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The reinstatement process varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but in the jurisdictions I know it starts at the lodge level not at the grand lodge level. If that's the case in Texas as well the GL folks don't have any place in responding to him until the lodge that he was a member of files...

On Buddhist Masons - The brother who obligated me on my third degree is a practicing Buddhist. It seems that Buddhism neither requires nor forbids a belief in the existence of a supreme being. You do so that's that. On the degrees coming from the Old Testament - You definitely need to be very...

The question on the petition is the key. If you can in good conscience answer yes, then you can become a Mason. What religious membership you have, if any, is not relevant and should not be asked by the investigating committee. We have a landmark against discussing sectarian religion in an...

ADHD is *different* not *worse*. Don't let the word "Disorder" at the end confuse you. Medicine calls so many things disorders you can expect any day to see journal articles on "Robust health disorder" called that because the majority doesn't have it. So ponder this - There are ways to...

Tachyon neutrinos might not have been all that shocking. Tachyons violation Einstein's general relativity but there are multiple competitors for GR. In special relativity a particle can't be accelerated past C but there's nothing to say it can't be created already past C. There are many cases...

In another thread I did mention I have the symptoms of ADHD with hyperfocus. For me fifteen minutes can pass in a flash or it can seem like it took forever. I need to be able to fit a topic in 5 minutes or I might not be able to handle it. It's also my fussing about organizing my thoughts...

That's a definition for objective not for knowable. Knowable things include problems that require infinite calculation which can therefore only be approximated to an arbitrarily chosen precision. Objective things can be predictably observed by others. If you hear G_d speak and nobody else...

Very alarming. There are people who treat science like a religion. There are people who put religion and science in opposition. It's terrible.

In Illinois the GM who insisted on that is close to finishing his 2 year term. I don't know if the next GM in line will insist as well. I expect that he will. My talks tend to run under 5 minutes. Figure out what you're going to say. Organize the thoughts on the topic. Say it. Thank the...

In my experience ADHD (with hyperfocus in my case) has not interfered with my Masonic activities. My time sense isn't all that good so I keep a hip calendar to tell me a few events per day and I wear a wrist watch to tell me what day of the week and month it is. It's good enough that I make...

One of my years in the east I got a dump of the membership database sorted by when they were raised. On the month they had been raised I sent them a "Masonic birthday" card congratulating them and telling them I looked forward to seeing them at lodge. I met a number of brothers in response to...

The science of evolution has evolved to include DNA genetics and genetic engineering. While there are a lot of points remaining to be filled in the parts that are filled in work to better precision than we can currently measure. All science comes with error bars. The error bars on the...

This is what I called the problem of instrumentation in my other post. The problem of instrumentation is not an existentialist cop-out but there are people who treat it as such. In philosophy everything begins with direct personal observation. In science everything begins with instrumental...

And what the Grand master says, goes. Plus he gets to decide if his decision goes to vote at GL to get ratified to become permanent. In this case he has not yet put it on the agenda for his year. It's an interesting strategy that kicks the ball forward giving everyone plenty more time to...

That's the rub. Why then, can't people accept that forgiveness has nothing to do with forgetness? I figure these two common confusions shared a basic cause having to do with the shallow nature of sound bites and the need to ponder the differences to give their deeper meanings to seep into our...

Further - When you ask a question the locals can't answer, take that as a challenge not as a hurdle. Every brother has different interests. You're going to encounter brothers fascinated by topics that you have no interest in, and vice versa.

Direct personal observation is the basis of personal knowledge. Lack of direct personal observation by one does not invalidate the direct personal observation of another. Those of us with direct personal observation know. I acknowledge that we may be in error. I long ago accepted that -...

As this is the timing but is not the wording of the poem I have seen used for a Bible presentation I think my comparison for purposes of timing and how to not conflict with the ritual of a degree or the ritual of opening/closing to me remains apples to apples. The Bible presentation is done at...

Another cool difference! My California lodge has gold colored jewels and collar decorations as our extra fancy set for installations and OVs only, a set that has silver colored jewels and collar decorations for degrees only, a set of silver colors jewels on cords for stated meetings. And a...

Service through labor. Service through love. The conundrum of a mundane path to the divine becoming a divine path to the mundane. A certain point within a circle and all that stuff.