3 minute read
From the Editor’s Desk
Behold How Good
by PJ Roup, 33˚, Editor, Active for Pennsylvania
When I was a District Deputy Grand Master, I began every lodge address with those words. I did so for a twofold purpose. First, to remind those present that unity was our aim. We never strove for unity of thought—to do so would stifle creativity, hinder our ability to solve the problems that may have been before us, and damage the egregore of those assembled. What we strove for was unity of purpose. There is something magical about a group of men coming together for the purpose of becoming better versions of themselves, after all.
The second objective was to remind them of the benefit of coming together in unity—the goodness and pleasantness that would follow. Freemasonry in general, and the Scottish Rite in particular, were never intended to be places of indoctrination or groupthink. No worthy man ever knocked on our doors in the hopes of being told, This is the only answer. Most, if not all of us, rather, recognized the benefit of being in the company of other men who had the same goals of self-improvement. Unity of purpose. That was our aim.
In September, all four Sovereign Grand Commanders gathered at the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C., to sign a Statement of Unity [p. 24]. In so doing, they recognized each other as the only legitimate Supreme Councils in the United States, affirmed their roles as appendant bodies under the umbrella of symbolic Freemasonry, and pledged to support one another in the cause of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.
When we focus on unity of purpose, we have less time to be concerned with the hows and whys that can easily divide us. Those hows and whys that were formed by our religious, social, and family upbringing may influence the work we need to do to become our best selves, but they don’t change the goal. If we all agree to meet at Supreme Council headquarters in Lexington, Massachusetts, we certainly don’t leave our homes at the same time, travel the same route, or use the same mode of transportation. We are each starting from different places, after all. It is left to each of us to decide when to leave, which way to go, and how to travel.
The same may be said of our Masonic journey. We start at myriad places on the map. Our paths are different. Some have farther to travel. Some have more arduous terrain. In the end though, with unity of purpose, and with the blessing of the Great Architect of the Universe, we may all arrive at our goal.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity!
