KING DAVID:
The Entered Apprentice Lecture;
THE FIRST LECTURE
Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it
Exodus 35:5
Title: “BRING YOUR HEART”
Here we are; fine! Can we all take our seats, please?
Fine; very good. Can we keep that window open – is that too much
“night air” on you? No? Well, all right; very good. I like a little
“night air”. It feels good after a long day; it’s conducive to
sleeping. However, I hope that there won’t be anyone sleeping in here.
Tonight (Laughter). Anyway, it’s all good.
Good evening, my newly Initiated Brothers. My name is Brother **** *
******. I am a Past Master, here in Time Immemorial Lodge No. 5740, of
which you are its newest members. My position is that of Grand Lecturer.
I earned this title, not on account of any vast knowledge that I have.
This will be made demonstrably clear to you as we progress. I have this
title of Grand Lecturer because I can talk the longest. That, as well,
will be made demonstrably clear to you as we move forward through this
Degree (if we ever do).
Actually, there are two speaking Offices: Grand Lecturer and Grand
Orator. I would have made Grand Orator only I have something to say. The
Grand Orator is a long talker who can talk a long time, usually about
nothing. A Grand Lecturer is one who has a skill in the Degree work and
who can talk about that which he knows (and take a long time doing it).
The Grand Orator makes speeches about Freemasonry and things pertaining
thereunto. A Grand Lecturer, on the other hand, repeats the Lectures
from memory. He is the original “talking head”, if you will. If the
Grand Lecturer can also speak a little bit concerning the meanings of
what he is parroting, all the more better. So I am a Grand Lecturer who,
in addition to being a Masonic “parrot”, has an inclination to talk
about this thing of ours called Freemasonry.
Let me now call the roll in order to ascertain that everyone is here.
[DONE]
We shall use, as a reference, the Greatest Light in
Freemasonry, the volume of Sacred Law, which must be present and open
upon the Altar of every Masonic Lodge. We refer to the Holy Bible as
Light because it is the fount of all Masonic wisdom and discourse. We
call it Light because through it, we come to Know. Yes,
a blind man can feel and thus come to “Know” through feelings, but a
blind man can’t see that which is his source of Knowledge. His tactile
senses tell him one thing but without sight, he has no corroboration.
Possessing sight, we can see and instantly corroborate what we see. Now
then, I grant you, there is the issue of Mind versus Reality and how do
we know which is which. We will get there, but not in this Degree. Here
in this Degree, you are just children or, as we refer to it, Youth. The
Entered Apprentice Degree, the great First Degree in Freemasonry,
symbolizes YOUTH. The Entered Apprentice degree is the foundational
degree in Freemasonry. It is here that you will confront
the basic inculcative paradigm, peculiar to Freemasonry, called,
severally, The Lectures.
LEARN YOUR WORK
Your Worshipful Masters have told you to study them in
order to demonstrate suitable proficiency. I cannot stress his advice
more. I want to say that I Command you to commit them to memory. It may
take you some time. That is alright; you have the rest of your life. But
if you persevere, once learned they are not forgotten. So let me be the
first to tell you the three greatest words in ritualistic Floor Work: Learn
Your Work!
But, returning to the point at hand, in the First Degree
you are born, spiritually born You have just been spiritually born. You
are just hours old. The knot on your tummy, where your umbilical cord
used to be, is yet tender. You have just learned to Walk even taken your first baby steps, left foot first, right heel into the Hollow. You have
just learned to talk and your first words Buzz as the busy Bee as he
flies down to the Zider Zee. Over, Always and never through. In the
Northeast corner is your cornerstone laid, the mortar still damp, so you
must be Cautious, on your words and actions. You have a few
tools with which to measure how much rough stone to chip off with your
little hammer, the common gavel. It is just a common gavel. That is all
it is. It is not heavy nor is it light. Even so, it can precisely chip,
chip, chip away the rough inexactitudes and square up your Rough Ashlar.
For you are now beginning to learn how to construct your Spiritual
Temple. A Temple in the sky where, as a result of your well-lived life,
you hope to occupy. And you know that Black folksong about
“Sending up my timber every day”? Well, I wouldn’t send up any
timber, if I were you, unless, of course, you want to live in a wooden
house. I would send up stone, squared and true so that they fit
together, interlocking in accordance to the plans, which you will lay
down for your life as a Master Mason. You are just Masons; that’s what
the Brothers call you. You are not yet Master Masons, nor do I know
that you will ever be.
But then, it is to this Light that we want to refer, on this cool
winter evening. In every page of the Great Light is a clue for your good
living. In every page of the Great Light can be found those things,
which will help you through your stages of growth as a man. A man has
three general stages of maturity, Youth Manhood and Old-age. You are in
Youth. You disagree? You say that you are Man? Well; isn’t that nice.
You know you are a man. Yes, I suppose you have a point there; for that
is how you got here, being a Man, freeborn and of lawful age and well
recommended. But get this straight right now. Freemasonry is a Spiritual
journey. It is not a physical excursion. You were born, spiritually, on
the other night. Spiritually, you are just a Youth. The Lodge that you
were born in is your Mother. Mother Joppa, Mother Saint John, Mother
Covenant and so forth. Being a Mason in Freemasonry, is being one in, and
within, the Spirit.
You had heard a lot about Freemasonry. You probably even knew somebody
who wore a Masonic ring or sported the Masonic “Lights” on his car
fender, blue jacket, cap, or sometimes, (I am told) in both his ears,
eyebrow and all up his pants-leg). Curious, you went to such a One and
inquired concerning Freemasonry. I don’t know what he told you, but
whatever he told you should not be at variance with anything you are
going to hear from me, unless, of course, you were talking to someone
who was attempting to escape from the realm. If it was such a one, I
shudder to think what he could have told you: that Freemasonry is a
dance club, a barstool, 10 tickets and three raffles, a way to “get
on” in the world, a means through which you can flash a sign and
escape going to jail for murder or whatever the heinous crime you may
have committed, or a way to steal money easily from the ever trusting
Masons, or how you can “kick it” with the fine Sisters you will meet
in the Order of the Eastern Star, or how you can use the excuse of
nights out down at the Temple to play the field and lay up with
your woman in an act of adultery, or for how can buy a Cadillac on the
cheap from that big Black Cadillac dealer in the middle of the city who
is now your lodge brother, or how you can go up and get the high Degrees
and sport yourself as a 33° Mason; how you can be a Grand Master, wear
a gold collar and purple gauntlets and that fancy jewel which nobody has
been able to figure out what it means not to mention what it is.
Or maybe you have surveyed the place upon your free entrance and said
that it was just big enough. Big enough for you to get into, move in on,
take over, and control. Maybe you have figured that you can eventually
run the place; make a life. Become the head and then launch an
interminable building program, one which will have the Grand Lodge mired
up for twenty years, at least. Then finagle the Grand Lodge to pay you a
“consultants” fee (a salary; you know that and I know that but they
don’t know that) for your expertise, just like it was done over in Big
City. Yeah, you probably heard that true story and thought that this
would be a good living. Maybe you looked ‘em over and came to
the conclusion that these Brothers don’t know anything; that you can
be the top dog in here and straighten everything and everybody out.
Or, you may have looked at this as a means through which you can sell
houses, make money in your pyramid scheme, hold big Tupperware parities,
sell refrigerators, storm windows, lots in Florida or that ever it is
that you do for a living. In these and other diverse ways,
perhaps you came in here to augment your living.
Now on THAT point you are close to home For Freemasonry is about making
a good living. It is about profiting from all the Supreme Architect Of
The Universe put here for your enjoyment. It is about making a good
living all right; it's about living a good life. Freemasonry is about
the one solitary life; not his life or their lives but you own life.
Now, then, if you think that you are living well and have no need to
improve your life, then, speaking for myself, I am glad that God sent
you here. For I have yet to meet a perfect man such as you show yourself
to be. There is a God! Fine then, learn your Masonic Work, come to the
head of the Craft and loom Large in your instructional largesse and
teach us all how to live this good and perfect life that you have. I,
will be your most enthusiastic pupil. For lo after these many years, I
still have not figured it out:
How to walk on eggs without breaking them.
How to raise up a child in the way that he should go without making him
ever cry or manifest unhappiness,
How to please a wife and never have her angry with out a cause,
How to work on a job and do it well but suffer continual hurts as they
repeatedly pass me over for my inferiors to be the Supervisor, the
Foreman, the Area Director, the Senior Vice President,
How to swallow the hurt and choke back the anger when, after all your
seniority and all you did for those bosses, much of it off the clock to
save their sorry butts from being found out by the other sorry bosses up
on the top, they wouldn’t let you have the professional honor, to drive
the first new bus out of the Garage; to get the important run; the run
with the delicate equipment which only the best and most trustworthy
drivers would have the honor of pulling.
You know how to do this thing of perfect living. Bless you, my
Brother. Bear with the rest of us in here as we struggle through the
First Degree to get to your level.
Of course, there are two more Degrees coming. You will have ample means
to prove your mettle. But I am running ahead of myself. See how I carry
on? It is because of all this blabbering that I am a Grand Lecturer.
Don’t bother to watch the clock. The clocks are unplugged. The clocks
don’t work in Freemasonry. We are on our own clocks we have our own
time. I have just begun my little talk. Who knows, I may still be here
‘til morning, talking about Freemasonry. And I will not be alone; for
there are those who love this Mason talk. For that is what we care forth
here to do” To learn and by the learning, to improve ourselves in
Masonry.
We Labor and Work from “see” to “can’t see”. What’s that you
ask? When we Labor, we meet and give Instruction. When we Work, we
confer Degrees. Last evening we were Working. We Worked on you. This
evening we are Laboring. We are Laboring to bring the Light to you. Last
evening we brought you to Light. This evening we Labor to bring Light to
you. And this is a big job. For you are important. You are big where you
come from. You had to divest yourself, to demonstrate or rather to
facilitate your egress from your mother’s womb. But now you sit among
us as big men; big Entered Apprentices. Big in mind, if not so big in
spirit. To the Masonic class you have come, bringing your big body, you
big mind and, yes, if truth can be told, your big spirit. For it was the
move of your spirit that drove you to ask that Brother with the Lights
to sponsor you. It was a move of your spirit that impelled you to park
your Lexus on this dark block, a block where you would not have ever
dreamed of parking your big black chariot (although you
locked it and set the atomic bomb timer), it was a move
of your spirit, fighting against your will, that enabled you to climb
those steps to get in here.
Your spirit dismisses the need for a paint job, or a rug job, or a
plumbing job or a floor job. You spirit give your mind impetus to
overlook whatever it is that you see that would, under any other
circumstances, turn you off, send back down and into your Lexus (that
is, if it is still there). You were expecting hanging chandeliers,
recessed lighting, soft spots, like the funeral home you were in,
singing fountains and soft music like that big church you were in, deep
rugs and fancy door knobs like the Waldorf-Astoria banquet hall you were
last in. You are oblivious to the fact that, soon and very soon, you
will have your wish to be in such a fancy place, that is, if your family
can afford it. For if you left them well disposed, you will get your
wish. You will be the guest of honor. You will be resplendent in your
tuxedo, in that narrow but beautiful house, prepared for all living;
that house which will be, no doubt, especially handcrafted of African
mahogany with plush pink interiors; too bad you won’t get to enjoy it;
but that’s another story. The carpets will be deep, the rug red, the
lights soft, the music sweet, the air heavy with the luscious smell of
flowers. And, if they really “love” you they will come back from the
cemetery and lavishly, eat and drink up the money you left for
their well being.
You don’t really want to tell anybody about this place. You want
to keep it a secret a Masonic Secret. You look around you at the walls,
the floors, the curtains and your spirit tells you to ignore these
things and push on. Good spirit it is who will tell you such a thing as
that. For it is in the pushing on past the material things that you get
to the immaterial and hence the spiritual. Thus, spiritually speaking,
like, every one of the men in here are Brothers. That every one of the
Brothers in here are men you can Trust to drive home your Lexus for you,
while you are headed in the opposite direction, perhaps, to Henry Ford
Emergency. You can trust that Brother to park it in your garage and take
the thousand dollars out of the glove compartment directly to the bank,
as you instructed him as you lay upon the gurney on the way to the
hospital, and to give you a receipt, up in your hospital room, if you
are conscious, hold it for you, if you are unconscious or give it to
your widow. The money will be in the bank, that your widow will attest
to, and your greedy disappointed distant relatives, as well.
You can’t find such trustworthy people, such as good Lodge Brothers,
in the places you normally frequent. However nice they are, you can
never say, even at the point of a gun that every single one of them are
men you can trust, sight unseen, name unknown, with your life, your wife
and your children’s honor. Look around you at all these men You may
have more money that some of them. You may be more intelligent that most
of them. You may be better educated that any of them, you may speak
better English than some of them. You may be large and in charge of all
of them. Maybe they could not even get into the door of that high
powered factory, office, glass tower where you previously “lived,
moved and had your being”. But these little men all around you in
this, perhaps, scruffy place, are your Brothers and what is more they
are Honest Men. They may not be smart. They may not have heads for
business, but when the business of life is on the front burner, when
your cake is in the oven, your head is on the block, you butt is
in the street looking up at your house that is a-burning down, when you
wife has put you out for that young boy, when that young boy who
used to call you daddy and now who you call doctor after you worked
three jobs to put him through Medical school, when you can’t get a
returned phone call, a moment alone, a birthday card (not to mention a
Fathers day card; you can’t even get a Fathers day card from the
Doctor you made: for he has already done told you that he made it on his
own; you didn’t do a blasted thing for him) I said when you get to
stand, body erect, heel in Hollow before these things that are the stuff
of life, then you can see the merit in the Brothers around you. For they
all have seen the Light, they all have Light. They all give Light. They
all bring Light. It is to this Light, that you have come to renew
your Spirit, to become a good Spirit, to let your Good Spirit take
control once more, the way he was in control when you were a kid. You
are now a kid again, driven by this Good Spirit, into a plain humble
place around Plain People, Brothers and Men of Tyre.
What did you bring with you. I saw you standing body erect, heel in
hollow you did not have anything of metallic value to deposit in the
archives of your Lodge. Nothing to put in your Mother’s pocketbook.
You brought your gold watch and your rings, but you left them outside.
Nobody ever was born with a gold watch and a ring. You left your $150.00
shoes and those classy pants, that leather coat and bulky knit sweater
outside. Wasn’t anybody you ever knew who was born with shoes on and
sweaters bulky. You stood erect, heel in Hollow with nothing of value,
metallic or otherwise.
Ah, but my Brothers, you did Bring something into the lodge. That
something without which you could have never entered. That something
without which you would have never asked about the fraternity. That some
thing with out which, your spirit, as well as your body would be dead.
You brought your Heart. Indeed, one of the first things the Mother
taught you was where were you first prepared to be made a Mason? Am I
right? What was your answer: "In your Pocket book"? Well,
maybe, if your Lodge is as high as mine. It took $300.00 to be able to
knock on the door in my Lodge. And they are thinking of going up. I hope
yours was not a "high lodge". But then, if it was, so
much the better. For that meant you have to sacrifice to be able to make
the down payment on your three Degrees. You still have two more to go.
How many nights of Overtime will it take for you to satisfy the
Secretary?
Where were you first prepared to be made a Mason, on your job? Is that
right! You and your sponsor are going to kick it together, as tight
Lodge Brothers, and he is going to insure that you a promotion
into the middle management where you can ride around the plant all day
with a walkie-talkie looking good, giving orders, disrespecting people
and parking in the special space reserved for your big Lexus? Well, this
night your sponsors soul will be required of him and you wont even be
able to walk in the funeral procession and drop your evergreen For you
are not yet a Master Mason Nor do I know, at the rate you
are going, and for the reasons you came in here, I Do not know that you
will ever be.
Where were you first prepared to be made a Mason? That is
a good question now. You have the answer? Let us hear it. In your Heart?
In your heart, you say. Oh, really, in your heart! What heart? In your
chicken heart? It takes courage to be A Mason. In your dog’s heart?
Well though rough be the chicken or doggy edges you will, knock them off
with your little hammer the common gavel. Common for such as has common
hearts of a chicken. For you are a mighty man of valor; and as such, you
need not the heart of a chicken You would much rather have the instincts
and the courage of a junk-yard dog, but you wont tolerate no man
insinuating you to be dog. Where then is this heart of yours?
Is it in your bag? Don’t put your bag down or else we will all be
rich. For surely it is a heart of Gold. Oh No? You say that if it was
heart of gold, you would not carry it in a bag? I don’t blame you. If
I had a heart of Gold, I wouldn't do so either. So then it is a cheap
heart that you carry in your bag. It had better be, seeing as how
thieves lurk to rob you at a moment’s notice. You say your heart is
not gold, but something that can be carried in a bag. Then it can be
stolen. Traded in for something better. Oh yes, there is a market for
hearts. Ask any woman. No, better yet, ask any man. That one who came
home from church and heard his wife moaning in the bed beneath his best
friend, the head Deacon. Hearts are made to be broken. Ask any woman,
better yet, ask any man. that one who whose heart crashed into a
thousand pieces at the sight of his son coming down on his Jones.
What that - you heart isn’t in any bag? Oh, good where is it then, is
it on your sleeve? Is it a tattoo? Really. Let us see it. Oh! Very
beautiful. It is a tattoo of your mother. I Love My Mother. That it what
it says. Great art. Who do it? You say your mama put it there? You say
you love your mama above all? You say you will leave your wife to go aid
your mama? You say that you mama comes first in your life, even before
you wife and family? You say that you Mama this and your mama that?
Really!
Well, I am glad you have found the time to drop by. For
your Lodge is your mama now. Your Lodge is your teacher now. Your Lodge
will rock you and dry your tears; now you have another big mama. This
mamma, Mother Saint John, Mother Jopppa, Mother King of Tyre, Mother
Covenant, Mother Pythagoras, Mother Euclid, whatever her name is, she
ain’t taking second place to nobody. For, you see, one day, and that
soon, you will bury your mama. But Mother Saint John will live forever.
Mother Saint John will bury you! You will have to listen to your mama's
complaining and getting grumpy as she gets older and, bless her, falls
ill; you know how this can be. Mother King of Tyre, the older she gets
the more beautiful the more smooth her face the supple her limbs, the
better to help you up when you fall, bring you back down when you have
flown too high, stuff you back into yourself when you have gotten large.
And, as I said, when at last your working tools have fallen from
your hands, Mother Joppa, Mother Alpha, Mother Meridian Mother Saint
John will bury you. Yes. Even when you are cold and in storage with no
name to put on the tag on your toe, because nobody knows who that
“John Doe” is. Mother will send her sons, your Brothers, dressed up
in black, lights on, to pose as cousins, uncles, or whatever it takes to
get your remains out of the refrigerator, and onto an embalming table
and from thence into some good looking 20 gauge steel, Grey, Copper
toned, or even blue (preferably blue) and onto a church truck and in a
nice tuxedo and bury you with the noble and glorious formalities that
are reserved for the upright man and Mason. And Mother Saint John.
Mother Joppa, or maybe even Grand Mother King David will pay for it.
Mother will pack up your things, see that they get distributed
respectfully and not put out on bulk-pickup day. Mother will take your
dog in, make a home for your cat, take your birds, your books and
maybe even your children. It the Labor and the Work of Mother
Saint John, Mother Joppa, Mother Beta, Mother New Light, or whatever
your Mother’s name is. Well, your heart is not in your bag, nor is it
on your sleeve, you’re ticky, you are. Let’s see. I saw you, we all
say you standing erect, heel in the hollow, your heart was not in your
hands. Where then can such a hear be, Ah yes. In your mind.
That is a good place for it. – Or is it? In your mind. where thieve
cannot break in you mind. You hear is in your mind. Is that a good place
for it. I do not know. Let us ask some famous people who have lived
great lives with their hearts in their minds. Let us ask Kobe. His heart
was in His mind. And while it was all up in his mind it showed him that
the young thing was fine and fresh and hey, he can have a little taste
while he is on the road. Oh, can’t you hear it talking? Come on, Kobe;
ain’t nobody gonna know. And the mind feasted on the adulterous
banquet and brought it all up the next day, all over the Eleven
O’clock news. It was almost as if everybody was in his bedroom, seeing
as how they are all up in his business. This is the result of hiding
your heart in your mind. For in your mind the heart can rule. You
don’t want your heart to rule your mind. What? Are you kidding? You
would never pay the rent. You would never get out to go to work,
especially on a cold and nasty day. You could never chastise your
children. You could never give leadership in your home.
What? Forget about giving leadership in your home. You got the big
Strong Black Woman sitting up in your big chair the winged chair the
reclining char the throne with her big legs up on your footstool. And
you know she ain’t giving up a comfortable powerful seat like that.
For you, in her eyes, you ain’t nothing but a man. Now, I will admit,
if you were a White man, ah, that would count for something. For she and
her ancestral Mammies are used to the God Almighty White man to be
large, in charge, and Master. Master says this and Master say that. You
don’t think you comin' into this house acting like you the Master.
She and here friends on Oprah laugh you in derision. They all want to be
like Oprah, large, in charge, setting on bucks with a shirt tailed man,
his heart in his mind, sitting at her feet, or better yet outside the
door, coming in only when he is called. She likes men as long as they do
what she says. And if you don’t think this is the truth, just listen
in on a Hen party. You will get your fill. You will purge your heart out
of your mind. You heart in your mind is what makes you call her
"baby baby", when she won’t even press a shirt for you. baby
baby" when you have to serve up your food your self. She done
cooked it, she says, and she ain’t’ serving up. She ain’t both the
cook and the maid.
She makes more than you do. And she will let you know it in a heartbeat.
She ain’t moving to Boston to further your career. So what if you
gonna be the first Black president of First Boston bank. It is a
decision we should all make together. This is what here women friends
have trained her to say in their Hen parties. Oh, but you have to
stay working in the plant. What do you need to give up that good job
with all that seniority to go to some doggoned college? Wayne State
don’t need no more students. You too old to go to school. Let your
kids go to school. Save your money for your kids. But she decided that
she wants to become a lawyer. What do you mean you ain’t gonna stay
home and watch the kids. She has been inspired by Marcia Clark. She
wants to go on the road as a singer. Puffy Combs has discovered her. She
can get a contract on the Comedy Central and be a star. She is a
new woman and strong Black woman an Ebony Magazine woman, with her back
out, hemline up to her thighs so everybody can see what should be seen
by you alone. Everybody can wish for that which you think you the only
one getting. At least you certainly hope so. You with your heart hidden
in your mind can certainly think so. because your heart hidden in your
mind, will make you think so.
Well, well, well, where is your heart. It is not in your bag (you
didn’t bring any bag into the Lodge. I was there, we all were there,
you did not bring any bag into the Lodge) so your heart was not in your
bag. It is not in your mind. At least you are silent on the point; and
who can blame you? You want to sit silent and by your silence you are
asking: Most Worshipful Grand Lecturer, where then was my heart, if not
in my bag or in my mind? Well, my Brother you heart is where is ought to
be in the body of a regular and well governed Man. How does the
Worshipful Jesus put it in the Greatest Light in Freemasonry in
Matthew 12:34?
OUT OF THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART, THE MOUTH SPEAKETH
YOUR HEART WAS IN YOUR MOUTH
And the first words that it spoke after it was brought to
light gave it away. It could have been in the mind and got up and took
its body the heck out of there and back into the world from whence it
came and that it was used to. It could have been in the bag and gone on
swelling itself in exchange for that which are the wares of the world.
It could have exchanged itself for a bag of money. It could have
exchanged itself for a bag of smack, It could have exchanged
itself for a bag of food: chips, fish, chicken and fried okra and
put you in the hospital with a heart attack from all that big- eating.
But now your heart being in your mouth. Your heart just filled up your
mouth. When you grinned you had to clench your teeth to keep your heart
from falling out. And when you have the temerity to open your mouth at
the Master’s direction that first thing that came out of it was Heart.
All around you, everywhere in this old building the Brothers here heave
Heart. And their hearts are in their mouths, every one of them. True, if
you serve on a Board of Directors, hearts in mouths can make things a
bit difficult at times. For sometimes the heart is so big util the brain
can’t send good thoughts through. The heart blocks good thoughts. What
can we do about this? Nothing in THIS DEGREE. But that is another matter
for another time, you are not there yet and neither do I, or
anyone in here but you, know that you will ever be. Barring
that, when the Master caused you to open your big mouth, lifting up the
portcullis of your teeth which you had clamped down over your big heart,
swollen to twice its size by the joy of your Initiation, the first thing
I heard you to say, we all hear you to say as you hollered it out was
Because you were in your newfound
joy. You are Bold for the truth. You are Brazen
to learn the Truth. Too Blatantly unabashed in your
seeking of the Truth. Body erect, heel in hollow
can’t nobody stop you now in your quest for Truth. You will bear any
burden endure any hardship pay any price. It is good you are thinking
like that. We may have a chance to take you up on it. As the temple is
High, the weather fierce and you have only one lifetime to complete it;
and half your life is gone already and you are just getting started,
your apprenticeship will be a difficult one. For not only will you have
to divide your time between work and play and study. But you may have to
do bedpans, wheelchairs; you might even fall into one yourself. You will
have to take the Burdens, and you can’t talk back
because your mouth is full of heart. The only thing you can say, the
only think you know to say is B. But you’ve already
said that; now the other one is pushing itself out.
O h what a beautiful morning.Oh
what beautiful day; Oh, but isn’t this a wonderful
life. You head is stuck in the pipe shaped like this O,
that it is. Oh, you can’t get your fill of what is
all around you. Oh how you love your Brothers. Oh,
how you love everybody. That is it. That is what this letter O
will do for you. O is a round thing as is the
Earth. O has a circumference, as does the circle
you make with your arms when you hold your WO-man
close. O is the distance within your arm's length,
the circle that you make with your arms. The Outer
limits of your personal jurisdiction. In the middle of the O
is where you are standing, with your Holy Bible and those two friends of
yours John the Baptizer and John, he who writes of Brotherly Love. O
is this not a good feeling to be a Mason in the O
– Circle of the Fraternity? Open you mouth a little
wider for there is something else coming out. Careful, careful; it has a
sharp point at the top. You got to watch the pointy points on this one.
It is not smooth like the O is has no rounded
edges like the B. It is pushing its way out, forward.
Well
A is the first letter of the
alphabet? Wants to be first, does it now! Is that telling you something?
Well it ought. You ought to be first in all you do. Not the first; . It
is not always possible to be the first, but you can be among
the first. You can be among the first if you can reflect
TRUTH. To be good and True is the first lesson Mother taught you. You
want to be a Free- Mason? Know the Truth. Go down into the cellar of
your consciousness, down there where nobody is allowed to go except you.
Take your flashlight and find your way to the Breaker Box on the wall.
You know the one; the box where the power comes in from the street. Only
this Breaker box is connected to that Power which controls the Universe
and is sitting up in Heaven. You want to open the breaker box and look
inside. Search until you find the Breaker that is marked TRUTH
& RIGHT. It is not hard to find. It is Breaker Number 1 on
top. Do you see it? Good. Now look at it closely. Is it all by itself?
Or has the Devil attached his adapters to it. You can tell the Devil’s
adapters, they are big, red and they have a lot of wires running every
which way. The Devil’s adapters enable the TRUTH & RIGHT
Breaker to jump On and Off depending upon the situation. If you have
this adapter screwed on, it is no wonder you had such a hard life and
appeared so wishy-washy. It is a wonder that you made it this far. God
be thanked. Reach up and undo the wires and rip it out. It will smoke
and make a loud noise. That is to scare you off and make you jump back.
The flash won’t hurt you one bit. It is all an illusion. Reach up and
rip the wires out and pull the thing down and out. Now having done that,
throw your TRUTH & RIGHT Breaker to “ON”. Make sure that
it is set to “ON” and stays there. Throw it a few times to be
sure. This having been done, close the breaker box and come back
upstairs to your public life.
Congratulations. You have just done the single most important thing in
your Masonic Life, checking your Breakers and making absolutely sure
that TRUTH & RIGHT are properly set as they should be in any
regular and well governed Upright Man and Mason. With your TRUTH &
RIGHT breaker set to ON, you will always be a Mason. Nothing, I
repeat, nothing can now take you off course.
Listen; there are Brothers and there are “Others”.
What is the difference? Bend and ear and I will tell you.
Freemason is what we all are. That is no news. But all of us in here are
not Free? I’m talking to Masons now. The dumbest most enslaved Mason
is heads above any Profane. I’m taking Masonry to Masons. Mason to
Mason. Once can be a Mason, Heart in mouth standing body erect heel in
hollow and still be not free. For just as Esau sold his birthright to
Jacob for a bowl of delicious of pottage, so too to do some Freemasons
sell their Freedom for Gold Collar; first a Past Master’s collar and
from thence to the big stuff. A Grand Lodge collar and from thence to
the bigger stuff a Grand Lodge appointed Office and from even thence to
the really big stuff, an elected Grand Lodge office and from thence to
the ethereally big stuff to sitting in the Grand West, looking straight
at the Grand East waiting on you time, and from thence to the
moonwalking stuff. Michael Jackson wasn’t the first to do the
Moonwalk; some have been doing it in the Grand Lodge for years. See the
sometimes-moonwalking champions sitting at the right hand of the Grand
Master either waiting for him to die, or plotting his destruction, that
is, if their urge becomes overpowering. Agreeing with everything. Being
everything to everybody. Divorced from Integrity (that’s a big word
and is over your head). These are they whose Breaker for TRUTH &
RIGHT were never thrown to “ON” or else they screwed back in the
Devil’s adapter and the Breaker jumps “On and Off, as Billie Holiday
used to sing, like a faucet. These are the “Others”. They have no
Integrity; indeed, they don’t even know what it is.
What is that? You know what integrity is? Trust me, you do not. Nor do I
know that you ever will. Soon you will have cause to learn of Integrity
and just how much it will cost you. More than your Lexus, parked
outside. More than that Bentley you traded for your Lexus (now that was
a stupid move) More than that house you bought and couldn’t sleep a
nigh in it because as soon as the empty moving truck turned the corner,
you wife told you not to unpack your things, just get the heck out of
Her house. And you, with your heart in your mind, stooped your shoulders
and walked like she told you. Better your heart was in the bag for, when
you picked it up, she might have though it was a gun and thought twice
about disrespecting your Manhood. Ah but it is too far above you. You
are just a kid in Freemasonry. You have just learned to stand, step,
walk and talk. What do you know on Man’s things? This is the stuff of
Man you are not yet a Man Masonically speaking. Yes, I know, you are
over the age of 21, you vote, you buy cigarettes, you probably drink,
but if you do all these things you must surely know that they do not
make you a man. Even if you put a stick of wood or even a brick under
the bed to make sure, voting, drinking and working at big jobs, going to
trade school, graduating from college, even becoming a Supreme Court
Justice does not make you a man. You are a man when you have
walked from A to
Z "Lookka here"! It
fell right out of your mouth; that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
Going all the way. All the way, from the beginning to the end. You are
at the beginning of a journey, which will take you all the way to the
Zenith of your existence. You may have to Zig
Zag to get there, but always at
right angles. You will have to become a Zealot
in your quest for Masonic information, rooting it out, digging it up
spreading your nets and pulling it in from wherever you can finds it.
You are like a Zebra out there in
the Profane world. Everybody has marked you. Some as a source of
admiration some as a target for destruction You will sometimes have to
be like a Zephyr, unseen working
for the Truth in the Dark as well as in the Light. You will have to do
this with Zest. That will
not be so difficult for with your heart in your mouth, your zest for the
truth will spill out of it. For from the abundance of your heart, your
mouth will speak You will live a Zillion
years, die a Zillion times on
your way up to the Temple in the sky. You, every time you come among
your Brother in this Temple or any other, you will be in your Zone.
A Zone wherein you will rest well
protected. You will Zoom through
the emptiness called “life” to the fullness called Joy. So, from a Zygote
toZZion; that is your run.
HERE TODAY YOU HAVE BEGUN IT.
March together little Brothers, don’t you get weary
For there is a great camp meeting on the other side,
Just beyond the river, up in the center of the
Great Wheel of faith; up where
God, Allah, The Force, Divine Mind
Is all one.
It’s a beautiful, it’s a wonderful, it’s a glorious,
Victorious City of God,
Is this, that you humbly seek after
Even this Zion.
Your heart is where you were first prepared to be made a
Mason
Your heart is where you will be a Mason.
Everything you see in Freemasonry, you see with your heart
Therefore
Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it
Bring you hearts, baby Brothers, bring your hearts.
[Generous applause]
YOUR QUESTIONS
Yes, Grand Lecturer, I have a question
I heard the Brother, the Deacon; the, er, Senior Deacon
say, at our Degree the other night, that in the Mosaic Pavement, the
Black and White stones represent Good and Evil in human life. Somebody
showed me an article that they downloaded off the Internet which said,
in part (as best I can remember), that although the Black and White
stones represent Good and Evil, he hinted that they also might have an
additional connotation. He hinted that as Black can represent
Darkness, he thinks of the North side of a Lodge, which is said to
represent ignorance, and the South of the Lodge representing Light and
Knowledge. So the Mosaic Pavement reminds him that in his life as a
Mason, he ought be moving from the darkness of ignorance into the
fullness of Light and Knowledge.
This is what he said. I think it is quite nice except for the
equation of dark and black with ignorance, and light and white with
knowledge. What is your view – do you have an opinion on all of this?
The Black and White thing mystifies me; it makes me feel uneasy, as if
somehow, he was trying to insinuate that Black Masons are the dark
and ignorant while White Masons are the Light and the intelligence. This
made me feel uneasy, in a way I cannot explain. Can you help me out? Am
I on the wrong track?
Yes, young Brother, I have a response
The term “esoteric” has been applied
to Freemasonry. The word “esoteric” means “designed for and
understood by the specially initiated, alone”. Esoteric wisdom,
therefore, is a hidden or “secret” wisdom; something which, is known
to just a few. For this reason, Masonic wisdom therefore, has been
classed as “esoteric” wisdom.
Now, the good and knowledgeable Brother who wrote that was bringing up
buckets of water from the Esoteric well. The sweet water in that deep
well is endlessly supplied by an underground stream from Lake
Esoterika. Many Brothers there are, both Black Brothers and White
Brothers, who take their water from this Esoteric well. It is good
water; sweet and rich in Masonic nutrients: all but one. Water from this
well will cause you to think deeply, see the many symbolisms of
Freemasonry with subtle clarity, and grow tall in Masonry as Cedars in
Lebanon, with the wonderful things which are found in this water. So,
then, drink the water offered by this Masonic, esoteric, website. As
the old-time Gospel Choirs used to sing: there is no danger in the
water. Drink there and you too will grow tall and strong in
the Work. You will acquire there, every Masonic Virtue save one.
Excuse me sir, but, er, what one Masonic Virtue is that?
What one Masonic Virtue is that?
Why did I know you were going to ask that question!
[Laughter]
What One Virtue is That?
The Masonic Virtue of BROTHERLY LOVE!
In the Esoteric well you get your Wisdom, Strength and
Beauty. You get your Relief and Truth, you get your Friendship and
Morality, but you do not get your Brotherly Love. Brotherly Love is a
living entity. It is no phony concept that we bandy about loosely.
Amongst Masons, Brotherly Love is for real, as real as anything there
is, in Freemasonry. All organizations, generally, emphasize certain
things. The Boy Scouts motto, for example, is Be Prepared. They (the
Scouts) emphasize “Being Prepared” for any emergency. The
Negro College Fund emphasizes: education among African Americans. A
professional sports team places an emphasise upon winning games; and so
forth. The Masons emphasize high moral virtues: chief among which is
Brotherly Love. Brotherly Love are those tiny wiggly things that you can
see in the esoteric water if you look at a drop of it beneath an
electron microscope. Those smart Brothers who dip their water from this
well, and especially those who bottle it and ship it around the world,
they take care to purify this esoteric water. They treat it with the
chlorine and fluoride, and pass atomic rays through it to kill off the
living organisms. In so doing, they kill off the Brotherly Love
originally found in the esoteric water . Thus, this esoteric water that
they both drink and sell is pure, but the wiggly things, the Brotherly
love, are dead. The esoteric or hidden knowledge found there is
pure and factual, but completely devoid of Brotherly Love. Albert
G. Pike, the legendary architect of the Scottish Rite, of whom you will
learn much, drank there. That is why he, a renown and great Mason could
say, with a straight face, “I took my obligations from white
men not from negroes. When I have to accept negroes as brothers or leave
masonry, I shall leave it.” Albert G. Mackey, another
giant of Freemasonry drank heavily from this esoteric well. This is why
so noble a Mason as was he could go on record with such negative
nonsense in regards to, what is called in America, “Negro Masonry (as
if there were two kinds!). This esoteric water from this Esoteric well
is food for thought, but nothing for the heart. As we have learned, this
evening:
IN FREEMASONRY
You see, not with your eyes,
But with your heart
The Masonic scholars, who drink from this well, share the same
information and say mostly the same things; and they are good things.
But this clear fresh esoteric water will also give impetus to a type of
search for regularity which will insure the intrinsic veracity of the
Order. Now this search for a type of constitutional validity often
degenerates into a crass fundamental “Mine for yours” philosophy, a
type of legalism in which the signed Travel Card and not the
Upright Man holding it, is the focus.
Among African American Freemasons, the esoteric
water from this well makes them legalistic, also, and powers
their longings to be recognized by the White Grand Lodge, this as
if such recognition will pay the real estate taxes on their Temple
property. The esoteric water from this well will make the White Brothers
from the Caucasian Grand Lodges legalistic as well. They will point to
your excess melanin and holler “Freeborn”. They will use their
fear of melanin to self-righteously brand you a “clandestine.
And some of the Black Brothers who drink here are no better. They get
legalistic as well; turning their backs upon their fellow Black Masons
as well, calling them clandestine. They, who were chained together on
the same bench on the slave ship; they who were thrown in the dungeons
of Angola awaiting their Middle Passage, these, now drunk on the
esoteric water in this esoteric well point their derisive, big,
be-ringed forefinger, all lit up, at their former Slave-Ship bench-mate,
field hand and Fellow Black Mason, and say unto him anathema; while at
the same time, going with hat in hand, bowing and shuffling, to the
White Grand Lodge in their state, begging for “recognition”; even
stooping to the level of self denigration by referring to the White
Brothers as mainstream masonry, or (if you can believe this) the REAL
Masons. This, as if to say that, if the White Brothers are
mainstream and real Masons, then they (the Black Brothers) are
side-stream or bogus (if not backwater) Masons.
There is something that the heart needs that is not found in this water.
You will recall that God did not set Adam in the Garden of Eden and dig
him a well for his purposes. God set flowing streams and even a great
river through this lovely garden. Elisha the Prophet (in II Kings 5:10)
told Naaman not to wipe himself off at the well but to go to dip in the
Jordan seven times. David, in his lovely Psalm wrote as how God leads
his sheep, not up to the well, but to the still waters. The Worshipful
Master Jesus taught people by the sea side and John Baptized in the
Jordan and not by the side of no well. Yes, The Worshipful Jesus did
speak to the woman at the well but he did not drink from it; he knew
better. This is why he told the woman that, sweetheart, baby, lemme tell
you something: like, if I give you to drink you ain’t gonna never need
no more water.
This esoteric well is good. This esoteric well is deep. Go there, as you
begin your masonic studies, and drink freely of the water found there.
But don’t stand around this well. Don’t pitch your tent with the
others and make a living off this well. Don’t listen to their stories
and their interpretations. Drink there, fill your canteens, dally to
read the signs on the community billboard. Go to the lectures, make
friends and show yourself friendly, for after all, they are all your
Brothers. But get up early in the morning and strike out, alone. Take
the forbidden trails, cut new paths through the bush. Work your way into
the vast interior of Freemasonry. Follow the esoteric stream to its
source. If you persevere, one day, you will pull the thick branches away
from your face and your heart will behold what your eyes cannot see: the
Lake Esoterika, stretching for miles, before you; a Lake
Esoterika, so big, until you cannot see the other side.
Get on one of the boats drawn up on shore. They are old boats but
don’t worry; they are leak-proof. Get in a boat and launch out to the
deep. There, in the midst of Lake Esoterika, let down your line
to the deep and sit with patience. And when you feel the first tug on
your line. Jerk it and pull at that sucker. If it is a big one, it’s
gonna give you a fight. Weigh into it. Give it all you got. You got to
fight to get at the Truth. You’ve got to pull in earnest, to get at
the Truth. You keep fighting, you keep searching, you keep reading, you
keep thinking, you keep meditating you keep digging, you keep pulling on
that line, hand over hand, foot for foot, and when you get it
along side and it is too big to haul in, harpoon the sucker. Harpoon him
again and again until, as Herman Melville wrote, “until he spouts
black blood and rolls fin out”.
And when you get him along side, in your boat, or wherever, cut him up.
Boil down the Fat of Truth. Cut the Meat of Truth into hunks. Eat some,
salt the rest away, and come back up to Erskin, Gratiot, Temple, Eleven
Mile, Joy, Dexter, Davison North Broad Street, Temple, 23rd Street,
Temple Square, 124th Street, 125th Street, Nostrand Avenue, to 454
Prince Hall Crossway, upstairs over the Saloon, or wherever it is that
Masons meet, and give it away. Give it away and don’t forget to tell
the hungry Brothers where they can go get some for themselves.
Don’t be greedy. Don’t worry, if every Brother fished in Lake
Esoterika, they could not exhaust its supply. For as new every
morning is the Love, to too, new every morning are the Blessings, and
the Knowledge found there. When you pull up a whale of a truth the
Supreme Architect of the universe, he makes another one.
The water from the esoteric well tells you that the big white and black
blocks stand for good and evil, as the ritual teaches. Deep references
to West, West and North can also be read in the tea leaves made with
this esoteric water. But when you launch your boat out into the deep on Lake
Esoterika you pull up Truth. Truth informs your heart. Your heart,
in turns enables you to really see. Your sight then beholds the Light
but none but true…craftsmen who fished on the sea, can behold. Why do
you think that the Worshipful Master Jesus chose fishermen as his
disciples. He knew that they had to know how to go down to the deep and
become fishers of MEN
DOWN IN THE DEEP
The great Black and White stones are the races of Man the
light races and the dark races, the Black and the White who stand
together around the Blazing Star in the center. The Blazing star in the
center symbolizes the Grand Architect of the Universe. The Mosaic
Pavement, therefore is an exact representation of Heaven. It is the
symbol of the essential Masonic teaching, that, in Heaven White Brother
and Black Brothers will stand shoulder to shoulder, intermixed with no
separation: Blacks over here and Whites over there. And the Black
Brothers and the White Brothers will all be standing around the Lamb,
the GAOTU symbolized by the Blazing star in the center of the
Mosaic Pavement. And the Tesselated Border that surrounds the Mosaic
Pavement is the Glory of the Lord and the shouts of Amen: Blessing and
glory, and wisdom, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and
ever, Amen that constantly surrounds them, up in heaven. Yes! That is
why . an Entered Apprentice Lodge symbolizes Heaven. The Mosaic Pavement
validates this, completely.
Look at your Greatest Light in Masonry’s Book of Revelation 7:10-14.
It is all in there.
THE WHITE APRONS
And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about
the elders and the four beasts and fell before thew throne on their
faces, and worshipped God. Saying, Amen: Blessing and glory, and wisdom,
and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever, Amen And one of
the elders answered, saying unto me What are those which are arrayed in
white aprons? And
WHENCE CAME THEY:
[Hello!]
And I said unto him. Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me these
are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
aprons and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rrrrrriiiiinnnnnggggggggg goes the bell that signals the end of the
class.