What keeps you involved in Masonry, specifically Blue Lodge?
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What keeps you involved?
- Thread starter Blake Bowden
- Start date
cog41
Premium Member
Good question.
Symbolism.
Masonry's history within the state and it's various towns. The characters who as members, played important parts in the towns, schools, industry etc..
Everday application of the basics combined with the wisdom of Solomon. So effective when actually put into practice.
Symbolism.
Masonry's history within the state and it's various towns. The characters who as members, played important parts in the towns, schools, industry etc..
Everday application of the basics combined with the wisdom of Solomon. So effective when actually put into practice.
Bro. Brad Marrs
Premium Member
Well, I joined for the philosophy, but my Lodge wasn't actively practicing that part, and education was slim to none. Now, I'm moving into the East, and fixing those gaps are my main goals, and that keeps me around and involved. 
Pscyclepath
Premium Member
Hanging out with the Brothers... Outside of work, most of my time has been eaten watching after my mother in the nursing home. Lodge night is a break from that grind, and it's a lot nicer hanging out and chatting with folks who aren't in dotage or otherwise demented...
Plus, learming the ritual is a nice mental challenge.
Plus, learming the ritual is a nice mental challenge.
Star Mztyk
Registered User
.....Teaching.... We have a study tonight. The SW will practice opening and closing in the W&E. We will also have 5 EAs from ours and surrounding lodges working on their lessons. Will need to close the LoS at some point...maybe not tonight. ( I had nominated the WM to repeat in the East so we are very strong this year.)
Michaelstedman81
Premium Member
The things that keep me around are as follows, but not really in that order of importance to me:
Masonic history- The local, state, national, and world history that has been touched by Masonry. The thought that just because a single man, or group of men, were involved in our Fraternity had a hand in setting certain things in motion that led to the establishment of something for the better in the community. Whether it is because a man was very big on education and started a scholarship program in a small community, or a group of guys decided they wanted to have more liberty and pushed to establish a new country. Things that could be traced back to Masonic principles that we still try to teach today to make the world a better place.
Philosophy of it- Wheter it is the symbols, ritual, or whatever learning new things that I can use to apply to my life to make me a better man and contrbute in a better way to people around me and my community. Knowing that being involved in the Craft gives me the knowledge to understand the symbols and what they represent Masonically gets me warm and fuzzy. Especially thinking about the fact that this isn't something that was just thought up in some corporate office to make the employees more efficient.... Nay, a lot of this stuff goes waaay back, and I'm learning the SAME things that some pretty prominent and smart guys were researching well before my time.
Fellowship and Brotherhood- Straight up...I love it. There is very few people that I can say that I can trust or have that sense of "brotherhood" with other than the boys I served with. That connection with them didn't happen just because we had a couple of beers one weekend. It took time and a lot of stuff going on to forge that bond. With Freemasonry, I get that same thing with men that I never did get to serve with. I get that feeling of "Brother" when I am with my fellow Masons. Being in a room or at an event with other Masons really touches me becase we are all there for the exact same reasons, whether directly or indirectly. We aren't forced to be there because we are ordered to be or because it is part of our job. We are there because we want to be. I love being in some random place that I have never been before and a man strike up a conversation with me like he has known me for years and see that look in his eye that we have been down the same road, and for the most part, taking the same direction in life. All because he saw the ring I was wearing, or I noticed his belt buckle. This website is a prime example of what I am talking about. I joined here over a year ago, and for the most part (minus a couple of times of hardship), I have been pretty regular. This site is a favorite of mine because I can get on here and communicate with Brothers that I have never met, and most likely never will, and I can learn from them and share my experiences and thoughts.
Other smaller things are doing the ritual work, helping newer Masons learn their work (and not just the work that they have to turn in, but the meanings of it and why we have it there to begin with), and of course, getting to sit there with my younger Brothers and listen to all the old timers talk about things that happened 30, 40, 50 or more years ago....lol Haha Masonry has really changed since then...lol
Hahaha I love that.
Masonic history- The local, state, national, and world history that has been touched by Masonry. The thought that just because a single man, or group of men, were involved in our Fraternity had a hand in setting certain things in motion that led to the establishment of something for the better in the community. Whether it is because a man was very big on education and started a scholarship program in a small community, or a group of guys decided they wanted to have more liberty and pushed to establish a new country. Things that could be traced back to Masonic principles that we still try to teach today to make the world a better place.
Philosophy of it- Wheter it is the symbols, ritual, or whatever learning new things that I can use to apply to my life to make me a better man and contrbute in a better way to people around me and my community. Knowing that being involved in the Craft gives me the knowledge to understand the symbols and what they represent Masonically gets me warm and fuzzy. Especially thinking about the fact that this isn't something that was just thought up in some corporate office to make the employees more efficient.... Nay, a lot of this stuff goes waaay back, and I'm learning the SAME things that some pretty prominent and smart guys were researching well before my time.
Fellowship and Brotherhood- Straight up...I love it. There is very few people that I can say that I can trust or have that sense of "brotherhood" with other than the boys I served with. That connection with them didn't happen just because we had a couple of beers one weekend. It took time and a lot of stuff going on to forge that bond. With Freemasonry, I get that same thing with men that I never did get to serve with. I get that feeling of "Brother" when I am with my fellow Masons. Being in a room or at an event with other Masons really touches me becase we are all there for the exact same reasons, whether directly or indirectly. We aren't forced to be there because we are ordered to be or because it is part of our job. We are there because we want to be. I love being in some random place that I have never been before and a man strike up a conversation with me like he has known me for years and see that look in his eye that we have been down the same road, and for the most part, taking the same direction in life. All because he saw the ring I was wearing, or I noticed his belt buckle. This website is a prime example of what I am talking about. I joined here over a year ago, and for the most part (minus a couple of times of hardship), I have been pretty regular. This site is a favorite of mine because I can get on here and communicate with Brothers that I have never met, and most likely never will, and I can learn from them and share my experiences and thoughts.
Other smaller things are doing the ritual work, helping newer Masons learn their work (and not just the work that they have to turn in, but the meanings of it and why we have it there to begin with), and of course, getting to sit there with my younger Brothers and listen to all the old timers talk about things that happened 30, 40, 50 or more years ago....lol Haha Masonry has really changed since then...lol
Hahaha I love that.
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Benton
Premium Member
This. The ritual and brotherhood with men I would never have met were it not for Masonry.
Michael Hatley
Premium Member
Seriously.
That and we have a rule - Blue Bell Icecream is mandatory at every meeting. If everything else falls to shit, we still have Blue Bell.
Brother Mark
Registered User
Meeting brothers, the rituals, symbolism. Plus you can never learn everything in the blue lodge. That's what drives me, to keep learning.