Looking Forward to Some “Me” Time

Dear Unknown Friend,

Tonight’s Degrees marked the end of the Lodge work for the next two months. We have some Degrees, and a family event, other than that, the Lodge is dark. The coming hiatus is welcomed, and I am looking forward to get back to My Masonry. I hope to tie up a bunch of loose ends in the next two weeks, specifically web related work, and with that finished, I am all by myself.

I was mentioning this to Brother’s Owen and Backes as we loitered outside of the Magna Temple tonight. They seemed a bit perplexed by my reference to My Masonry, so I think it important to elaborate this concept.

Each of us comes into Freemasonry looking for something. We may or may not appreciate the magnitude of this when we start – we may or may not realize that we are looking.

I came into Freemasonry, understanding it to be a transformative art, akin to the philosophical notions of most martial arts, absent to physical regime (perhaps at our loss). Since becoming an Officer, I have not had time to work on my path, my quest. My time is allotted as an instrument of the Lodge to the fulfillment and support of other Brother’s Masonries. In the big picture, I see a benefit to My Masonry in my experience as an Officer, and as a Master, and I look forward to the day when I may apply that experience to my knowledge and find wisdom. Yet, I am also frustrated by the work at hand. I am a young Mason. This October will mark my third year as a Mason Mason, and yet it is I am the senior Appointed Officer in the line. I have no experienced officer to assist in the load, and those that could are waylaid by other things. With that, the amount of Degree work we have this year exceeds that of previous years. Adding to this mix is the increasingly poor attitude of Past Masters who refuse to accept that I cannot placate their bruised egos by giving them Work – I simply have too many new Brothers that need their chance to work, learn, and grow.

What this adds up to is one very burnt-out Jason.

J.