I am going to share something from inside the Lodge. I do not really consider this a “Masonic Secret” as much as I do “Masonic Common Sense”. But then the majority of our lessons are very common sense. Maybe that’s why it takes a lifetime to master them?
So in a number of Masonic Lodges, we have a section of the floor that is adorned with black and white squares. Of course, these are symbolic and can go a number of different directions. Light, Dark, Good, Evil, Understanding, Ignorance, Balance, Disharmony.
Today I saw a meme that said something I have tried to say my whole life. Sometimes, you forget the simple lessons and make a mistake. Sometimes, as you navigate the squares of that carpet, you do your best to walk on the white squares. But there are days you stand fully on a black one.
The Meme I saw said the following: “Be careful not to dehumanize those you disagree with. In our self-righteousness, we can become the very thing we criticize in others. “
No matter the issue, the disagreement, etc. DO NOT dehumanize the other person. Just don’t do it…for a few reasons.
The first being that person is a human being and a creation of the GAOTU. Behaving like it or not, they are. If we dehumanize them and degrade them, we are degrading the creator.
If you dehumanize and attack the person and not the “issue,” you really have no point, or your point is VERY weak.
Lastly, if we treat another person as something less in our “holier than thou” attitude. We have just become inhumane, and we are better than that. No, I do not care what they have done. We are the exact image of what we are “raging” against.
I love you, and may we govern ourselves accordingly.
WB Duane A. Marshall
A Past Master’s Thoughts
