The Masonic Imperative
Torence
How has the fraternity helped you in this regard and do you agree that "Know thyself" qualifies as the principle Masonic Imperative?
Fraternally,
Torence vans Ake
Secretary - Auburn Park Lodge No. 789, Crete, Illinois
PM - Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 - Lansing, Illinois
Doug Freyburger
>
> Plato stated "Know Thyself," quite the command.
>
> How has the fraternity helped you in this regard
When I decided to join a fraternity or service club I did so because I
wanted some sort of civic activity to give back to society but I had
little interest in becoming politically active. It was in the list of
advantages that Masonry forbids the discussion of partisan politics in
tiled meetings.
It turned out that meetings fullfilled a need I had not been aware of
before I joined. I yearn for personal contact yet I went into a
technical profession where most of my client contacts are on conference
calls and email. The fellowship is of great value to me and I hadn't
known that before joining. I just knew I valued spending time outside
the office with friends and family and I figured it was some sort of
life balance working itself out.
I think it's a part of why some brothers have lifelong regular
attendence and some don't. Some men have more need for fellowship than
average. Some with a higher need go into occupations with a lot of
personal contact. The men who keep coming back to lodge decade after
decade are the ones who value personal contact more than average and who
have jobs with less personal contact than average. If this theory on my
part is correct it also explains why some men start attending regularly
when they retire from work. I bet they tend to come from professions
with plenty of personal contact with clients.
There are various tests that teach about personality types. In the
Meyers-Briggs system I usually test out as INTP for example.
One such personalty profile is the Birkman system. It starts with the
usual questionaire. It graphs three points on a two dimensional
spectrum. The points are what you need, what you want, and what you
push for. They are not the same points. How they differ sets up a long
term dynamic in life activities. One dimension is organized process
versus ad hoc. The other dimension is personal versus versus impersonal.
Before taking the Birkman profile it never occured to me that what I
want (look for when interviewing for a job) is not what I push for (how
I decide a job is complete) is not what I need (a supportive low drama
wife and peaceful home life and the supportive nature of regular lodge
attendence). Seeing those as different points gave me a new persective
based on points I had known all along.
It turns out what I want is impersonal ad hoc chaos. I like to take
jobs where the client's computer systems are in crisis. I push for an
organized process that is in the middle between personal and impersonal.
I work to smooth out the client's computer operations. But once I have
been on the job at a client for a while I acheive that smoothly
operating environment and I get bored. This perspective explains much
of my career. It explains why I eventually gravitated towards jobs I
can work with several clients in parallel so at least one tends to be in
a state that needs a technology refresh or process reengineering or a
new systems design.
What my career path missed until I petitioned for my degrees is the
point on the spectrum that tells what I need. I may want chaos and push
for order, but what I need is at the personal end of one dimension and
half way between systematic and ad hoc on the other spectrum. Bingo
that's the fraternal hand shake at Lodge. That's the systematic nature
of our degree work with the personal mentoring of the proficiencies.
That's the grand lodge structure and my tradition of writing "what does
it mean to you" articles. That's my wife supporting my Masonic
activities as long as I keep the average no higher than twice per week.
> and do you agree that
> "Know thyself" qualifies as the principle Masonic Imperative?
One of Masonry's open goals is "We help make good men better". "Know
thyself" is one aspect of becoming a better man.