I just finished reading two posts on the WaitButWhy blog by Time Urban:

How Religion Got In the Way & it’s follow-up Religion for the Non-religious, and I would highly recommend you read those two pieces first before continuing reading this article. They’re quite a long read, so make sure you have a quiet corner and few minutes to focus, absorb and reflect.

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If you read the posts then there isn’t much more to say. You can clearly see the application to Masonry and the Masonic journey. If you didn’t read (or don’t want to read) the posts, or are still confused on the connection, read on.

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It’s not easy to jump into discussions of spirituality. Every person’s definition is different, based on their experiences, their situation in life, or their religion. In the first post How Religion Got In the Way, Mr. Urban relates spirituality and science as two sides of the same coin. As he puts it:

So what exactly is spirituality, as we’re using the word today, and what do we need from it? Ever since the human species began opening its eyes into consciousness, it has been an aggressively curious child, hungry to figure it all out. What was this world it was living in, and what did it all mean? The first part of that question — What was this world? — became the job of science. The second part — What does it all mean? — is the job of spirituality.

In Masonry we use symbols and signs to convey meanings and legends, but take a step back and in context, it’s all part of the spirituality of Masonry, the journey of every Mason to find light. In the beginning of every brother’s journey, they go through the three craft degrees, which are quite similar to the steps of Consciousness described by Mr. Urban in Religion for the Non-Religious. For those of you that didn’t read the posts, the Steps of Consciousness are as follow:

Step 1: Our Lives in Fog — The default level of consciousness. Those on this step are small-minded, short-sighted, and stupid

Step 2: Thinning the Fog to Reveal Context — Those on this step have thinned the fog, and are able to see behind and around the things that happen in life and bring context to everyday situations.

Before Step 3, here’s an example from his post on the difference between steps 1 and 2:

Image Credit: Tim Urban (http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/10/religion-for-the-nonreligious.html)

Step 3: Shocking Reality — Very few people are always on Step 3, as this state on consciousness occurs rarely when we understand a fundamental moment of truth and our brains aren’t really able to understand it. For example, when star-gazing and realizing how small we actually are in the universe, and everything is made up of the same stuff.

Step 4: The Great Unknown — The last step on the Steps of Consciousness. Those on this step, realize the significance of the complete truth, that no matter how much we know, there is an exponential amount of things that we don’t know. In the space of understanding the gravity of this, there are only two reactions, be humble or be absurd.

For the atheist Tim Urban had proclaimed himself to be (he now considers himself to be a Truthist), these statements come very close to goals of nirvana, enlightenment, and ‘holiness’. It comes even closer to the journey of a rough ashlar, climbing through the degrees on the path to light.

Unfortunately, these days a majority of candidates are given degrees before they’ve had to time to understand each of the steps, and by they time they become Master Masons, their journey to light has been completely glossed over in favor of rushed degrees, large banquets.

Masonry has a lot to offer spiritually. Taking time to learn the signs, symbols, and tools, are important steps in understanding the context of masonry and applying them in order to grow and become better individuals. This is after all the end goal of every mason, to be better than he was yesterday.

This can only be accomplished through study and learning, Mr. Urban says this about reaching Step 2:

There are plenty of activities or undertakings that can help thin out your fog. To name three: 1) Learning more about the world through education, travel, and life experience — as your perspective broadens, you can see a clearer and more accurate version of the truth. 2) Active reflection. This is what a journal can help with, or therapy, which is basically examining your own brain with the help of a fog expert. Sometimes a hypothetical question can be used as “fog goggles,” allowing you to see something clearly through the fog — questions like, “What would I do if money were no object?” or “How would I advise someone else on this?” or “Will I regret not having done this when I’m 80?” These questions are a way to ask your Higher Being’s opinion on something without the animals realizing what’s going on, so they’ll stay calm and the Higher Being can actually talk — like when parents spell out a word in front of their four-year-old when they don’t want him to know what they’re saying. 3) Meditation, exercise, yoga, etc. — activities that help quiet the brain’s unconscious chatter, i.e. allowing the fog to settle.

Taking these activities and applying them, in conjunction with Masonic concepts, is a excellent start on the path to light.

Although I am a Master Mason, there are very few things that I feel the master of, there is still so much in masonry left to discover, and even though my time as a mason may be quite short as compared to our many brothers around the world, I find it quite difficult to believe that there will ever be time where any one can say, “There is nothing new to be discovered in Masonry.”

In light of Mr. Urban’s posts, one could make the argument, that a mason’s quest for light is the quest for the Spirituality of Consciousness, the quest for what it means to be a mason, what it means to be human. A quest that takes time to complete, and can only be achieved through education, understanding, and the greatest teacher of them all, life itself.

Fraternally yours,

Flynn Francisco

W.M. Swastik Lodge 771 I.C., Mumbai

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