BEING CONSCIOUS IN A WORLD THAT ISN'T ALWAYS AWARE

We find ourselves entering a process of a new mindset called masonry.  In all of its manifestations, we are exposed to thought provoking ideas. Some, like me tend to think they are intended with the aspiration of a Kantian categorial imperative. Our mature mind reminds us the world is not prone to understand and accept one version of understanding.  We can leave that to the arena of religion or politics.  What to do with our expanding understanding?  What to do when everything we learn and observe is not necessarily simple or confected?  Do we find ourselves metaphorically under the lotus tree in a state of enlightenment that includes suffering and degradation as well as beauty and peace? Why do our energies pool where tension exists?  Those pesky students of Hermetics send out a calming message; reality is a construct of mind. If everything is mental, then we are looking into the abyss and it is looking back at us. We are imperfect. There is darkness and it can consume us. But there is also beauty, strength and wisdom. Those too are part of reality.  While some would doubt our capacity, we also know we grow as we age. We never stop growing until we tell ourselves, for whatever reason, we are done. Too many thoughts cluttering the mind so rejecting anything new is justified.  This happens as we sink into our own opinions rather than reactions to the events around us. Age is an advantage. When we absorb values and principles put to us in the metaphors and allegories of masonry, the mind has options. Those options tend to overlap with thoughts that have been passed from generation to generation, in a variety of cultures.  I cannot explain why seeing the beauty for what it is kept behind a veil but I can say that veil is like us,  impermanent consciousness. Hundreds of explanations of consciousness, unimaginable numbers of interpretations. Let  objectivity determine the 'correctness'.