Sponsoring Discussion Groups
And, a Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope that you have a truly wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday today!
I’d like to begin by saying Thank You! To each and every one of you. To think that over 2,600 of you read my Masonic musings every day is really wonderful. Please know that I couldn’t do any of this without your kind support.
We’ll be hosting about sixteen relatives today, stuffing them with Turkey, Ham, and all the trimmings. Watching some football, and of course listening to some really oddball conspiracy theories passed off as truth.
It’s good tradition, and of course it’s our newest granddaughter’s first Thanksgiving.
However you plan on spending Thanksgiving, I wish you the very best.
And for everyone reading this outside of the United States, sorry to bore you with our tradition, but alas, Thanksgiving is a rather all consuming thing here.
But, I figure that maybe, just maybe, after all that turkey, some of us might enjoy contemplating Freemasonry, so here’s a Masonic post for today.
Our Worshipful Master at Centralia Lodge is making plans to create, and sponsor a discussion group focused on philosophy, and the big questions of life. The other night, I suppose as a trial run, some of us Masons sat down after Lodge and discussed the afterlife and contemplations on it.
The idea, as it is currently being fleshed out is that the Lodge would sponsor the discussions by providing the space, and likely refreshments.
But, the discussions wouldn’t be limited to Freemasons, rather they would be open on an equal footing to the public.
It seems to me that this would be a really great way of exposing our Lodge (and our concordant/appendant bodies) to people who might hold similar interests to Masons. It might get us some good public relations, and may well get us a look or two from highly qualified men in the local community.
As of today, the idea remains at a very early stage.
So, I thought it might be really helpful to crowd-source and brainstorm about it.
What features might attract you to a regular discussion group like that?
Is there anything that would repel instead of attract you?
Has your Lodge ever done, or considered something like this?
Let’s chat about it…
My lodge created a monthly philosophical discussion group to consider the type of topics you have described. We developed guidelines for topics and participation. Some key elements were the topics discussed were agreed upon by the group, the proposer of the topic served as facilitator of the discussion and was responsible for providing study material one week before the meeting. Here is a link to a folder that contains a guideline document and some of the study guides used. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_kojFF6rC_QunAEgyYFIalPmwa0Jmjxf?usp=sharing
I think the most important aspects of this type of group are that everyone is aware of the topic, studies the material provided before coming, and then participates by offering their perspective. I'm not sure how this might work by inviting the public.
I have tried this with my Lux Magazine. Mostly to spark internal questions using others shared pieces that I come across. There are so many aspects of the Ancient Craft that our Ancients created that are never explored by us. I look forward to seeing this discussion group surface.