Today, I was with one of my closest friends at his father’s funeral. Sadly, it seems I’ve been to many of funerals lately. Anyway, as typically happens at said events, the speakers tried to encapsulate 72 years of life into a few succinct anecdotes, and tried to distill a lifetime of his wisdom into a few short, memorable pieces of advice for future generations.

First, I reflect first upon my own life, and wonder how I would be encapsulated and quoted after my death. I’d like to think, by my life, I will have inspired people with the memorable things I’ve said and done and that the remembered quotes will bring knowing smiles and happy motivation. In a way, this desire is motivational for me: to live my life in such a way where no days pass uneventfully. Well, it’s something to aspire to, anyway. Second, I reflect upon Masonry. It and much of recorded history is a distillation of the works, ideas, thoughts, and lifetimes of experience of so many people. Only the best, most thought-through, and most wise snippets of entire lifetimes of study, research, inspiration, and productivity remain in our ritual and history. How little we know of the rest of a man’s life, but his one or two great accomplishments. Likewise, how little we know of all the rest of Masonry, but the ritual that has successfully been passed down to us through the ages. Perhaps a million Masons as great as Pythagorus or Hiram have gone before us, yet their collective greatness must be distilled into a short few stories to share with those who come after us.

I realize how important symbolism is, therefore. With only a finite amount of storage space in our small brains, and with only a short, finite amount of time in which to learn the mysteries of the world, it is crucial that we understand how one idea can represent so much more than its one literal interpretation; how one man can stand for what a thousand believe in; how one Lodge has the burden of communicating at least 300 years’ worth (maybe thousands of years’ worth) of knowledge of the human condition to its members and its communities.

Yet again, I am humbled by my responsibility as a man and as a Mason.

Fraternally,

David Sylvester
Master

slyman007@aol.com