By Frederic Milliken
Have you ever wondered what it is about being a Freemason? I mean what is that certain something you can’t quite put a handle on. Oh, we all know the great life of dedication a Mason lives, inspired by what “The Craft” teaches him. We all know that freemasonry is something special. You only have to join to realize that you are far and away above the Elks and The Lions Club. But what attracts a mason to keep coming back, to never miss lodge, to thirst for time with his brothers, who just can’t wait until the next communication? What does the Mystic Tie mean? What does it refer to?
I read an article in the JOBS section of the Dallas Morning News which I clipped and threw on my “stack of stuff” on my desk. The article won’t leave me, won’t let me alone. Twice I have started to throw this clipping in the waste basket and was not able to do it. Something was calling to me, nudging me, asking me to see beyond the superficial.
The title of the article was Try Detox To Deal With Work Disappointment by Mildred L. Culp. DETOX, DETOX, DETOX, the words kept ringing in my ears, constantly in my thoughts. So my writing Angel wants me to talk about DETOX, and so I will. But this is not about alcohol or drugs but about life and its toxins.
Ms. Culp quotes many different authorities on this subject. Certified kundalini yoga instructor Gurujas Kaur of Santa Monica, CA says, “You simply, absolutely need an outlet. It’s as if you fill a vase of water and pour and pour to overflowing…..Emotional detox is a way for you to rid yourself of the toxins that have polluted your psyche.” And she isn’t referring to clinical depression but to a general state.
Motivational speaker Paul Davis of Dream-Makers Inc. in Orlando, FL says in the article, “Don’t stay where you are tolerated. Go where you are celebrated.” Celebration, ah, a word I understand well.
We live in a world of constant stress with many people we associate with who are not of good character. We hurry to work, grabbing a sausage, egg and cheese from the drive thru, and get on that freeway that is beep and creep, stall and crawl all the way to work. We inch along gulping our food, shaving, making calls on our cell phone and having seven fits at the driver in front of us who lets every Tom, Dick and Harry go in front of her. At our exit a driver whips his auto from the middle lane to a turn off right in front of us, giving us half a peace sign as he cuts us off. At the office a fellow worker screws us and everybody else in an attempt to step on us on the way to the top. We are called an A-hole by our peers and our boss wants to know why we didn’t do the report he never gave us because his boss is demanding to know who screwed up. The trip home is a repeat performance of the morning commute in. We come home and reach for the scotch and settle into the easy chair and flip on the TV.
OR DO WE? Maybe we got out for the evening and DETOX. DETOX from life and from the stress that has us taking tums and aspirin. We go to lodge. We go where we can connect with men of like character, who will not curse or be rude and crude. We go to pay homage to those ideas that have made men noble and great from time immemorial. And ultimately maybe we move our life from being tolerated to being celebrated because masonry has showed us what it’s all about. Maybe we think about changes we could make in our life to get us on the path of fulfillment.
When I think of what lodge does for us I picture it as being:
• Family
• A stress reducer
• A place of comfort – leaving your cares behind
• Where one goes to be motivated and inspired
• Building character ~ satisfying soul
• Leaving the world behind and opening up the possibilities of striving for perfection
• Gathering insights into self-improvement
• Reassurance
• Discovering how to being some peace into one’s world
• Help
• Brotherly love and affection
So the next time this little voice says to you, “What do you want to go to lodge for tonight”, tell it you already know the answer and you are going. And may you find peace and meaning and mission in your life.ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Frederic L. Milliken is a Past Master of Plymouth Lodge, Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Past Master of Paul Revere Lodge, Brockton, Massachusetts of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts AF & AM. He was William Munroe in the Paul Revere Colonial Degree Team and Squire Bentley in Carl Claudy's Masonic play A Rose Upon The Altar. Presently, he is a member of Pride of Mt. Pisgah No. 135, of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas F & AM, where is he is also a Prince Hall Knight Templar. Fred is an Honorary Fellow of the Phylaxis Society and Executive Director of the Phoenixmasonry Masonic Museum & Library. He also writes for the Masonic website Freemason Information - http://freemasoninformation.com/
