HINTING AT TIME

Some people react to a threat by running toward while others take shelter. Some react to repeated threat by cowaring, others begin searching for a solution; building codes, sanitation, vaccine and thinkers who research without knowing it will reveal a desired result.  Perhaps we all have an alchemist within.  Life itself is not a measure of courage as much as it is adaptation. Courage? Good people find courage when called upon.  Sometimes we might think of the scientist labouring quietly in the laboratory, over an entire lifetime, dedicated to finding a property or a cure for debilitating disease; then her students picking up the task when her faculties fail, picking up the tools and to the next and the next. Recognition? It does not follow them in their obscurity unless we notice, except  for the respect of their own tight communities.  Imagine for a moment the damage done when populists devalue that effort? We imprisoned Galileo.  Is it so wrong to think there are parallels with our brotherhood? There are those who work feverishly, seeking recognition and reward while others have reason in mind. There are those who work without fanfare focused on an outcome few may be inclined to understand. There is a price to pay for entering a masonic world of contemplation. No applause but mockery; not popular but individuality aimed at the pursuit of inner truth and contentment.  But each worthy mason knows, his narrative he is driven by a different, private need to understand the difference between facade and authenticity.  For hundreds of years, a small group of people have shared this work amidst ridicule, and distraction, aware that enlightenment is often isolating. Arrogance and hubris has nothing to do with this result. Masonry is a calculus that begins with hope. Watching. Listening. Silently.