Appreciation

Appreciation comes from working toward, and achieving a goal.

If we hurry men into the fraternity, and push them through the degrees just to make members, you will end up with a bunch of guys who aren't really sure why they "joined" a fraternity.

Take the time to find out if they are instead, interested in "Becoming a Mason."

Confusion

Has someone ever told you something about the Craft of Masonry that you didn't quite believe?

How did you resolve this situation?

Did you find it to be true, or false?

Face Value

Don't take things at face value! Look into the situation yourself, and you will learn more than you ever thought possible.

This applies to Life, Spirituality, and most definitively, Masonry.

Hope and Faith

Is "hope" an integral part of "faith?"

Substitute

Why do we congratulate our candidates when they only receive a substitute?

Wilmshurst

"Seldom or never do we employ our Lodge meetings for that purpose for which, quite as much as for ceremonial purposes, they were intended, viz.: for "expatiating on the mysteries of the Craft," and perhaps our neglect to do so is because we have ourselves imperfectly realized what those mysteries are into which our Order was primarily formed to introduce us."

When was the last time you had a Masonic Meeting when you had an open discussion about the mysteries of the craft?

Trivium Proverbs

The three paths of the Trivium mirror the biblical pattern of learning expressed by Proverbs 24:3-4:

Grammar = Knowledge

Knowledge fills the metaphorical house of the soul with treasures;

Logic = Understanding

Understanding holds the house together, giving it integrity;

Rhetoric = Wisdom

Wisdom builds it, providing it with its final purpose.

Declaration of Independence Prince Hall

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

A special thanks to Prince Hall Masons who continue to honor the trials and tribulations of their predecessors who "altered and abolished" this corruption of equality and rights.