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ROUNDTABLE
This Roundtable is offered for the use of our brothers. The idea is not to publish articles that might easily appear in any Masonic
magazine, but rather to provide a place were brothers can share their thoughts on Masonic topics and experiences, and perhaps generate
a fraternal exchange with others. It can, as well, be used to share your experiences with the lodge. We are also hoping
that distant brothers will use this as a forum in which they can provide us with information about their life and in that way stay in
closer touch.
Should you have a topic you'd like to share, would like to respond to a posting, or if you are unable to meet in lodge with us,
please contact the webmaster from the contact page. I'll be happy to respond and you can then reply to my email address where you can
more easily provide detail or make an attachment.
__________________________________________________
From our WB George Crider, Sr.
We just got home from Oregon. Heather graduated from the College Natural Medicine in Portland. She is now a NP Neuipathic Doctor of
Natual medicine. She looked so great crossing the stage. She was addressed as Doctor Heather Marie Crider. What a honor for Sharon and
I. JR went with us also. Parties galore and dinners and total celbration for all the doctor grads. There were 152 grads. 23 with Master
in Natual Pathic and Chinse Medicine. Several with Doctorate Degrees. Lots of Super educated people in the medical field. She will now
finish her Medical Boards (all of the Grads) (takes all summer) then she will be going to Orlando for her residency at the National
Cancer Reserach Center of America. She and another friend from her school was hired out of 70 some applicants. She had honors from her
class. Let me tell you, I was so very very proud of her. All of the teachers, professors, nurses and the entire staff had to compliment
us on a great lady. WOW, we were in a silver cloud. All her class friends just loved her. We are home now and a little overwhelmed with
the weekend. The oath they all took in front of the thier parents was so moving, I almost broke down with tears. I would say there were
at least 800 people in the large convention center in Portland.
I See You've Traveled Some
Wherever you may chance to be--Wherever you may roam,
Far away in foreign lands; Or just at Home Sweet Home;
It always gives you pleasure, it makes your heart strings hum
Just to hear the words of cheer,
"I see you've traveled some."
When you get a brother's greeting, And he takes you by the hand,
It thrills you with a feeling that you cannot understand,
You feel that bond of brotherhood that tie that's sure to come
When you hear him say in a friendly way
"I see you've traveled some."
And if you are a stranger, In strange lands all alone
If fate has left you stranded--Dead broke and far from home,
It thrills you--makes you dumb, When he says with a grip of fellowship,
"I see you've traveled some."
And when your final summons comes, To take a last long trip,
Adorned with Lambskins Apron White and gems of fellowship--
The Tyler at the Golden Gate, With Square and Level and Plumb
Will size up your pin and say "Walk In",
"I see you've traveled some."
- Anonymous
provided by Bro Richard Hinson SD
Foodmasonry and You
Quality vs. Quantity
"Foodmasonry and You"
by WB Michael Bayrak
I know you've heard this many times before, that quality is more important than quantity. But logically, without quantity you cannot
have any quality, yet if something does not have value then any amount of it is worthless.Both are important. The question is what is
the right amount?
Take food for example. Everyone agrees that eating too much is not good, eating too little isn't good either, that it's important to eat
quality, natural foods that God gave us, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and certain dairy, fish, and meats. However, if you
eat too much of one thing and don't have that balance, then your body will certainly let you know how badly you're treating it. If we
took more time to pick out and cook with quality and natural food, our energy levels increase, and are less likely to be a burden upon
the health care system.
So what does food have to do with Freemasonry? It should be obvious. I bet you certainly have met many Masons who appear to prefer their
food quantities. While many are shining lights of Masonry, some come to every meeting and event, are active in the ritual, sit as an
officer, etc, are they getting a good balance of the Craft? What of their character and morals? Are they helping out new brethren as
well as taking care of the members who need it? Are they truly Freemasons who practice the principles in their daily life or are they
foodmasons who simply enjoy the social mirth in their daily intake?
While social discourse is an important aspect to life, other areas of Freemasonry are important too. Like the food they take in, are they
absorbing the ritual? Are you? In your diet, are you getting your proper balance of nutrients, or is it being rejected by your body and
wasted? Are you getting your proper balance of Freemasonry or is it being rejected by your lack of morals and intolerance and your soul
becomes a wasted vessel of darkness instead of light?
Of course, this article on quality versus quantity wouldn't be complete unless we spoke of membership numbers and what's being done. But
this will not be a debate for or against one day classes. There are lodges that don't practice one-day classes, but their ritual work is
of poor quality, yet the fellowship is great. There are lodges that use one-day classes, but then leave the dozens and dozens of wet
behind the ears candidates out to dry. So what is it? It comes down to what your mother told you, "Chew your food."
Yes, chew your food. Absorb and encourage our new brethren to chew their food that is Freemasonry. But we must offer quality food to chew
on in the first place, and what good is the meal for a table full of hungry men if there's not enough quality food to go around. Many will
be left starving and eventually, will leave the kitchen table-which is what's happening with some Masonic lodges.
Freemasonry does not have a recruitment problem, we have a retention problem. Repeat.
Freemasonry does not have a recruitment problem, we have a retention problem.
And like chewing food, continue to repeat that 47 more times.
We're selling the package like a cereal box says-"there's a cool prize inside," but when you pour out the contents, all you get is a
crappy plastic toy, instead of realizing that the cereal is what's good for you. That's like bus advertising and billboards.
Lodges can initiate all the dozens of men they want, but if they don't stick around, what's the point? But how many is too many members?
Why do some lodges that have 100-200 members only get 20 brethren out to meetings, yet some with 20 members consistently get 18 out? Of
course some lodges still have a lot of members from the post- war boom, and we will likely see a steady numbers decline to a more
reasonable level, but with higher dues to keep up our buildings.
How much are Masons willing to pay to keep the quality of Masonry at a high level? In the 1920s and 30s, if we were to take inflation
into the equation, most lodge dues would be the equivalent of about $800-1000 per year in today's dollars, when most are $80-100. If you
had to pay $800 a year to be a Mason, I bet you'd try to attend everything and would be active in making sure your lodge is delivering
on its value. I'm not necessarily advocating we spike up our dues, but we should be prepared in the near future to start to appreciate
this inevitability.
So with value, like a good steady diet, lodges need to offer the right balance of quality ritual, of a fun social program and fellowship,
and of enlightening education and mentoring. I guarantee you if you ask any Mason why they come to lodge, it will be one or more of those
things. Lodges that offer a balanced meal at each meeting will find that the brethren will come back for the next helping, and it's their
souls that are fulfilled with an increase in personal enlightenment, in brotherly love and support, and in knowledge.
So if you believe that Freemasonry offers quality, which it certainly does, then inject Freemasonry first into yourself, into your lodge,
and into the brethren. Learn how to cook a good Masonic meal and show the up-and-comers how to do it, but with passion. Don't hog the
potatoes. Share them. Don't take the brethren through a fast food drive-thu, have a feast with variety and quality!
- Source: Knights of the North Masonic Dictionary
Presented in lodge by Bro Tavis Evans SS
Our Pagan Times
by Ron Watkins JW
A brother mentioned to me the other day that in these difficult times, with so many men having lost careers they once believed were
secure and assets they once thought would always grow, more of them would turn inward and many would discover Masonry. Just last night
a new brother said in the car on the way home from a meeting that he believed the times were right for a resurgence of Masonry and that
he was thrilled to be a part of it. Not long ago, over lunch with a brother, I casually commented that we live in pagan times, though
almost no one seems to realize it. We've turned from God and from religion. Many worship the icons of our material society. Masonry is,
for many men, the answer to the isolation they feel in society in their search to be good men.
It is, I believe, no accident that many, perhaps most, lodges are seeing an increase in the number of young men walking in off the
street or approaching them through the internet. It's hard to be a good man in this culture. Nearly every societal stimulus is in the
other direction. Men are pressed to drink too much and to use recreational drugs, to engage in promiscuous sex whether they our married
or not, to ignore religion and church, to even hold them in contempt. They daily see examples of dishonest men getting ahead in business
and escaping punishment when exposed. Small wonder that they question their own ethics and behavior.
Our politicians are utterly self-serving, our church leaders ignore the teachings of the Bible, and are children are taught in school
that all right and wrong is relative, which is the same message we see on television every night. We are told to not act like men, to
access our feminine side, to suppress our natural aggression; in short, to fit into a mold that is both unnatural and unhealthy for us.
Many succumb as that is the easy path, but many instead seek answers. They seek the companionship of like-minded men, a society of
brothers in which right and wrong are taught and practiced, one in which they are asked to be better than they are.
It is incumbent upon all lodges to have an open portal for such men. Our front doors must be open and we must have ready access to our
lodges through the internet, as that is medium most of these men will use in finding us. In fact, we do a disservice to our beloved
Craft when we close the digital doors of Masonry because it is new and we don't understand it. There is an entire generation of men out
there who need what we have to offer and want to join our ranks. Let us welcome them.
Webmaster:
What do you think, brothers?
Then and Now
Worshipful Master, Brethren
Thirty-seven years ago after the ceremonies I was told that I'm now one of the Brethren and that now knew all the secrets of Masonry.
Well, it was only the beginning. Sometime later I was taken aside by a Brother and asked to read a book, and another, and another. Books,
about the history of our organization and the meaning of symbols, also about self-development. Today, many books later, I have not only
grown old but also grown up, I'm beginning to understand the real meaning of Masonry.
In 1998 I contacted the newly re-opened Johannis Lodge "Harraseiche" in my former Hometown Chemnitz, Germany. The Lodge was closed in
1935 during the Nazi time and later Communist East Germany, and could not be re-opened until after the Wall came down. The Brethren
there invited me during the visit in Germany. I had the opportunity to visit with them at the Lodge and seen the way work, it was very
enlightening, it was friendship at first sight. Even today I still correspond with the Brethren, made friends since.
Now you may ask, how come you are not here with us once in awhile. The answer is "Health and Location". After two heart attacks and
colon cancer, there are times when I just have to stay home. I lived in Payson for some years and now live in South Chandler [or North
Tucson], just too far away for me to commute in the evening.
However, I would lie to thank the Brethren of the Lodge for inviting me on my Masonic birthday.
BTW: The Brother who took me asid eis Frank Thomas, a good friend of mine.
Fraternally yours,
Dieter Koerner
Webmaster:
It's good to hear from you, brother. Thanks for taking the time.
JANUARY, 2009
On Perpendicularity
by Jeff Tench SW
Condensed from an email exchange with Ron Watkins JW
I've been giving the vertical / perpendicular question a lot of thought in the last few days, starting the other night when I listened
to an EA lecture. The ritual use of perpendicular is incorrect. We understand today that perpendicularity is a relationship between any
combination of two lines or planes which intersect at a 90 degree angle.
In the EA lecture we have the phrase "two perpendicular, parallel lines". I remember a few years ago at Grand Lodge we had a math adept
who introduced legislation to remove the word perpendicular from the phrase, because he noted that it was a mathematical impossibility
for two parallel lines to be perpendicular. And that's absolutely the truth. He withdraw the legislation so it was never acted upon. The
argument against the change is that the perpendicularity in the phase related to something other than the other line. I maintain that
it's an incorrect usage because the lines have no perpendicular relationship with anything in the drawing. Perhaps "two parallel lines"
doesn't sound as eloquent, or "two vertical, parallel lines".
In another place in the same lecture; "The plumb is used to try perpendiculars". Now this has a little bit of merit in that a plumb-line
would create a perpendicular relationship to a horizontal object. However a plumb is not used to try perpendiculars, that is what a square
is for. A plumb is used to prove verticals. In fact, in the next part we hear "The plumb admonishes to walk uprightly
" in other words,
vertically. So that whole section makes little sense outside the speculative world.
The first question that comes to mind is whether or not this is an Arizona ritualistic anomaly or whether this is standard Masonic fare.
Online a fundamentalist Christian group who thinks we Masons worship the devil has published what purports to be the Nevada ritual from
1986. Apparently a Past Master became reborn and forgot his obligation. It reads:
"The circle is embroidered by two perpendicular parallel lines..."
Also on the internet is Duncan's Ritual, from 1866. It reads:
"A. To St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, who were two eminent Christian patrons of Masonry; and since their time there
is, or ought to be, represented in every regular and well-governed Lodge a certain 'point within a circle,' the point representing an
individual brother, the circle the boundary-line of his conduct beyond which he is never to suffer his prejudices or passions to betray
him. This circle is embodied by two perpendicular parallel lines, representing St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist; and upon
the top rest the Holy Scriptures..."
So... we aren't alone and that's the way we've been doing it for a very long time. Could 'perpendicular' have had a slightly different
meaning when our ritual was written? Many words have evolved since then.
I found these. In the first, look at 1.:
PERPENDIC'ULAR, a. [L. perpendicularis, from perpendiculum, a plumb line; perpendeo; per and pendeo, to hang.]
1. Hanging or extending in a right line from any point towards the center of the earth or of gravity, or at right angles with the
plane of the horizon.
2. In geometry, falling directly on another line at right angles.
The line A is perpendicular to the line B.
PERPENDIC'ULAR, n. A line falling at right angles on the plane of the horizon,that is, extending from some point in a right line towards
the center of the earth or center of gravity, or any body standing in that direction.
1. In geometry, a line falling at right angles on another line, or making equal angles with it on each side.
Here's another:
Pronunciation: (pūr"pun-dik'yu-lur), [key] -adj.
1. vertical; straight up and down; upright.
2. Geom.meeting a given line or surface at right angles.
3. maintaining a standing or upright position; standing up.
4. having a sharp pitch or slope; steep.
5. (cap.) noting or pertaining to the last style of English Gothic architecture, prevailing from the late 14th through the early 16th
century and characterized by the use of predominantly vertical tracery, an overall linear, shallow effect, and fine intricate stonework.
-n.
1. a perpendicular line or plane.
2. an instrument for indicating the vertical line from any point.
3. an upright position.
4. a sharply pitched or precipitously steep mountain face.
5. moral virtue or uprightness; rectitude.
6. Naut.either of two lines perpendicular to the keel line, base line, or designed water line of a vessel.
What is interesting about this debate is that those who wrote our ritual were very familiar with mathematics and geometry. If
this is part of that ritual, and it looks like it is, they had a reason. I think knowing the use of the word around 1750 or so is the
answer.
And perhaps finally, this from p. 556 of Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry:
PERPENDICULAR
In a geometrical sense, that which is upright and erect, leaning neither one way nor another. In a figurative and symbolic sense, it
conveys the signification of Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance. Justice, that leans to no side but that of Truth; Fortitude,
that yields to no adverse attack; Prudence, that ever pursues the straight path of integrity; and Temperance that swerves not for appetite
nor passion.
These are all very interesting definitions. Reading them they sound very old, for instance "a line falling" or "falling at right angles".
I've never heard this terminology before. Today we would say "a line intersecting at right angles".
This sounds like terminology which has changed meaning over time. When buildings were the only geometrical constructs in the world
everything was relative to the center of the earth (or the horizon in more ancient times when the world was still flat) and bound by
gravity. Floors were flat and level, columns vertical and perpendicular to the floor. This hasn't changed much over time, we still use
those same old technology fundamentals today.
Geometry is all around us. It seems that almost every manufactured object is a geometrical construct, composed of other
geometrical constructs. It's pleasing to the eye as well as functional and can be replicated accurately. We no longer think simply in
terms of columns and pilasters. In our world perpendicularity occurs between any two lines which meet at right angles, and it happens a
lot all over the place in every direction, rotation and orientation.
It occurs to me that what is missing in our representation of a certain point within a circle is the fact that the circle itself is
necessarily resting on the ground. After all, it is bound by gravity and the ground is the only thing that can stop its "falling". The
perpendicular lines support it on both sides, and the holy writings is the weight keeping it all in place.
I believe our representation should really look like this:
And it should rest upon the floor or at least be absolutely level with the horizon. Geometrically speaking, it is impossible for two
parallel lines to extend to the same point, such as the center of the earth.
What's really interesting is that though absent the parallel lines, the point and circle within the square is on the walls of at least one
Buddhist temple in Tibet. THis is the point within the circle within the perfect ashler, or square, or universe, depending on what it means
to you.
Webmaster:
This is a fine beginning. Don't be shy, jump right in.
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