John Forster's blog

Let there be Light

2011-04-25T20:36:00.002-04:00

Let there be Light

Luxor Daylight Lodge. April 20th, 2011

It is an enormous pleasure for me to visit this lodge as my last official visit. Thanks to the brethren of Luxor I have had the most exciting, interesting and wonderful Masonic year. From the bottom of my heart I thank you for that privilege.

It is fitting too that this visit comes at the time of the year when two of the great religions of this world celebrate and where in all ages people have celebrated the Spring Equinox and the return of the Sun. New light dawns at this season of the year and we all experience a sense of renewal and enlightenment.

Each and every one of us entered Masonry in the same way. We were blindfolded, we were led into Lodge looking, and feeling, poor, bewildered, ignorant and somewhat lost. After being led around the lodge we were asked to kneel in a slightly uncomfortable position and repeat the somewhat startling words of our obligation. Then we were asked “having been kept for a considerable time in a state of darkness, what, at the present time, is the predominant wish of our heart?” And, after a few words we recognized as the opening verses of the book of Genesis the blindfold was removed and we could see again. In front of us lay what we were told were the great lights of Masonry, the square, compasses and volume of the sacred Law. THEN we were allowed to rise and were shown the “lesser lights”. These were actual rather than metaphorical lights but immediately we were told they represented something other than lights.

The word “light” has many meanings and the definitions relate to one another

When that blindfold was removed many of us probably thought that we were only having a restoration to Light as a form of energy. Light or visible light is the portion of electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has a wavelength in a range from about 380 or 400 nanometres to about 760 or 780 nm,[1] with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz. In physics, the term light often comprises the adjacent radiation regions of infrared (at lower frequencies) and ultraviolet (at higher), not visible to the human eye.[2][3]

Primary properties of light are intensity, propagation direction, frequency or wavelength spectrum, and polarization, while its speed, about 300,000 kilometers per second in a vacuum, is one of the fundamental constants of nature.

Light is emitted and absorbed in tiny "packets" called photons, exhibits properties of both waves and particles. This property is referred to as the wave–particle duality.

However we were not only being restored to physical light, but to light in the sense of “enlightenment”, light meaning “the use of knowledge, intelligence, wisdom to discover and understand our World”.

And what a wonderful World it is.

This lodge is called Luxor Daylight, The word Luxor is derived from the word LUX. The lux (symbol: lx) is the SI unit of illuminance and luminous emittance measuring luminous power per area. We are named after the City of the same name.

Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes, the great capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom, and the glorious city of the sun god Amon-Ra. The city was regarded in the Ancient Egyptian texts as “Waset"), which meant or "city of the sceptre" and also as "the shrine" and then, in a later period, the Greeks called it Thebai and the Romans after them Thebae. Thebes was also known as "the city of the 100 gates", sometimes being called "southern Heliopolis" ('Iunu-shemaa' in Ancient Egyptian), to distinguish it from the city of Iunu or Heliopolis, the main place of worship for the god Re in the north.

The importance of the city started as early as the 11th Dynasty, when the town grew into a thriving city, renowned for its high social status and luxury, but also as a center for wisdom, art, religious and political supremacy.[3] Montuhotep II who united Egypt after the troubles of the first intermediate period brought stability to the lands as the city grew in stature. The Pharaohs of the New Kingdom in their expeditions to Kush, in today's northern Sudan, and to the lands of Canaan, Phoenicia and Syria saw the city accumulate great wealth and rose to prominence, even on a world scale.[3] Thebes played a major role in expelling the invading forces of the Hyksos from Upper Egypt, and from the time of the 18th Dynasty through to the 20th Dynasty, the city had risen as the major political, religious and military capital of Ancient Egypt.

The city attracted peoples such as the Babylonians, the Mitanni, the Hittites of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), the Canaanites of Ugarit, the Phoenicians of Byblos and Tyre, the Minoans from the island of Crete.[3] A Hittite prince from Anatolia even came to marry with the widow of Tutankhamun, Ankhesenamun.[3] The political and military importance of the city, however, faded during the Late Period, with Thebes being replaced as political capital by several cities in Northern Egypt, such as Bubastis, Sais and finally Alexandria.

However, it was the city of the god Amon-Ra. Thebes remained the religious capital of Egypt until the Greek period.[3] The main god of the city was Amon, who was worshipped together with his wife, the Goddess Mut, and their son Khonsu, the God of the moon.

With the rise of Thebes as the foremost city of Egypt, the local god Amon rose in importance as well and became linked to the sun god Ra, thus creating the new 'king of gods' Amon-Ra. His great temple, at Karnak just north of Thebes, was the most important temple of Egypt right until the end of antiquity.

Amon is the name of the ancient creator god of Thebes, the city of Seqenre Tao who, it is believed was Hiram Abif

Nothing could be more appropriate for the name of a masonic lodge. The name was chosen because of our relationship to the light of day. However the Name LUXOR has long been associated with the study of human happiness and enlightenment through study and learning.

Masonry has a vital function in society. It is a place where men of faith can meet together in equality and study the concepts of equality, social responsibility and the power of human knowledge without the strictures placed upon that study by church or state. It is the only such place and men of faith have sought this nourishment throughout the ages: and they will continue to do so. I see a future where the lessons of Masonry and the search for enlightenment will become more and more necessary as our World becomes more diverse and complex and our knowledge of ourselves and our environment expands.

And so my brethren, of Luxor Lodge, my message to you is simple. At this time of the year when we celebrate The Spring Equinox, the return of the Sun and renewal let us also celebrate Light. Let us experience and practice enlightenment. Let our light shine in the darkness.

May your light shine

2011-03-10T12:21:00.000-05:00

“The Heart has its Reasons”

An address given at Defenders Lodge on March 2, 2011 R.W.Bro. John Forster, District Deputy Grand Master, Ottawa District 2

As I hope you may have gathered, the subjects I have discussed in these talks aren’t at first sight typically Masonic subjects. I have tried to avoid any interpretations of our ritual, since of course they would only be my interpretations. And it is important, vitally important, that each man thinks for himself the meaning of our symbolism.

In most of these talks I say, “what has this to do with Masonry”. Tonight I won’t say this. My subject tonight is only peripherally connected to masonry. I’ll leave it to you to think about it. This being the nearest official visit to St. Valentine’s Day it seemed reasonable to talk about the heart. (I should add that it is also the nearest meeting to R.W.Bro. Kalinowsky’s birthday)

Recently I had some heart trouble. In fact I was sitting in the waiting room at the Heart institute on Valentine’s Day thinking about the subject of this talk. There was no obvious reference to St. Valentine in the Heart Institute only lots of advice on what to eat, how much to exercise etc.; nothing on heart break, heart ache or what Elvis was thinking about when he sang “Heart break Hotel”.

Obviously I’ve been thinking of this a lot! Even before Valentine’s day. Then I heard a program called “Discovery” on the BBC World Service, which I have adopted (copied!) as the title of this talk

How do we regard this most vital organ which beats inside us at 50-70 beats a minute for an average of 82 years? A lot of beats. (3.5 billion!) When it stops, we stop!

I learned in grammar school and in medical school that the heart was a pump. A bag of muscle with a mechanism to make it beat regularly, faster or slower. And that the brain was the control centre of the nervous system controlling the whole of the rest of the body through a vast set of connections through the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system. All very straightforward.

But. We say:

• “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.” (Blaise Pascal) • and, “We know truth, not only by reason, but also by the heart.”(Blaise Pascal) • “I left my Heart in San Francisco” • “With glowing hearts we see thee rise, the True north Strong and free” Calixee Lavalee • “For the Heart may conceive and the head devise in vain if the hand be not prompt to execute the design”

• Well since my baby left me I’ve found a new place to dwell Its down at the end of Lonely Street That’s Heartbreak Hotel

In other words we use the “heart”, a bag of muscle, as a metaphor.

Rene Descartes introduced us to Dualism: the concept of a dichotomy between body & mind and the body being a series of machines. This was reflected in medical school curriculum beginning formally in 1912 with Aaron Flexner, who proposed that future physicians be taught in teaching hospitals by specialists each of whom would know a whole lot about a particular system but little about all the others.

By the 60s and 70s, however, a new paradigm began to emerge: that of human beings as whole persons and the need to recognize them as such. That systems were far more integrated, particularly the body and the mind.

Many patients after a heart transplant have a (sometimes profound) personality change. Examples are plentiful. There was a case of a man who had been known for being down to earth, plain spoken and straightforward who, after his heart transplant composed poetry every day for his wife of 40 years. Another had a strong sense that February 17th was an important day for him but couldn’t think why. Turned out it was the birthday of the donor of his heart.

There is a dense neural network in the heart, similar to the brain. It is capable of storing and recalling data and has 300-400,000 connections. It has a collection of nervous tissue only exceeded by the brain and the spinal cord. Think of the transplant patient receiving this -- it is akin to a CD with its data erased but still capable of being read. Not everyone accepts this however; that the heart has a neural and sentient function. From a scientific viewpoint we know that after a trauma or a particularly exciting event (such as major surgery) our senses are more alert. Does this explain the phenomenon of change in the post transplant patient?

In the Iovadic Indian medical tradition they use different models and paradigms. They divide up the body and its functions into “chakras”, of which there are six. The heart chakra is called the Anahata

In their tradition, the heart is stronger than the head – intuition superior to intellect. In deep meditation people describe a tingling sensation beginning in the lower part of the spine and traveling upwards into the centre of the chest (the heart chakra) and then the link between body and mind broken. The sensation is described as “coming face to face with brilliant light” (NB similar phenomena are reported by people who recover from a cardiac arrest). They come to believe that “you are light”, “you are the spirit”

Western Medicine has no way of assessing this subjectivity. We know that there are many electrical terminals in the heart. That the energy given off by the heart can be detected from a metre away and that electromagnetic activity can be discerned 10-15 metres from the body. That’s all we know “scientifically “. Despite this scientific ignorance we all have a meaning in mind if we hear the expression “kindle in your heart the flame of love”.

“Cardiac coherence” means the heart and lungs are functioning rhythmically. When they cease to do so we tend to lose brain function. Restoring slow regular breathing, achievable through Mantra recitation, saying rosary prayers or practicing ritual our brain function responds favorably, memory improves, and we experience a feeling of peace and wellbeing.

We have long known this at some level. Consider pictures of the bleeding heart of Jesus, well known to all Roman Catholics: the over 3 million paintings of this depict love emanating from a heart wounded by a spear and emitting flames.

When we are happy or sad, we feel it in our chest! Do we have a physical centre in the heart, which creates this? It is surely much more than simply a poetic flight of fancy.

It seems to me that the lessons and teachings of masonry are partly sensed by the brain and the heart. At first glance and when we witness our ceremonies for the first time, they may make little sense intellectually. However something, at some level, makes them appealing. Later, sometimes much later, and after many repetitions, the meanings become clearer and clearer. Is this an example of perception first by the heart and then by the brain?

We may never know, but some day, perhaps very soon, we will know the answer to these questions. Perhaps though, when we know all the answers, then life will not be so interesting and our hearts will yearn for our now past romantic view of the heart.

How to Read the Bible

2011-03-10T12:19:00.002-05:00

How to Read the Bible

An address given at Pembroke Lodge on March 3, 2011 R.W.Bro. John Forster, District Deputy Grand Master, Ottawa District 2

The great lights of Masonry include the Volume of the Sacred Law. In Canada this is almost always the Christian Bible. Many lodges present a copy to the candidate after his initiation. In the last charge in the first degree we learn the following “as a mason I would first recommend to your most serious contemplation the volume of the sacred law, charging you to consider it the unerring standard of truth and justice and regulate your life by the Divine precepts which it contains"

But how should we read this book?

I recommend that you get a copy of “How to read the Bible" by Richard Holloway, who was the Episcopalian Bishop of Edinburgh and a teacher and writer. He states, “The Bible is too important to leave to nonbelievers"

The Bible is a defining text in Western culture even though many are non-believers. The Bible is a human text: it contains myths, metaphors, and stories that are highly and profoundly important human issues. It reflects back human ideals. It is about human goodness and human struggle with meaning and values, it represents a profound exposition of human’s struggle to understand community goodness and how best to relate and respond to people of different races and religions or have different values. It is humanity wrestling with the big issues.

It can be read as literature, for example the King James Version and this will lead you to some of magnificent prose, for example the 23rd Psalm.

There are two ways to approach the Bible many of the books of the Bible can be described as either mythos or logos. Logos means scientifically accurate and historically correct. This has less value than mythos, which means fictional or metaphorical or spiritual. Mythos is the way most stories were written hundreds and thousands of years ago. It is longer lasting than logos: for example the story of Adam and Eve and the fall and expulsion from Eden. It's a glorious myth. It shows that humans mess up in their search for a promised land. The story of Moses and that of Martin Luther King are the same story. It’s been the quest of leaders and politicians throughout history. But we mess it up.

It is irrelevant whether the Bible is literally true and whether Adam and Eve really existed. I exist and you exist and we have lived this story ourselves. It is profoundly and humanly true.

Man has evolved greatly since the Book of Genesis was written and so has his concept of God. Is God therefore a great human creation or a real entity outside of human creation? I’ll come back to this later

Is the God we worship the one who, in antiquity, stoned sodomites or suppressed women? All cultures have ascribed their particular attitudes to the “will of God".

What do you believe God is? The best answer is “I don't know” or “I cannot know”. The greatest danger is saying that you know. The Bible concerns itself more with what God is not rather than what he is. You can easily persuade bad people to do bad things. But only religion can persuade good people to do bad things.

In the book of Exodus the children of Israel fail when they reach the Promised Land. This is a

permanent human reality. All promised lands are spoiled; Eden and man's banishment, the serpent always slithers in because humans bring the snake with them. This is the essential human experience.

“Utopia" means “no place". The Bible says, “we are fallen", we get things wrong: we can be so passionate as to get cruel in our delusions e.g., communism, which led to mass exterminations. We obliterate opposition and therefore create hell in our quest for the Promised Land.

The Bible tells us to be very wary of this. There is no perfect promised land because you are going to be there and you will bring the snake with you.

I want to talk a little bit about suffering. Life is about suffering. The Book of Job is crucial to the Bible. An old and discredited belief is that suffering is punishment. This belief has not been discredited enough and hasn't disappeared.

Job is a good man and he knows it. The official theologians insist that he must've done something wrong. But he has done nothing wrong: there is something wrong with the official theologians. However God does not give a reason for Job’s (and human) suffering but does destroy the bad answer: the answer that man has done something wrong and earned the miseries (Jerry Fallwell and Pat Robertson still drive to promulgate the view that Hurricane Katrina and 911 were punishments for homosexuality & same-sex marriage. This cretinous and ugly view was quashed in the book of Job.

I want to turn now to a new and somewhat different view of the nature of God. You have heard me refer in my talks to the rapid and geometric increase in computing power, which doubles every year. This has led us to being on the verge or even past the verge, of creating artificial intelligence, which some authors termed “artilect”. Recently, I read an essay that suggested within the not too distant future, but perhaps in only 25 to 35 years, we will have created an artilect that will allow the capacity to create a universe. If this is indeed so, then it may well be, that out there in the endless regions of space, where there are billions and billions of stars, it is not hard to imagine that such an artilect may already have been created on another galaxy and that indeed this universe in which we live has been created by a superior intelligence. Thus creating a quasi-scientific hypothesis for the existence of God.

The author of the essay believes that this has indeed happened: that our current situation is the work of a superior intelligence. However he does not believe that this superior intelligence cares one whit about an individual human being on this planet. Perhaps on another occasion I could discuss how this resonates with Masonry. In the early days of speculative masonry, namely in the 16th Century on of the principal causes of schism among Masons was the dialectic between theism and deism.

By whatever means we were created it is obvious to me that we were created with free will and the ability to make decisions to build and to advance. We also have the capacity to make mistakes, which can lead us into danger and even imperil or end lives. The creator therefore has enabled us to advance but has not provided a safety net. If it was so we probably would not have been as successful as we have been and the World would be a much duller place.

The Bible is all about this. It has shown that we are frail error prone creatures, and that whatever we do we bring the snake with us and we mess up. The Bible teaches us that we are human. The Bible, and now a little science, shows us that our belief in a Supreme Being is true and that the Supreme Being will not protect us from harm and suffering.

That is up to us.

2011-03-10T12:17:00.000-05:00

Masonry in the 21st Century

An address given at Cobden Lodge on March 8, 2011 R.W.Bro. John Forster, District Deputy Grand Master, Ottawa District 2

As I near the end of my term, I am pulling together the various basic ideas I have tried to outline over the last eight months and integrating them with observations and conclusions I’ve reached during my term.

Our craft is healthy. The basic tenets and principles of Masonry are still there and the landmarks are well preserved. The craft however is going to need constant nurturing. This has always been so although in the 20th Century we did enjoy a long period of stability. We spent a lot of time emphasizing the permanence of Masonry but forgot that, despite that permanence, our members and society were changing: at the end of the century they were changing radically. And rapidly.

The new Millennium sees a far different society. We are more diverse, we live in a time of easy and rapid communication, and we have a global perspective. Economically we are well off but most households now rely on two incomes. The role of women in society is changed greatly. The role of men is also vastly different. No longer are they considered the sole breadwinner but must share equally in the household tasks of meal preparation and child rearing. The relationship between rulers and the ruled has also changed. No longer do we meekly accept rules and obey them unthinkingly and automatically.

Masonry still, however, has a solid base: a core commitment to the practice of brotherly love, relief and truth, providing for the young initiate the only place in society where his moral and spiritual centre can be sought after in a place of safety and comfort. This timeless vitality derives from that solid base. Our task, and the task of our younger brethren, is to preserve it, the timeless vitality, and transmit it to future generations. This is vital. This world needs the principles of Masonry. It has never needed them more!

To do this, however we are going to have to modernize our structure and our operations while maintaining our timeless vitality. And that won’t be easy. But I am convinced we can do it. I believe that successful lodges are already doing it. They educate, mentor, promote and empower their young members allowing their emergence as leaders and governors.

This same process of course is occurring in society at large. Young men and young women are demanding to have a say in governance. They will not be ruled by their elders: trying to make them do so results in conflict. It has always been so except that in the 20th Century the young were slaughtered in their millions and so simply weren’t there to change the status quo.

Change in Masonry however, must take place at the Lodge level. It won’t happen just because Grand Lodge officers speak about it. Only a lodge can change the face of Masonry at the local and community level.That’s why each lodge must look forward. It must set out its vision for how it will look in ten years time. The vision must be derived and shared by all lodge members. Yes, by all means celebrate a 100th or a 150th anniversary, but don’t dwell on that more than you need to. As important as it is to you, it is not the most important thing that you do. Your younger brethren are much less interested in the past than you are. They may simply not care.

Your activities must include long range planning as a high priority. They must include active and specific plans for how you intend to reach your vision and detailed policies for the nurturing and development and empowerment of your future leaders. Don’t leave it to chance.

If you do not do this, they will do it for you. If you’re lucky! If you aren’t, they will leave. If that happens, you are doomed: with a significant percentage of your members in their 80s, your future is not a long one.

I’m going to end on an optimistic note. My vision is that Masonry will level off shortly before growing again. That the average age of a Mason will be about 45-50. He will attend his lodge every month and visit other lodges several times a year. He will enjoy a meeting lasting 11⁄2 to 2 hours and enjoy a good meal in the fellowship of his friends. 90% of members of a lodge will attend meetings. He will pay $500 a year for his masonry. Officers will attend a formal practice every month. The lodge will sponsor activities of interest to his whole family, some of who will be part of the planning structure for those events. There will be more community events sponsored by the lodge. There will be fewer lodges in a combined District.

To quote Tennyson:

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Tennyson ULYsses

2011-01-25T13:24:00.003-05:00

The crucial importance of long-range planning.

For THE BUILDERS LODGE official visit. January 17^th, 2011

We stand at a crossroads in Masonry. We are experiencing an influx of young men joining the Craft. At the same time a large number of all brethren are in the 80s and 90s.

I have seen this year the effects of this influx. In some lodges, responsibility for administration and planning has been handed over quite deliberately to younger persons. These lodges have these characteristics:

· They have young men in the chairs most of whom are master masons.

· They have excellent ritual.

· The young members bring in more men from their peer group

· They make plans for events of a different nature from their elder brethren.

Some lodges have had an influx of young men who have delayed further degrees, stopped coming to lodge altogether or demitted before receiving their second or third degrees. In these lodges there is the appearance of the older members , now of necessity, holding on to responsibilities for planning and administration.

I think that the majority of lodges are between these positions but as the number of young men increases, they are reaching a “tipping point" where the situation of the lodge could go in either direction.

There is an important book called “The Black Swan”. The term “Black Swan” describes an event that is unexpected, unforeseen, highly significant, and usually having negative effects. It is named after the Black Swan discovered in Australia, prior to which the description of swans was that they were always white.

This discovery was unexpected and permanently changed our concept of a swan. The event was not predicted and made lasting change. Most significant change comes about like this.

It is in human nature that when an unexpected event occurs we all seek to find the reason for it. We assume that must be some reason why an unfortunate event occurs. The media are particularly prone to this. An excellent example is the recent shootings in Tucson. The media has been full of talk about whether or not political, and particularly right wing, rhetoric, has brought about a tragic event.

This is typical of such an event. We seem to have a great need to explain events on the basis of past events. With black swan events this is usually not possible, or worse, wrong. The best example of this is the black swan that happens to the turkey at Christmas. The turkey has been in a pen for hundreds of days. Every day someone came into the pen and fed him. Then one day the same man comes into the pen and wrings his neck. For the turkey this is the supreme black swan event.

This has everything to do with long-range planning. We seem to think that we can predict future events by what has happened to us in the past. In fact complex systems are determined by so many different and unrelated circumstances that doing so is impossible.

So how can we make appropriate plans? Well, we know that men joining the craft our young. Most of them are under 40. Most of them become of age to join the Craft in the 21st-century. They have the following characteristics:

· They look for leaders with honesty and integrity

· They look for great role models

· They have new ideas and opinion

· They don’t want their ideas to be ignored

· They want learning opportunities

· They love trying new things

· They look for growth and development

· They ask that their ideas be treated with respect

· They are idealistic.

· They are familiar with the concept of multitasking

· They are familiar with, and comfortable with, networking over vast distances, by electronic means

· They understand and embrace diversity

· They seek to work in a friendly environment and to work with friends

· They are busy

· They are vitally interested in history, symbolism, spirituality and learning how to use methods of self improvement (note for example the enormous number of young people who filled auditoria throughout Canada on the recent visit of the Dalai Lama)

· They look for growth, strong relationships, and endless opportunities to help others

They have been described as being “a perfect fit for Freemasonry."

We know that something like 40% of our members have passed their 80th birthday and that there was a huge influx of masons after the Second World War. The demographic of masonry today is distorted by that fact. As a result the number of members of the Craft at the Lodge, District and Provincial level has fallen dramatically and for the next few years will continue to do so.

This doesn’t mean however that masonry is going to die out. This is emphatically not so. There has never been a time in history when masonry has been more important and it will be sought after by men yearning to discuss with other men their spirituality and the path to mature masculinity.

I wanted to introduce the concept of a multiverse. As we pass through this life we make many choices. Choices are made which would take us in a totally different direction. Our universe is changed as a result. All change is a result of all of the choices that all people make all the time. There is a concept that, in fact, we live in but one of billions of universes which are coexisting in time and, more importantly, that we ourselves create our own reality through those choices. In other words we can and do invent our own future. Whether you believe this or not and, although there is SOME evidence to support it, it remains for now a matter of faith, it is the best way to do long range planning. Invent your own future and set a course towards it.

We, in fact, know only two things: the situation today, and the future we have envisioned.

Thus, my brethren, long-range planning can create a future in which the model of masonry must change. This planning must be done if we are to realize a vital, active and modern version for our ancient craft. The timeless vitality of Freemasonry, the hard-core what we do, will not change.

It is evident from the half-year report of our district long-range planning committee that only a minority of lodges has a long-range planning committee or a long-range plan. This is unacceptable. It is essential for the future health of every lodge that it plans for its future, the not too distant future, when the average age will be much lower than it is today, and the number of members will be lower.

It is furthermore essential that we as a district initiate serious discussions on its size. It has often been suggested that we are approaching a time when it will be no longer necessary to have two districts in Ottawa & the valley. I am convinced, as many of you in this room are, that this is indeed so but I have seen no evidence of any preparation for it.

It is as if, by ignoring the possibility, the reality will go away.

It will not go away. We have the opportunity to create a future for ourselves that will enable us “to be happy ourselves and to communicate that happiness to others”. In this case we refer to the happiness of our younger and future brethren and the health of our Craft.

2011-01-25T13:23:00.003-05:00

Our Journey: in Masonry and Life
Bytown lodge. January 20th, 2011

Originally I had planned to talk tonight about the labyrinth, which is a pattern found in many medieval churches and cathedrals in Europe and also many places in Canada. I know of two in the church I attend (St John's Church) and I believe there is another in Christ Church Cathedral.

My thought at 3 this morning when I woke up feeling unhappy that my talk was a bit long winded and that I shouldn’t restrict it to a description of the labyrinth. I’ll try and place its symbolism within the larger context of the journeys we all take.

So I spent most of today changing not only the topic and the content of this talk. I suppose I was partly inspired because last night in Bonnechere Lodge I witnessed a young man beginning his Masonic journey and on reflection felt that this was a good topic to talk about and which would make you think. That is the object of all my talks. I won't create too many conclusions tonight: you make your own conclusions from what I say.

Firstly what is a journey? It is a passage from one place or time to another place and time or it can be a process of development.

On Tuesday this week I took a journey to Toronto to attend the memorial service for an old friend. For this journey I knew where I was going: it said so on my ticket. I was going to fly to Toronto and then fly home again. Last night I journeyed to Eganville and spent an enjoyable evening in Bonnechere lodge. This was both a passage in place and time AND a process of development!

The children of Israel took a much more complex journey. In the book of Exodus and the four books of Moses which follow it, we learn of their release from Egyptian captivity and how they spent 40 years on a journey to the promised land. During which they wandered in the desert . The Bible is is a book which is filled with metaphor and 40 years simply means a long time,

Probably 40 years meant that during their sojourn in the desert people died, others were born. Moses himself is described as 120 years old when they finally arrived.

A labyrinth is a convoluted pathway which eventually leads to its centre : there are two or three variations on the labyrinths .

All have an entry point and, unlike a maze, there is only one path and it will lead eventually to the centre. All you have to do is follow the path. Another name for the Cathedral labyrinths was “the road to Jerusalem” and the centre was often called either Jerusalem or heaven. In those days a pilgrimage to Palestine was one of the most devotional things one could do. However, it required time, money and fortitude. Walking the labyrinth at a cathedral could substitute for the long and arduous journey.
Professor Gailand MacQueen writes: “From ancient times, the labyrinth has been used in rituals at the most important moments in life. Although we don't always know exactly how, its structure, as well as its placement at gravesides, seacoasts, and healing sites, suggest that it was used in rituals associated with birth, coming of age, marriage, sickness and death, as well as initiation into secret societies or elders' groups. Like all rites of passage and initiation ceremonies, walking the labyrinth is structured as a pilgrimage with three parts. First comes the journey inward, toward the sacred space where change happens. Next, time is spent at the center, where the new life begins. Finally, there is the journey outward, the return of the transformed person to the world, often with a new identity.
Our operative brethren felt them important enough to add to their architectural splendours and to put their marks on them.
Like our rituals in Freemasonry, walking the labyrinth is a symbolic journey. It is a metaphor for life.
In a labyrinth there is only one path. The only decision you make is whether or not to start. The path has many twists and turns but it steadily and surely takes you to the centre. However it takes you many places before you get there. Most labyrinths make you walk in a general clockwise direction, just as we do in our perambulations. The winding path of the labyrinth is much like the journey of Freemasonry.
A Professor MacQueen describes the experience so well: “As you walk the labyrinth, there will be times when you find yourself tantalizingly close to the goal, but then, suddenly, you find yourself moving away from the center. Likewise, far into the path, you may find yourself on the outer circle. It could be puzzling or even discouraging if you did not know that the entire path is necessary, that the entire path leads to the center - even those parts that seem to lead away from it, even those parts that seem far from it. You can trust the path to take you to the center eventually, no matter where you happen to be at the moment.
Thus, the labyrinth is a powerful symbol of the unity of our life path and of the center that awaits, wherever we are on the path. Alternatively, we might say that the labyrinth is a symbol of God, who is both the center we seek and the path that gets us there.[4][4]
Like being in the tyled recesses of a Masonic lodge, walking the labyrinth is a peaceful reflective pursuit. During your journey you think on your life, where you have been, where you want to go. By the end of the walk, you know yourself better, something Masons are admonished to do.
It represents an good journey through life: it enables us to have a virtuous clean and wonderful life.

Thus, our brother who was initiated tonight begins his journey. Many of us have been on this journey for many years, 46 years in my case and we still seek a centre, the peace of that place where all will be revealed and we will be in the presence of God.

Thomas Goetz: It's time to redesign medical data | Video on TED.com

2011-01-25T13:09:00.001-05:00

This short talk relates a method of changing behaviour in the health care field. It is in fact extremely useful in considering the whole process of relating process to desired outcomes in any field.

Thomas Goetz: It's time to redesign medical data | Video on TED.com

The Timeless Vitality of Masonry

2011-01-12T17:53:00.001-05:00

THE TIMELESS VITALITY OF MASONRY

ACACIA LODGE: GRAND LODGE APPRECIATION NIGHT

Tonight I want to speak to you about four themes:

1.The relative role of Grand Lodge, the District and the Lodge in planning for the future

2. The Timeless Vitality of Masonry

3. How we model that vitality, and

4. A major impediment to our future health

Grand Lodge, which we honour tonight, provides leadership, administration and resources. Its

Grand districts provide the same. But, each Lodge has to decide for itself how it practices masonry. (CF St Andrews and Luxor)

The VISION of Grand lodge is:

To ensure the timeless vitality of Freemasonry in Ontario

The MISSION of Grand lodge is as follows

“Grand Lodge will achieve its vision by providing effective and sustainable leadership to Ontario’s Masonic community and preserving the timeless Masonic Initiatory system as a framework for all good men to transform their lives through the ancient and enduring tenets of brotherly love, relief and truth”

What is “Timeless Vitality”?

It is that part of Freemasonry which has persisted, virtually unchanged for centuries, that does so despite changes in the “model” of freemasonry and will do so “until time shall be no more”. It is, in effect, the ritual. The messages that our ritual conveys are timeless. We impart these to the best of our ability.

We do so well or we fail.

The “model” of freemasonry has changed radically over the centuries, and is still doing so. Originally Masons met in taverns -- the Cheshire Cheese Tavern, the Apple-Tree Tavern, the Crown Ale-House near Drury Lane, the Goose and Gridiron in St. Paul's Churchyard, and the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Westminster.1

Then these lodges became the original members of the Grand Lodge of England. Time passes and the model changes. Radically. We’ve had lodges in many countries and places, on the battlefield, in schoolrooms and taverns and in purpose built premises. We in this room don’t remember these models. We do remember (some of us) belonging to lodges of over 400 members, meeting on Metcalf Street in Ottawa. Of ladies nights in the Chateau Laurier with close to 600 guests. And a District of 30 Lodges with every one of them having a ladies night!

Our model changes because men change, times change, customs change. But the message and Meaning of Masonry does not change. We can only speculate on how the model will change: it helps if we look at who will be the future mason.

A recent issue of the Masonic Bulletin of the Grand Lodge of BC and Yukon2 quotes from a study of 75 million “Millennials”, people born after 1981, their needs, expectations and values. Some of these are:

• They are looking for leaders with honesty and integrity

• They are looking for great role models

• They have new ideas and opinions

• They do not want their ideas to be ignored

• They want learning opportunities

• They love trying new things

• They look for growth and development

• They ask that their ideas be treated with respect

• They are idealistic.

• They are familiar with the concept of multitasking

• They are familiar with, and comfortable with, networking over vast distances, by electronic

means

• They understand and embrace diversity

• They seek to work in a friendly environment and to work with friends

• They are busy

• They are vitally interested in history, symbolism, spirituality and learning how to use methods

of self improvement (note, for example, the enormous number of young people who filled

auditoria throughout Canada on the recent visit of the Dalai Lama)

• They look for growth, strong relationships, and endless opportunities to help others

To quote R.W.Bro. Allan Casalou, Assistant Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of California “New Millennials are a perfect fit for Masonry”

1 http://www.grandlodge-england.org/

2 “A new generation” R.W.Bro. Brian Tuckey, SGW, Masonic Bulletin. Grand Lodge of BC and Yukon. Vol. 71. No.5 January 2008

Do we, many of us Masons of the 40s, and 50s, want to return to the model we used then? Probably yes! Do we want to go back to First World War models, Victorian models or to the models used in the Goose and Gridiron? Probably not.

Do the Masons initiated in our new 21st Century wish to go back. Emphatically not! (And couldn’t find the time even if they did!)

No, we will move on and the model we will have in the 2020s will be different. Most of us older types will be gone. The model will have changed.

Time passes: 12 months every year. Our model today is but a faint echo of the 1950s and 60s. What are the obstacles to the attainment of our vision?

Years ago I was honoured to be the guest speaker at a high school commencement. I based my address on three major tasks that the next generation must overcome. They were:

• Differences in wealth – the gap between the top 20% of a countries people and the bottom 20%

• Tariff barriers on food, and, • The Us vs Them mentality

Rudyard Kipling, a famous Mason who won the Nobel Prize for literature once wrote:

All good people agree And all good people say, All nice people, like Us, are We And everyone else is They 3

For many years,

I practiced as a General Practitioner. I referred to myself however as a Family Physician and am a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. The change in name was started in the 1960s when the then College of GPs decided that it wanted to distinguish itself from what they considered lesser mortals

I am a generalist: I do not have deep knowledge of a narrow subject: I have a shallow knowledge of a wide one. I must include knowledge not only of health and illness and the diseases and conditions which affect it or the medicines that might cure it but an appreciation of humanity, of people and their relationships with their world, their loves and fears and hopes and sorrows: their marriages and divorces, the things that make them sad, or mad or glad.

It is crucial that we have both sorts of doctors, generalists and specialists. However we have always had difficulty getting along. We put each other down and tell jokes about each other. We belong to different Colleges, we do not have dinners together or play in the same golf club. We have different pay scales and each believes the other is grossly overpaid!

And yet we need each other. In fact depend upon each other.

Let’s think about how humans divide themselves into we and they. It’s not hard to think of examples. In fact, my Aunts and Uncles and parents turned this into a sport. On a Sunday evening they would sitin the front room of our house and put everyone who passed into a “slot”. They could classify endlessly:

Which school they went to

Which church, or chapel

Whether they drank

Whether they did so in a club or a pub.

Or at home!!

Whether they played golf on the top course (the rich) or the bottom (the not so rich)

Whether they played football with a round ball or an oval ball

Conservative supporters Labour supporters

People born in our village / people not

People they knew (almost all of them) / people they didn’t know

My mother would refer to many people as “one of them!” They had more ways of classifying the human race than Carter had little liver pills. We still do this. On a wider scale, we have

Liberals and Conservatives

Republicans and Democrats

Westerners and Easterners

City folk & Country folk

Maple Leaf supporters and Senator supporters (& on and on...)

Newfies and non Newfies (In Newfoundland, they have CFAs, St John’s folk and those from “around the Bay” or from the other side of the causeway)

In England, they still make great deal about the round ball and the oval ball

More seriously, we have

Blacks and Whites

Protestant and Catholics

Jews and Gentiles

Muslims and Hindus

Sunnis and Shi

Blood is spilled every day because of some of these differences. What is it with us??

Why do we do this?

Well, it turns out there is a reason. It is “hard wired” in us. Studies in the first year of life show parts of the brain devoted to spotting differences and being attracted or repulsed in certain ways. We have been on this Earth for millions of years. It was vital that we avoided things that were different from us: indeed that we destroyed them if we could and protected ourselves if we couldn’t.

“Civilization”, so called, is a very recent development. If human activity was a 24-hour day it is only in the last two minutes that we have become civilized. Our hard wiring is still very much in place and it will take a long time to remove it.

We are getting better at it however (despite much evidence to the contrary) and we now know, even if we don’t practice it, that tolerance is a crucially important human attribute.

So what is it with District 1 and District 2??

I came into Masonry in Ottawa when there was only one district. Two years after, I affiliated with St. Andrew’s lodge; my sponsor, R.W.Bro. Bob Rowsome, became the last DDGM of Ottawa District. From then on we became two districts. Later I was a founding member of a new lodge, Luxor Daylight Lodge. It was in District 2 and they chose me as their candidate for DDGM . I began for the first time in thirty years to travel in District 2.Now I had heard that District 2 Masons were a lesser breed of men. They had grown horns, they didn’t play golf, or when they did, couldn’t hit the ball straight. They had “problems”, they couldn’t attract candidates, they couldn’t fill their line offices and they didn’t visit each other.

I didn’t see a shred of evidence of any of this. It was all (as we say in the Old Country), “bullshit”

The Masons of District 2 are the same as those in any other District. Masonic activity in OD2 is healthy and full of vitality

On another occasion, I am going to be speaking of our Masonic future: Where are we going as Masons? What is Masonry going to be like in 20 years. Or even 10 years.

These are crucial questions. If we don’t have a vision of where we are going we will have a hard time getting there. And when we do get there, we won’t recognize the place! Each Lodge must decide, for itself, where it came from, what it does, and where it is going.

This, however, is certain. We will not get there (to a happy, healthy future) if there are divisions among us. We share jurisdiction in the Valley of Ottawa and the City of Ottawa with lodges and Masons that many of you don’t know well. And they don’t know you.

I charge you this. Get to know them. Visit them. Exchange ideas with them. Join in as many activities as you can with them. This year I have instigated a travelling gavel commemorating my sponsor into Canadian Masonry, R.W.Bro Robert Rowsome, the last DDGM of the combined Ottawa District. Try to ensure that your lodge receives and then presents the Robert Rowsome travelling gavel. Or just go and visit your brethren in the other district

You’ll find an enrichment of your Masonic experience and life. Masonry will be the stronger for it. You will be the stronger for it. And you will encounter fewer divisions outside of Masonry and they will trouble you less

And, most importantly, you will come to appreciate the crucial importance of planning for a future that will inevitably, radically and rapidly change.

Making good men better Part 1

2010-12-20T13:20:00.003-05:00

The theme I want to talk about tonight is one I first developed several years years ago for a lecture I gave in Lodge. Since then I have, I hope, refined it. However it is too long to give at the end of an official visit. What I’m going to divide it into parts each of which will stand on its own but which can be grouped together as they all will form a continuous theme or series of related ideas.

In a famous experiment called the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971 a psychologist at Stanford University, Phil Zimbardo, gathered 20 perfectly healthy and mentally stable young volunteers. He randomly assigned them to the role of either prisoner or guard. The prisoners got work clothes and had their names replaced with numbers. The guards got billy clubs and sunglasses to obscure their faces. The guards' only task was to maintain order among the prisoners. The experiment was supposed to last two weeks, but after six days it was shut down because the guards were humiliating and tormenting the prisoners with an intensity no one had predicted.

Phil Zimbardo has since used the experience as a way of understanding why seemingly moral people commit horrific acts. The experiment was published in academic journals as a failed one but, after the horrifying events at Abu Graib in Iraq where soldiers were charged with abusing prisoners and were punished for it severely, Lombardo came to believe that these men and women were behaving in a predictable way and that they should never have been put in this position. He published a book on this topic, called The Lucifer Effect.

The Stanford Prison Experiment shows that people behave as to how those around them behave, how they are EXPECTED to behave and how they themselves are treated. As Eliza Doolittle says in Pygmalion ”Because you see, Lady Higgins, " . . . the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated.”

Of the 130 holders of the Victoria Cross (the Majority) about 10% of the total were Masons. Were Tommy Douglas or John Diefenbaker enabled to do what he did because they were masons? Did Masonry make these good men better? You bet it did. And also for: -

Sir John A Macdonald

John Molson

Sam Steele

Peter Lougheed

Tim Horton

John Ross Robertson

Ernest Shackleton

Neil Armstrong

Winston Churchill

Voltaire

Sir Alexander Fleming

Ben Franklin

Mark Twain

Douglas McArthur, and

Harry S. Truman

The Antarctic expedition of Shackleton

The Antarctic is a place where humans don’t belong. It is either uninhabitable & the least inhabitable place on Earth. It’s a frozen desert. 10 million sq. km. A continent covered with ice up to 5 kilometers thick and averaging 2 to 2.5 kilometers thick. It is a continent surrounded by ocean. It is different from the Arctic which is an ocean surrounded by continents. Any animal needing warmer conditions has to swim there or fly there (so no polar bears!) Wildlife is plentiful -- Albatross, seals, Penguins, whales, humpbacks & minke, Krill and Orcas..

Attracted to people who set out to stretch their limits and possibilities.

Joe McGinnis is a physician, scientist & undersea explorer who is interested in human performance in a high risk environment. He has dived under N.Pole and explored the wreck of Titanic.

““The first person to walk on Mars is alive today. I want to inspire her to go there” NASA uses it to train for flight conditions where stabilisation/evacuation mode is impossible. Antarctic an ideal place to prepare & train for this. . Requirements for a trip to Mars will be several habitations, a lab., mechanical infrastructure , environmental controls, preparation of nutritious and varied meals & the ability to move about outside. And do this for 5-10 years. The crew will need to be cross trained. Cook and doctor/surgeon may well be the same person.

Imagine doing all of the above without special modern equipment or maps. In 1914 Bro. Ernest Shackleton set out to cross the Antarctic via the South Pole. He had offered to give up his ship for the war effort but this was rejected by govt. In South Georgia encountered the worst ice conditions in history. With limited financial resources he had to rely upon luck. So he went for it.

After 60 miles his ship became trapped in ice then crushed. From here he began the journey from which all survived. Shackleton was a man of immense courage & hyper-resilience: he understood in his bones the forces of nature. His ship, The Endurance was trapped in ice & crushed but he led his men to safety on an uninhabited island after a sea journey of 28 days on an ice floe. He then led a small party of 5 to S. Georgia, which reached the safety of a whaling station. All were rescued.

This inspirational man (and a Mason) understood the forces of nature, the limits of technology, the thermodynamics of survival psychology and the interpersonal forces which enabled them of different personalities to work together towards a common goal. To paraphrase the general charge always given at the end of our Installation ceremony., Shackleton indeed was “respected by his superiors and revered by his subordinates; he never proclaimed what he had done, will do ,can do, but where need was he laid hold with dispassionate courage, circumspect resolution, indefatigable exertion and a rare power of mind and who did not cease until he had accomplished his work”

Ernest Henry Shackleton was born in County Kildare, Ireland on 15 February 1874, his family originally coming from Yorkshire, England.

Shackleton was initiated into Navy Lodge No. 2612 (United Grand Lodge of England) on 9 July 1901. His advancement was notably slow. Almost immediately after his initiation Shackleton joined Captain Scott’s expedition to Antarctica that aimed to be the first to reach the South Pole. Despite the expedition’s failure Shackleton was inspired to lead his own expedition in 1907 that came within 97 miles of the South Pole. He was subsequently knighted in 1909. Despite appearing on many Navy Lodge summonses throughout the period, Shackleton attended the first regular meeting of Guild of Freemen Lodge No. 3525 (United Grand Lodge of England) in 1911 and was passed to the second degree by that lodge on 2 November 1911. He was raised to the degree of Master Mason at Guild of Freemen Lodge on 30 May 1913.

MASONs are inclined to be able to interact positively with each other. Their ritual and teaching will (or should) assist them in so doing. Their characteristics would be invaluable in creating teams of experts to work together and to enable teams of non experts to work in other capacities

Brethren. The capacity of masonry to enable good men to make themselves better is a quality of which this world is in great need. You can help fill this need by your diligence in selecting good men and focussing hard on the condition of masonry in all our Lodges. We will then truly induce the habit of virtue and strengthen the fundamental principles of the order, Brotherly love, relief & truth.

Making Good Men Better Part 2

2010-12-20T12:55:00.001-05:00

If you were present at Madawaska Lodge on Monday night you may find yourself experiencing a sense of déjà vu. That’s because my talk tonight is on the same theme of how we enable good men to make themselves better .

The Lucifer Effect
In a famous experiment called the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971 a psychologist at Stanford University, Phil Zimbardo, gathered 20 perfectly healthy and mentally stable young volunteers. The experiment was supposed to last two weeks, but after six days it had to be shut down because the guards were humiliating and tormenting the prisoners with an intensity no one had predicted.

Phil Zimbardo has since used the experience as a way of understanding why seemingly moral people commit horrific acts.

The Stanford Prison Experiment shows that people behave as to how those around them behave, how they are EXPECTED to behave and how they themselves are treated. As Eliza Doolittle says in Pygmalion ”Because you see, Lady Higgins, " . . . the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated.”

What does Freemasonry do for good men? Does regular Lodge attendance “induce the habit of virtue and strengthen the fundamental principles of the order, Brotherly love, relief & truth”? There are many examples we could study. On Monday night I talked about Ernest Shackleton. Tonight I want to briefly look at another famous mason, who incorporated Masonry into many of his writings. He was a Nobel prize winner in literature but perhaps his greatest test was the loss of his son , John

Rudyard Kipling

Born in Bombay, India in 1865. In 1885 the Lodge of Hope & Perseverance # 782 in Lahore, Punjab, India was seeking a Secretary. He was initiated at the age of 20 + 6 months and immediately was made Hon Secretary.

In 1922, Kipling, who had made reference to the work of engineers in some of his poems and writings, was asked by a University of Toronto civil engineering professor for his assistance in developing a dignified obligation and ceremony for graduating engineering students. Kipling was very enthusiastic in his response and shortly produced both, formally entitled "The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer". Today, engineering graduates all across Canada are presented with an iron ring at the ceremony as a reminder of their obligation to society.

n 1926 Kipling published a volume called Debits and Credits. In it there are no less than four Masonically inspired stories, all four emanating from the imaginary London Lodge, Faith and Works, No. 5837, E.C. One of th stories entitled "In the Interests of the Brethren," ,first published in 1918 is all Masonic, being a record of the doings at a special Lodge of Instruction held two afternoons and two evenings each week for soldiers sick and on leave during the War. You must read the story for yourselves.

Kipling knew personal tragedy at the time as his only son, John Kipling, died in 1915 at the Battle of Loos,

He had exerted great influence to have his son accepted for officer training at the age of only 17.[37]

John suffered severe shortsightedness, just like his father. His eyesight was so bad he was unable to read the second letter on the optician's chart, even with thick glasses, and had been refused entry to the Forces three times. It was only Kipling's connections with his life-long friend Lord Roberts, Commander-in-chief of the British Army, that got his son a commission.

John was accepted into the regiment in 1914 and lived the life of a typical upper-middle-class subaltern. Though never a playboy, the young Kipling was a regular visitor to London nightclubs and loved the country house parties at the family home, Bateman's, in East Sussex.

The Battle of Loos

Immediately prior to the troops attacking the German lines, at around 6:30 a.m., the British released 140 tons of chlorine gas with mixed success—in places the gas was blown back onto British trenches. Due to the inefficiency of the gas masks at the time, many British soldiers removed them as they could not see through the fogged-up talc eyepieces, or could barely breathe with them on. This led to some British soldiers being gassed by their own chlorine gas as it blew back across their lines.

The fighting subsided on 28 September with the British having retreated to their starting positions. The British attacks had cost over 20,000 casualties, including three divisional commanders;

On August 26, John went into battle. The next day - only his second on the front line - he was dead. This had an enormous effect on Kiplings personal life not least in his marriage .

Partly in response to this tragedy, Kipling joined the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), the group responsible for the garden-like British war graves that can be found to this day dotted along the former Western Front and all the other locations around the world where Commonwealth troops lie buried. His most significant contribution to the project was his selection of the biblical phrase "Their Name Liveth For Evermore" found on the Stones of Remembrance in larger war graves and his suggestion of the phrase "Known unto God" for the gravestones of unidentified servicemen.

One of his more poignant poems was written after his son’s death. It is particularly appropriate to recite it on the Eve of Remembrance Day.

My Boy Jack

Have you news of my boy Jack?" Not this tide.

"When d'you think that he'll come back?" Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

"Has any one else had word of him?: " Not this tide.

For what is sunk will hardly swim, Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

"Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?" None this tide,

Nor any tide,

Except he did not shame his kind--

Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,

This tide,

And every tide;

Because he was the son you bore,

And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!

Making Good Men Better

I’m convinced that masonry enables good men to become better men. A good discussion question is whether Masonry makes them so or enables them to make themselves better. I’m personally inclined to the latter.

Our task as Freemasons is to not only erect the path toward mature masculinity, but to make sure that our members are on it themselves; and those who come after them will also be on it.

Freemasonry’s strength lies in the fact that it offers the right model by which men can grow and achieve balance in their human and spiritual lives.

Brethren. The capacity of masonry to enable good men to make themselves better is a quality of which this world is in great need. You can help fill this need by your diligence in selecting good men and focussing hard on the condition of masonry in your Lodge. We will then truly induce the habit of virtue and strengthen the fundamental principles of the order, Brotherly love, relief & truth.

The Hidden Mysteries

2010-12-20T12:43:00.001-05:00

Dalhousie Lodge : November 2, 2010

Since Man first looked at a block of stone and wondered what he could do with it, Masons have pondered the nature of matter

They have done so as physicists, chemists, architects and philosophers.

By a variety of inquiries, experiments, accidents, we have discovered truths about matter and its properties. We have also created tools, which allow these properties to be utilized and exploited. Chief among them are squares, levels, plumb rules, gavels, rulers and chisels. We have moralized on these as Freemasons and established a code of conduct, extrapolating from their uses some important rules for human happiness.

Thus “Strength, grounded on accuracy, aided by labour and promoted by perseverance, will finally overcome all difficulties, raise ignorance from despair, and establish happiness in the paths of science.”

But what if we looked at more than just blocks of stone and how we could use it to construct a pillar, a column, an archway, and a cathedral? We have discovered that a square is an angle of 90 degrees or the fourth part of a circle (without which discovery we could never have built anything that didn’t fall down)

The laws of nature, the hidden mysteries of nature and science, were not laws made by men , by kings, dictators, parliaments, senates or any other legislative body. Their properties were decied by a much higher power, by a great architect in fact.

So, if you ask me what I know, I will say, that which can be proven. If you ask me what I believe believe , I will say “I believe that a square is an angle of 90 degrees or the fourth part of a circle”

Now we can consider subatomic particles, Einstein’s theory, the Higgs boson and nanotechnology as the building blocks of our present and future civilization

Do the working tools of a 21^st Century mason include the computer chip and the linear accelerator?

If we answer no to this question we are stuck in the past. We appreciate Masonry for what it has taught and is teaching us , thank you very much, but we are content with that. If we create a perfect ashlar let’s not bother creating extended consciousness or indefinitely extended lifespans.

But if you say yes, (and I do) where does that lead us??

To discuss this , and I will, we must consider on of the most important truths of Mathematics, . The difference between arithmetical or linear projegression and incrememtal, or geometric progression.

An arithmetical progression in 30 steps starting with 1 gets us to 30.

A geometric progression starting with 1 gets us to half a billion

If we examine the rate of technological change over the past 200 years we can see a smooth progression unaffected by the events of human history. Similarly a molecule of any gas behaves in a totally random, stochastic manner. A billion molecules together however acts in a totally predictable way . In accordance with the laws of thermodynamics

SO. An information based technology will increase in a geometric fashion. And it does.

Thus the price of a transistor

The size of a computer chip

The number of transistors you can bu for a dollar

The power/ capacity or physical size of a computer.

Where will this end??

Well, it won’t end

But, there is appoint, in the not too distant future that has been described as a singularity. An EVENT HORIZON. A point beyond which it is impossible for us to see.

In Astro-physics a black hole is such a singularity. An object so dense that nothing can escape it and no thing can be seen beyond it as it attracts and retains anything which may otherwise come past it into our experience.

Consider nanotechnology, Robotics and artificial intelligence. Start with nanotechnology and our ability to change biological infrastructure. If we can create machines capapble of carrying out instructions and making these machines as small as a a blood cell we will be able to inject them into the human body with instructions

to seek out and destroy cancer cells

to create immunity to the process which inititates malignant change

or to that which creates diabetes

atheroscerosis

obesity

aging

Then we will have powerful ways of extending human lifespan indefinitely.

It is estimated that WITHINN 15 TO 20 YEARS, we will be advancing the average human life expectancy by more than 12 months every year!

This is prior to an event horizon

The next change will be an ability to augment the computing capacity of the human brain.

We are in fact already doing this

Consider the search engine

The iPhone

The iPad

In 1966 I needed access to a university library, a personal collection of large textbook and my memory, to graduate from medical school. By 1995 that library could be accessed by a desktop computer, a modem and a collection of DVD based textbooks

Today a medical student need never attend a lecture, possess a single book and accesses the information of all the medical libraries and information in the World through an instrument she carries in the pocket of her white coat.

In 2025 the instrument will be implanted in her bady and will be synchronized with ter brain.

THIS is the event horizon. We do not know wnd can not know, how human history will progress after that.

So!

Where does Masonry fit?

Well. Just as our ancient and not so ancient brethren moralized on the meaning of the square, the ruler, the chisel and the common gavel, we must think about the computer, the nanoparticle and the microchip

Where does that lead us if we are not operative but rather free and accepted or speculative Masons

I leave that with youi!!

John Forster

A short talk on Morality

2010-12-20T12:40:00.000-05:00

Every Master of every Lodge solemnly agrees to 15 ancient charges.

The first of these is, “ you agree to be a good man and true and strictly to obey the moral law”. He then bends his head a little forward and signifies his assent by sign and saying “I do”. I’ve done this twice.

But to which moral law was I assenting? What is “the moral law”? What is “morality”?

Mores, in sociology, are any given society's particular norms, virtues or values. The word mores derives from the Latin plural mōrēs; singular mōs

Mores derive from the established practices of a society rather than its written laws. They consist of shared understandings about the kinds of behavior likely to evoke approval, disapproval, toleration or sanction, within particular contexts.

The English word morality comes from the same root, as does the noun moral. However, mores do not, as is commonly supposed, necessarily carry connotations of morality. Rather, morality can be seen as a subset of mores, held to be of central importance in view of their content, and often formalized in some kind of moral code.

The Greek term equivalent to Latin mores is ethos . As with the relation of mores to morality, ethos is the basis of the term ethics, but does not itself carry connotations of morality as much as of customary proper behavior peculiar to a given society.

The British philosopher Bertrand Russell once said “most of the greatest evil that Man has inflicted upon man comes from people feeling quite certain about something which in fact was false”

Consider the Spanish Inquisition: in their minds they were eliminating from society a greater harm. That those they were persecuting were regarded as a disease or contagion which would infect and destroy civilization. They believed that they were purifying Society and that NOT doing so would be worse. This was that ONLY way they knew to correct it. To do the hideous things they did came from a moral certainty that it was good and necessary

Similarly the aboriginal residential schools. Were these set up so as to destroy an entire people and way of life? Absolutely NOT. They were considered to be a moral requirement for their improvement and advancement as a people.

These historical wrongdoings most people now believe were wrong. Does that mean that we now have moral certainty about all that we do? Well, the use of water boarding at Guantanamo Bay, at Abu Grail and the genocide in Darfur are examples of the same thing. Moral certainty leading to atrocious acts. The killing of innocent civilians (called “collateral damage”) in Iraq and Afghanistan is considered necessary BECAUSE we have MORAL CERTAINTY that it is so.

We all want to do something good.

Some societies base their morality on divine text, the Bible or the Koran. If that were simple obedience to the Ten Commandments or the Beatitudes that would be fine. But it can also lead use to banishment, stoning, and the forced removal of body parts. We haven’t stopped arguing over which parts of the holy texts to take literally and which metaphorically.

Other philosophers in history have based morality on their concept of human nature. One such was Aristotle and more recently, in the 12^th Century, St Thomas Aquinas who devised what has come to be known as the “Natural Law Theory.” In essence this says that Man is an animal and thus in common with other animals we need security, food supply, shelter and procreation.

As rational beings we need knowledge. As social animals we need friendship, society, and mutual interaction based upon respect and tolerance. We are also creatures of God who wish to know God and can pursue religion and religious truth.

The natural law theory also allows for a secular approach to a moral code

All of which if followed, leads us to the good life or, if you prefer, a life that is “good”. However all societies do not have the same concept of what a good life is. In Canada for example we believe that access to universal health care is a social good. Denying that therefore becomes immoral. This is not so in the United States.

Similarly if we believe that homelessness is intolerable for the good life we develop moral certainty about this: we have developed an imperative which creates moral certainty. This is important but it is also a double-edged sword.

Moral certainty however can be a double-edged sword as we have seen in the Spanish Inquisition and the residential schools program.

Consider that, in biblical times and until the late 19^th century, not that long ago, slavery was not considered immoral. Nor was the disenfranchising of women.

If slavery was considered moral by the early church (and it was) where does that leave us as to the question of the ordination of homosexuals?

I don’t propose to attempt an answer to that one!

I’m going to leave you with a couple of thoughts. Things to ponder over and argue about.

1. In the 20^th Century there was a leader who, in less than ten years led his country from abject poverty and rampant, runaway inflation to one of the greatest powers in the world. He was adored by millions as their savior and hero. He had raised their standard of living immeasurably and made them supremely confident of themselves and their country. To them he was a hero. His name was Adolph Hitler. Was he a moral man?

2. Ernest Shackelton was an adulterer. He carried on a flagrantly public affair with a married woman causing great hurt and anguish to his loyal wife and family who helped him obtain public support, moral & financial, for his Antarctic expeditions. Was he a moral man?

3. Rudyard Kipling knew that his son was disabled. That he was severely visually impaired. Yet he used all of his influence and power to allow him to obtain an army commission despite his having been medically turned down. Were these the actions of a moral man?

I don’t propose to answer these questions. I’m just going to leave you to discuss and think about them. Either in lodge or outside of it. Those of you who are Past Masters may like to begin with the one about the first of the ancient charges.

Be good, it’s good for you

2010-12-20T12:23:00.001-05:00

In Masonry we learn to practice. I want to quote you a paragraph from the general charge to the brethren, part of the ceremony of Installation.

“The object however of meeting in a lodge is of a twofold nature, namely moral instruction and social intercourse. Our meetings are intended to cultivate the mind, to induce the habit of virtue and to strengthen the fundamental principles of the order, brotherly Love, relief & truth. And, if these meetings are blended with social mirth, and a mutual interchange of fraternal feelings, then Freemasonry will be seen in its true light, as an institution which fosters and improves the best affections of our nature, and carries into active operation, the practice of the four cardinal virtues, Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice , combined with the theological virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity, thereby demonstrating to the World at large that, in Freemasonry is found the true import of the three great social treasures, : Fraternity, liberty and Equality. Therefore the utmost extension of fraternal feeling and affection which CAN exist between man and man is EXPECTED to be displayed among the brethren in a Freemasons lodge, and then will be attained the chief point in Freemasonry, namely to endeavour to be happy ourselves and to communicate that happiness to others”

NB ---- “ induce the HABIT of virtue”.“ ACTIVE operation”, “the PRACTICE of the 4 cardinal virtues”,

There is mounting evidence from science that good deeds are good medicine. When we perform what society and we regard as a good deed we are rewarded with a rush of endorphins from “the pleasure centre”. It’s the same feeling we get when we do something well. Running and singing are examples for me. (Describe this.)

This rush can boost the immune system, speed up recovery from surgery and reduce insomnia.

In their book “ The Healing power of doing Good”, Allan Luks and Peggy Payne defined helpers’ high as exhilaration coupled with a burst of energy followed by a period of calm and serenity. Luks studied more than 3000 Americans involved in volunteering and found that subjects reported a buzz that lasted several weeks. After that, simply recalling the act of helping others brought back that sense of euphoria.

In my work as a palliative care physician, I encounter many care givers. They are usually relatives of the patient, often the spouse but sometimes more distant relatives, sometimes friends or neighbours. The work they do is amazing, frequently involving long periods of broken or absent sleep, neglected nutrition bordering on starvation, constant worry and fear of the unknown events coming soon.

These people are NOT leading an unhealthy life. They are doing one of the healthiest things that a human being can do: acting as a care-giver for someone who is suffering and in need. (“Relieve his necessities and soothe his afflictions”)

It appears that generosity is not only good for the soul but also for the body. Luks study showed that 90% of volunteers reported reduced stress and chronic pain while lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels

In another study at Harvard University, researchers showed 132 students a film about Mother Teresa’s work among the poor in Calcutta, then measured immunoglobulin A levels in their saliva. Simply witnessing kindness jacked up their levels.

On the wall in the main chapel of the Mission of Charity in Calcutta is a framed version of this prayer:

"Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow men throughout the world, who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them, through our hands this day, their daily bread and, by our understanding love, give peace and joy.

Lord, make me a channel of thy Peace: that, where there is hatred, I may bring love: that, where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness: that, where there is discord, I may bring harmony: that, where there is error, I may bring truth: that, where there is doubt, I may bring faith: where there is despair, I may bring hope: where there are shadows, I may bring light: where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek to comfort rather than to be comforted, to understand rather than to be understood, to love rather than to be loved, for it is by forgetting self that one finds oneself; it is by forgiving that one is forgiven; and it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life"

Toronto Playwright Michael Healey gave part of his liver to another playwright, Tom Walmsley, a man he barely knew. His play, Generous, ran to warm reviews in 2006.

Your acts of generosity and kindness are not different from other things you do, they are based on your own psychology and come from within you. By practicing masonry we practice feeling the thoughts and those thoughts lead to acts of kindness and generosity. Performing them adds to our health.

(Based on the book “A Year of living generously” by Laurence Scanlan)

Learning the Ritual

2010-12-20T12:18:00.006-05:00

Several months ago I gave a short talk in Bytown Lodge about the learning of ritual. I’ve been asked to post this on my blog.

I have a reputation for being a good ritualist. People have often told me that they “wish we had your gift”. Well, it is not a gift. I know the ritual well because I spent many hours learning it. The only “gift” I had was the knowledge that I needed to and my experience as a musician and medical student confirmed that.

Memory is a fickle thing. We need to try to understand it. Nowadays we often compare our brains to a computer. Although we understand more than ever how a human brain works we really only know a tiny fraction. We are beginning to realize however that it is entirely different from, and much superior to, an artificial computer. The study of memory is but one example of that.

We do NOT have a tape recorder in our brain! Our thoughts and ideas are stored in particular areas. Different concepts are stored in different places. We know this from experience with people with damaged brains (from injury or disease such as a stroke). They have widely disparate and often bizarre patterns of memory change.

In simple terms we can divide memory into short term and long term storage. In reality there are probably more subdivisions than this but two will suffice for the purpose of this essay.

If you tell me the directions to your house in a new location I’ll probably remember it if I’m already on my way there. If I return in a few days I may have some difficulty but will probably get there with a few wrong turnings. If I go there every day for 3 months, I will never again forget where you live as long as my brain remains healthy.

Ritual is like this. I could learn a short piece of ritual, or even several parts of a long piece, and repeat it tomorrow. All the time I’m repeating it however I will be furiously trying to remember the next word, the next sentence or the next phrase. There will be frequent pauses and probably a lot of prompts. If I repeat it enough times however I will eventually be able to speak the whole piece without pausing.

That phrase, or set of phrases, however is still only in my short term memory and, with time, it will fade. Next week I will again be pausing: next month pausing (much) more and, next year, I’ll have to start learning the whole thing over again.

If I repeat the piece over and over again however it will become part of long term memory and will stay in my memory for ever. Most of us remember the Lord’s Prayer for example: we have repeated it thousands of times.

Actors and musicians call this embodiment. It seems as if it no longer is in our heads but in our bodies. We do not have to use brain to remember the words; they just seem to come out. We can then use our brain to think of other things. Things such as emphasis, breathing, volume, speed, pauses. In other words we can add meaning to the words we speak through body language. We can also receive feedback from our audience and integrate it into our delivery.

Here is my recipe then for learning ritual.

First. Read through the whole piece. If you can, read it aloud several times. Then begin with the first sentence and repeat it over and over until you can do so without reading the text. Go to the next sentence and do the same. THEN say aloud the first and second and repeat them until you no longer have need of the text. Now go to the third and repeat the process.

When you reach the end of that paragraph you will be able to recite the whole of it from memory. Do this at least 10 times before you start the next paragraph.

If you think this is going to take a lot of time you are right! However it is going to take more. A lot more!

By now however you are going to be feeling more confident. Also, there will be many more opportunities to repeat aloud what you have already learned as now you will be working on things you have in your head and not be reliant on reading. For example I repeat longer charges while driving alone.

Now comes the easiest but also the longest part. Once you have memorized the whole piece (and now you think you “know” it) you must repeat it a MINIMUM OF 200 TIMES before performing it in public. (There’s no need to count however – 199 times will probably be more than enough!)

After your first public performance keep repeating it for a day or two integrating any feedback you had from your audience.

This is a LOT of work. However, if you start learning the ritual when you are first appointed as an officer, you have years in which to learn the ritual. As you progress through each office you should learn AT LEAST the work of the next one. On the night you are installed as Master you will be able to perform perfectly every word in the book, except perhaps the IPM charges. Better however to have learned those as well as you journey through the chairs.

John Forster. Dec 20, 2010

Optimism

2010-10-26T17:15:00.004-04:00

Address given at Chaudiere Lodge on October 26^th, 2010

There's an old joke about a man about to be guillotined. As he lays his head on the block he sees a basket half full of heads. He starts to cry. "Cheer up"' says the executioner, "look at it this way, the basket is half full not half empty"

We may be genetically divided between those who see the basket half full and those who see it as half empty. The fullers and the emptiers don’t get along however. They clash regularly. You hear it every day, how the world is going to hell in a hand basket ( that is only half full) . The Earth is warming, the oceans will rise up and drown us, the trains are never on time, the health system is falling apart and there are epidemics of every disease known to man. Many of which, have you noticed are called silent killers.

I would have expected masons to be immune to all this stuff. After all we all “solemnly swore upon our honour to cheerfully conform to the ancient usages and established customs of the order “ before we even knew what they were.

Now that’s optimism!

But wait a minute. Aren’t we living longer? And healthier? And aren’t we better off? When I was a boy poor people were really poor. They didn’t have enough to eat, they lived in damp and derelict housing (Even in the 60s in medical School we went on public heath visits to houses with water running down the walls. No cable TV??? They didn’t even have running hot water. (We didn’t have a third world in those days—we all lived in it!) Thousand s died of polio, they still were dying (in England ) of smallpox, measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever. And it was not unusual to see a funeral procession carrying a little white coffin.

Golden wedding celebrations were almost unheard of and people were OLD when they were 70.

So it is getting better. Life that is. On average in Canada we live until we are 82. Women a little longer than men. (If you don’t believe that go into any retirement home in Ottawa and ask the large group of old ladies sitting in the lounge how many men live there. And don’t go alone onto an elevator with a group of them!

But gloom sells. It’s even considered a positive and useful thing. Millions are made publishing books foretelling disaster and mayhem : unless we don’t stop killing ourselves or start getting more medical tests or eating the right things or taking the right medicine or asking your doctor if this is right for you.

And it’s all wrong. We are making more progress and faster progress than ever in history. Within 20 years the human life span will be increasing by more than 12 months every year. Think about the consequences of that.

When I first started preparing this talk the European financial system was collapsing. We were being told that old folk were proliferating madly (Really??) and would soon outnumber children. The streets would be full of grannies and we would have an acute shortage of Nursing home beds and nannies for grannies.

But then I hear about one of our brethren jumping from an airplane to celebrate his 70^th birthday. And then another for his 97^th! Wow.

Not long ago this would have been unheard of.

So why am I so optimistic. And so cynical of the doom and gloom?

Well because of the rate of progress. What has enabled us to improve our lot?

I can say it in a word.

SHARING.

Quote from Thomas Jefferson “ He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening mine”

Genetically we are identical to the people who lived in caves. We are probably no more intelligent. They, like us could identify a problem and think about solutions to it. They could look forward and identify upcoming hazards. Then create strategies to avoid them. The major difference is that they had few resources to do this and, more importantly, a much smaller group with whom to share ideas or solutions.

Today ideas and solutions can be shared almost instantly with millions. In the 60’s, a medical student needed a large library, a personal collection of books, subscriptions to journals and a good memory to access the information needed to qualify and then keep up with progress . Ten years ago you could put all the equipment you needed to do the same thing on a desktop if you had about $8000.

Today you can have a tiny device in your pocket that cost about $200 that does the same thing. In my remote hospital in Northern Ontario in 2005 I could get a face-to-face consultation with an expert anywhere in the World who could see and talk to and examine the patient.

Within 30 years that tiny computer will more than likely be implanted into the doctors body. And by a process using AI , nano technology, and brain sharing, she will access information seamlessly.

(It will do wonders for Masonic ritual!)

Sharing of tools, Sharing of information, Sharing of genes by sexual reproduction.

We are Masons. We attend lodge meetings and in those meetings we share ideas. Good ideas. Ideas like the application of the ruler, the gavel, and the chisel to everyday life. We practice brotherly love, relief and truth, the four cardinal virtues, temperance, fortitude, prudence & justice

And then we go out into the World and we demonstrate those virtues daily. By so doing we are happy and communicate (or share) that happiness with others.

Brethren: we have a lot to be hopeful about. Optimism is in our souls. Lets share our happiness with others.

JMF

October 26^th 2010

John Forster's blog

Let there be Light

How to Read the Bible

The crucial importance of long-range planning.

For THE BUILDERS LODGE official visit. January 17th, 2011

Thomas Goetz: It's time to redesign medical data | Video on TED.com

The Timeless Vitality of Masonry

Making good men better Part 1

Making Good Men Better Part 2

The Hidden Mysteries

A short talk on Morality

Be good, it’s good for you

Learning the Ritual

Optimism

For THE BUILDERS LODGE official visit. January 17^th, 2011