Freemasonry is a Story of Life; with all its joys, its heartaches, its failures and its final triumph over all earthly things.
Anyone can read it, in countless books. Its teachings, its symbols, and its ambitions, are open for general observation. They are practiced in the light, and held up for all the world to see.
Freemasonry is not practiced in the dark, neither are its teachings the dogma of some forbidden cult. We, as Freemasons, are required to reflect the light; to practice its teachings and love by their direction. No greater thing can be said of Freemasonry than that it is an ideal way of life.
No other fraternity offers such profound lessons in its Ritual or Work as does Freemasonry. Each word and each act in the ceremonies of the Lodge carries a true lesson to each of us, if we will but open our eyes to see, our ears to hear and hearts to accept.
We can study Freemasonry for years, as we attend its meetings, and each time we stop to think on the things said and done, we get a new meaning and inspiration from them. There is a never-ending source of pleasure in the various shades of meaning that can be read into each line of our work. Each new meaning and interpretation that we put into some word or act will make that passage live for us, and we will begin to see Freemasonry for what it is intended. Great men have devoted many years of study and meditation to the cause of Freemasonry and when their work is finished they realize that they have only begun to see the light and that they have only started to uncover the true meanings of the work.
Freemasonry has been talked of and written about by countless men in every country of the world. Its members have been persecuted in all lands at one time or the other, but is still grows and flourishes as no other fraternity on earth today.
There must be something good and great in Freemasonry, for it to stand through the years as a beacon of light to its members and as a symbol of the true way of life for all to see and follow. Its greatness is not due to it.s secret teachings, its mysteries or fanfare of its deeds, but rather to the profound lessons taught to its members and to the comfort, inspiration and enlightenment brought to all who will but study
Freemasonry frowns on advertising its good deeds, preferring to let those who benefit from them reflect its goodness, that others might have hope and desire the better things of life. Freemasonry offers comfort to those who sorrow, hope for those who despair, wise counsel for those who err, and the joys and contentment of life to all.
Source: Bro. William A. Carpenter
