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CLewey44

Registered User
The four Cardinal Virtues: Temperance, Prudence, Justice and Fortitude are important in our Masonic lives. However, there is a fifth Virtue that we really start learning from the moment we decide to email/contact a lodge or GL indicating our interest in joining Freemasonry and that is patience. I have been in this fraternity for about five years now and one thing it has taught me is patience, especially within the scope of the Craft but also in general.

I'm sure you could 'shoehorn' patience into any of the other four Virtues and that would be completely fine but can any of you recall some examples of patience whether within BL or another Masonic organization such as AASR, YR or otherwise? Examples could be transferring lodges or GLs, anxiously waiting to be invited to one of the many invitational groups or maybe even some "horror-stories" trying to get your degrees in BL or just to get voted on. Anything really.

What did you learn from these experiences, if anything? Can we improve on these seemingly poor short-comings? Look forward to hearing your responses.
 

Winter

Premium Member
With over two decades in the Craft I have copious amounts of related stories where my patience was tested. As time passes I believe I have gotten much better at being able to relax and allow things to happen in their own Masonic time. In our current age of instant gratification coupled with the ability to communicate instantaneously anywhere around the globe, it is easy to see how younger petitioners can become frustrated at the slower pace we force on the process once they have expressed interest or petitioned. I think much of that is alleviated by a careful explanation of how joining Freemasonry is unlike joining any other group. And, as with everything, some Lodges do a better job at that than others.

Currently, I am waiting for my affiliation with my local SR Valley. The time spent obtaining the letter of demit from my old Valley, signing it, returning it, then waiting for the certified copy, so I could send it to the new Valley, then wait for them to enter it at a meeting, then waiting the requisite month till the next meeting for balloting..... If patience is not one of the four cardinal virtues, it should be! It is my fault that I did not begin the process earlier so I could attend the Spring Reunion this weekend.

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Bloke

Premium Member
Three things
1 Rome wasn't built in a day
2 Freemasonry is a marathon not a sprint, it is a lifelong journey and Degrees and Offices are just short learning phases in the journey while all plans are just experiments.. failure just means you move onto the next one with the view of continuous improvement.
3 To change well often takes time, but even wanting things to stay the same requires change..

I always say Masters are better identifying one or two changes and doing them well than 10 where nothing really happens.

I talk about change (which includes initiation) because that's what often tests our patience.. the other great one are the failings of Brethren - to which I always reminder Brothers to "shed a tear of sympathy on the failings of a brother"...
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
When I'm in the preparation room preparing a candidate one of the topics I discuss with him is the lesson of patience. It started by coming for dinner for a few months before anyone would sign his petition. Now it's about to happen with him knocking on the door and being told to wait.
 
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