MAKING MUSIC

If you've ever seen a child discover what a musical instrument can do, you understand the amazement that happens when a person discovers freemasonry holds a similar potential for us to do something that feels beautiful.  That pursuit can become the work of a group who respect ability, imagination, appetite, conviviality. If we sound this good alone, imagine what we could do sitting in with others. It is only overwhelming if you aren't respecting your potential. Maybe you won't be a concert soloist. Maybe you'll be a member of the chorus. But you are part of something exceptional without ever intending. You're love affair is with atmospheres created by sounds. Admittedly masonry does indulge a variety of tastes, knowing so well there is a time and moment for all of it. Some muse about the artistry, pagentry, celebration of the human spirit. Others find themselves swept away in a swirl of frisson in a conversation taken up by composers and musicians long ago, in a far off place who are still able to touch hearts whenever their music is heard.  How far along the metaphor you go is not obvious to anyone until you notice it yourself.  We can quickly pick out themes in our ritual- collaborations, mathematics, harmony, unexpected outcomes, dedication, unending progressing, smooth.  When we master our craft, we learn sharing it with the world holds unexpected reward.  How we react to acclaim; it can and does define us.  But greatness contains modesty, familiarity, fraility, sincerity; qualities that distinguish. It takes metaphor to bring us together in the soundscape of masonry, so when we attempt to reinvent it's all good until we find we've unexpectedly lost something in the translation. Even those forays into the imagination serve a purpose. Can't tell what you'll find until you go there.  Find the music in you.