I meant to post this back on the 17th, but let it slip by.Bro. Tom Accuosti has written a terrific article on his blog Tao of Masonry titled "Guarding the West Gate." It's one of the best articles I've seen on a Masonic blog, ever, on any Masonic subject.
He writes:
The concern that I've been hearing a lot recently is that we, as a fraternity, are failing to guard the West Gate. The implication seems to be that we, as a fraternity, are no longer attracting "the greatest and best of men" and are instead happy to settle for those who think little of our historic and fraternal culture, that we are on a mad rush toward mediocrity....Read the entire article.
The Craft is no more in danger from within than it was 200 years ago, because we are not attracting people who are any different than those of 200 years ago. No, the admonishments of our obligations are there precisely because the early founders knew that the West Gate would never be perfectly guarded, that some men would be overcome by their passions, and that human nature will sometimes overshadow the moral virtues that we try to emulate.
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Gosh, thanks WS. I was actually inspired by some of the, er, lively and gleeful discussions that I've seen here in the last few months.
ReplyDeleteI know that you're not in total agreement with my conclusion, and I'll admit that it's open for discussion. But my main point is that I do not think that what we see today is any major change from what was going on in the fraternity 200 years ago.
Tom Accuosti
The Tao of Masonry
I'm sure 200 years ago there were indeed cads and scalawags in Freemasonry, but I doubt they wore overalls to lodge meetings.
ReplyDeleteAnd I gotta believe that back then grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy — the seven liberal arts and sciences — were given a bit more attention than they are today.
— W.S.