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Montana Freemason April 2017 Volume 93 Number 1
To the One, Experience is Wonderful!
become the developers of talent and be the best
counselors for our brethren. My brethren, it is our W. Bro Tarek Hamida, Calgary No. 23
duty to discover our talents and become the leaders
Over the past few weeks, I have been trying to come up
to have Brethren who are great teachers, in that area. By focusing on these skills we become with a message worthy of the Orient. After some thought,
better men, fathers, husbands, employees and
orators, cooks, bartenders etc. These and a couple of wonderful conversations with beloved
Brethren know what they have to offer Masons. Brethren (and a few beers), I figured I could share a few of
and we should accept them for who they my personal deliberations into the fundamental conundrum
Remember we are all leaders, but not necessarily of every spiritual being.
are. We need to assist them in developing Masters of our Lodges. We own a duty to each
those special skills so that our beloved
Paradoxically, we all are homesick travellers, loving the
Craft becomes a place of acceptance for and every Brother in our Grand Lodge to know voyage, yet missing home. Deep within us is an immortal
ourselves and know the limits of each other so that
all. If we fail in accepting our Brethren call, a seed, a beacon, an awareness of consciousness, an
for what they have to offer, we will be we may become a true and faithful servant to our animating force that connects us all, immortal and beyond
looking at the demise of our Craft. I hope we all beloved Craft. comprehension. It is the very essence of our being, and
believe that we can rise above our differences and Remember my brothers: forms the very fabric of our reality. For reasons unknown
place the good of the Lodge above forcing those to us, our soul has decided to enter a frail, helpless, mortal
into positions they should not go. “leadership is about body, surrendering its might and will to the forces of nature
Submission to duty
and chaos. Yet in its great mercy and wisdom, it has left
If a Brother desires to become a leader in any area Not elevation to power.” a seed of knowledge within the body, so it may not forget
itself. Why would something immortal and great reduce
of the Craft, then how do we train them? Is it done itself into this helpless state and subject itself to a variety
by just going through the chairs? That’s the usual of human experiences across the entire spectrum of good
progression, but Brethren that is an error on our and evil, just to die at the end and return to itself?
part. We need to provide them
with a course that will make This question has always intrigued me, and some of my
them a better leader and more conclusions helped me plan out my life. It is the voyage,
the experience, the thrill of the challenge, and the need to
effective communicator. The dream. To be ONE is awfully lonely. Eventually you start
problem lies in developing such doubting your own existence. How can we experience
a program. We are fortunate to existence without experiences? How can we experience
have the Lodge Officer Training an experience without sharing it? Our world is just a giant
Program to assist in our understanding of our lodge experience machine, created by the One to Be. This world
duties. However, we need to go further. We need to and our lives are a gift of the One to itself. No matter the
offer a program dedicated to leadership. experience, to the One, it is all wonderful.

If we can approach our life that way, and perceive all
I have been fortunate to discover that the Grand our experiences as gifts to ourselves, we will have more
Lodge of Ohio has created such a program, and fulfilling, happier lives. If we see each other as gifts to
we have been given permission to use it. It is the ourselves, and appreciate the beauty behind our fellow
duty of each and every member of the craft to creatures, love becomes part of everything we do. There
immerse ourselves in this program and discover is no more cruel fate than to have a conscious, thinking
where we can best assist our beloved craft. It can being experience eternal loneliness. Mercy, charity, hope
be found at www.freemasonuniversity.com. This are gifts of the One to itself through us.
site focuses not only on being a leader but on lodge We must enjoy the voyage, and however bad our
management, budgeting and running meetings that experiences could be, we must remember that it is this
will attract members to attend. If we fail to use experience which our soul craves. At the same time, the
the tools provided we have failed our members, One gave us the shining beacon in the east, the seed of
Lodges and Grand Lodge. But above all we have consciousness that keeps us aware of its existence, and
failed ourselves. calls us home. We must be careful not to succumb to the
lure of this seed, this Call, as we will miss out on our
George Tootoosis, portraying Cecil Delaronde very purpose. On the other hand, we should never have
experiences without knowledge of the seed.
said” leadership is about submission to duty”,
and I agree, but leadership is also a duty to our Such is the eternal conundrum. What happens when an
membership, our Lodges our Districts and the unstoppable force meets an immovable object? A Thought.
Craft in general. It is also our duty to accept each
of our members for their special talents and not to Reprinted from the Alberta Freemason magazine, April, 2017.
push them into areas they should not enter. Let us
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