My Working Tools

A quest for simplification

I’ve written before that I was always an Apple Computer guy. Way back to the Apple II, all the way up through the Macbook Air. Heck, I was even an Apple guy when Apple had failed and allowed others to build Apple hardware.

My only deviation from Apple happened years ago when I bought a really cheap Chromebook to travel with internationally. I figured that if it was stolen or broken I’d be out nothing. That was back in the day when Chromebooks did very little.

Photo by János Patrik on Unsplash

I’ve always written. For work and for pleasure. And Apple was long perfect for that.

But then I assumed a Masonic office that ensured that for a few years at least, Freemasonry would have to become the primary focus of my life.

And then the pandemic lockdowns hit. Hit hard here in Washington.

Instantly I went from writing about Freemasonry on rare occasions, to writing about Freemasonry almost every day.

And then I discovered the early form of Substack. Ensuring wide distribution of my Masonic writings.

Since that day, I’ve written quite seriously, and quite prolifically about Freemasonry. And I’ve found this writing to be the most satisfying vocation that I’ve ever pursued. It doesn’t pay enough to keep me alive in a third world country, but it is deeply satisfying, and at my age and my place in life, that is really important to me.

But along the way, I abandoned Apple. Those gleaming beautiful Macbooks aren’t the best tool for writing a newsletter, and writing a newsletter is what I do now. I spend more time on it than anything else in my life, so I needed the best tool I could find for it.

The best tool was a simpler tool.

That tool was a Chromebook. Not a Chromebook like I had for travel long ago, but a modern, much less limited Chromebook. Something that allowed me to do all that I need to do, but that otherwise faded into the background, into nothingness.

But, of course, Apple had spoiled me. I couldn’t use something roughly designed and made out of plastic. Such things would bother me while I was trying to use them, would not fade into the background of my consciousness. So, I snatched a Pixelbook Go, Google’s own offering, created to prove just how good a Chromebook can be. I followed that with an amazing machine from HP.

Both of these are machines the reviews of which always include a line that goes something like ‘this is the best of the best, but why would you pay so much when you can get a real computer for the same money?’

The answer of course is design, elegance. The difference between dime store novels and the classics of American literature.

But now I am thinking about simplifying once again.

It’s all about distractions you see.

The more powerful a computer is, the more distractions it has to offer. And distractions are the enemies of clear thinking.

Is this the call of the humble typewriter?

Yeah, in a way it is. I probably won’t heed that call, but I recognize that there is great power in distraction free simplicity.

Photo by Christopher Lowe on Unsplash

And I think that as Freemasons we do well to at least occasionally embrace that simplicity when contemplating our Craft.

Our symbols have many layers of meaning, and many of us, myself included, find great satisfaction in diving deeply into them. In discovering the highest meanings behind the Square and Compasses.

Our Craft has also, through the centuries, developed a huge language of symbolism. Offering further avenues for study, reflection, and knowledge.

All of that is for the good.

But sometimes we do well to remember simplicity.

To remember the 24 Inch Gauge, the Common Gavel, the Plumb, Square, and Level. To remember the Trowel. And the simple, but profound, moral lessons these humble tools teach.