Back to the Basics

by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor

Bro. Kenneth Bealer

Have you ever heard something that changed your outlook on something? At a masonic symposium I recently attended, I heard a presentation that did just that. The presentation was on the working tools of the Entered Apprentice. The brother giving it talked about the working tools that you know of and those working tools within the degrees that you wouldn’t think of. He went over 15 working tools with evidence as to why this working tool is needed by the Mason. What really affected me during his presentation was his idea that an Entered Apprentice must fill his toolbox with these tools but it is up to us as Master Masons to also explain why and how these tools are used to work on our rough ashlars to turn them into the perfect ones. He explained that through the degrees the brother is shown these tools but they also must be explained further. We all remember going through the ritual, there is no way that one could grasp all of that at once and be ready in one day. That is when the mentor must help the brother understand and be a guide on his journey, not just to help memorize the memory work. During and after this lecture, it really got me thinking back on my own experience of going through the degrees.  After this reflection, I felt that this brother was totally right.

I want to make it clear that this presentation did not make me think bad or ill of my own lodge or the mentor who helped me through my degrees. After hearing this presentation, I discovered that some working tools were missing from my toolbox.  I now knew that there were deeper meanings to the ones I already had. I wanted to ensure I had a complete toolbox because I felt that the perfect ashlar could not be formed without the tools I was missing. I also felt that I needed the knowledge to use them properly, so that I could, in turn, help mentor the next generation of Masons who would come after me.

How was I going to do that? Well, I was going to have to go back to the basics. I was going to have to go back and re-read the 3 degrees, go back over the ritual, the lectures, and the memory work. I would have to attend my lodge more and ask for assistance from my brothers if I still didn’t understand some of the above. I understood that it would be a process and that it would take time, but as we all know, Masonry is a long journey that takes a lifetime. But hearing the presentation allowed me to realize that during that journey you must stop and help others who may come along the journey as well.

I’m so glad that I went to this symposium, because to tell you the truth brothers, I was on the verge of leaving this fraternity. I thought that I was no longer getting anything else out of Freemasonry. I now know that I had just skimmed the surface and it was my duty to dive deeper to gain the light I need to work in the quarries of everyday life. The Grand Architect of the Universe was not letting me quit and I praise him for this. We must have the tools to work on the ashlars that we need to set the steps that we will need to climb the stairs of knowledge which is needed to one day be able to draw out our temples upon our trestle boards. I would like to thank brother and author John S Nagy on this lecture he gave and giving me new light on my purpose to my masonic travels.

Kenneth Bealer resides in Denver Colorado. He is originally from Pennsylvania. He didn't become a mason until he moved to Colorado. He was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in 2012, at Aurora Revelation Lodge  #156 in Aurora, Colorado. He is also a member of the Research Lodge of Colorado and a member of the Colorado College of the SRICF. He works as a project manager for a commercial flooring company in Colorado and lives with his beautiful wife Jennifer and our 2 fur babies Finn and Raven.

NASA - Giordano Bruno and Other Worlds

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Travis Simpkins 

The best parts of being a freelancer are the frequent surprises that come along with it. When you open yourself up and are willing to work with anyone, you never know who will reach out to you next.

One morning a couple months back, I woke up and checked my email like I always do. Mixed in with the usual communications was a rather peculiar one. The message was from NASA, and the writer was looking for permission to use my artwork depicting the 16th Century Hermetic philosopher/astronomer Giordano Bruno in an upcoming presentation in Sorrento, Italy. The artwork was to be projected on screen during a lecture by Colonel Roger Hunter, program manager of the Kepler Mission, and this particular section of the presentation would focus on Bruno's theories regarding “other worlds.” After restraining my excitement and quickly verifying the information, I very happily agreed to the request.

It was obvious why NASA is interested in Giordano Bruno (1548-1600). He was an ex-friar turned natural philosopher, whose Hermetic teachings put him at odds with the dominant ideological visions of the Church. Condemned by the Inquisition as a heretic, Bruno was burned at the stake in Rome's Campo di'Fiori on February 17, 1600. Among the many theories introduced by Bruno, one of his most profound was the idea that the universe is infinite and the stars we see in the night sky are actually suns being orbited by other planets that have life on them.

It was also obvious how Colonel Roger Hunter and the Kepler Mission are inspired by Giordano Bruno's work. According to the official statement on NASA's website: “The Kepler Mission, NASA Discovery Mission #10, is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone and determine the fraction of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy that might have such planets.”

Less obvious, to me anyway, was just how strong the Masonic connection was to all of this. I knew of astronomical references in the lectures and of Bruno's influence on memorization, relevant to our ritual studies, through his well known work on “The Art of Memory” which utilized the many mnemonic devices we all use (whether we credit Bruno for it or not). However, I didn't fully see another much deeper and direct Masonic connection until I shared the news of this project on my Facebook page. Soon after posting the update, Shawn Eyer commented asking if I had seen the old Fellow Craft lectures that related to Bruno's theory. I replied in the negative and he sent me a fantastic article he had written titled “Numberless Worlds, Infinite Beings” that had originally been published in Philalethes (Vol. 65, No. 3) back in 2012. Among the mosaic of valuable insights contained within the essay was an eloquent quote, once included in the Fellow Craft Degree, that directly corresponded to the subject. I found myself reflecting on it's meaning and implications for much of that day. The words were taken from William Preston's 1780 Lecture of the Second Degree: “Here we perceive thousands and thousands of suns, multiplied without end, all arranged around us, at immense distances from each other, attended by ten thousand times ten thousand worlds, all in rapid motion; yet calm, regular, and harmonious; invariably keeping their prescribed paths, and all peopled with a myriad of intelligent beings, formed for endless progress, in perfection and happiness.”

Ask a number of supposedly learned people about Giordano Bruno and at least half of them will reply, “Who?” Never elevated to his proper status among the historical luminaries that comprise the world's greatest thinkers, Bruno is under-appreciated and yet his enduring influence is still ever-present in the shadows. On the landing of the main staircase in the House of the Temple, chiseled into the wall, is a quote attributed to Albert Pike that reads, “What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” While meaningful in their own right, Pike's words echo a sentiment written 300 years prior by Giordano Bruno: “What you receive from others is a testimony to their virtue; but all that you do for others is the sign and clear indication of your own.” (On the Infinite Universe and Worlds, 1584)

~TS

Travis Simpkins is a freelance artist with clients throughout the United States and Europe. He currently works on projects for the Supreme Council, 33°, NMJ in Lexington, Massachusetts. He also serves as a portrait artist for the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Grand Lodge of New Jersey and other jurisdictions across North America. His artwork is in many esteemed collections, including the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum in Independence, Missouri.

Bro. Simpkins is a member of Morning Star Lodge A.F. & A.M. in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is a 32° Mason in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite- Valleys of Worcester and Boston. He is also a member of Eureka Royal Arch Chapter, Hiram Council of Royal & Select Master Masons and Worcester County Commandery No. 5, Knights Templar.