Freemasonry is a post-collegiate mostly-all male fraternity dedicated to the social development of the member to form a broader sense of the self and their community.
Georgia Masons had the opportunity in their 2009 Grand Session to come out firmly and clearly on the record against anti discriminatory practices. These resolutions were proposed to be added to the Masonic code after the persecution of Gate City Lodge #2 and were proposed by many different Brothers in the hopes that a situation of this kind would never happen again, it being emphatically addressed in the Masonic code of the Grand Lodge.
These actions were also undertaken because of the code that was used to bring the Worshipful Master of Gate City Lodge No. 2, Michael J. Bjelajac to trial. He was charged with allowing the raising of a non-white man. This you can see in the previous article here on Freemason Information – Georgia Gate City Lodge Persecutor Honored By Scottish Rite.
So if these words were used to charge a Brother, the Grand Lodge code must have an article in it that prohibits the raising of a Black Man. Even if the Grand Master or a committee or by vote of the Grand Lodge removed this provision it was still very disconcerting to many Georgia Masons that it was used to charge a Brother with. So those so concerned wished to make doubly sure that a statute of this nature buried in the fine print of Grand Lodge code would never be used again to persecute a Georgia Mason.
I have picked four of these proposed additions to the Georgia Grand Lodge Constitution to give you an idea of what these Brothers were aiming at.
No. 7 DENYING OR ADVOCATING DENIAL OF PETITION FOR IMPERMISSIBLE REASONS.
“Racism and racial discrimination being antithetical to the principles of Freemasonry it is unmasonic conduct for any Mason to exclude, reject or deny or to solicit, advocate or encourage any other Mason to exclude, reject or deny the petition of any otherwise qualified applicant for the degrees of Freemasonry on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin.”
No. 8 RACE, ETHNICITY, SOCIAL CLASS, NATIONAL ORIGIN OR RELIGIOUS PERSUASION
“Any man, otherwise qualified, is eligible as an applicant for the degree of Freemasonry without regard to race, ethnicity, social class, national origin or religious persuasion.”
N0 15 ADVOCATING DENIAL OF PETITION FOR IMPERMISSIBLE REASONS
“It is gross un-Masonic conduct for a Mason to advocate the denial of, or to encourage any other Mason to deny the petition of an applicant for the mysteries of Freemasonry because the applicant is of a particular social class, ethncity, nationality, race or religion.”
No. 16 REQUIRING OR ENCOURAGING IMPERMISSIBLE PLEDGES OR OATHS
“It is gross un-Masonic conduct for a Mason to require or to encourage any other Mason to pledge or swear not to elect, initiate, pass, or raise a candidate for the mysteries of Freemasonry because the candidate is of a particular social class, ethnicity, nationality, race or religion.”
Presented with the opportunity to put the race question behind them the Grand Lodge in Grand Session VOTED DOWN ALL THESE RESOLUTIONS OVERWHELMINGLY!
Some Masons have said that these resolutions are superfluous and not needed. The Grand Lodge already has such provisions in its code. Well, it also had a statute against the raising of a non white. What is the harm in these additions? What’s wrong with being a little superfluous in the name of justice? Maybe the current code is not clear. Perhaps it is a bit ambiguous. Maybe these additions would close any loopholes. Why not err in the name of justice for all?
Have you not heard of couples later in their marriage renewing their marriage vows? Have you not heard of Christians renewing their baptismal vows? Let’s not make excuses to deny, let us have reasons to permit.
The voting down of these resolutions in Grand Session points to the Grand Master who supposedly healed the Gate City Lodge No. 2 mess. Any Grand Master in Grand Session holds an enormous influence over the voting body. It would be hard to believe that if the Grand Master was solidly and emphatically behind these additions to the Georgia Masonic code that they would have been defeated. And even if… Not by an overwhelming rejection.
It leads one to believe that the Grand Lodge of Georgia yielded to outside pressure and public opinion in 2009, only to come back strong again to reassert itself as anti Black African American.
Are you, Brethren willing to accept Georgia’s decision without protest?
James Tyroff is a Georgia Mason who was one of the members of the Grand Lodge of Georgia who preferred charges against Gate City Lodge No. 2 in 2009 for admitting a Black African-American Mason to their Lodge. The same Black African American, Victor Marshall, who was just blackballed twice by the Atlanta Scottish Rite.
Well James Tyroff has just been rewarded by The Scottish Rite with the honor of a red cap. This honor was conferred on him after Marshall & Waters had been blackballed for the second time by the Scottish Rite. Verification can be obtained here.
The red cap, emblazoned with the red and gold cross of a Knight Commander, designates that the wearer is a 32nd Degree Mason who has been invested with the “rank and decoration” of Knight Commander of the Court of Honor, usually abbreviated K.C.C.H.
If Georgia has healed Gate City Lodge No. 2 and the Grand Master has reformed Georgia’s former racist ways with his edicts why reward those who tried to keep Black African-Americans out of Lodges in Georgia? WHY IS THIS MAN BEING HONORED? It’s a slap in the face to those working for a color blind Freemasonry. It looks as if Georgia Masons are thumbing their nose at Gate City Lodge No. 2 and all those Masons in Georgia who would like to see reconciliation between Black and White Freemasonry.
Tyroff openly flouts his anti Black African-American feelings signing all his correspondence with, “Just say no to 21st century universal Masonry.” These are code words used in the South similar to other disguises of attitude like “states rights.”
Tyroff authored all the 2009 documents against Gate City Lodge No. 2 below.
The Master of the 27th degree immediately demitted from the Scottish Rite before the Atlanta Session had concluded causing the degree to be canceled. He cited the refusal of the Scottish Rite to admit an African American Master Mason for the second time for his reason, saying that he is taking a stand against bigotry.
Some other demits have been reported in protest to the actions of the Atlanta Scottish Rite leadership. Response to the Beehive story is pouring in from across the country. Most responders have expressed dismay that this would occur again to brothers from Gate City Lodge No. 2. It looks to many like an ongoing war or vendetta and that doesn’t sit well with the majority of American Masons.
The Beehive also has report of some internal behind the scenes pressure being applied to Atlanta. Along with the disapproval of Brethren across the nation it just might mean that public exposure and pressure will have turned back racial persecution for the second time in Georgia Freemasonry. Many older Freemasons have not quite caught up with the Information Age and the fact that actions can be known around the world in a matter of minutes. This failure has led to those in power to think that they can sneak one by everybody but their local membership. Fortunately this is no longer possible in today’s world.
The story is not done yet. More is to come and we will be right here to let you know what is going on.
Sometimes lightening strikes twice – to the same spot. When it does you know that either God is in control or the fix is in. In the case of Gate City Lodge #2, Atlanta, Georgia it is definitely the latter.
You might remember the articles The Beehive published in 2009 – My Brother’s Keeper, Open Racism in Georgia Freemasonry and Georgia: Not Such A Peachy Masonic State describing the machinations that the Grand Lodge of Georgia went through to try to keep out a Black African-American. His name was Victor Marshall and he was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason by Gate City Lodge #2, after which the Worshipful Master was brought up on charges – of “allowing a non-white man to join Freemasonry” – that were approved by the Grand Master.
Since no Black Man had been initiated in Georgia Freemasonry in 275 years, the charges were interpreted that “Ancient Lights” of the Grand Lodge of Georgia prohibited Black Men from becoming F & AM. The charges called for the Worshipful Master to be expelled and the Lodge to lose its Charter. Mortified by this blatantly evil and certainly illegal affront to the Lodge, and having had first-hand experience with “Masonic Justice”, David Johnston and David Llewellyn, members of Gate City Lodge No. 2 and attorneys, filed for an injunction in civil court against the Grand Lodge of Georgia.
Oooppps – The Grand Lodge never thought the public would find that out. When they did and the resulted outcry reached a clamor of disdain as the story spread throughout the nation, the plaintiffs in the case revoked their charges and the Grand Lodge of Georgia ultimately backed down deciding that was one battle they could not win.
They say by doing that one lives to fight another day. And that other day has arrived. Victor Marshall and Zeithlin Waters from Gate City Lodge #2, both Raised on the same night and having studied their catechisms together, submitted applications to the Atlanta Scottish Rite Body. Now the first thing that you have to understand about the story that will unfold here is that it is SOP to ballot on an entire class with one ballot for all. And so on November of 2010 the entire class of applications including Marshall and Waters was balloted upon. One or more black balls were cast on the first ballot. Then and only then was an individual ballot cast for each applicant one at a time. Marshall and Waters were the last two to be voted on and both were blackballed. All others were approved. No comments were made on the ballot and the two Brothers were informed that their applications were not approved and that it would be six months before they could reapply.
In March of 2011 a called Communication of the Scottish Rite Valley of Atlanta was held for the purpose of balloting on a new class. This class did not include Marshall & Waters for they were still waiting out their 6 months to reapply. As was the custom the entire class was balloted upon with one ballot. On the first ballot one or more black balls were cast. Each petition was then read individually and subsequently black balled. The whispered speculation was that Gate City Lodge members or sympathizers were striking back for the black balling of Marshall and Waters. The Personal Representative to the Grand Master rose to say how ashamed he was to be a Mason that night – thus commenting on a ballot which is actually unmasonic and a chargeable offense.
On April of 2011 at a stated meeting of the Scottish Rite Valley of Atlanta was held with business being among other things balloting on candidates once again. This vote was taken on a few new petitions as well as all of the candidates black balled in March. Again Marshall and Waters were not included. On the first ballot for the entire class one or more black balls were cast. The individual petitions were then read and balloted upon. Each petition was rejected (black balled).
The SGIG arose to speak castigating any who would use the ballot for retribution and declaring how ashamed he was of the way this process had worked out. He went on to say that whoever threw the cubes was suffering from a mental illness. He declared the ballot null and void and then took the unprecedented action of healing the ballot declaring all petitions granted. He also ordered the black balls expunged from the personal records of those who received them.
On October of 2011 a called Communication of The Scottish Rite Valley of Atlanta was held for the purpose of voting on petitions. For this called meeting a limited number of summonses had been sent out. Not everybody was called to this meeting. This was a new class of 30 with Marshall and Waters added. It had been almost a year since they had been black balled. They could not get into the spring class of 2011 as not quite six months had lapsed since they had been black balled. They had waited their 6 months and reapplied. Before the vote, the SGIG advised all called to vote their conscience. But this time around the voting would not operate in the usual manner. The entire class would not be balloted upon en masse as was the custom. Right from the start each candidate would be balloted upon individually, and Marshall and Waters were ballots number 29 and 30, the last two. In the hour and a half that ensued, twenty eight candidates were approved but the 29th and 30th, Marshall and Waters, were blackballed. Once again the SGIG rose to thank all who participated for voting their conscience. But he did not heal Marshall and Waters as he had done with the class of April 2011. He did not ask that the black balls be expunged from their Masonic records either.
This is where you can say the fix is in. The very actions of the leadership involved in this process leads to that conclusion. The SGIG and The Personal Representative to the Grand Master were only ashamed of any black balling when it did not involve Marshall and Waters. Comments were made by those in power after the balloting process in the 2nd and 3rd cases but not in the 1st and 4th when Marshall and Waters were being considered. The rules or the customary methods of procedure were changed at the leadership’s whim. The SGIG could heal an entire class but he couldn’t heal just two others. He could heal a whole class in one month not making them wait 6 months to be voted on again but he wouldn’t extend that privilege to Marshall and Waters. In both instances where candidates were voted on individually Marshall and Waters were always the last two to be balloted upon.
Of further note, the crowd at the ballot box swelled when Waters and Marshall’s petitions were being voted upon. Yet, during the two votes when entire classes were being cubed, there was an instance where a Grand Lodge of Georgia Officer stopped an entire line of voters from proceeding by refusing to move forward to cast his ballot. At one point, only three people, other than Scottish Rite Officers, were voting.
Georgia Mainstream Freemasons think they have won the second battle, round two. But they thought the same way in the first round before the publicity forced them to retreat. Here we are again fighting the same fight and calling upon all Masons nationwide to put pressure upon The Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction to act in a Masonic manner, put an end to such shenanigans and heal Marshall and Waters without further comment. If we did it once we can do it again. The ball is in your court, Brother.
The Phylaxis Society just published its magazine totally dedicated to Nelson King.
It is all King, nothing but King, every page. I don’t know how the other two Societies, The Philalethes Society, of which King was a past President and editor of its publication, and The Masonic Society, of which he also was a member, are honoring Brother King. But it would surprise me if they dedicated the entire contents of one of their publications to just Nelson King.
Right about now perhaps many Mainstream Masons are scratching their heads wondering why there is this Prince Hall adulation of Brother King.
Phylaxis President John B. Williams introduces the latest issue of its publication with these words.
“Nelson King was a friend to Prince Hall Masonry when it was quite unpopular to be so.”
Renowned Prince Hall author and speaker Alton Roundtree, FPS adds:
“I placed Nelson King in the same category as Jerry Marsengill, Allen Roberts and other editors of the Philalethes Magazine who had kept the issue of Prince Hall Freemasonry up for discussion in the Magazine. Nelson seemingly went farther than others in that he took on the role of a defender of Prince Hall Freemasonry.”
“Nelson King was not popular in many quarters, especially outside of Prince Hall Freemasonry. He was subject to threats and humiliating comments. Nevertheless, wherever he stood, he stood.”
Robert N. Campbell, FPSH Phylaxis Society Council of Representatives and President of the Phylaxis Society board tells us:
“He (Nelson King) along with Phylaxis President, the Hon. Joseph A. Walkes, Jr., Ralph McNeal and myself, were among a number of us whose lives were threatened, over the internet for our work and involvement to spread the true ‘cement of B.L.R. &T.’”
The Hon. Rev. Tommy Rigmaiden, FPS, FPC (H-Life) & President Emeritus of the Phylaxis Society in a “A Tribute To My Beloved Nelson King” in the magazine highlights a couple of important events in the life of Nelson King.
He says that in March 2000 King, at that time President of the Philalethes Society, attended the Phylaxis Society’s annual session in Kansas City, Missouri where he inducted 8 African-American Prince Hall Masons into the Masonic Order of Blue Forget-Me-Nots. In the next year, 2001, King invited Phylaxis President Joseph A. Walkes to attend the annual session of the Philalethes Society during Masonic week in Washington D.C. Walkes being ill, Rigmaiden, 1st Vice President, went in his place and enjoyed himself immensely.
Another who brings us much information about Nelson King is Brother Aubrey Brown, Sr., MPS who reiterates much of what others have said.
“Perhaps for PHA Masons, his most important distinction is being virtually the last of the great Prince Hall Warriors from within the ranks of Mainstream Masonry. Following in the footsteps of his mentors such as the late Bro. Allen Roberts, Nelson fought to the end for full unilateral recognition of PHA Masonry worldwide within regular Freemasonry.”
Brown also reminds us that
King demitted from his Ontario, Canada Lodge to join the Grand Lodge of Costa Rica to protest his mother Grand Lodge’s refusal to recognize Prince Hall, which it eventually did.
A Fellow of the Philalethes Society King became its only President who was not a United States citizen. He also served as editor of the Philalethes publication and is only one of two Society members to hold both positions at the same time.
Prince Hall Masons recognized Nelson King for his achievements during his lifetime. Brown tells us that in 2000 he received the Prince Hall Civil Rights Activist Award. In 2004 he was made Honorary Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Costa Rica. In 2005 he was inducted into the Phylaxis Society’s Harry A. Williamson Hall of Fame. In 2006 he was made Honorary Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut.
Brown then to proceeds to chronicle what he considers King’s “Two Most Cherished And Successful Projects Most Never Knew About.”
THE WELCOME WALL
As webmaster of the Philalethes Society King created a visitor’s section called “The Welcome Wall.” Here any and every question about Freemasonry was answered. It became so popular that King could not keep up all by himself. So he appointed a three man Board or Committee of one American Mainstream Mason, one European Mason and one Prince Hall Mason. The PHA Mason was Brother Brown.
When King stepped down from his management positions within the Philalethes Society he sold the Freemasonry.org site to the Society and moved The Welcome Wall to Guestbook. Alas in failing health the Society that he had devoted so much time and effort to decided to stab him in the back.
Brown recounts:
“As Nelson became aware of his failing liver, The Philalethes Society contacted and informed him that they felt the name “Welcome Wall” was their intellectual property since he created it while an Officer of the Society. Considering the more important battle facing him, he decided to just close his site. The Welcome Wall died a quiet death. No acknowledgement was given to the Committee members or the Founder of the Welcome Wall when control of the name was taken. Today their version is not as popular or nearly as successful as the real Welcome Wall.”
THE MASONIC RELIEF FUND FOR CUBA
Many Freemasons are totally unaware of King’s exploits in this labor of love. It all started in 1998 when King and his wife visited Cuba. There he touched base with the Masonic community and saw firsthand what dire straits they were in. When he returned back home to Canada, he started with aspirin and vitamins. Soon he progressed to much needed bandages, drugs and medical equipment. Because of size limitations some shipments had to be sent to Costa Rica who then sent them on to Cuba.
King created an E-List for the Cuban Relief Fund and solicited donations from anybody and everybody. King’s heroic efforts became known far and wide across the island of Cuba and many letters of thanks were published on the E-List.
The work that King started lives on even after his death. And once again the Masonic community transcends the political divisions that separate good men in order to provide for the well being of those in need.
Within the magazine there are also a few of Nelson King’s more memorable speeches. The first titled “Black and White” was given at the 7th annual Sam Houston Lecture in 2004 at Holland Lodge No. 1 AF & AM, Grand Lodge of Texas, Houston Texas, and was on the legitimacy of Prince Hall Freemasonry. King told me privately and personally that because of the large number of death threats he received that he felt it necessary to hire two body guards.
Another lecture in this issue of the Phylaxis Magazine was an address given at Wilberforce Lodge, MWPHGL, Ohio.
Nelson King’s parting shot and demonstration of his solidarity with Prince Hall was to have Prince Hall perform his funeral ceremony and so Past Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Ontario, MW Joe Halstead, and his team did just that on August 20, 2011 at the Ogden funeral Home in Toronto.
Rest in peace Brother King. Well done good and faithful servant.
The UK Telegraph has posted an article listing the 30 Greatest Conspiracy Theories, I gather, in order of their popularity or ranking. Part 1 is here and Part 2 here. We will publish the list but for the detailed explanations that go with them you will need to visit the original Telegraph websites.
While most of these are civil, non Masonic, matters #5 is about the Illuminati which reminds us all that Freemasons are still considered by many in society as some sort of cult, perhaps a dangerous one at that. Every time I hear that Masons are going to take over the world, that they are part of a “New World Order”, I am reminded about how many people “out there” are conspiracy “nuts.”
Then there are those that say Freemasonry is a satanic cult, that it offers sacrifices of goats at its altars after which sexual orgies take place.
If you think that this is all some dreamed up fantasy that is mainly circulated by minds that are three french fries short of a Happy Meal, you might change your mind when you read through the entire list. Actually much of this “stuff” is quite mainstream (not to be confused with Mainstream Masonry).
For some educated and logical counter argument The Beehive would point you to our own Greg Stewart’s podcast of “Peering Behind The Veil.”
One that should be on the list that didn’t make it is the Morgan Affair, perhaps because of a British tilt to this story. For a good read on this story try Stephen Dafoe’s “Morgan: The Scandal That Shook Freemasonry.” I call this one a reverse conspiracy because based on Dafoe’s research it seems that what is often thought of as being the conspiracy seems to be quite true and what is actually the cover up is the conspiracy.
The Beehive welcomes in the comments section other American conspiracies that didn’t make this list. Perhaps there are some Canadian and Australian conspiracies worth noting. As usual our erudite readers will clue us in.
Once again we visit with the talented Freemason, concert pianist Hando Nahkur. You might remember from the previous article on Freemason Information – that Brother Nahkur studied at Yale, The New England Conservatory of
Music and TCU. He has moved on this year to continue his studies to SMU, Dallas. On September 22, 2011 he gave a piano recital at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts.
His two strongest numbers that showcased Nahkur’s piano virtuoso, amazing piano dexterity, power and fullness of emotion were Liszt’s Concerto No. 2 in A Major and Totentanz, my favorite, also by Liszt. You cannot come away from a Nahkur perfomance without realizing that here is a man who plays with great passion.
Next week, October 2, 2011, Nahkur will perform in Costa Rica with the Cartago Symphony Orchestra and December 2, 2011 he will perform in Wayland, Massachusetts.
After watching an amazing performance it was time to break bread together and bond in conversation from the trivial to the sublime. Over pizza and Pepsi we ran the gamut from life and loves, through Freemasonry and music to customs and cultures.
As we parted each to his separate way we realized that this was going to be just one of many more relationship times where a 28 year old artist and a 67 year old soon to be retiree, through the power of Brotherly love and affection, were to become yoked for life.
The Ancients did not see the split between Science & Religion that has pervaded society since the Enlightenment. Pythagoras was a mathematician and a scientist. But he was equally if not better known as a philosopher, spiritualist and owner of multiple “mystery schools.”
The mechanism of Newton’s physics with its laws of nature able to predict the outcome of every action and reaction has been disproved. The finality and provability of the information fed to us by the five senses has vanished.
“A single consciousness, an all-encompassing wisdom pervades the universe. The discoveries of science, those that search the quantum nature of subatomic matter, those that explore the molecular complexity of biology and those that probe the brain/mind interface, have moved us to the brink of a startling realization: all existence is the expression of this wisdom.”
Then Schroeder sets about to prove his claims through scientific data and a preponderance of the evidence. What Schroeder is talking about is a universal consciousness arising from wisdom, that is present in what we habitually refer to as inert matter. That conclusion, he says, finds support in a range of scientific evidence.
Schroeder will take us through quantum physics and the decision making made by subatomic particles, through molecular biology and the wonders of cells and cell support systems, into the brain/mind connection where there is no scientific explanation for what occurs and finally we will learn about the mysteries of DNA. Through it all the hidden face of God will become more and more evident.
Scientific man of the modern era has relied on the senses for information and for laying the basis for how the universe operates. “Seeing is believing” is a phrase that express this outlook. Schroeder says –
“But how do I hear the sound? Up to and including the storage of the data in the brain, it’s all biochemistry. But I don’t hear biochemistry. I hear sound. Where’s the consciousness? Just which of those formerly inert atoms of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and on and on, in my head have become so clever that they can produce thought or reconstitute an image? How those stored biochemical data points are recalled and replayed into sentience remains an enigmatic mystery.”
Schroeder skirts the Evolution-Creationist argument by first accepting the Big Bang theory and then by declaring that The Beginning necessitates a Beginner.
“First consider the laws of physics that made it all happen (the Big Bang). Did they precede the universe? That would mean laws of physics existed without the physical material upon which to act……physics without the physical.”
“The further philosophical problem of there having been a beginning arises with the idea that the beginning of our universe marks the beginning of time, space and matter. Before our universe came into being, there is every scientific indication that time did not exist. Whatever brought the universe into existence must of course predate the universe, which in turn means that whatever brought the universe into existence must predate time. That which predates time is not bound by time, not inside time. In other words, it is eternal.”
“Today we have another seemingly logical, but quite likely erroneous, piece of accepted wisdom forcing itself upon our paradigm of existence: that the physical world is a closed system; that every physical event has a correspondingly physical cause preceding it. It’s not a question as to whether or not we can predict the exact effect of a given cause. Quantum physics says we cannot. But our logic insists that each physical effect must be initiated by a physical cause. How could it be otherwise?”
“The very knowledge of the Big Bang provides proof otherwise. The physical system we refer to as our universe is not closed to the nonphysical. Its total beginning required a nonphysical act. Call it creation. Let the creating force be a potential field if the idea of God is bothersome to you, but realize the fact that the nonphysical gave rise to the Physical.”
“Even the particles that make up the atom, the protons, neurons, electrons, may not be solids after all. They may all be extended forms of energy. If indeed matter is the conscious expression of information, then the idea of mind over matter requires a revision. It must read the consciousness of the mind over the consciousness of matter. Anyone who has witnessed the holder of a black belt in Karate shatter a brick while barely touching it (referred to as a soft break) will find nothing new in this idea. It’s done more by concentrated thought (chi than by physical force. “
But there is evidence elsewhere. By investigating the wondrous workings of our body we can see the hidden face of God.
“In speech, for you to differentiate between the enunciation of a ‘b’ and a ‘p,’ your lips must open some thirty thousandths of a second before you cause your vocal cords to vibrate for the ‘p’ sound to emerge rather than a ‘b’ sound, which occurs when you open your lips and vibrate your vocal cords simultaneously. Thirty thousandths of a second. Consider what this reveals concerning the precision inherent in mental and neurological processing. It’s a sliver of time that makes the difference between bat and ball and Pat and Paul. Your brain determines this phenomenally tight timing and you don’t even have to ‘think’ about it. It’s probably controlled by the brain part located close to the brain stem known as the cerebellum. The entire sequence is encrypted when the signal to vocalize a ‘p’ or a ‘b’ arises in your thoughts. Could this complex yet ordered precision have evolved without guidance?”
“The insights of molecular biology have revealed a complexity at every stage of life’s processes such that, if we were forced to rely on random mutations to produce them step by step, in the word of Nobel laureate deDuve ‘eternity would not suffice.’”
“We’ve surveyed the science and discovered a complex ordered wisdom expressed in the molecular functioning of life nowhere evident in the structures from which life is built or in the laws of nature that govern the interactions of those structures. That wisdom in life is the imprint of the metaphysical.”
We can go through all the elements in the body, we can describe all the interactions of these elements and describe all the processes but what we cannot explain is who the director is. Who or what orchestrates the split second decision making that constitutes the everyday functioning of the human body?
“All told, once we take some givens, we can predict much of the chemical world. But that is where our predictions would cease. We can predict all the elements used in life, but there is no indication that we can predict amino acids joining together in chains of hundreds and thousands of units to form proteins and then proteins combining into the symbiotic relationships we refer to as life.”
“I wish I knew what I meant when I agree with my colleague Dennis Turner that there is a ghost in the system. I’m a scientist. Studying nature is what has put bread on my family’s table for a good number of decades. I want nature to work like nature. But at several key stages in the development of our universe, nature seems to have behaved most unnaturally. It’s what Nobel Prize winning physicist, and avowed atheist, Steven Weinberg referred to in his excellent book ‘The First Three Minutes’ as the ‘embarrassing vagueness……the unwelcome necessity of fixing initial conditions,’ of having to accept a batch of initial conditions simply as ‘givens.’ ‘Givens’ in scientific jargon is the sophisticated way of saying that’s the way it is and so let’s start the discussion from those givens without understanding how they got there.”
“……what we see here is far more significant than fine-tuning. We see the consistent emergence of wisdom, of ordered complex information that is nowhere hinted at either in the governing laws of nature or in the particles of matter that form the brain that lies below the mind’s thought.”
And that takes us to Schroeder’s next fascination, the brain/mind interaction. He takes us into the world of THINKING, first with some description of the physical process of the brain.
“The huge concentrated input of neurotransmitters released into the synapse causes them to diffuse rapidly across the synaptic gap. In less than a millisecond they reach the dendrite surface. If the neurotransmitter is the correct one for the job, its shape will complement the shape of a receptor on the dendrite membrane and it will bond. The right key in the right lock – only one fits and nature designed it just so. It is either the result of chance random reactions among rocks and water or the expression of an underlying wisdom poking its head through into the physics of life. Those are the only two choices available.”
Now comes the interesting part. How do we go from brain to mind?
“We talk about missing links evolution. We have a missing link right in our heads at the brain/mind connection. The move from brain to mind is not one of quantity – a few more neurons and we’ll tie the sensation to the awareness of it. It’s a qualitative transition, a change in type. The mind is neither data crunching nor emotional response. Those are brain functions. Mind functions are self-experience, seeing, hearing, smelling. The replay of what came in. These are phenomena totally different from the acquisition of the information. That is why adding up the synaptic data would predict a brain, but not a mind.”
“There is no hint of how we physically view and hear and smell the messages of the brain. Yet a metaphysical solution is untenable to a materialist school steeped to believe only that which can be seen or measured, the summing of the individually observable parts. Unfortunately, at the brain/mind interface, this reductionist approach misses the crucially holistic nature of the mind. Quantum mechanics required a paradigm shift from classical mechanics, a shift even more extreme than accepting a universe with a beginning. Quantum mechanics necessitated replacing logical observable processes with the ‘illogical’ phenomena of the subatomic world. The very existence of our universe calls out for a metaphysical explanation, an explanation that by definition is illogical in physical terms. The undisputed yet enigmatic existence of our self-awareness, our consciousness, does the same. The mind may be our only link to the reality of the metaphysical.”
“Every particle is an expression of information, of wisdom. The self-awareness we experience is the emergent offspring of that wisdom. The more complex the entity, the more complex the information stored within. We tap into it via our brain. Because information is present in all existence, the consciousness I feel as my self-awareness has a cosmic history. It does not arise from my brain de novo. Aspects of it have been present from the start, the very start, the Big Bang. Consciousness, as wisdom, is as fundamental as existence itself.”
“Within the brain we perceive the consciousness of the mind, and via the mind we can touch a consciousness that pervades the universe. At those treasured moments our individual self dissolves into an eternal unity within which our universe is embedded. That is the both of physics and of metaphysics.”
“The mind is our link to the unity that pervades all existence. Though we need our brain to access our mind, neither a single synapse nor the entire brain contains a hint of the mind. And yet the consciousness of the mind is what makes us aware that we are humans; that I am I and you are you. The most constant aspect of our lives is that we are aware of being ourselves. Even in the illogical jumble of a dream, filled as it may be with fantasy, the constant is that we are ourselves.”
“From what we have seen of brain function, whether the mind is purely physical or partly metaphysical – call it divine if you wish – the brain’s very existence is quite simply mind-boggling and quite possible miraculous. There is brilliant design in the brain, and to make it requires the nature of our universe, which means we need a metaphysical force, a potential not composed of time, space, or matter that created the time, space and matter of our universe. It’s worth reemphasizing: the inequality between cosmology and theology is not whether there was a metaphysical creation. That is given. The debate is whether the metaphysical whatever-it-is, or was, that produced our universe manifests interest in the physical reality it created.”
Schroeder ends his book with a discussion of DNA as his piece de la resistance!
“In general, simple laws, such as the laws of nature, cannot give rise to complex information that exceeds their own unless that complexity is a fractal extension, a duplication in number and type of the base law. This is simply not the case with the genetic code. The information therein is apparent neither in the atoms and molecules from which DNA is formed nor in the laws and physics and chemistry that govern the interactions among the molecules. And yet if the fossil record is correct, the endowed wisdom of DNA seems to have been present from the very earliest stages of life on earth. How the coding that drives all sprang into existence remains a mystery.”
“……the problem of how the entire process originally got started. The first stage in making ATP requires a dozen or so intricately dovetailed protein enzymes, each one picking up the action just as the previous one leaves off. These enzymes are manufactured using information stored in the DNA. Retrieving and deciphering the wisdom held within the DNA in order to make the enzymes requires a good deal of energy. Get the problem? For the energy we need ATP. For ATP we need enzymes. But to make the enzymes we need the information held in the DNA and to get that information we need the energy supplied by the ATP. I guess if you buy a car at the top of a hill, you can drive away without a battery. It runs by itself. But something had to get the car to the top of the hill in the first place.”
We have only scratched the surface of what this book holds. Much intricate detail and complex explanations have been left for the reader to discover when the whole book is read. This article is only a tease. Once again the beginning needs a beginner or as Schroeder tells us:
“If we could see within as easily as we see without, every aspect of existence would be an unfolding encounter with awe; almost a religious experience even for a secular spectator.”
“Yet as remarkable as the underlying unity of the physical world may be, science is on the brink of discovering an even more sensational reality, one predicted almost three thousand years ago, that wisdom is the basis of all existence.”
Over the last decade here is what local Masonic Lodges should have been doing.
They should have increased their dues sufficiently to not only pay for the running of their Lodges but also have salted away some money in the bank account and investments. Instead of doing fund raisers they should have looked for additional income by renting out their Masonic Hall or any collateral property attached to the Hall owned by the Lodge.
They should have been seeking endowments from their members and instead of authorizing the Treasurer to take the extra income down to the bank and buying a CD, the Lodge should have hired a certified financial planner.
In urban and suburban situations Lodges in one area should have tried to operate all from one building. If you travel to England you can find as many as 20 Lodges meeting in one building, and Brothers paying $20 or more each meeting for a meal and the festive board. In our very mobile modern society where there was once a Lodge in every town, today it would be much more economical to have just one Hall per Masonic District.
These ideas have certainly been posted on this site before. So why repeat them now?
With Europe collapsing before our eyes; with the United States economy faltering, unemployment above 9% with no signs of abating, GDP growth in the neighborhood of an anemic 1%, the stock market tanking, one has to wonder about the financial stability of Masonic Lodges.
Those that have refused to run their Lodges like a business and have insisted on doing Masonry on the cheap may not be able to survive if the country’s economy continues to worsen. Especially vulnerable are rural Lodges and Lodges who cannot consolidate buildings. Those Lodges with a building all their own with no tenants, low dues and no money in the bank account or in investments probably will not survive.
We could be looking at the largest amount of Lodges disbanding and turning in their charters in the history of this nation. If we are it will be because many Lodges refused to take the necessary steps to put themselves on a sound financial footing when they had the opportunity. Any good businessman will tell you that you salt away some money in good times for a rainy day fund to tide you over in bad times. Lodges that failed to look ahead, failed to do any long term planning and operated by just squeaking by will suffer the consequences and pay the ultimate price.
I confess that I am a Born Again, Fundamentalist, Freemason.
Now before you have a cardiac arrest, or a stroke, let me explain what a Born Again, Fundamentalist, Freemason is. I used to be a very [for want of a better word] liberal Mason. I am now a very Conservative or Traditionalist, Freemason. Therefore, I am Born Again. By Fundamentalist, I mean that I believe that no one has a right to be a Freemason.
I believe those who want to be Freemasons must be good and true men, free born and of a mature and discreet age and sound judgment, no bondsmen, no women, no immoral or scandalous men, only men of good report.
I believe that a man who wants to be a Freemason must believe in the existence of God, and take his Obligation on Volume of The Sacred Law of his choice and that he owes a duty to that God and to his fellow man no matter what their creed, color, or religion.
I believe that a Freemason is obliged to obey the moral and civil law.
I believe that a man’s religion or mode of worship should not exclude him from the Order of Freemasonry, provided he also believes in the existence of a Supreme Being, and that Supreme Being will punish vice and reward virtue.
I believe that a Freemason is bound never to act against the dictates of his conscience.
I believe that Freemasonry is the center of union between honest men and the happy means of conciliating friendship amongst those who must otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.
I believe a Freemason”s Lodge is the temple of peace, harmony, and brotherly love; nothing is allowed to enter this Lodge which has the remotest tendency to disturb the quietude of its pursuits.
I believe all preferment among Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal merit only, therefore no Brother should be passed chair to chair, whether it is in a Lodge or a Grand Lodge, just because he knows the right people or has held the previous office for one year, no Grand Master, Master or Warden is chosen by seniority, but only for his merit.
I believe that there is nothing wrong with Freemasonry, as laid down for our instruction in our Ancient Charges.
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