MW Cameron, your a mentor to many Brothers, and being mentor you are preforming a very important role in our craft by helping and educating the Brothers, so you are a doer, but in a different role for the betterment of our craft. Thank you MWB
This applies to so many situations in life-in fact I would say it is a core value in life. It's like when I had to quit being a mother and be a matriarch. There is a difference when we remove ourselves from the center of the universe and become servants of the universe (God). Our labor becomes less in one way and more in another. I like this non-doer stuff.
“There is plenty of room at the top, but no place to sit down.”
In order for us to continue and grow as a premier men’s organization, all Brothers must be ‘doers’.
Our Leadership positions, appropriately recognized in the organization through titles and honors, are replaced often. I consider these positions additional opportunities to give back to the Craft, as well as amazing opportunities for personal growth.
However, the definition of ‘doer’ should not be limited to Lodge Officer positions and positions outside the Blue Lodge. I would humbly suggest that most of the work that needs done in our Fraternity, and the work visible to most Masons for the largest part of their time in Masonry, occurs in the Blue Lodge.
It is work in the Blue Lodge that builds and maintains the foundations of our Craft. It is work in the Blue Lodge that builds and maintains friendships among Brothers. It is work in the Blue Lodge that empowers us to be an effective force for good in our communities. Finally, it is from these quarries that Masons are Raised and inspired with a love of Fraternity to venture into our Grand Lodge and Appendant/Concordant bodies.
Masons are builders, of self and of community. Freemasonry is an organization that is, or could be, relevant to men in all ages and phases of life. Therefore we should have work in the quarry for all men to do. The Worshipful Master is often reminded that he sits in the East for this very purpose; to put the craft to work and make them doers.
Burn out is real, and we all should mind our cable-toe, but each active craftsman in the Lodge frees up the Master’s time that much more. Time spent improving and building a better Lodge. As Lodges improve, so does the support they’re able to give the Grand Lodge, and thus the whole Fraternity is better off.
TL,DR: Cash, gas, or … Ritual!, nobody rides for free.
I agree with much of your sentiment. After my year in the East, I sat in the Oriental Chair in my RAM Chapter, and the following year in the Council of R&SM. I remained active and interested in my blue lodge for a few years after that but lost interest as "my line" of officers ran their course and a different set of ideals and expectations set in. I was determined not to be "that PM" sitting on the sideline offering my unsolicited opinion on how things ought to be done.
Recently I've returned to lodge only to realize how much I've missed it and, how much I need it. The lodge has changed, as it should. I don't want to run the show. I do want to continue my masonic education, spend time in the company of good men, hear, and share, ideas about what makes the fraternity so special.
Now, through Emeth, I've found a new portal through which to read, ponder and occasionally comment on masonic ideas and doings. As I approach retirement I want to regularly attend lodges wherever I find myself and as a "sideliner" take in all the elements and fraternal friendship the institution offers. Some small role her & there but not that of a doer. For me, that day has passed.
I realize that I probably didn't write this post very well.
A number of people have approached me, thinking that it is my intention to stop my Masonic labors.
That isn't it at all, and I'm sorry if I gave that impression. I plan to continue my work in the quarries.
But...
Masonry teaches us that while we may be elevated, for a time, to those quarries we must return. That is my intention. I've been honored, by the trust of my Brothers, to run things. I've done that, and now my time for doing that has passed. It's my turn to sit in Lodge, another Masons turn to run the Lodge. That is as it should be, for unless we pass the torch, Freemasonry can't thrive.
It's not my intention to leave, rather it is my intention to get the heck out of the way.
MW Cameron, your a mentor to many Brothers, and being mentor you are preforming a very important role in our craft by helping and educating the Brothers, so you are a doer, but in a different role for the betterment of our craft. Thank you MWB
This applies to so many situations in life-in fact I would say it is a core value in life. It's like when I had to quit being a mother and be a matriarch. There is a difference when we remove ourselves from the center of the universe and become servants of the universe (God). Our labor becomes less in one way and more in another. I like this non-doer stuff.
“There is plenty of room at the top, but no place to sit down.”
In order for us to continue and grow as a premier men’s organization, all Brothers must be ‘doers’.
Our Leadership positions, appropriately recognized in the organization through titles and honors, are replaced often. I consider these positions additional opportunities to give back to the Craft, as well as amazing opportunities for personal growth.
However, the definition of ‘doer’ should not be limited to Lodge Officer positions and positions outside the Blue Lodge. I would humbly suggest that most of the work that needs done in our Fraternity, and the work visible to most Masons for the largest part of their time in Masonry, occurs in the Blue Lodge.
It is work in the Blue Lodge that builds and maintains the foundations of our Craft. It is work in the Blue Lodge that builds and maintains friendships among Brothers. It is work in the Blue Lodge that empowers us to be an effective force for good in our communities. Finally, it is from these quarries that Masons are Raised and inspired with a love of Fraternity to venture into our Grand Lodge and Appendant/Concordant bodies.
Masons are builders, of self and of community. Freemasonry is an organization that is, or could be, relevant to men in all ages and phases of life. Therefore we should have work in the quarry for all men to do. The Worshipful Master is often reminded that he sits in the East for this very purpose; to put the craft to work and make them doers.
Burn out is real, and we all should mind our cable-toe, but each active craftsman in the Lodge frees up the Master’s time that much more. Time spent improving and building a better Lodge. As Lodges improve, so does the support they’re able to give the Grand Lodge, and thus the whole Fraternity is better off.
TL,DR: Cash, gas, or … Ritual!, nobody rides for free.
I agree with much of your sentiment. After my year in the East, I sat in the Oriental Chair in my RAM Chapter, and the following year in the Council of R&SM. I remained active and interested in my blue lodge for a few years after that but lost interest as "my line" of officers ran their course and a different set of ideals and expectations set in. I was determined not to be "that PM" sitting on the sideline offering my unsolicited opinion on how things ought to be done.
Recently I've returned to lodge only to realize how much I've missed it and, how much I need it. The lodge has changed, as it should. I don't want to run the show. I do want to continue my masonic education, spend time in the company of good men, hear, and share, ideas about what makes the fraternity so special.
Now, through Emeth, I've found a new portal through which to read, ponder and occasionally comment on masonic ideas and doings. As I approach retirement I want to regularly attend lodges wherever I find myself and as a "sideliner" take in all the elements and fraternal friendship the institution offers. Some small role her & there but not that of a doer. For me, that day has passed.
You definitely in your journeys for researching recognition need to come research NC.
Ill be dead before I retire. I'd rather wear out rather than rust out.
I realize that I probably didn't write this post very well.
A number of people have approached me, thinking that it is my intention to stop my Masonic labors.
That isn't it at all, and I'm sorry if I gave that impression. I plan to continue my work in the quarries.
But...
Masonry teaches us that while we may be elevated, for a time, to those quarries we must return. That is my intention. I've been honored, by the trust of my Brothers, to run things. I've done that, and now my time for doing that has passed. It's my turn to sit in Lodge, another Masons turn to run the Lodge. That is as it should be, for unless we pass the torch, Freemasonry can't thrive.
It's not my intention to leave, rather it is my intention to get the heck out of the way.