is a deliberate diminution of the intellectual level of education, literature, cinema, news, and culture. The term "dumbing down" originated in 1933 as movie-business slang, used by motion picture screenplay writers, meaning: "[to] revise so as to appeal to those of little education or intelligence".

I think you may have failed to credit a source:

“Dumbing down is a deliberate diminution of the intellectual level of education, literature, cinema, news, and culture. The term "dumbing down" originated in 1933 as movie-business slang, used by motion picture screenplay writers, meaning: "[to] revise so as to appeal to those of little education or intelligence".[1]”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbing_down
 
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pointwithinacircle2

Rapscallion
Premium Member
“The faculty of imagination is the great spring of human activity, and the principal source of human improvement. As it delights in presenting to the mind scenes and characters more perfect than those which we are acquainted with, it prevents us from ever being completely satisfied with our present condition or with our past attainments, and engages us continually in the pursuit of some untried enjoyment, or of some ideal excellence. Hence the ardour of the selfish to better their fortunes, and to add to their personal accomplishments; and hence the zeal of the patriot and philosopher to advance the virtue and the happiness of the human race. Destroy this faculty, and the condition of man will become as stationary as that of the brutes.” – Dugald Stewart, Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind
 

JMartinez

Registered User
I just think all brothers need to remember that it's the internal and not the external. Also freemasonry should never be on the same pedestal as a country club. Our fraternity is based on diversity and equality.
 
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