OCTOBER 17, Word of the Year BY: DAVID A. KING, 32

Transcription

1 OCTOBER 17, 2016 Word of the Year DENVER CONSISTORY ORATION BY: DAVID A. KING, 32 At the beginning of the year during our First 2016 Scottish Rite Officers Meeting our Prelate, Illustrious Brother Jim Harris, shared with us one of his personal traditions. Each New Year's Day he selects a word and then reflects on it each day during that year. The word can be any word that has some meaning to him. At the end of the year he is surprised at the knowledge and in-site he has achieved. He suggested that we may want to adopt this tradition ourselves. Having known Jim for since becoming a Scottish Rite Mason and respecting his council as our Prelate, and as a friend, I decided to follow his suggestion. The first step was to select my word of the year, and being a Scottish Rite Mason, I believed this should relate to some Masonic activity or symbol. I could have selected something like square, compasses or light but, I settled on education, and thought: what more appropriate word for a member of the University of Masonry.

2 My First step was a little basic; I looked up the definition of Education. Webster defines Education as 1. The act or process of teaching or being taught. Or 2. Knowledge, skill, and development gained from study or training. Other dictionaries will also make reference to the fact that education can be in a structured environment such as a school, college, or university, or in an informal setting, such as demonstrations, discussions, or research. So where did my reflection take me? The Grand Architect gave us a very strong power of observation and he demonstrated to early man how to use basic tools. I believe that one day millions of years ago an early man may have seen a rock fall on a pile of some type of food that was enclosed in a shell. Possibly acorns or walnuts, and these shells were cracked open exposing what turned out to be an edible treat. Maybe on some other day a stick fell from a tree into an ant hill or termite hill and a hungry man picked it up and ate the insects that were crawling on it. In both of these cases the observer learned something about using tools (Rocks and Sticks) to his advantage. (Education) When I think of early man, I envision the passing of knowledge, or education, being done by an old master of a trade or skill, sharing and instructing the young with the Word of the Year Consistory Oration 2016 By David A. King, 32 proper techniques and the secrets that he had received in his youth plus the new knowledge he had acquired over his lifetime. Just think about it Brothers, for the majority of mankind's time on Earth, I am saying millions of years, the knowledge was passed by demonstration and word of mouth. I find it amazing the vast amount of knowledge that has been passed down generation after generation over time, and I am sure that some knowledge, such as how the pyramids were really built, was lost to us through this same process. But, due to limited distribution, and then some natural disaster or pandemic killing those that held this knowledge, this knowledge was lost.

3 As Scottish Rite Masons one of our duties is to seek education and to learn as much as we can about our Fraternity. The good news is we live in an age of having more information at our fingertips than ever before. But we must be sure that the education we seek is from a credible source. There are a lot of authors and experts that make their opinions appear to be factual, with little or no hard facts to support them, and their opinions are basically speculative Remember the January February Scottish Rite Journal? Our Grand Commander's message encouraged each of us to improve ourselves in Freemasonry. He suggested we read everything we could find on Freemasonry and to consider taking the Master Craftsman course. To add to that, I suggest that you also check the Book Reviews in the Scottish Rite Journal. They provide a wide range of works that are appropriate for the Novice through the Masonic expert. These are excellent reviews, and many of these books are online with sample downloads for free, which allow you to read a portion of the book to see if you really wish to purchase it, and usually at a very reasonable price. This summer I purchased a word searchable copy of Morals and Dogma for $.99 from Amazon. FYI I have tried several times to read Morals and Dogma from cover to cover and failed. However, I have found that there is a lot of benefit in taking a lecture from a Degree and working my way through it. Also, check the Grand Lodge websites and Scottish Rite Valley websites, many of these have down-loadable Masonic documents with no charge. Brothers there are tons more great Masonic Documents available to us than our Masonic forebears ever had access to. Another great Masonic Publication is The Short Talk Bulletin published by the Masonic Service Association. This is a pamphlet published monthly with a Masonic Message that will inspire a lot of reflection for the small price of $12 a year.

4 You will find education is a never ending journey. There is always another document or another opinion on our symbols and their interpretation. Also, just like our Degrees if you go back through a book or lecture you may find a deeper meaning than you did the first time through. You may even change your opinion on some of your own interpretations of our symbols. However, our own education is only half of our Masonic duty. My good friend, Illustrious Brother Jim Berardino, often said learning anything without passing it on is amounts to nothing more than self gratification or mental master masturbation. Think back again to our early ancestors. The young warriors were eager to learn all they could from the older generation only to become the older generation themselves in a few years. The older generation must take on the duties of teacher or mentor or the knowledge is lost. With the advent of the internet most of our candidates have researched our fraternity and have very high hopes of what we have to offer. We are all members of at least one Blue Lodge, and have sat through numerous meetings that consisted of nothing but reading of the last meetings minutes, paying the bills, voting on petitions and little or no meaningful Masonic Education, and we wonder why new Candidates fail to become Proficient Master Masons and eventually drift off. As I stated earlier we are all members of the University of Masonry, Brothers I submit to you that any Master of a Blue Lodge would generously give you a few minutes of candle time to pass on some of your Masonic knowledge to the Brothers of your Lodge. In closing I would like to leave you with three things to consider. First, learn as much as you can about our Fraternity, from as large a variety of sources that you can find. Second, pass on your knowledge in your Blue Lodge to help educate your Brothers. Third consider picking your own Word of the Year and reflecting on it, you may be surprised at the insights you will gain.

5 Thank you Jim for sharing your tradition with us and I look forward to next year's word and insights.