How to Define Tolerance

Author: http://www.sandiegofreemason.com

To be tolerant is to learn to respect the opinions of others though they may diverge from ones own belief system.

The human family is diverse. The principles guiding value systems in each society are different. And while one may not agree with some aspect of another persons cultural interpretation of morality or justice, to be tolerant would require one to work at accepting and understanding it.

Thus tolerance is the acceptance of something an individual disagrees with. Hence tolerance is so highly regarded in Freemasonry for it is vital to its existence. Acceptance of others' spiritual beliefs and traditions without being required to share them is the cornerstone of our fraternity.

Tolerance is the highest of masonic moral dictates. In one of the earliest speculative masonic texts (the Ahiman Rezon, or The Book of Constitutions of the Ancient Grand Lodge of England written in 1756 by Laurence Dermott) the first charge does not mention tolerance but defines it:

"...In antient Times, the Christian Masons were charged to comply with the Christian Usages of each Country where they travelled or worked; being found in all Nations, even of divers Religions.

They are generally charged to adhere to that Religion in which all Men agree (leaving each Brother to his own particular Opinion): that is, to be good Men and true, Men of  Honour and Honesty, by whatever Names, Religions, or Persuasions they may be distinguished for they all agree in the three great Articles of Noah, enough to preserve the Cement of the Lodge.

Thus masonry is the Center of their Union, and the Happy Means of consiliating Persons that otherwise must have remained at a perpetual Distance."

We are taught in Freemasonry to understand that each brother is different but equal.

We are also charged to, "Love your God with all of your heart, and all of your soul and all of your mind and all of your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself."

In contemplating tolerance as an actuality one would logically adhere several attributes to achieving tolerant behavior. An ability to forgive others, sympathize with their peculiar circumstance, and the patience to reflect upon differences rather than react would seem mandatory to effecting a tolerant attitude.

If put into effect in everyday life, tolerance of others beliefs and respect for their equal right to believe something we may not agree with, will translate into a higher form of personal existence.

The spread of this practice among individuals of all cultures can only lead to a higher degree of mutual respect among nations and a more peaceful world.

To give this rationale crystal clarity one need only look at the antithesis of the idea of tolerance.

Who embraces intolerance?

Certain names spring to mind- Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and other infamous authoritarian figures of the 20th century come to mine. Ideologies also emerge- the Ku Klux Klan, Skin Heads, Nazis and Radical Islamic Militants.

An Austrian brother visited our lodge a couple of years ago and presented the master with a pin. The pin had the representation of a forget-me-not flower on it.

The brother explained that it was symbolic of Austrian Freemasonry for he said the first thing Hitler did to consolidate his power was detain and murder prominent Freemasons in Germany and Austria.

Hitler could not allow Freemasonry to exist because the Nazi philosophy was entirely based on the inequality of human species and intolerance of those races deemed inferior.

Thus the forget-me-not is a symbol of remembrance on the pin. It is to remind us of the danger of allowing intolerance into our own lives and society as well as the need to regularly incorporate tolerance into our hearts and minds.

By Steve Laurvick ...

AHIMAN REZON
or
The Book of Constitutions
of the Ancient Grand Lodge of England

by Laurence DERMOTT
The book is made available on-line by courtesy of
W. Bro. Drew Grant
Treasurer,Almoner & P.M. Howdon Panns 5315 UGLE
Past Provincial Junior Grand Warden, Northumberland
who patiently scanned it.

Go to this link to read it:   AHIMAN REZON

http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/Ahiman_Rezon.html

This was pulled off of Youtube and sounds authentic.

Logan is a 13 year-old boy who lives on a ranch in a very small town in Nebraska. Logan listens to Christian Radio station 89.3FM KSBJ which broadcasts from Houston, TX. Logan called the radio station distraught because he had to take down a calf . His words have wisdom beyond his years.

Since airing the audio of the phone call and now the making of the video clip, it has taken on a life of its own. People are forwarding it all over the world. We encourage you to share the love of Christ with anyone you can.

(A FrankLozano.com Production) Little did I know when I was given the audio to this phone call that it would become SO HUGE. When I produced this video, I knew it was special to ME, but never would I have guessed when typing the text and editing the music that it would literally touch MILLIONS. I am proud to have put this video together for the world to see and hear. We have had a lot of requests to replay the phone call that Pastor Mike shared during our church service on Sunday, Nov. 11th, 2007.

(**Sky Angel is a family safe broadcasting service that is offered on satellite. KSBJ is a local Houston Christian music radio station. Video clip produced with love by me, www.FrankLozano.com Hear the entire message at www.ValenciaHills.com)

Below is a clip from the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music", comes the first of many "songs around the world" being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travelled the globe. This and other songs such as "One Love" will be released as digital downloads soon; followed by the film soundtrack and DVD early next year.

Sign up at www.playingforchange.com for updates and exclusive content available only to those who...

Join the Movement to help build schools, connect students, and inspire communities in need through music

Contributed by John Gamache of SW Hackett #574.

"Ahura Mazda came to my aid.

It was thanks to Darius the Great that we have been able to decipher the cuneiform script, which had fallen into even deeper oblivion than Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Based on Roland G. Kent, Old Persian, 1953

The Achaemenian Kings left extensive cuneiform inscriptions in Old Persian dated roughly between 600 BCE and 300 BCE. They also left ruins which have been described as the most grandiose of the ancient world. While it is by no means certain that they were orthodox Zoroastrians, the majority opinion among scholars is that this is very likely. One of the strongest arguments for this is the frequent mention of Ahura Mazda in the inscriptions, which is almost certainly an innovation of Zarathushtra's. Their religion is also described by Herodotus in sufficient detail to leave little doubt that they were basically Zoroastrian..."

http://www.avesta.org/op/op.htm

Sovereign Military Order of Malta

The Order of Malta and Freemasonry have parallels of current purpose and history.

The link above will take you to their official website. You must find the translation link at the top of the page if you do not speak Italian.

When the Knights Templar were disbanded and Grand Master Jacques De Molay and 11 others were burned at the stake in Paris the fallout was traumatic to the economic fabric of the Holy Roman Empire. As the Order created and ran the first effective banking system in Europe, there was certain to have been financial panic at the time.

By papal decree the Order of Malta, a parallel and sometimes rival brotherhood also known as the Order of Hospitallers, was given the property of Knights Templar shortly after the church disbanded them.

Like the Templars the Order of Malta is a fraternity created out of the Crusades and dedicated to St. John.

As the Knights Templar protected the road for Europeans traveling to Jerusalem, the Hospitallers provided clinics and medical care for the same pilgrims. Both orders fought to gain control of and protect Jerusalem after it was conquered, lost, reclaimed and ultimately lost again.

After being ejected from the holy land by Muslim forces the Order of Malta established themselves as the rulers of the Island of Rhodes as a military order of the Catholic Church and operated there from 1310-1523 AD until once again they were ejected by Muslim invaders.

From Rhodes they moved operations to  Malta and operated as "sovereign" from 1530-1798 AD when Napolean's military conquered the island and banished them to Rome where they have existed as a soveriegn order ever since.

Unlike Freemasonry the current membership of the Order of Malta has an unbroken line of history from the time of its inception in Jerusalem in 1050 AD., and to become a member of this order one must be born into it.

As in speculative Freemasonry, however, the current stated mission of the Order of Malta is one of philanthropy.

They build and fund hospitals and medical research primarily in Europe but have a worldwide presence and are diplomatically accepted as a sovereign nation by a some countries outside of the sphere of papal influence.

They have an extensive website worth checking out at:

http://www.orderofmalta.org/italiano

Le Plongeon's actual translation imaged in Google Books: Troano MS.

The following quotation is from Le Plongeon's translation of the famous Troano MS., which may be seen in the British Museum. The Troano MS. appears to have been written (hieroglyphed) about 3,500 years ago, among the Mayas of Yucatan, and the following is its description of the catastrophe that submerged the island of Poseidonis:--"In the year 6 Kan, on the 11th Muluc in the month Zac, there occurred terrible earthquakes, which continued without interruption until the 13th Chuen. The country of the hills of mud, the land of Mu was sacrificed: being twice upheaved it suddenly disappeared during the night, the basin being continually shaken by volcanic forces. Being confined, these caused the land to sink and to r' se several times and in various places. At last the surface gave way and ten countries were torn asunder and scattered. Unable to stand the force of the convulsions, they sank with their 64,000,000 of inhabitants 8060 years before the writing of this book."

http://books.google.com/books?id=gGBEwKdyLfMC&pg=PR42&lpg=PR42&dq=Troano+MS+Le+Plongeon&source=bl&ots=mxskJ5TJCd&sig=IFnaK1_u_FVkVWxSIeFHtgXvEoc#PPR42,M1

An interpretation of heiroglyphs and oral traditions written by indigenous peoples being converted by Jesuits in Central America and Eastern Mexico.
Popul-Vul, Tedlock Translation

POPOL VUH: THE MAYAN BOOK OF THE DAWN OF LIFE
translated by Dennis Tedlock with commentary based on the ancient knowledge of the modern Quiche Maya
- There was no little justice in the fact that it was the missionaries themselves, the burners of the ancient books, who worked out the problems of adapting the alphabet to the sounds of Mayan languages, and while they were at it they charted grammars and compiled dictionaries.

Their official purpose in on-going this linguistic work was to facilitate the writing and publishing of Christian prayers, sermons, and catechisms in the native languages. But very little time passed before some of their native pupils found political and religious applications for alphabetic writing that were quite independent of those of Rome.

These independent writers have left a literary legacy that is both more extensive than the surviving hieroglyphic corpus and more open to understanding. Their most notable works, created as alphabetic substitutes for hieroglyphic books, are the Chilam Balam or "Jaguar Priest" books of Yucatan and the Popol Vuh of Guatemala.

http://www.tphta.ws/TPH_POPL.HTM

Exploring ritual meaning.

by Steve Laurvick

For me memorization of the ritual comes faster with comprehension and so I will post my first Trestleboard article on research I've done into the part of the ritual I'm currently struggling to understand.

In the lecture of the first degree we are taught that the perfect points of entrance are illustrated by the four cardinal virtues. We are not told why, or even whether the perfect points of entrance are into the candidate, the lodge, the fraternity or something else.

However the lectures of Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice all allude to the necessity of remembering to remain alert and wary of any physical weakening of the mind or body which might cause a man to lapse in the maintaining of his obligation.

Though I am no expert in it, I do not see this correlation spoken of or elaborated upon anywhere else in the ritual. If anyone else has please make me aware of it.

As I recall from catechism classes these virtues were first exemplified by the ancient Greeks and first written down by the philosopher Socrates student Plato.

The obvious virtue of pursuing temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice in one's daily life was passed by Roman roads to all corners of what was to become the Holy Roman Empire and was perpetuated in Western society by influential writings of intellectuals of the early Catholic church such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.

The word cardinal is derived from the Latin word for "hinge" or "cardin." In fact every Pope now comes from the ranks of the "Cardinals" and there is little doubt of the symbolism and importance that these virtues represent in the Christian world.

A metaphor for these four virtues: Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice; is that they are the hinges upon which the door morality is hung, and swings.

This thread brings us back to another quite obvious reference to first admission, and a specific passage of scripture that started with a request and resulted in entry into the ancient and honorable fraternity.

So on this point I will lean toward the perfect points of entrance being related to the granting of admission. Perhaps the cardinal virtues illustrate the only possible way to enter and progress in freemasonry.

An ability to maintain the sanctity of the obligation being the "nails" in "il cardino" or the hinges of the door upon which the four cardinal virtues open or close might be a way to envision the perfect points of entrance.

The guttural, pectoral, manual and pedal as illustrated by signs and words, symbols and steps are meant only for individuals with the ability or desire to control their base impulses and strive to live a just, temperate, and prudent lifestyle while having the fortitude to live by the courage of their convictions.

Agree or not, these thoughts will I hope stimulate discussion and will help me get through this proficiency.

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