THE KANSAS MASON June/July 2020
An electronic publication for Kansas Freemasons published by the Grand Lodge of Kansas A.F. & A.M. Anthony W. “Tony� Borum, Grand Master of Masons 2020-2021
The Sweet Sounds of Fellowship The sound of the Master’s gavel and the knock on the lodge room door reverberated in many of our Masonic lodges across Kansas on July first. For myself, and many Kansas Masons, the sounds meant welcome relief from the trials and tribulations of the last several months. For some Kansas Masons, the long-awaited re-opening of our lodges brought back the warm masonic fellowship that sustains us in good times and bad. We dearly missed our masonic gatherings, public and private. For others, especially our families and friends, it brought mixed feelings and trepidation as we reconnected with brothers, not knowing for sure where they had been or if they had been practicing all the precautions recommended by our health experts. One could argue that Masons are connected emotionally, spiritually, and socially. One could also say that we are forever dependent on each other for support and welfare. The closing of our lodge buildings and many parts of our society made it very difficult for Masons to stay connected with their families, friends, and neighbors. We used technology and computers as a means of communication, but it was not the same. According to statistics, a high percentage of Americans live in or close to the city where they grew up to stay close to their family. In our cities and counties that had and are still having, a high number of Covid-19 cases, the choice to stay home was clear. Those who live in towns and counties with minimal to no instances of the coronavirus it was and is hard to accept. When the decision was made to close our lodges temporarily, we all naturally felt that a part of our family was shielded from us. A wall seemed to be between us. We were saddened because we have learned to love our masonic brothers and their families as our own. We need each other. Everyone realized that the risk was too significant to jeopardize our health or the health of those masons that travel often and visit other counties and other lodges. Our health professionals are still trying to learn effective ways to treat and minimize the suffering
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and mortality brought on by this disease. We are now able to be back in our lodges. We are now able to get back to our work. We would never knowingly endanger our health or the health and welfare of our masonic family. Many of us brought our face coverings, hand sanitizer, gloves, and stayed a reasonable distance from each other. Even though we are not yet in the full masonic form we
love so dearly, we must remain cautious and wary of the clear and present dangers that our interactions and meetings could pose. But, one thing is clear. Though we may have to wait with patience, we are happiest as Masons when we hear that Master’s welcome, the sound of the gavel, and the knock upon the door. Those, indeed, are the Sweet Sounds of Fellowship.
WILL YOU SAVE YOUR LODGE’S HISTORY OR LET IT VANISH? Does your Lodge have: • Old Minute Books? • Old Treasurer Ledgers? • Old Tyler’s Registers? • Old Communications? • Historical Documents? We will provide: • Overhead book scanner • Bulk loose paper scanner • Laptop computer • Archival gloves • Simple-step instructions What your Lodge gets: • A digital, searchable copy of all your lodge history • • No bill (this is FREE to all Kansas Lodges & Masonic bodies)
2020 District Schools of Instruction More detailed information is available from your District Deputy Grand Master, in next month’s article, or at KansasMason.org / News & Events
DATE Sept. 19
DISTRICT
LOCATION
4A
NEWTON No. 142
Sept. 19
4B
NEWTON No. 142
Sept. 19
8D
OLD MISSION No. 153
Sept. 26
8C
ROSEDALE No. 333
Oct. 3
3C
CALEDONIA No. 459
Oct. 10
1C
HAYS No. 195
Oct. 10
4C
SUNFLOWER LODGE No. 86
Oct. 10
7B
PATMOS No. 97
Oct. 10
8A
HENRI No. 190
Oct. 10
8B
WYANDOTTE No. 3
Oct. 10
10A
CEDAR No. 103
Oct. 10
10C
CEDAR No. 103
Oct. 17
3B
UNION No. 7
Oct. 17
3D
LINDSBORG No. 397
Oct. 17
4E
ANTHONY No. 200
Oct. 17
5B
HIAWATHA No. 35
Oct. 17
6C
IOLA No. 38
Oct. 17
7A
FIDELITY No. 106
Oct. 17
7C
WINFIELD No. 110
Oct. 17
7D
KEYSTONE No. 102
Oct. 17
10B
MARVIN A ARMSTRONG No. 187
Oct. 17
10D
MARVIN A ARMSTRONG No. 187
Oct. 24
2C
KILWINNING No. 265
Oct. 31
9C
PEACE No. 243
Nov. 7
1A
HOXIE No. 348
Nov. 7
1B
HOXIE NO. 348
Nov. 7
4D
HAYSVILE No. 112
Nov. 7
6B
EMPORIA No. 12
Nov. 7
9A
GARDNER No. 65
Nov. 7
9B
OTTAWA No. 18
Nov. 7
9D
MOUND CITY No. 33
Nov. 14
2A
ULYSSES No. 435
Nov. 14
5A
MARYSVILLE LODGE No. 91
Nov. 14
6A
CORINTHIAN No. 79
Nov. 14
6D
CORINTHIAN No. 79
Nov. 21
2B
ANTHEM No. 284
Nov. 21
5C
LAKE No. 50
Dec. 5
2D
HOISINGTON No. 331
Dec. 5
5D
ORIENT No. 51
Dec. 12
3A
BELLEVILLE No. 129
Reboot Your Lodge Meetings, Part 2 (Adding Enlightenment to the Masonic Experience.) By Mikel Stoops, DSM, Grand Senior Warden
Masons? Masonic philosophy such as charity to Ed. note: Previous articles in this series are in the
mankind and service to our community. Masonic
April and May 2020 Kansas Mason Pulse editions
symbolism like the Lambskin or the Point within
available online only at KansasMason.org
the Circle. Why 3, 5, and 7? The methods used to make your educational
In my previous reboot articles, I discussed the need
presentation are up to you. Some typical examples
to enhance the Masonic experience. Part 1
are PowerPoints, oral, video, flip charts, and audio.
explained ways to eliminate the mundane business
The most important aspects to remember are to
of the Lodge from our meetings. Now, in Part 2, I
make the attendees and the presenter comfortable
will discuss ways to add Masonic education to our
and do proper justice to the topic. For example, if
meetings.
you are talking about a Masonic musical topic, you
Masonic Education is a wide and varied topic.
need a way to play the music, and if you are talking
The only topics truly prohibited for discussion in
about a Masonic sculptor, you should have a way to
Lodge are politics and religion. Remember that only
show his works.
topics associated with Masonry can be used as education in a tyled meeting. But that is very vague.
resources than any Masons that came before us. We
All Master Masons have received instructions to
have little excuse not to be able to find something to
study the seven liberal arts and sciences, and a few
present. If you need a starting point, here are a few
of those are explained to us. With that thought, are
ideas. The Masonic Service Association’s Short
these topics not associated with Masonry? If that is
Talk Bulletin has been published once a month
the case, then there is more information just in those
since 1923. These are over one-thousand readymade
seven broad topics than anyone could cover in a
Masonic Education presentations. Our Grand Lodge
lifetime. If you are in doubt as to the Masonic
has many resources available like The Kansas
association of a topic, simply have your educational
Mason and the Mentorship Guide. There are
time while the Lodge is at refreshment.
thousands of books on the topic of Freemasonry like
Here are a few examples of some topics that
Morals and Dogma and The Lost Keys of
could be of interest. Historic Masonic figures like
Freemasonry. And there are sources in popular
Winston Churchill, John Wayne, George
culture like the movie National Treasure and
Washington, and Harry S. Truman. Masonic history
potentially the upcoming TV series The Lost
such as Masonry in the American Revolution,
Symbol.
Masonry’s role in the establishment of the British Parliament, and Were the Templars the first 4
In the information age, we have access to more
Masonic education does not have to be a four-hour dissertation on the cosmic origins of our Craft. The key is to make it interesting and
Some of the best Masonic education experiences are
Masonic education does not have to be a 4-hour dissertation on the cosmic origins of our Craft. The key is to make it interesting and fun.
those presentations that lead to open discussion among the Brothers. Following the recommendations in
fun. Have an Entered Apprentice give a presentation on what it
Part 1, we have made the time. Now we need to use
meant to him to receive his First Degree. Movie
that time to spread LIGHT as we said we would.
night is also a great way to sneak in some Masonic education. Have a Lodge movie night by viewing one of the “National Treasure” movies or a darker one called “From Hell” or any number of other “Masonic” movies. Then discuss the masonic symbology in the movie and how it was or was not represented in its true Masonic context.
MAKE THE TIME
FURTHER MORE
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Cheryl Sowder, wife of 1997 Kansas Grand Master Jeff Sowder, recently sent a very special thank you note to the Kansas Masonic Foundation for all Kansas Masons. While M∴W∴ Jeff was serving as Imperial Potentate for Shriners International in 20192020, Cheryl was raising funds for their Patient Ambassador program. As we Kansans would expect, it was one of the best fundraising programs ever.
The Ratio of Beauty By Herbert F. Merrick, DSM, PM Hancock Lodge No. 311
Beauty, we are told, is represented by the Junior Warden as he symbolizes the meridian sun, "the most beautiful object in the heavens," and by the Corinthian column as it is the most beautiful of the ancient orders of architecture. The archetype becomes Hiram Abiff, the widow's son, due to the great debt owed him for his skill in decorating the temple." i Masons, both speculative and operative, have used the blazing star, or Pythagoras' pentagram, as a tool to express beauty as well as decorations for their personal temples. Encoded in this pentagram is the golden ratio. Mathematicians since Euclid have studied the properties of the golden ratio, including its appearance in the dimensions of a regular pentagon and in a golden rectangle, which may be cut further into a square and a smaller rectangle with the same aspect ratio. These form the basis for many objects that are studied in both the blue lodge and the appendant bodies. The golden ratio has also been used to analyze the proportions of natural objects as well as man-made systems. By speculative masons, it represents the mystic light from the center of the universe. Some of the greatest mathematical minds of all ages, from Pythagoras and Euclid in ancient Greece to such lights of the medieval Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa and the Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler, along with ancient Greek mathematicians first studied what we now call the golden ratio because of its frequent appearance in geometry. The division of a line into "extreme and mean ratio" (the golden section) is important in the
geometry of regular pentagrams and pentagons. According to one story, 5th-century BC mathematician Hippasus discovered that the golden ratio was neither a whole number nor a fraction a surprise to Pythagoreans. Euclid's Elements provides several propositions and their proofs employed the golden ratio. ii During the enlightenment, these were rediscovered and studied. They were used to form the basis of many early masonic studies and discussions. Geometry, as Johannes Keppler pointed out, has two great treasures: one is the Theorem of Pythagoras, and the other is the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio. The first we may compare to a measure of gold, the second we may name a precious jewel. Biologists, artists, musicians, historians, architects, psychologists, and even masons have pondered and debated the basis of its ubiquity and appeal. It is probably fair to say that the Golden Ratio has inspired thinkers of all. In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. In Masonry, it is perfecting ourselves and illuminating a dark and unconscious world. This emblem of perfection is seen in the Tree of Life from the Kabala and in Vitruvian Man by Da Vinci. This ratio is that symbol of beauty and is a tool of the Junior Warden.
Krom, John Lee, Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, A Research Paper for the Kansas Lodge of Research, December 17, 1994 http://www.ks-mason.org/wsb.htm
ii
i
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Livio, Mario (2003) [2002]. The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number (First trade paperback ed.). New York City: Broadway Books.
By Alex G. Powers, Director, Kansas Lodge of Research KSLOR.org
Masonic buildings crumbling and slipping away
spaces in which we meet, we would treat these
seems to be a growing trend these days that is
spaces in higher regard. Temples are sacred spaces
promptly followed by passionate feelings on both
intended to be kept separate from the profane
sides of the matter. I am not going to address that
community. Their intended purposes are specific
issue here directly, but rather some of the thought
and serious in nature. These said intentions are what
process that goes behind those feelings; and the
genuinely separate our workings from the various
terminologies that commonly coincide. So why start
groups and clubs that attempt to steal away the
this article off with that line? Well, within the
Masonic luster. On a deeper level, these intended
arguments that ensue after these buildings go, a
purposes are what truly ignite our spiritual journey.
phrase commonly uttered is “the lodge is the
8
Brethren, not the building.” Yet, we use the term
Many today express a sincere disappointment in the
“lodge” in a manner that would directly conflict
overall image portrayed by the Craft. The image
with that statement. “Are you going to be at the
that was is rarely the image that is anymore.
lodge tonight?” Now, one could, and more than
Freemasonry has regressed from elegant halls,
likely will, argue the point that they could be
lavish events, and dapper men to that of run-down
referring to the group of men and not the building
or abandoned buildings, and men in shorts and
directly. That’s true, but if you examine that phrase,
polos that want to sell various raffle tickets or
they are not. How about “Hey, I think the lights got
crummy meal admissions. What happened to us?
left on at lodge.” We can hopefully agree at that
Simply put, we got lazy, cheap, and started putting
point that we do commonly refer to the building
our efforts into excuses, rather than into actual
itself as “the Lodge.” This is where I throw you all
Masonry. There is not just one reason for this
for a loop as I am not going to defend the use of the
change; it has been many things over time in
word lodge. In fact, I am going to propose that we
regards to appeasing the individual over holding the
stop using the word lodge in that manner all
individual accountable to the precepts of the
together and call it what is intended to be, a Temple.
Masonic traditions. With that being said, maybe,
Many of our beautiful old buildings even have this
just maybe, changing the viewpoint of where we
term written in stone along the top. “Masonic
meet will change how people treat it, thus causing a
Temple.” So why does it matter what we call it? My
ripple effect of improvement. It is much more than a
belief is that if we understood the principle of the
“Diet Coke fix”as some say. However, a step in the
right direction sets the course for a new path. Every meeting I attend, “Masonic Temple” catches my eye from the arched roofline, and it sticks with me. It reminds me of where I am going and what my purpose is there. It is far from just a Thursday evening with the boys. I am there to work. The term lodge has been associated with so many different orders throughout the years and is just not taken seriously at the end of the day anymore. A Temple is respected and treated differently by those who enter it. A Temple is taken care of and not left in shambles. But maybe you don’t have your own building. Perhaps you rent space from a church or school for your meetings. That’s fine. The area you are utilizing for your ceremonies becomes your Temple during that time and should be treated accordingly. Allow your mind to process that. Seriously. Instill that into the hearts of your Brothers before engaging your work and instill this into candidates before they ever enter the gate. We are not here for the bills. We are here to work. Work of a spiritual nature deserves a spiritual space. Think it over my Brother and don’t go to lodge again, go to the Temple. Hopefully, I will see you there.
Launching the Masonic Explorer • *Access Virtual Education Programs o Live & Archived • *Access Digital Holdings Archives o Photos o Kansas lodge records o Kansas Grand Lodge records o Lodge of Research records o Foreign Jurisdiction records
• Access The Academy Series o (How to do Masonic research) • Access submitted papers
What is required to join? • A desire for further enlightenment (light) • Be a Master Mason in good standing o With the Grand Lodge of Kansas o Or belonging to a Grand Lodge fully recognized by the Grand Lodge of Kansas • Submit an original paper For more information go to KSLOR.ORG
My belief is that if we understood the principle of the spaces in which we meet, we would treat these spaces in higher regard. - Alex Powers
The answer is:
A Fun NEW game FOR MASONIC Education.
(Find out the question in the next edition of your Kansas Mason.)
