Why Do You Care - Think About It

So what, who really cares if Christine O'Donnell, the nominee for the Delaware Republican Senate, dabbled in witchcraft.
I would have given her more credit if she stood her ground. Why do her beliefs or practices bother you?
Has freedom of religion denigrated to “my way or the highway”? After all how harmful is a theology that believes that the God and Goddess are merely two aspects of the same Godhead, often viewed as a pantheistic deity, thereby encompassing everything in the universe within its divinity? Or maybe you didn’t know that when you rushed to judgment.

Or what about Rand Paul and his Aqua Buddha?
As one who has spent many years actually studying Buddhist philosophy, I assure you I have never heard of an Aqua Buddha, Aqua Velva, but no Aqua Buddha.

But who really cares?

The Ultimate Change - God May Be A Verb

It is of the utmost importance that we clarify a little Basic English word symbolism before we continue on, a noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea, and a verb is a word used primarily to indicate a type of action.
If you believe this you would classify your house, as an example, as a noun. Yet your house is in a constant state of change, a verb. Your, if traditional, is built from the wood of many trees, dead wood that is actually ageing, decaying, and although you can’t see it breaking down in structure. Everyday the home that you classified as a noun, a thing, is actually acting as verb, constantly changing.
Outside my backdoor sit’s a huge bolder, a rock of gigantic proportions, also misidentified by most as a noun, an object. Yet this granite solid aggregate is slowly being worn down by the continual changing seasons.
You and I, also classified as nouns, are truly verbs. We are in a constant state of change. Day in day out the cells in our body, the cells that enter our body change, at no time do we remain the same, where’s the you? Just look at a snapshot taken of yourself a decade ago and tell me you don’t change your changing everyday. Where’s the noun?
When one looks at the night sky one thinks the stars that appear above have held their positions since the moment of their birth, yet they are expanding, and so is the space which they reside in.

This brings me to the ultimate question, at least in my mind, is God a noun, a person, place or thing, or is God a verb, action, movement, or change?

According to the Emerald Tablet, "That which is above is the same as that which is below"...The macrocosm is the same as microcosm. The universe is the same as God, God is the same as man, man is the same as the cell, the cell is the same as the atom, and the atom is the same as...and so on, ad infinitum."

It surely makes you wonder.

Climb Brother Climb

Climb Brother, Climb

“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it“... Genesis 28:12

Long before I became a Freemason, I had always been fascinated by the esoteric symbolism of the ladder. In fact one the very first blogs I had ever written was about the imaginary ladder all sentient beings existed on.
Sadly, I erased the blog, so I try to give it another shot.

As I said, all of us are living on this imaginary ladder, let us call it an invisible magical ladder. Now just because you cannot see it, don’t think it does not exist, let me help you envision it.
This magical invisible ladder is made out of wood, natural and organic. It reaches high, and I mean really high, so high the builder of this ladder knew that in order to hold all of humanity this ladder would have to be designed with the maximum amount of support. To allow for the growing population, and just in case of stagnation by certain climbers, the creator decided the ladder would be larger at the bottom, and slowly narrow towards the top.
So here, we have this huge ladder, made of invisible wood, large and wide at the bottom, narrow at the top, reaching towards the symbol of the creator, who we will call the G.A.O.T.U. (Remember the symbol, the Sun, hot, radiant, and light.)
The reason the ladder exists, to climb. Where are we going? To merge with the ultimate (or you can call it Nirvana, Christ Consciousness, or whatever unity principle you decide to choose).
So here we have ALL of humanity on this invisible magic ladder, each and every one of us. Yet not all of us are on the same rung. Some have climbed closer to the Sun, while others have chosen to stay put. Some people like to climb, others don’t, and the truly spooky ones are the ones that think they have climbed to the top when they have really only climbed a few rungs. When you encounter these non-climbing individuals, watch out, they will try like Hell to convince you that where they stand is the goal.
Sadly very few will ever make it to the top, the ladder assuredly gets narrower and steeper as you climb, there will be less and less helping hands are you climb, due to the fact too many individuals get hung up for various reasons on certain rungs.
Have you ever wondered why people say “I don’t get it.”, its because we are not always on the same rung.
Now let me tell you about something I fear.
Remember, our invisible imaginary ladder is made out of wood, climbing to the radiant heat of the Sun. What would happen if too many individuals are stuck on a certain rung of the ladder, say the ignorance rung? How would the Sun penetrate through the mass of ignorance, without the heat of the Sun the invisible magic ladder would surely rot?

All Is Consciousness

Alex Grey's esoteric portrait
of Adi Da Samraj

“The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why.”…Albert Einstein

What I am about to discuss here, today, and probably in the future, is the nature of consciousness.
Before you take what I have to say as fact, know that what I am about to put forth has no basis in scientific verifiable fact, it is just one man’s opinion, an intuitive position, take it or leave it but please consider it.

Everything is consciousness, the blade of grass, the dog by my feet, and even the rock in my backyard. Everything in the universe is conscious, the key is, everything is conscious at level allowable depending on the complexity of its essential nature.
Before you rush off to judgment, I’m not asserting that the rock in my backyard is sitting there contemplating the nature of reality, or the blade of grass is remembering last spring, my position is that the more complex the structure, nervous system, brain size, and cognitive ability, the higher the level of consciousness.
The rock, by its simple nature, minus a nervous system, minus a brain, with no cognitive ability, at least one that has never been measured, would have awareness near the bottom. The dog, sitting by my feet, with its fully functioning nervous system, measurable brain size, and limited understanding possesses consciousness, more than a simple rock, but less than the more complex human, yet consciousness.
If I haven’t lost you yet, I believe at this time, that everything, depending on its complexity and essential nature actually taps into an all pervasive consciousness that is the real reality, non subjective.
This all pervasive consciousness, I believe, has been known by many names, the Absolute, Cosmic Consciousness, Buddha Nature, the Light, Christ Consciousness, and sometimes God, to name a few. This all pervasive consciousness is non local, outside of space and time.
Humans possess such a high degree of cognition, and because of this they also have the ability to access higher levels of consciousness, and hence the ability to tap deeper into the non local all pervasive consciousness in varying degrees, the ultimate being what is called Enlightenment.
I think some individuals tap into this all pervasive consciousness in varying degrees during certain types of meditation, synchronicity events, astral projection, and other various phenomenon’s outside the norm. The stronger the ego, the more “I” we have, the less we can access or experience the all pervasive consciousness.

“God is not found in places. God is found in consciousness.”…Joel Goldsmith

A Side Note:
The ego is fully formed by the time a child is between 12-15 months of age. From then on the ego begins its long process of development and expansion until we block the symbolic light, the all pervasive consciousness. That’s what I would call the “Fall”.
The key to the return to the all pervasive consciousness, become child like, pre ego, “And he said: 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”-Matthew 18:3-4

Happy Birthday Humane Lodge Rochester, NH

How Strong Are Your Roots

“It’s all about depth, the deeper your roots the stronger the tree.” That’s the first thing I thought I as I looked over the schedule my Lodge had sent me for the up coming month, this is the month we celebrate 200 years in Rochester, NH.
One never to shy from asking the tough questions I asked my spiritual self, not to be confused with my emotional self, if I thought my Lodge would be around to celebrate our 300th year?
The answer is, in a different form, if at all. I say this not as a critique, but as a fact. As George Harrison once said “All things must pass”, and I fear that only time will tell if Freemasonry can and will progress with time.
I myself live in a city adjacent to the city where my Lodge is located, a situation that was not always the case. I live in one of the eleven cities in New Hampshire, a city without a Lodge, a city without a Temple.
Although this was not always the case, one need only stroll through the local public cemetery to see that the history of Somersworth walked hand and hand with the resident Freemasons. Forest Glade Cemetery is filled with tombstones with the all too familiar compass and square carved into the aging marble and granite.
Yet if one looks closely you’ll also find Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, and the Order of Red Men, just to name a few that have long passed. All now sadly on the brink of extinction. None of these fraternities still exist in the City of Somersworth, except for the Fraternal Order of the Eagles which sadly has become just a drinking club. (If I am wrong, I truly apologize, but I fear I’m not.)
In the world of Somersworth Freemasonry, Libanus Lodge #49 once occupied the third floor of the G.A.R. building located on High St. Do to limited attendance, and other factors Libanus Lodge of Somersworth was closed well over a decade ago.

Somersworth, a city once the home too many Freemasons is but the home to a few, all belonging to Lodges in other communities.
All too few individuals realize the contributions and actions Freemasonry provides the residents of a community, and all too few even understand what Freemasonry actually is. Some would say the time of Fraternalism is gone, I may agree, but that’s only a small part of what Freemasonry actually is. Some would say that television, the internet, and various other attention grabbing distractions are destroying Fraternal Orders, I would agree to a point, I fear self absorption, and egoism are the true dangers that could bring down so noble an ancient traditions.
All this being said, Freemasonry historically ebbs and flows. In my research I have found many others, in various decades dating back to the early eighteen hundreds, have thought Freemasonry would not stand the test of time, and to this point it has.
If truth be told we are actually increasing our numbers, numbers that will assuredly become disenchanted if they see Freemasonry as just a “Men’s Club” that practices hollow rituals without understanding the depth of the allegories.

Years ago I came across a passage in Tolstoy‘s “War and Peace”, in his famous lengthy novel Pierre observes four different types of Masons. Although I relate to the first type well, I think what Tolstoy wrote is very relevant today as it was when Tolstoy made his observation: "He divided all the brethren whom he knew into four categories. In the first he placed those who took no interest in the transactions of the lodges, or in human affairs in general, but were exclusively absorbed in the mysterious doctrines of the order, absorbed in questions as to the threefold nature of God, or the three primordial elements of matter, sulphur, mercury, and salt, or as to the significance of the Cube, and all the symbolism of Solomon's Temple. Pierre reverenced this class of Masons, to which belonged principally the older members of the brotherhood, and Josiph Alekseyevitch, in Pierre's opinion,—but he could not share in their pursuits. His heart was not attracted by the mysterious side of Masonry.
In the second category he reckoned himself, and those like himself seekers, inclined to waver, not yet successful in walking the straight and intelligible way of Masonry, but all the time striving to walk in it.
In the third category he placed the brethren and they formed the majority who saw in Freemasonry nothing but superficial formalities and ceremonies, and who insisted on the strenuous fulfillment of these external forms, caring nothing for their real essence and significance. Such were Villarski, and even the Grand Master of the Supreme Lodge.
In the fourth category, finally, were reckoned also the great mass of the brethren, and especially those who had been recently admitted. These were men who, according to Pierre's observation, believed nothing, and desired nothing, and entered the brotherhood simply for the sake of bringing themselves into intimate relations with rich young men endowed with influential connections, of whom there were many in the lodges.
Pierre began to feel dissatisfied with his activity. Masonry, at least Masonry such as he knew it in Russia, it sometimes seemed to him, was founded on mere formalities. He did not dream of doubting Masonry itself, but he was persuaded that Russian Freemasonry was on the wrong track, and had turned aside from its first principles. And. therefore, toward the end of the year, Pierre went abroad to become initiated in the highest mysteries of the order."

In closing, it is my hope that Freemasonry reigns strong for our future Brothers, embracing the esoteric and exoteric together, embracing the spiritual as well as the moral.

Happy Birthday Humane !!