What a jolly article!! I enjoyed it throughly. The virtue you name is indeed a good one and should be adhered to by more than just a few of us in the Kind Offices department.
I too enjoy the French Novel of which you spoke (an combination owners manual and a through commentary on social psychology and community/caste standards on the Western side if we ever had one) , and its probably considered very outre literature if anyone comes across it.
Indeed that book and its sequel describe a not so fictional way to encourage humbleness (although thats a whole rabbit warren in itself conversation wise ), but does raise the question, should we judge when our see through translucent house is so like our neighbours? Do I sneer if I enjoy listening to old radio programmes and another brother I talk to doesnt know who Lamount Cranston is and his knowledge of evil (ironically) about evil in the hearts of men? He could take me down a peg talking about any sportsball hobby he favours if he so chose (my ignorance in that area is vast and legendary).
But if he is practicing the virtue you so adroitly refer to above, he will simply smile and aid my error-ridden self in the most friendly manner so that my eventual reformation will be a thing of joy for all nations to weep at in the days to come.
If only more brothers did that, take the high road and rejoice to love another instead of skewering each other on the Toast Rack of Smugness. Toffee-nosed conduct gets one into to a very sticky place indeed!
If we spent more time defending one another's character and manning the desks in the Kind Offices we are purported to support (and Im very guilty of this myself) I think men would see us very differently as we struggle to practice our Craft in these heady and unknown times. I thank you.
Thank you very much! I'm glad that you enjoyed this odd little essay!
That French novel is in my mind proof positive that great and powerful and influential writing can come in any form, any genre. It takes what many would see as somehow base, bizzare, or to use your word outre, and elevates it to something much greater than it would appear with a simple glance.
I've always believed though that the sequel was written by someone else. Someone borrowing the pen name and publishing rights. I just don't find the same artistry in expression within it.
Indeed you are right, most all of us, including myself, would do well by working harder to be kind to our Brothers, and everyone else around us.
Thank you for making it that even tho I am not a paid subscriber I can comment!! I read most of your article this morning cause I am interested in acquiring more humility and the title caught my eye. But, and you do acknowledge that it was more of a rant, so while I definitely agree agree with you that it is very disconcerting to hear someone talk about the “masses” as if they are above them or about the “ general public” as if they are not also part of it, I really need to focus on My becoming more humble. I often think that the reason I get so ticked off at people who come across as thinking they are better than others isn’t because I have lots of that pride and arrogance and self conceit in my own soul. I think about what I have read of some “ elite” persons ramblings and I wonder if I have made statements like that. You know what I mean? I know in my heart I have thought I am better than this person or that and I am guilty of judging people based on their looks or social status just the other day a sort of deranged man asked me outside of the grocery store if he could borrow a dollar. It was evening and I had parked a ways from the door I just said sorry kept my head down and kept hurriedly walking to my car. I was afraid to stop and open my purse even though I had a dollar and a five inside. I feel safer giving water or money to the homeless when I am at a stop light. Fort Worth is a sad place to live and I am still not used to seeing people begging. What would Jesus do? God help us Lord have mercy on ALL our souls. I read lots of things and during Lent the Psalms. Somewhere I read that if you put in 10,000 hours you will master something that’s only an hour a day for 3 years. But who knows if they’ll have 3 days let alone 3 years. Our next breath is a gift. Prayers for all friend. Thank you for sharing your thoughts this morning. Peace
Thank you for sharing your thoughts here. I appreciate it!
I too often struggle with what to do when encountering someone who is begging in some way. Here in the US anyway.
On my frequent travels in Mexico, I make it a point to always given when I encounter someone begging. I am aware that sometimes it is just a way to make a few quick bucks by someone who doesn't actually have the needs portrayed, but sometimes it is real need, and I am also aware that in that country a social safety net does not exist like we have here. So I always give, with the intention of never allowing someone in true need to see a hand wearing a Masonic ring turn indifferently turn away from that need.
But things are much different here in the US. We have very extensive governmental and non-governmental programs that will help people get their basic needs met. So most who I encounter begging are there because of either severe drug issues, or an unwillingness to accept mental health treatment, and none are left to starve. So here it depends. Some, if I truly believe that the need is real, I will help, most I won't because I don't believe the need to be real.
Easier for me are the people in the middle. People who can't make it without help, but who are working hard to try and make it, even if they don't ever seem to be successful with those efforts. I know a couple guys like that, both with kids, and my wife and I do our best to have them come to do little jobs for us, overpaying for the actual work done. My Lodge has done this with struggling people in our community as well, and I think that is something we can be proud of.
As for holding comments open to all here, yep, I'm a Free Love Hippy kind of guy when it comes to Substack:
Thanks for your commentary. I remember in some factory course at Xerox, I was taught to "listen more", and not try to think about what I would say next in a Team discussion?
My exposure to great books was only from my high school English teachers, and trying to read ALL "World Landmark" books. Then listening to historical presentation in Masonic Lodge meetings was great exposure to what great Masons had read.
My WVU Engineering School cost $125 per Semester Tuition & Fees (not elite)! There are several wonderful books in my bookshelves (not read, but on my "bucket list")! Hmmm ...
Oh, yeah, and High School English. Oh how I hated that.
Actually, if I'm really honest with myself, whenever I get paid for something I have written I sort of have a flashback to High School English and the jerk who taught it. It's a base emotion, but I kind of see those dollars as my revenge on him. My doing what he couldn't do, my doing what he communicated to me that I couldn't do.
High School English, working hard to Crush Dreams since 1983!
We could do a better job of cultivating humility in our Craft. We say that we help good men become better. We do. But in the process some of us think we're better than non-Masons. We're not. And it's OK that we're not better than non-Masons. There's lots of paths available to anyone to become a better person. Masonry works for me, and if it doesn't work for someone else I hope they find one of those other paths.
Not only am I not a better man than others as a Mason, I'm also not any better than my Brothers who haven't served as WM or DDGM. I hope that my similarly, and loftier, titled Brothers feel the same way.
When it comes to reading, yes, read anything and everything that enlightens, enriches, entertains, or educates you. My years of reading National Lampoon and Sports Illustrated had immeasurable impact on how my voice developed. But after consuming all of that mind candy the reading I most enjoy is history, which consistently gives me a framework to better understand the world.
Harvard? Maybe not the best education but certainly the strongest brand in all of academia. Instead of saying "when I was in business school" the Harvard grad always says "when I was in Harvard business school". No other university receives similar shout outs from its alums but Harvard gets them all the time. Well, I did go to business school, but I didn't go to Harvard. I fired a guy who went to Harvard (true story) but I didn't go there.
>>>We could do a better job of cultivating humility in our Craft.
Agreed. 100%.
I love our Craft. I have always loved our Craft. But, from the day I became a member of our Craft I was struck (and not in a good way) by the pomposity displayed by many members of our Craft.
>>>My years of reading National Lampoon
Now that was fine reading in my younger years!
>>>Harvard? Maybe not the best education but certainly the strongest brand in all of academia.
Agreed, but brands tarnish if not properly maintained. America Online comes quickly to mind. There was a time, not long ago, when it was the biggest and best. Now virtually no one even remembers it.
My mom used to say, "Don't trust anyone you meet for the first time who brags about how much money they have or make." The same goes for those who constantly hype themselves up about their achievements.
A friend my age told me the same thing. Upon meeting her daughter’s first husband she was turned off by him bragging about wealth. She warned her, but her daughter married him, and turned into a nightmare of a marriage. 😬
One thing that has always stuck with me, and I'm sure the person who passed it on to me cribbed it from some famous dude or another is "people who go out of their way to put others down do it to elevate themselves, because they have no other way of feeling good about themselves."
I'm sure it is often not true. But it quite often is. If your claim to worth is "I'm better than you trash!" Well.... that's a weak foundation to build on.
My siblings and I were encouraged to read daily growing up. My father was rather zealous about it. He had very little time to read but made time when he could and discussed how much pleasure could be derived of it with his children.
I admit to being the dunce of the litter but at least having read regularly I developed a reasonably good vocabulary which has done more for my professional life than likely anything else I learned growing up.
With regard to humility, my father, as usual, provided some insights. When I got a little full of myself as a teen and had the poor taste to discuss my virtues as I saw them, my father gave me the great advice that "if you're the cat's pajamas you won't need to tell anybody, it will be well evident".
As usual, the lesson didn't stick the first time, but I figured it out (mostly).
I've always been of the opinion that you should judge an individual by what they do and not what they say, it's the true measure of the metal.
And if what we read determines our intelligence, then color me stupid as growing up my friends were Pier Anthony, Terry Brooks, Robert Aspirin, Tolkien, C.S. Friedman, Raymond Feist, and a host of others. Then again, I might be trying to make up for it with folks like Plato and Aurelius now.
At the end of the day, reading, any reading, expands the mind with new thoughts and ideas, flexes the imagination, and if the author is good enough, touches the emotions and causes you to feel something you might not have felt before.
I say, bring on the rubbish, the pulp, and the smutty - we'll all be the better for it. Far better than the future depicted in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
Try reading the Claiming of Sleeping Beauty series by Ann Rice. 😳😵💫😅 Yes, the same gothic fiction Ann Rice. Reading that series was quite the experience for me 20 years ago.
In regard to the writer you speak about, she sounds awful and judgy. I bet she trolls on Facebook full time. I’ve noticed that people who are that judgy are usually in such isolation that the only way to get the attention they need as a human being is to negative attention seek. Pushing the world away then feeling lonely once isolated.
I think it boils down to the quote, “united we stand, divided we fall.”
I think there are those that would use this to their advantage. Creating further division and confusion, diverting attention from the more pressing issues at hand.
Writing is one of those things that enables someone to take “smut/lowbrow” books, give it a hero/heroine that defies all odds to overcome insurmountable circumstances, promoting concepts and ideologies in a way that it Trojan horses it way into your gray matter.
Some of my best examples of how to live in early life were fictional. I sometimes wonder who I’d be without them and the positive influences they had on my perspective.
What a jolly article!! I enjoyed it throughly. The virtue you name is indeed a good one and should be adhered to by more than just a few of us in the Kind Offices department.
I too enjoy the French Novel of which you spoke (an combination owners manual and a through commentary on social psychology and community/caste standards on the Western side if we ever had one) , and its probably considered very outre literature if anyone comes across it.
Indeed that book and its sequel describe a not so fictional way to encourage humbleness (although thats a whole rabbit warren in itself conversation wise ), but does raise the question, should we judge when our see through translucent house is so like our neighbours? Do I sneer if I enjoy listening to old radio programmes and another brother I talk to doesnt know who Lamount Cranston is and his knowledge of evil (ironically) about evil in the hearts of men? He could take me down a peg talking about any sportsball hobby he favours if he so chose (my ignorance in that area is vast and legendary).
But if he is practicing the virtue you so adroitly refer to above, he will simply smile and aid my error-ridden self in the most friendly manner so that my eventual reformation will be a thing of joy for all nations to weep at in the days to come.
If only more brothers did that, take the high road and rejoice to love another instead of skewering each other on the Toast Rack of Smugness. Toffee-nosed conduct gets one into to a very sticky place indeed!
If we spent more time defending one another's character and manning the desks in the Kind Offices we are purported to support (and Im very guilty of this myself) I think men would see us very differently as we struggle to practice our Craft in these heady and unknown times. I thank you.
Thank you very much! I'm glad that you enjoyed this odd little essay!
That French novel is in my mind proof positive that great and powerful and influential writing can come in any form, any genre. It takes what many would see as somehow base, bizzare, or to use your word outre, and elevates it to something much greater than it would appear with a simple glance.
I've always believed though that the sequel was written by someone else. Someone borrowing the pen name and publishing rights. I just don't find the same artistry in expression within it.
Indeed you are right, most all of us, including myself, would do well by working harder to be kind to our Brothers, and everyone else around us.
Thank you for making it that even tho I am not a paid subscriber I can comment!! I read most of your article this morning cause I am interested in acquiring more humility and the title caught my eye. But, and you do acknowledge that it was more of a rant, so while I definitely agree agree with you that it is very disconcerting to hear someone talk about the “masses” as if they are above them or about the “ general public” as if they are not also part of it, I really need to focus on My becoming more humble. I often think that the reason I get so ticked off at people who come across as thinking they are better than others isn’t because I have lots of that pride and arrogance and self conceit in my own soul. I think about what I have read of some “ elite” persons ramblings and I wonder if I have made statements like that. You know what I mean? I know in my heart I have thought I am better than this person or that and I am guilty of judging people based on their looks or social status just the other day a sort of deranged man asked me outside of the grocery store if he could borrow a dollar. It was evening and I had parked a ways from the door I just said sorry kept my head down and kept hurriedly walking to my car. I was afraid to stop and open my purse even though I had a dollar and a five inside. I feel safer giving water or money to the homeless when I am at a stop light. Fort Worth is a sad place to live and I am still not used to seeing people begging. What would Jesus do? God help us Lord have mercy on ALL our souls. I read lots of things and during Lent the Psalms. Somewhere I read that if you put in 10,000 hours you will master something that’s only an hour a day for 3 years. But who knows if they’ll have 3 days let alone 3 years. Our next breath is a gift. Prayers for all friend. Thank you for sharing your thoughts this morning. Peace
Thank you for sharing your thoughts here. I appreciate it!
I too often struggle with what to do when encountering someone who is begging in some way. Here in the US anyway.
On my frequent travels in Mexico, I make it a point to always given when I encounter someone begging. I am aware that sometimes it is just a way to make a few quick bucks by someone who doesn't actually have the needs portrayed, but sometimes it is real need, and I am also aware that in that country a social safety net does not exist like we have here. So I always give, with the intention of never allowing someone in true need to see a hand wearing a Masonic ring turn indifferently turn away from that need.
But things are much different here in the US. We have very extensive governmental and non-governmental programs that will help people get their basic needs met. So most who I encounter begging are there because of either severe drug issues, or an unwillingness to accept mental health treatment, and none are left to starve. So here it depends. Some, if I truly believe that the need is real, I will help, most I won't because I don't believe the need to be real.
Easier for me are the people in the middle. People who can't make it without help, but who are working hard to try and make it, even if they don't ever seem to be successful with those efforts. I know a couple guys like that, both with kids, and my wife and I do our best to have them come to do little jobs for us, overpaying for the actual work done. My Lodge has done this with struggling people in our community as well, and I think that is something we can be proud of.
As for holding comments open to all here, yep, I'm a Free Love Hippy kind of guy when it comes to Substack:
https://cmbailey.substack.com/p/just-call-me-the-free-love-hippy
Thanks for your commentary. I remember in some factory course at Xerox, I was taught to "listen more", and not try to think about what I would say next in a Team discussion?
My exposure to great books was only from my high school English teachers, and trying to read ALL "World Landmark" books. Then listening to historical presentation in Masonic Lodge meetings was great exposure to what great Masons had read.
My WVU Engineering School cost $125 per Semester Tuition & Fees (not elite)! There are several wonderful books in my bookshelves (not read, but on my "bucket list")! Hmmm ...
I'm like you Brother. There are loads of books on my shelves waiting to be read!
I do read a lot, but there is always more. Ultimately I find it more fun than TV.
Oh, yeah, and High School English. Oh how I hated that.
Actually, if I'm really honest with myself, whenever I get paid for something I have written I sort of have a flashback to High School English and the jerk who taught it. It's a base emotion, but I kind of see those dollars as my revenge on him. My doing what he couldn't do, my doing what he communicated to me that I couldn't do.
High School English, working hard to Crush Dreams since 1983!
We could do a better job of cultivating humility in our Craft. We say that we help good men become better. We do. But in the process some of us think we're better than non-Masons. We're not. And it's OK that we're not better than non-Masons. There's lots of paths available to anyone to become a better person. Masonry works for me, and if it doesn't work for someone else I hope they find one of those other paths.
Not only am I not a better man than others as a Mason, I'm also not any better than my Brothers who haven't served as WM or DDGM. I hope that my similarly, and loftier, titled Brothers feel the same way.
When it comes to reading, yes, read anything and everything that enlightens, enriches, entertains, or educates you. My years of reading National Lampoon and Sports Illustrated had immeasurable impact on how my voice developed. But after consuming all of that mind candy the reading I most enjoy is history, which consistently gives me a framework to better understand the world.
Harvard? Maybe not the best education but certainly the strongest brand in all of academia. Instead of saying "when I was in business school" the Harvard grad always says "when I was in Harvard business school". No other university receives similar shout outs from its alums but Harvard gets them all the time. Well, I did go to business school, but I didn't go to Harvard. I fired a guy who went to Harvard (true story) but I didn't go there.
>>>We could do a better job of cultivating humility in our Craft.
Agreed. 100%.
I love our Craft. I have always loved our Craft. But, from the day I became a member of our Craft I was struck (and not in a good way) by the pomposity displayed by many members of our Craft.
>>>My years of reading National Lampoon
Now that was fine reading in my younger years!
>>>Harvard? Maybe not the best education but certainly the strongest brand in all of academia.
Agreed, but brands tarnish if not properly maintained. America Online comes quickly to mind. There was a time, not long ago, when it was the biggest and best. Now virtually no one even remembers it.
My mom used to say, "Don't trust anyone you meet for the first time who brags about how much money they have or make." The same goes for those who constantly hype themselves up about their achievements.
That was some true wisdom from your mom!
A friend my age told me the same thing. Upon meeting her daughter’s first husband she was turned off by him bragging about wealth. She warned her, but her daughter married him, and turned into a nightmare of a marriage. 😬
Advice your granddaughters!
One thing that has always stuck with me, and I'm sure the person who passed it on to me cribbed it from some famous dude or another is "people who go out of their way to put others down do it to elevate themselves, because they have no other way of feeling good about themselves."
I'm sure it is often not true. But it quite often is. If your claim to worth is "I'm better than you trash!" Well.... that's a weak foundation to build on.
Yeah, I think that there is a lot of truth to that. That many who do it put down others in order to try and elevate themselves.
But, alas, we can't elevate ourselves in social standing. Only those around us have the power to do that.
My siblings and I were encouraged to read daily growing up. My father was rather zealous about it. He had very little time to read but made time when he could and discussed how much pleasure could be derived of it with his children.
I admit to being the dunce of the litter but at least having read regularly I developed a reasonably good vocabulary which has done more for my professional life than likely anything else I learned growing up.
With regard to humility, my father, as usual, provided some insights. When I got a little full of myself as a teen and had the poor taste to discuss my virtues as I saw them, my father gave me the great advice that "if you're the cat's pajamas you won't need to tell anybody, it will be well evident".
As usual, the lesson didn't stick the first time, but I figured it out (mostly).
Another enjoyable essay from you my brother!
I've always been of the opinion that you should judge an individual by what they do and not what they say, it's the true measure of the metal.
And if what we read determines our intelligence, then color me stupid as growing up my friends were Pier Anthony, Terry Brooks, Robert Aspirin, Tolkien, C.S. Friedman, Raymond Feist, and a host of others. Then again, I might be trying to make up for it with folks like Plato and Aurelius now.
At the end of the day, reading, any reading, expands the mind with new thoughts and ideas, flexes the imagination, and if the author is good enough, touches the emotions and causes you to feel something you might not have felt before.
I say, bring on the rubbish, the pulp, and the smutty - we'll all be the better for it. Far better than the future depicted in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
Try reading the Claiming of Sleeping Beauty series by Ann Rice. 😳😵💫😅 Yes, the same gothic fiction Ann Rice. Reading that series was quite the experience for me 20 years ago.
In regard to the writer you speak about, she sounds awful and judgy. I bet she trolls on Facebook full time. I’ve noticed that people who are that judgy are usually in such isolation that the only way to get the attention they need as a human being is to negative attention seek. Pushing the world away then feeling lonely once isolated.
Keep advocating the both hand path Brother!
I think it boils down to the quote, “united we stand, divided we fall.”
I think there are those that would use this to their advantage. Creating further division and confusion, diverting attention from the more pressing issues at hand.
Writing is one of those things that enables someone to take “smut/lowbrow” books, give it a hero/heroine that defies all odds to overcome insurmountable circumstances, promoting concepts and ideologies in a way that it Trojan horses it way into your gray matter.
Some of my best examples of how to live in early life were fictional. I sometimes wonder who I’d be without them and the positive influences they had on my perspective.