Some months ago I wrote about the Egregore of a Lodge. That post can be found here:
But these Egregores aren’t only created in Lodges. They are created by people, and exist wherever people congregate.
Freemasonry purports to take good men, and transform them into even better men. One of the ways our Craft does this is by surrounding a man with other men who are also striving to become better.
Freemasonry declares, quite plainly (at least in the ritual of some Jurisdictions) that a Lodge is “A Sacred Retreat Of Friendship And Virtue.”
So, Freemasonry helps men improve their own characters by drawing them together, in friendship, with other men who are also seeking to improve their characters, and meeting together within a shared and sacred space.
Recently I read the following passages which I think touch upon this, and the reason Freemasonry succeeds in its mission, quite well:
“Every low place of resort, every saloon filled with hangers-on more or less under the influence of stimulant, every and any place, no matter what its conventional character, if it be a place of deceit, of trickery in trade, is an actual spring of low thought. This thought flows from it, as real, though unseen, as water from a spring. In any great city all these are as so many thousands of springs of filthy thought-element, near together. It is not a live, rapid current. It is more like a slowly moving bed of filthy ooze, in which you are mired and slowly borne along. Every tattling, gossiping, scandal-mongering group of people is an additional spring of such thought. So is every family where disorder, sour looks, cross words, and peevishness or petulance reign. Good society as well as that called inferior in the social scale, can contribute to this inferior thought current. The purest spirit cannot live in this thought-current without being unfavorably affected by it. It requires continual outlay of force to resist it. You become mixed and entangled in it, blinded by its obscurity, weighted down by the burthen it brings.”
And
“With so much of this injurious unseen element about you, you may see an additional necessity for forming groups of people who are naturally aspiring and more pure, who shall frequently come together, and by conversation and silent communion generate a current of purer thought. the more of this they make through such co-operation, the more power is given to each individual of the group to keep himself, whether in the body by day or out of it at night, from being unfavorably affected, and perhaps overwhelmed, by these prevailing destructive tides. You are then forming a chain of connection with the higher, purer, and more powerful region of thought. The more you earnestly seek to form such connection, the stronger will be the chain. You do not realize the strength of these ‘powers of darkness’ all about you, or the odds against you in trying to stem this dark tide alone.”
“The thought brought to and made by a very few persons, who so meet in concert, and who are so alive to its benefits as to love to meet, is of a value you cannot overestimate.”
-Prentice Mulford, 1903
There is much wisdom in Mr. Mulford’s words for us as individuals, and for our Lodges. They remind us I think, that we as individuals can be brought low by poor association, or lifted up by better association.
They also point to the need for our Lodges to be those ‘sacred retreats of friendship and virtue,’ not only in word, but in action.
Keeping these things in mind, we improve our character, and we improve our Lodge.
Just a quick reminder that tomorrow evening we will be gathering over Zoom to discuss the book In Search Of Light by MW Robert Davis. Login information will go out tomorrow morning. I hope to see you there, and I hope that you enjoyed his book as much as I did!
This is why guarding the west gate is imperative, as one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.
No one wakes up every morning and thinks to themselves, I will be evil today. Every single person thinks they are doing good from their point of view. They justify their actions to themselves and see it as right, regardless of who they are hurting.
The biggest common factor of criminals is lack of empathy. They don't care about you. They only care about themselves. They see your possessions as theirs. They think they have the right to take it, by force if necessary. All crime is theft. Theft of goods and services. Theft of life. Theft of loved ones.
But the second most common factor with criminals is the ability to lie. To tell you what you want to hear. The most difficult part of delving into the criminal mindset is getting past the lies to uncover what they truly think. They lie so convincingly because they have had a lifetime of practice.
So, facing a potential candidate that seeks entry into our fraternity, you can only do so much. The accomplished liar will glibly tell you all the right things, and make all the right noises that you'll have no problems vouching for their entry.
But sooner or later, you'll discover the truth. It may take days, weeks, or years, but at some point you'll realize things are not ok. By then, it might be too late. Lodges have learned the hard way that the person they thought they knew they never really knew at all.