Tonight represents the end of my Honeymoon (literal, not figurative Masonic Honeymoon).

It's been a pretty awesome week with some well deserved R&R.

I have been able to relax and be away from my normal stressor (which is, of course, work). Carried with me on this journey was an E-Reader full of Masonic Books, a copy of The Kybalion, a copy of Wisdom of The Mystic Masters, and of course my Cipher Ritual Book.

I've read both The Kybalion and Wisdom before. What I found the most interesting is that I read my ritual once (on the plane in) and have been haphazardly reading through Wisdom (my third time).

I have issues with hokey-new-agey pieces of literature (with a bachelors degree and my general love for science, it makes it hard to swallow and accept). To qualify my statement of "with a bachelors degree", I would say that spending four years with plenty of classes that required empirical evidence, my propensity to desire proof makes faith based thought hard to accept.

I watched "The Secret" in high school and have, at times, indulged in its "methods". "The Secret" is supposed to be steeped in Rosicrucian thought, as is Wisdom of The Mystic Masters.

A dream board was set up in my apartment years ago. On it, I had some items I wanted (including a cool looking Masonic ring). Lo and behold, I bought a ring on eBay and it turned out to be the exact one on the board. Yes, I had a picture of it on the board; however, the board was already taken down and packed in a box when I bought the ring (the ring being purchased a while after I moved from my apartment).

Is the ring proof of this "as above so below" theory? No, emphatically no.

The writings of Mr. Weed in Wisdom of The Mystic Masters bring up that groups of people bring about their own realities through group thought. The authors contend that every thought you have creates a sort of karma which follows you, becomes stronger with repeated thought, and becomes physically manifested.

Karmic thoughts becoming reality is a fanciful thought. I really want a Bugatti Veyron...if I think about it enough, it will come to me!

Perhaps not.

However, the suggestion that a group thinking a certain way will cause them to experience what they think, is rather interesting.

How many years has "2B1ASK1" been around? How many years was it (for some regions) common for men to have to ask three times before they were offered a petition? Do not most masons think that some sort of "advertising" of the craft is "illegal" or "unmasonic"?

What if part of our troubles is that as a group, we continually worry about numbers and money...which makes a feedback loop of the same problems. Wisdom of The Mystic Masters would suggest that if you keep thinking that the numbers and money aren't coming in...they will continue to not come in.

Years ago, I help found a chapter of a college fraternity. As a group, we wrote down what we wanted. Not just what we wanted, but what our "dream" chapter would be. Things like "the best grades on campus", "the largest chapter at the school", and "a perfectly performed ritual" were some examples.

We didn't just talk about them and forget about it; we dreamed about it and worked to make it a reality. Surprisingly (or not), plenty of our dreams became real. The group decided in a direction and started working towards it because we shared the same dream.

How many lodges out there have a common dream/goal/direction? The newer once that have recently received charters all have a common dream. The founding brothers of those chapters shared common thoughts and goals which created their lodges.

What if one of our problems is that some of our lodges were created so long ago, that they no longer have a direction? Meeting, minutes, and paying bills is not a dream; it is a reality that we face.

Perhaps we should sit down as a lodge and say "what are we doing?...where are we going?...what would our 'dream' lodge be?".

Yes (I can already hear it), my current Master has an agenda for the year (I know, mine too) and our Grand Master set an agenda for his year!

Indeed; one man who presides over many (a lodge or Grand Lodge respectively) set his agenda. While it is the prerogative of them to set goals, those are an individual's goals. It may not be the goals of the body as a whole. A goal set for one year by one WM or one GM can be completely reversed by the next in line (like the West Virginia fiasco with the expulsion of a previous GM).

Perhaps it's time we sit down together and ask ourselves some questions.

Who are we?

Only a name?

What are we?

Only a thing?

Where are we going?