Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Scottish Right Journal podcast and audio presentation
of the Scottish Right Journal, brought to you by the
Supreme Council of the Scottish Right Southern Jurisdiction Mother Supreme
Council of the World. This week's article is Lessons from
the nineteenth Degree work Wait and be patient, leave the
rest to history and fate, by Brother Jonathan w. Ricewig,
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thirty second degree and comes from the July August twenty
twenty five issue of the Scottish Right Journal. Patients might
not be one of Freemasonry's for cardinal virtues, but it
is perhaps the most important skill an individual can develop.
I have had many experiences that have tried my patients.
I had to wait two years before I could start
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my undergraduate degree. I spent many weeks worrying and waiting
for grades to be released or for scholarships to be granted.
I spent months working towards applying and waiting to be
accepted into law school. I had to wait months to
learn I passed Oklahoma's bar exam. However, it was only
recently that I learned that patience is not a passive skill.
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One must put in effort one must work, wait, and
be patient. During my three years of law school, I
became increasingly isolated from my family, friends, and masonry. These
were easy choices to justify at the time. I had
spent nearly a decade just attempting to reach law school,
and I refused to fail. I threw myself into academic
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rigor and long hours of contemplating the nature of justice.
Yet I felt empty and hollow. Man is a social creature,
as Aristotle tells us in his Politics, but mine was
a solitary life. I left law school a changed man.
Some changes were for the better. I believe I was
kinder and more thorough in my opinions. Some changes were harmful. However,
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the stress of law school caused me to lose forty
pounds in three years, and my anxiety was impossible to
control most days. Midway through law school, I realized I
had the talents to be a successful attorney, but I
no longer had the drive. Most importantly, I could feel
myself frequently taking stress home with me. I worried what
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sort of husband and father this would make me. I
decided my own happiness and fulfillment necessitated a change. I
attempted to teach. This decision largely was based on my
time as ad Malay adviser. Yet while I had the
desire to teach and a love for the subject, I
did not have the adequate patience teaching requires. Most alarmingly,
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I had continued to hemorrhage weight. At one point I
lost ten pounds in a week. I was always sick.
I couldn't sleep, I couldn't relax, not even at Masonic events.
I realized this career wasn't sustainable for me either. I
could feel me slipping away. I left teaching because my
own body and mind were destroying me. It took me
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six months to find work. I questioned my life choices.
I berated myself for walking away from these career opportunities.
I faced a constant stream of rejection for being simultaneously
over and underqualified. I was lost and afraid. Yet a
brief Masonic passage from the nineteenth degree Grand Pontiff gave
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me hope, work, wait, and be patient. The candidate enters
the degree with an hourglass, which symbolizes both the finite
nature of life itself and the patience one needs throughout life.
The degree continues with four sages representing different belief systems,
Hermes from ancient Egyptian religion, Manu from Hinduism, the Hellenistic,
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Jewish philosopher Philo, and Saint John the Evangelist. They discuss
which values are required for a virtuous life, explaining that
truth and life are immortal, that evil and darkness shall end,
that peace is the universal law of God, and that
our responsibility as masons is to work towards this paradise.
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But we must also wait and be patient for God's
appointed time. After all, as humans we build slowly. Our
ancient brethren, who built the temples at Jerusalem with myriad blows, felled,
hewed and squared the cedars, and quarried the stones, and
carved the intricate ornaments which were to compose the temple
by stone after stone. By the combined efforts and long
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toils of apprentices, fellowcraft and masters, the walls arose slowly,
the roof was framed and fashioned, and many years elapsed
before the building stood finished. We learn in the degree
that many ancient faiths believed the Empire of Evil inevitably
would be destroyed. So we must continue to wait and
be patient for the promised paradise. We also learned that
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we do not wait for a tangible temple, but a
metaphysical one, a universal temple of mercy and beneficience, where
goodness and light permeate all corners of the universe. This
beautiful degree teaches that we as Masons are to work,
weight and be patient as we labor inquiries to advance light, truth,
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and tolerance. When I began to let these nineteenth degree
teachings into my heart, I began to internalize patients as
active effort and internalized grace. I have modified the nineteenth
degree's creed for my life. It has become work, wait,
and be patient, leaving the rest to history and fate.
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I determined to be prepared for the future, to work diligently,
but also to rest when necessary. I learned, for the
first time in my life to reflect on my day's labor.
The more control I was willing to relinquish, the more
self confident I appeared. In this sense, History and fate
eventually became my aid. I found my career and regained myself.
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The nineteenth degree, Grand Pontiff and the teachings of Masonry
saved my life. I still struggle with patience daily, but
Patience is an active process. The true and upright Mason
must work towards self improvement, but he must also look
to the twenty four inch gage and learn the patience
to rest after a day's labor. My brethren, work, wait
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and be patient, for perhaps, as we read in Morals
and Dogma, from patience is to come perfection. Lecture to
the eleventh degree, Sublime elect of the twelve Like and
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citations for this article can be found in the corresponding
print edition. The Scottish Right Journal is published by the
Supreme Council of the Scottish Right Southern Jurisdiction, Mother Supreme
Council of the World, Mark Dreysenstock, thirty third degree Managing Editor.
I'm your host, Matt Bauers