A Craftman's Journey: Part V

by Midnight Freemasons Contributor

Michael Shirley

Inlay with addition of "G"

Joe Hardwick’s inlay test piece made it onto the headstock in good order, with the square in maple, the compasses in sapele, and the hinge in walnut. The square and compasses looked perfect, and I figured that the G wouldn’t be necessary. After all, the English Masonic symbol lacked the G, and it looked pretty good. But Joe’s a perfectionist, and one evening, after working in his shop for a couple of hours with a jewelers saw and a piece of maple, he walked into his living room and handed his wife Lita a perfect, delicate G. “You did it!” she said. Joe didn’t say much, but he was pleased. So was I.

Joe found perfect theme for fretboard

Our next conversation concerned the fretboard markers, which are used to indicate which fret is which, and can be more or less decorative depending on taste. The classic dots didn’t seem appropriate for a Masonically-themed instrument, and we hate both the plain block and the fancy curls popular among some players. We talked about offset squares, but Joe wasn’t satisfied with what seemed to both of us an easy but incomplete out.. A few days later, he called me and said he’d posted a couple of pictures on Facebook. I thought he was through surprising me. I was wrong. The markers were triangles in sapele, but the top one was the all-seeing eye, with the pupil made out of ebony. I knew he was an artisan. I realized at that moment that he was also an artist. That knowledge would be confirmed in the days to come.

http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/4956756

This is the fifth installment of Michael Shirley's Mandolin Series.

W.B. Michael H. Shirley is Past Master of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and Leadership Development Chairman for the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He's also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Eastern Star, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. He's also a member of the newly-chartered, Illini High Twelve No. 768 in Urbana-Champaign. The author of several articles on British history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.

Freemason Wisdom: Henry Ford On Making Mistakes

by Midnight Freemasons contributor

Todd E. Creason

(originally posted 12/6/10)

"Don't find fault, find a remedy."

~Henry Ford
Palestine Lodge No. 357, Detroit, MI

It's never been difficult to accept credit for something when everything goes right, but it's always been hard to accept blame when things go wrong.  It's much easier to assign blame, than accept responsibility.  But what we often forget is that we learn much more from an error than we do from a success.  A person that never makes a mistake doesn't have the opportunity to learn from it.  They never learn to adapt, change, and try again.  They never learn to look at problems from other angles and see other possible solutions.

It's difficult to be wrong.  It's embarrassing to fall on your face.  It's hard to be laughed at.  But a person that is never criticized never learns to accept criticism and goes through life terrified of the prospect of making a mistake and looking foolish.  They never learn to rise above it.  They never learn to brush themselves off and keep on going with the experience of that mistake behind them, and the wisdom of a valuable lesson learned the hard way.  

The secret in attaining wisdom isn't never making a mistake--it's never making the same mistake twice.

~TEC

Todd E. Creason, 33° was the original Midnight Freemason. He's the author of several books and novels, including his popular Famous American Freemasons series.  In 2012, Todd expanded his popular blog The Midnight Freemason into a collaborative effort Midnight Freemasons. Todd is the Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and a member of both the Scottish Rite, and York Rite. He's also a member of the Ansar Shrine (IL) and Charter President of the Illini High Twelve in Champaign-Urbana (IL).  He is also the author of the blog From Labor To Refreshment . . .

The Words And Wisdom of Winston Churchill

by Midnight Freemasons contributor

Michael Shirley

Winston Churchill quotations never seem to lose popularity, whether he said them or not. Certainly, a man who wrote for a living for over sixty years, whose political speeches fill many bound volumes, and who won the Nobel Prize for Literature seems likely to have said a few things worth savoring, including “It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.” I enjoy many of them, from the serious (“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”) to the humorous (“He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire”). The reader can learn something from all of them, if only how to write a proper English sentence. Of all of them, however, I find one to be the most useful: “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” He was right. To do otherwise is to make the choice to believe that nothing will ever improve, and that one might as well just sit down in the flames and roast.

Churchill faced that choice in May 1940 when he became Prime Minister. Some of his ministers, Lord Halifax chief among them, argued that Britain ought to pursue a peace treaty with Hitler. Churchill did not believe that, for he understood that a deal with the Devil never leads to Heaven. Appropriately, it was his rhetoric that won the day, as he inspired the nation and the Parliament to continue the fight. Let an excerpt from perhaps his most famous speech, delivered to the House of Commons on June 18, 1940, serve to illustrate:

"What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us now. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, "This was their finest hour."

So mote it be.

~W.B. Michael H. Shirley is Past Master of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and Leadership Development Chairman for the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He's also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Eastern Star, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. He's also a member of the newly-chartered, Illini High Twelve No. 768 in Urbana-Champaign. The author of several articles on British history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.

The Legend Of Adam's Grave

by Midnight Freemasons contributor

SK Robert Johnson

 

In 1868, German-American adventurer Heinrich Schliemann arrived at Troy’s location. Before this, it was thought that Troy was only a legend. Of course it was an amazing discovery to find out that the Iliad spoke of a real city. There are thousands of ancient legends, one of which, I stumbled upon one day while reading Macky's Masonic Encyclopedia

As I was flipping through the pages, I came across "Adam" the supposed first man or at least the first modern man according to Hebrew and Christian texts. I am not inclined to share my religious beliefs, at least not in the short essay, however when I reveal to you this short passage which set my mind on fire, you will know why I chose to write about it. 

Here is the passage:

"Upon the death of Adam, says traditional history, the pious Gregory. declared that the "dead body should be kept above ground, till a fulness of time should come to commit it to the middle of the earth by a priest of the most high God.'' This traditional prophecy was fulfilled, it is said, by the body of Adam having been preserved in a chest until about 1800 B.C., when "Melchizedek buried the body in Salem (formerly the name of Jerusalem), which might very well be the middle of the habitable world."

Interesting right? Especially when you do the math. This means that Adams body was laid to rest a mere 3,812 years ago. I don't need to tell you that we dig up bones older than this all the time. And there would most certainly be bones, since it says the body was "preserved". Further research reveals a kind of time line. At some point Noah went to the land of Eden and retrieved the case containing Adam's remains. 

"When Noah died, he commanded Shem concerning the bones of Adam, for they were with them in the ark, and were removed from the land of Eden to this earth."

Next the legend continues saying the bones were distributed among Shem and Melchizedek. Some accounts say that Shem was given the skull of Adam and the body of Adam to Melchizedek. Shem then took the skull and buried it in Jerusalem, in the place of the skull also known by other names in the Masonic system and to some as Calvary. And the body was placed in a tomb, supposedly the very same tomb where Jesus was later laid to rest. Another account varies slightly, saying that Shem and Melchizedek went to the ark and retrieved the bones.

"And he journeyed by night with the angel before him, and Melchizedek with him, until they came and stood upon the spot where our Lord was crucified. When they had laid the coffin down there, the earth was rent in the form of a cross, and swallowed up the coffin, and was again sealed up and returned to its former condition"

Some crude maps have been drawn showing where this hill is and the land has not seemed to change, at least in description. There is a good chance something could be found if a joint effort was established. Coincidentally this hill is very close to the dome of the rock, which as we are all aware is the site of the western wall of king Solomon's Temple, the place where Mohamed ascended to heaven and perhaps the real spot where the body of Adam was laid to rest.

Regardless of your religious views, this story propagated in Masonic lore is fascinating. No doubt there has to be more information available somewhere. I have been reading on the subject for months now, but information has been elusive to say the least. Like Troy, perhaps this legend may trigger a research and archeological mission.  Who knows, we may find something of value to the world.

~SKRJ

Sir Knight Robert Johnson is a Freemason out of the First North-East District of Illinois. He belongs to Waukegan Lodge No. 78. He is also a member of the York Rite bodies Royal Arch, Cryptic Council and Knights Templar. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts a weekly Podcast (internet radio program) Whence Came You? which focuses on topics relating to Freemasonry. In addition, he produces video shorts focusing on driving interest in the Fraternity and writes original Masonic papers from time to time. He is a husband and father of three. He works full time in the safety industry and is also a photographer on the side as well as an avid home brewer. He is also working on two books, one is of a Masonic nature.