CHASING ABIFF FROM THE LODGE

Freemasonry dances on the head of a pin, crowded with great thinkers and deafened by the silence.  A thoughtful freemason might think it would be wise to search out the instruction to brethren, if such a thing ever did exist.  And the thoughtful mason would be right!  Speaking to us from the past are pages describing manners to follow in various common interaction. We call them the Antient Charges. The thoughtful freemason might be forgiven for noticing they contain a practical description of dignified behaviour that would solve the ill-mannered behaviors that men have brought into freemasonry.  Would we criticize him for noticing that poor stewardship draws out the worst instincts of human nature?   We might all but isolate him for thinking that  freemasons ignoring the lessons  fractures our Order into rough and polished.  In life, authority becomes overbearing when accountability is lacking. Authority becomes entrenched when men abandon their responsibilty to resolve disputes. If brethren cannot even discuss opposing ideas without become emotional or even resentful we are lost.  This is fertile ground for repeated and avoidable appeal to authority.

We are alike you and me.  All peoples are alike; descended from the same stock, partakers of the same nature. But we live in a world where all people are not equal.  Some are brighter than others. Some are more observant than others. Some are more articulate.