Check Your Ambition

By: Orator, SP Tony Harris, 32°

Things we know to be true: Brothers in the Craft buying degrees for clout, Brothers in the Craft buying degrees for an image, and Brothers in the Craft buying degrees for bragging rights. Our selfish desires drive us to fanaticism even in Masonry, and we’re ignoring it. Duty should be Brother’s principal force in leading their Masonic career; as we look around in the craft, few brothers are seeking true knowledge. Ironically enough, the 4th degree comes without either password or jewel but is one of the most profound. How many Brothers actually pick up the ritual, let alone a book to gain knowledge and become valuable to our fellow Brothers? How many actually study and reflect on teachings in any of the degrees we’ve taken obligations to? We have been charged in the 1st degree to serve Self, neighbor, and Deity. Do we just forget the ritual to pursue our own selfish gains? These are questions that require practical answers.

Ambition, defined, is a strong desire to reach an end goal. It requires determination and effort to achieve.

From the Latin word “ambire” to go around, having a driving ambition can be, if we’re not careful, a powerful motivator for achieving failure or success, when we use it effectively. Much like the two assassins of 9th and 10th degrees, they represent the enemies of freedom, personally and socially. The negative expression of toxic ambition is tyranny and despotism. Ambition often leads to egotism and self-righteousness, all of which feed our primal tendencies in base consciousness.

Since our goal is to ascend to higher levels of thinking, primitive functions (like ego and self-serving desire) are not how we should operate consistently-it to serve neither God nor our neighbor. And, if the foundation of Masonry is unity, it is the unity that should cement us. Healthy ambition spawns healthy goal attainment in life.

Performance, growth, and achievement ambition are all degrees of ambition that we can use to elevate because we are supposed to be “fitting our minds as living stones for that spiritual building, that house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.” Speculative Masonry charges us with this when we receive the common gavel as one of our working tools as an Entered Apprentice. Performance ambition outlines what goals I can realistically attain through my own effort. Growth ambition outlines what level, technical, or personal mastery is needed to grow while achievement ambition outlines what reward I hope to obtain.

In our plight towards knowledge, we must remember that elevation is the ultimate goal for self, neighbor, and God alike. If we’re not focused on our personal growth, how are we supposed to leave a legacy worth living for now? If all we do is feed our physical nature, we will fall victim to our shadow nature, killing our inherent growth toward true enlightenment. This concludes this lecture.■