The Guiding Light / Jan. 2016 9
The West Gate
My Brothers a new year is upon us. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and you are ready for a new year. It is time to make those resolutions and march forward with a new attitude and opportunity to be a better man. This time of year brings hope and promise.
We recently raised a new Master Mason in our lodge. We practiced regularly to make this a special occasion for a good man. The effects of that practice brought forth a solid degree. As we went through this process, I continue to strive for more light and understanding of Masonry. I went back and read a little from the Master Mason Handbook and the following passage caught my attention.
The Master Mason degree is the crown of the Ancient Craft lodge. It is the culmination of all that has been taught and revealed to the candidate in the two preceding degrees. As he began his Masonic journey, the candidate was initiated into a new philosophical life in the Entered Apprentice degree. After working to subdue his passions and learning silence and obedience, the candidate was passed to the degree of Fellow Craft. After having symbolically mastered the intellectual and philosophical arts and sciences and crossed the threshold from the outer to the inner, from the material to the spiritual, he became ready to be raised to the Sublime degree of Master Mason. Being raised to the Sublime degree refers to being exalted or elevated. It also means to undergo sublimation that, like distillation, requires a volatilization of a substance that rises and re-forms at a higher level. The significance of this degree is the portrayal of the removal of everything that keeps us from rising to that state where the soul communes with the Divine. It also represents a symbolic rebirth into the spiritual world, the true abode of the soul.
I continue to be fascinated by this process of becoming a Master Mason. It is not an overnight event. It is sometimes years in the making. The moment you are raised to the Sublime degree is somehow meant to be rebirth after a lengthy learning process. Can that process be repeated within Masonry? I get the sense that it can, each time I witness or participate in a degree of any level. I watch and remember my path to the Sublime degree, and each time I see it from a different perspective.
My point, we can all learn new things. We can all start fresh each year, or each day for that matter. We should continue to sublimate daily. Look for a way to bring something new to the lodge this year. It might be volunteering in a different capacity, offering to become a part of a degree team, or offer to fill an office and get involved in the business of the lodge. I wish the best for each of you and your lodges in 2016. Go forth and do good things!
Randall S. King, Senior Warden