Page 21 - MFM Aug Sept 2019

What Came You Here to Do?
VW Zane P. McCune, DDGM 13, Grand Lodge of Washington

Welcome to autumn in the Pacifi c Northwest. Th is is actually better. In other words, it is not within the capability of our ego-
my favorite time of year. Th e rainy days upon us have quickly driven self to keep passion in check. We must learn to do this.
greened up our summer lawns and the sunny-crisp days of
September are the last glimmers of summer fading away. We How?
are reminded that the chill of winter will be knocking on our By improving oneself in Masonry. At fi rst this seems like
door shortly, and with it comes the shadowed silhouette of almost an obvious statement – for why else would one be
leaf-bare branches.
here? It’s so vast it almost seems like the perfect “catch all”
Our year is beginning to draw to an end. For many, this time statement. But before we gloss over it and commence with
is reminiscent of the sands in the hour glass noticeably and scheduling the next feast and celebration, let us consider the
yet quickly diminishing and as a result we begin to naturally nature of this declaration.
look inward and examine what this year has meant. And this For it is a personal commitment. You joined to improve
has given me cause to refl ect on our Grand Master’s message yourself.
this year.
Unfortunately, the Masonic experience for some is
Before becoming a Freemason, this fraternity, this society reminiscent of the fallacy of what has become a tag line for an
you have joined asks of you one question – simple, yet entire generation – Here we are now, entertain us. But nothing
profound – what came you here to do?
could be more opposite from the truth. Freemasonry exists
I hope your answer is just as profound. for YOU to discover her treasure and no one should expect
it to be done for them. You come here to improve yourself
Because none of us needs to be a Freemason. And want I in knowledge of Masonry. And it is through and from this
mean to say is that we all choose to be a Freemason. We choose expansion of knowledge that we begin to learn to conduct
this life because something in our nature is responding to a ourselves with peace and harmony with those around us.
mysterious call. And as such, your Masonic journey is really
like a mission. Your mission, should you choose to accept it First with our brethren, but then with the outer world. And
is to learn to subdue your passion and improve yourself in consequently, we become a better, more improved version of
Masonry. earlier self.
Learning to subdue your passion. Which at fi rst blush As Masons, we are called to labor and be laborers. From
seems a bit counterproductive. Don’t we learn as a child the very fi rst step in our Initiatic journey we are taught
to be passionate about what we do? For the initiate of our symbolically how to make use of every hour of every day by
Masonic order, this is one of the fi rst and most important the 24-inch gauge.
points of Freemasonry and yet this is often vulnerable We are taught to divide our time equally between our
to misinterpretation, and consequently it merits some service to the Supreme Architect and our worthy brethren, to
examination.
our society through our vocation and to the refreshment of
First, we must understand why we use the word passion. ourselves which includes, presumably, our family.
As it relates to our ritual, I believe we are talking about Th is is why it is so hard for many of us to sit idle, wasting the
an aff ection of the mind. Oxford Dictionary refers to this hours away accomplishing little but the short lived thrills of
type of passion as “Any kind of feeling by which the mind is passing amusement.
powerfully aff ected or moved; a vehement, commanding, or
overpowering emotion.” It’s simply not in our nature as Masons.
Which is why we come here, to this temple of virtue, to If you stop and think about it, we are constantly working on
learn to subdue our overpowering emotions. Because passion a temple – whether it’s our spiritual, temporal, or our personal
taken to an extreme overcomes our reason. And are we not temple.
instructed by the virtue of PRUDENCE which teaches us
“to regulate our lives and actions agreeably to the dictates We build – that is what we do, and there is no rest for the
of reason, and it is that habit by which we wisely judge and weary.
prudentially determine all things relative to our present as well You see, this is why our Grand Masters theme this year
as to our future happiness. Th is virtue should be the peculiar encapsulates the very essence of what it means to be a Mason.
characteristic of every Mason, not only for the government of It’s not simply a theme but rather a reminder of the declaration
his conduct while in the Lodge, but also when in the world.”
you made when you chose to become a Mason.
In other words, when you combine these concepts into one
‘Be the Diff erence’ by its very nature is calling our craft from
thought, we can say that “to learn to subdue my passions” refreshment to labor once again.
means to through the virtuous teachings of Masonry one
learns to bring commanding and overpowering emotions and So brethren, I ask you again, what came you here to do?
desires into subjection and control. Th is is quite the contrary
to the situation in which a man’s passions and emotions And with that…Let us now set to work.
have control over his sense of logic and reason – a situation
which Masonry seeks to remedy and which is often described Reprinted from: Grand Lodge of F&AM of Washington, Website:
through the all too well known cliché of making a good man freemason-wa.org.,Brother’s Blog, September 26, 2016.
Montana Freemason Page 21 Aug/Sept 2019 Volume 95 No .6