“We all came here of our own free will and accord,
properly prepared, humbly soliciting to be admitted to the mysteries and
privileges of Freemasonry”.
And if from the very first moment we began to experience
the mysteries, the privileges still were indeterminate. We all knows that there
are no shortcuts to mastering the Craft and it takes years of hard work to
reveal some of the benefits. However, one of them that supposed to be the
greatest of all has already been attributed to us, even though our perception
was not able to distinguish it. With our presence to an Open Lodge we had
already left the world of the uninitiated people and through Mystagogy we had
been transferred to another world, superior and totally different to the one
before. The differences between those two worlds can only be distinguished by
spirit and mind and only after a long and hard effort.
We had been admitted to Freemasonry as free and good report
individuals (according to the opinion of the seniors). But what really means
“an individual of good report”? Is it a concept that has only meaning in the
world of the uninitiated, since it often absent only there? Where society
establishes rules, laws, morals, and traditions, setting out ways of inhering
in them, and predicts penalties in case of violation, this concept is delimited
by the words "legitimate" and "morality". People are
supposed to be specially educated to adhere to the “legitimate” and to obtain
moral principles that they will respect. But the human nature is imperfect and
the society itself provides a lot of causes for people to violate both state
laws and their moral values through their actions and behavior. From the most
imperceptible (i.e. when I’m serving wine a few more drops are always going to
my glass as I can’t resist to its charm), to the most severe (i.e. some people
are violating the state laws for their enrichment, or for other
self-convenience). All those acts have a point, to offer a benefit or a profit
to the perpetrator. There is always a motivation and usually a diplomatic
excuse in case that the individual will be called to explain his actions.
These
are some of the “metals” that the Freemason is asked to leave to the world of
the uninitiated before he enters the superior world of the Freemasonry. This
is, according to my opinion, is the greatest of the privileges that only
members of the Craft can enjoy: The total absence of motives and reasons to
violate their moral values or to disrespect them. No other institution or
social club can provide an environment that pure, with no personal benefits, no
money profit and not any kind of work or social advancement, only moral and
spiritual progress which can be only established via the respect of the moral
values. And this privilege accompanies the Freemason even out of the Lodge by
being a beacon that lights his way of living. And it is a duty of every single
one of us to let this light illuminate the whole world by becoming our way of
life and action. It’s is our duty to make others understand that any
achievement on life is valuable only if it is rests on solid foundations,
supported by the strength and the quality of moral virtue. In any other case,
all kinds of success or achievement will prove worthless and weak, just like a
tower founded on sand that would collapse and disintegrate with the first
seismic load.
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