Interview with W:. Daniel Molina | An Elite Masonic Speaker! - On The Level Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey Chris, yeah, fred , what's a Mason?
That's a really good question,fred.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
You've reached the internet's home for all things
masonry.
Join Chris and I as we plumbthe depths of our ancient craft,
from the common gavel to thetrowel.
Nothing is off the table, sograb your tools and let's get to
work.
This is On the Level.
Oh no, there it is the Rebel.
Yell, wow, wow.

(00:35):
Two energy drinks this morning,brother.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Okay, I'm done.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Oh, let's go Alright.
Well, I was kind of hoping tokeep it a little quiet.
You know, last night was mybirthday party, right?

Speaker 1 (00:46):
You were a little saucy.
When I talked to you it wasearly in the evening.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
I was a little saucy.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
I gotta be honest with you.
How'd you make out?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh yeah, so I went from hanging out at my favorite
biker bars Divey dark biker barsRode the bike out and had a
good time.
Had a good time.
With your wife no, no, no, no,she was busy doing other things.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Ah, so when you say biker bar, you mean ladies
established.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
No, no, no.
You know that is not me, that'snot my game.
I just want to make sure thelisteners know.
If you ride a motorcycle andyou do enjoy premium cigars and
or beers and or whiskies, youknow exactly what I'm talking
about.
There are bars all over FloridaOld, old, dark, danky, janky

(01:35):
bars all over the place thatguys like us love to go to and
have a couple beers and justhang out and talk.
That's it.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
I don't know so much of a danky janky bar.
I love it oh.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
I love those places.
There's some great ones.
Way out, east In the middle ofnowhere, there's this place
called Charlotte's Web.
Out in the middle of nowhere,man, in the middle of farm
country, there's this shack andthere's nothing but a bunch of
motorcycles out front.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
You know, and you go in, man, and it's just that it's
exactly the scene you'rethinking of right now in your
mind, right From dust till bone.
Ah, I love it, love it.
Sheetches out front.
Oh, yeah, yeah, it's all great.
Hey, mate, come on in.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
We got cheap drinks, yeah, and it is too.
It's not expensive, you know.
You can still have a couple ofdrinks and it don't cost you 50
bucks, you know.
So it's good.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
I don't know why my New York accent is coming out
here, I'm not sure why, butanyway, today is the first day
of your 61st sea year on thisplanet.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
I've been here 61 years man.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yikes, it's a big deal.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
It's a big deal.
You know this.
Last year and you and Icelebrated a year ago, last
night.
We organized a little surpriseparty A little surprise party at
another not janky place, but itwas fun.
But this has been a reallyamazing journey for me and I
started that 60th year with alot of prayer and seeking for my

(02:54):
own life and direction, and Ibelieve that I'm a year later.
I journaled every day, really,of my 60th year yeah, every day.
So I went back through myjournal and if you're out there
listening and you don't journalI'm not I would encourage
everyone to do it, to work on it, but it's not easy.

(03:15):
It's not easy to get into thehabit.
Once you get into the habit,man, it becomes a huge part of
your life and it's really,really amazing to be able to go
back and read where you were ata year ago or two years ago and
kind of see where you're at now.
It's an amazing process thatI'm really grateful.
I did, I did it, you know so,and there's been, there's been,

(03:36):
a lot of growth, even my lifepersonally, but there's also
been some areas that are still,that still need work.
Man, I guess I'm still humanI'm not super human, yet Still a
, still a you're super human tome.
Well, thank you, brother.
I appreciate that All right.
So what are you doing lately?
What's going on with you?

Speaker 1 (03:54):
I don't know man.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, I don't know where I am, I don't know what
I'm doing.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
I saw as me the chapter advisor for the Sarasota
Dmoley chapter.
We had our first advisorycouncil meeting last night Nice
Very humbling.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Oh really.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Work and do an organization where everyone
knows what's going on and youdon't.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Oh, and you have to be running things and you're
kind of in charge.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, right, but our chapter dad Terry Bivens.
He owns Bivens Think TaekwondoAcademy in.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Bradenton oh, okay.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
He's a chapter dad, so he had me covered.
All right, cool the advisorsare awesome, so really really
excited to help grow.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
That Well I and I know it'll grow with you, with
you in there working, I knowit'll and it needs to.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
We need that.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Dmoley chapter here in our district 23, to to be
growing and blossom, being andmoving forward, moving, moving
forward.
Everything, free masonry, youknow everything for everything
for you.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
So we have finalized all of the speaker times,
including our keynote speaker.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
I think he's talking about the symposium in January.
Yes, on the 13th.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
January 13th.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
January 13th yes.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Go down the level of Fred and Chriscom and you can
find all the information and infact.
So that's going to be from nineto five.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Right, yeah, it's a long day.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Nine to five, but we're going to have a break, but
it's a jam packed.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah With all kinds of masonic education fellowship.
There's going to be an afterparty, a before party and a
during party.
So, boy, yeah, lunch, yeah, areally really really good lunch
is included in the ticket price.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Sure, and a drink ticket, and a drink ticket.
So wash it down with a whiskey.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, we want as many people from the state of
Florida to come down and be partof this.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Or anywhere else.
I'm trying to convince peoplefrom New York to come down in
Texas.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Right yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Talking to some guys, but you know, this is because
you and I went to HillsboroughLodge last year.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
That's right, and one of the Warshawville Carol shout
out.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, richard Carroll , one of the speakers that we
saw, really stood out to me andI've been kind of a fan of his
ever since.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
His name is Warshawville Daniel Molina,
where?

Speaker 2 (06:02):
are you going with this brother?

Speaker 1 (06:03):
He's here.
Yeah, right now.
Oh my, are you there?
I?

Speaker 3 (06:08):
am here.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Brother.
That's.
That was quite an introductionthere, brother, wow.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
He's here.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Brother, how are you?

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for lettingme be on the show.
I'm a big fan and it's supercool to finally be on here and
hold up.
Before I continue, I have tosay oh yes.
Happy birthday, fred.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Oh, happy birthday.
Thank you, brother.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Thank you, brother.
I appreciate that.
I had a birthday wishesyesterday, which was really
awesome, and from all over theplace, and I am loved.
I'm in the right place withregard to that, brother.
So, daniel, how are you doing,man?
What's going on with you?

Speaker 3 (06:48):
I'm doing great over here in Miami.
It's a little bit sunny, it's alittle bit cold, so we get the
best of both worlds, yeah.
I'm very happy to, obviously.
Yeah, it's a little bit cold.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, it's 72.
I'm here in the mornings.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
I get very chilly.
You know when it's around thattime, so you know it's cold for
me.
So that's why I say you know.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
I know Go ahead.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Do we lose you?
Yeah, oh no, go ahead.
Sorry, brother, I stepped onyou.
I stepped on you.
Brother, keep going.
How are you doing, man?
What's going on in your life?
There we go.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah, I have a couple of lectures lined up.
You know, helping my lodge outthroughout the end of the year.
I, you know, I help schedulesome of the presentations at our
lodge involved in the district.
So I'm doing a lot of work andI'm very happy and I'm proud
about some.
I'm very grateful for that.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
You.
Yeah, this, I mean this iswe're talking to.
I look at Daniel as like arising star.
Yeah right, not just in thestate, but probably probably
across the country and hopefullyinternationally at some point.
I definitely.
I've seen him speak.
What I saw you do was the taxahoax presentation.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Fred and I yeah, that was so good and you know it was
a great presentation.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
You're obviously a great speaker, which I'm an
admirer of.
I've always struggled withpublic speaking.
Fred loves it, he's like a fishhe's like.
Put me in front of people,please, and I'm going to talk
about my favorite subject, mestand behind you.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
I don't want to, I don't want them looking at me.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
So when I see a good public speaker, I'm really like
a you know, a moth to a flame.
I'm like I tell me more, I wantto see what's going on here.
I'm observing your gestures andthe way you're breathing,
really focusing on your publicspeaking skills and that's one
thing.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
That's one thing.
That's kind of been natural forme just because I have a
background in the school system.
So, I've actually worked in anacademia my entire life.
Now I do marketing for you, forFIU, but previous to that I was
teaching English and publicspeaking.
So you know I've been able towork with students and also

(09:01):
teach them some skills that Iuse for them to be able to hone.
You know, for them to be ableto hone in on those skills and I
think that this is publicspeaking is something that's
very important, especially tofree masonry.
We might not think about it,but the benefits are twofold.
At one point in your life as afree mason, you're going to have
to speak in front of anaudience, whether it's in front

(09:23):
of your lodge or the district orwhatever the case may be.
You're going to have to speak,especially if you're involved in
ritual and if, for whateverreason, you don't.
It's a very important skill todevelop for the outside world,
for the profane world, you know.
So I think that the publicspeaking skills, especially if
we're teaching them within thecraft, is very important.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah, you know, when I joined I specifically asked
he's now our district deputyright Warshville, tom Davy.
He met me at the lodge and Isaid, okay, I'm good with not
knowing anything, but just tellme there's no public speaking.
So no, no public speaking atall.
I said all right, all right,I'm in.
And then soon as I gotinitiated, they're like all

(10:05):
right, you gotta get prepped forthis, give back.
And I was like what, wait, what, what, what is that?
Oh, it's public speaking.
Wouldn't this be public?

Speaker 2 (10:13):
speaking, yeah, kind of duped on that one.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
But yeah, you're right, every Mason is going to
do public speaking.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, that's right, just part of the gig and part of
public speaking is, of coursesorry bro is, of course, knowing
your content, having yourcontent, understanding it and
being able to articulate it in away where people grasp it.
And, daniel, when we saw yourpresentation, that's one of the
things I recognized right awayand I didn't know that you were

(10:41):
in education.
But it makes sense when we seewhen those who come to the
symposium on January 13th comingup soon get your tickets,
they'll see how yourpresentations are laid out in
such a way where it's obviousthat you've done this before and
tell us a little bit aboutdon't give it away but do you

(11:03):
have your presentation preparedfor our symposium?

Speaker 3 (11:07):
You got anything put together.
Yet I do actually, and I thinkit's really cool that you had
mentioned journaling, becausejournaling is actually a big
part of my presentation.
I'm gonna be giving a lectureon Stoicism and Freemasonry.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Okay, yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
So the Hellenistic School of Thought, the
Philosophical School of Stoicism, it's called the Hyramic
Meditations how FreemasonryCrafts a Stoic Lifestyle.
And one of the arguably myfavorite part of the whole
lecture is talking about thesimilarities between journaling,

(11:44):
the Stoic Act of journaling,and then also looking at the
tracing board.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
The Stoic.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Tracing Board.
So I think it's super cool thatyou mentioned journaling,
because journaling is somethingthat I do Really and you know
regularly today yeah, I do itand it's something that I also
encourage other brothers to do.
And also, just to piggyback offof that, I wanna give a shout
out to the first three Knott'sMasonic podcasts after I had
given the lecture for them.

(12:10):
They're based out of Canada.
One of the brothers he's a pastmaster.
He's a past district deputy.
He developed a journal that isfor Freemasons.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Interesting.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
So it's a journal that you give to an entered
apprentice once he's beeninitiated and then it encourages
him to write down, obviouslynot giving away any of the
secrets, but just reflecting onhow was your experience was
something that you learned.
Have you visited another lodge?
Have you put on Masoniceducation?
Have you visited aninstallation?

(12:42):
So I thought that was reallycool.
Oh yeah, journaling is a bigpart of my life and I always try
to have other brothers do it aswell, if they can.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
I have a question for both of you there, because I'm
not a journaler.
I think I might have for like ayear when I was young, but I
was really focused on writing tomy future self.
I was writing letters to myselflike, oh man, I really hope you
do this and I can't wait untilmy life isn't like that.
I assume that's not what you'redoing.
You're writing about what'shappening in your life so that
your future self can come backand remember it.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Is that the?

Speaker 1 (13:17):
purpose of the journaling.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Well, that's not the way I look at it it is.
For me, it's an extension of mythought process.
So my thoughts, just workingout your thoughts on paper, and
I like to draw in there and drawvisualized pictures of what.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
I'm looking at and working through Indiana Jones
and the Last Crusade book.
We've got like Templar photosand Etchings in here.
Yeah right, yeah no.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
No, it's no one else.
I don't know about you, daniel,but for me if someone were to
find my journal, it reallywouldn't make too much sense to
them.
There's a lot of stuff in therethat they could read and find
out about me.
Sure, but it isn't me writingto anyone.
It's me recording what's goingon in my life, my struggles, my

(14:06):
feelings, some things that Iwant to do, setting goals.
I do a lot of calendar stuff inthere, but not day-to-day
appointment calendar but justkind of setting dates for the
future, things that I want to do.
But mostly for me it's mystruggles.
If you read back the last yearof my journal, you'll see my

(14:26):
internal turmoil and strugglesand those things that I want to
improve in my life, my walkbefore God and my pleadings and
prayers and stuff like that youwould find in there.
What about you, daniel?
What do you got?
What do you?

Speaker 3 (14:40):
got yeah.
To answer your question, chris,I think that that definitely
counts as journaling.
That's what you want it to be.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
There are instances where I do that myself, where
I'm reflecting on emotions thatI'm trying to work through,
maybe certain issues that I'mtrying to rationalize.
There are certain things that Iwant to maybe talk about, like
today at my journal about havingbeen on your podcast and what a
great experience it was.
Because Not over yeah, becausethis is like Think about how

(15:14):
cool it is, especially if youguys, for example, are to
journal about having a podcast.
Not a lot of people might beable to do that and I think that
that's super cool.
So I think that at first,especially when I'm talking
about my personal experience, Ithink that at first I would look
at a journal and I would say,man, this journal looks so cool,
what I write in it has to beequally as good.

(15:35):
So that actually prevented mefrom writing at first.
But then, when I just startedaccepting that, hey, these are
personal thoughts that I keep tomyself and I can reread, I
think that whatever I write init is gonna be okay.
So any little milestone that Ican hit or any accomplishment
that I can reach, whether it bepersonal or professional,

(15:56):
whatever the case may be I liketo write about it, just to be
able to reflect on it.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
That's such a good point, brother, because when I
first started journaling I'm aterrible speller.
I'm terrible, I mean, I can'tspell to save my life.
So, and that always preventedme from journaling.
For some reason, I felt like Ihad to be able to write
everything out so clean andperfect.
And once I got past that, I waslike this is my journal, man, I

(16:20):
can write anything I want inthere.
I can use hieroglyphics, forgoodness' sakes, if I wanted to.
Once I got past that, where itdidn't have to be perfect, it
was just my.
It's an extension.
I look at it as an extension ofmy thought process.
It's actually taking thethoughts out of my head, the
insanity that's in my head, andputting it on paper for future

(16:43):
learning to go back and say, man, I'm still struggling with this
, what was going on six monthsago in my life?
And I do document some of thethings and milestones in my life
I'm sure you do that tooSomething that happened good,
bad or indifferent whatever itis, if it's a milestone, you
write through it.
You know, in July of this yearI lost my son and that

(17:06):
journaling section right thereis super, super helpful for me
to see how I went through it andstuff.
So yeah it's yeah, but you'reright.
The point is is that it's yourjournal.
If you're out there listeningand you've been considering
doing something like that, Irecommend a moleskin.
I use a tablet called moleskin.
Is it actually moleskin?

(17:27):
It could have been, but nowit's synthetic moleskin.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
No doubt but it's a really great, I think, the
synthesize.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
It's a really great binded, binded.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
It's a blade runner.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
Yeah, it's a blade runner.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
I want a witch's ass journal.
Oh, okay, synthetic witch's assjournal.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Well, let us know when you get that done, brother
We'll all right, I'm gonna startworking on it.
That's a little creepy, I don'tknow Halloween's over man.
Okay, can we move on now?

Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well, okay, let's move on.
I know how to kill a topic.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Talk about witch's ass is so you know, Daniel, I
don't know how much of the showyou've been listening to lately.
We've been talking a little bitabout all this stuff going on
out in Texas lately.
Are you aware of any of that?

Speaker 3 (18:13):
I'm aware of it somewhat.
I'm not really aware of theactual details.
I'm assuming you're talkingabout the past, grandmaster.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, yeah, what the stuff is going on out there.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
It's tough to know too much because they have that
policy.
Yeah, they can't really talkabout things.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
They put a gag order on the whole thing.
So Chris reached out to themand they came back and said look
, we'd be more than happy totalk to you about it after the
first of the year, because weare under a gag order and they
honored it because they're goodmasons.
So we're kind of hoping.
But the whole point is, youknow, we see, and I think you

(18:48):
would agree with us, brother,that we see kind of an
ascendancy of masonry comingback to where it once was, you
know, to this place in youngmen's lives.
You know where it can benefitthis country.
And for us we're looking atTexas, thinking to me it's the
same old thing, it's the oldguard doesn't want to give up to

(19:09):
the young guard and it lookslike it's that struggle, you
know, and we see that everywherein masonry.
And I think it's a positivething, because positive change
always brings with it, you know,a certain level of struggle.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah right.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
Yeah, and you can even see during COVID that the
two things that people werelooking for were there was a
rise in people being interestedin stoicism, which is one of the
reasons why I even starteddeveloping this lecture, but
then there was a big emphasis onfreemasonry.
You know, there were a lot ofdifferent brothers that were

(19:48):
setting up small little groups,meeting on Zoom and just giving
lectures.
They were providing lecturesevery day of the week.
Some of those online bodies arestill active providing lectures
every day and people are tuningin and they're visiting lodges,
you know.
So you're seeing a significantincrease of young men that want

(20:09):
to look for this organizationbecause they want a better
themselves.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
Oh for sure.
We are pretty actively involvedin recruiting for the state of
Florida and there's a wholegeneration of people seeking
exactly what we have to offer.
They just don't know we exist.
So it's a matter of gettingourselves out there.
And the public speaking, theblogging, these podcasts, I
think, are really expanding ourreach in a way that freemasonry.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
It's also part of Masonic education, you know
that's also part of Masoniceducation too, because it's not
about us educating ourselves,but also us educating the public
, so that they know that we'renot the Illuminati, you know.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
It's funny you say that.
I was just talking to a fellowcraft who's a fan of the show
yesterday and I was like, whatfeedback do you have?
And he said, honestly, some ofthis stuff's going over my head.
It'd be really good for youguys to talk about the things
that the profane talk aboutfreemasonry specifically.
Like you said the Illuminaticonnections the.

(21:11):
Satanism that we worship.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
I don't know that we eat babies whatever the heck is
out there Something to do withgoats.
I don't know what's the dealwith goats Like.
Where does this stuff come?

Speaker 1 (21:21):
from.
Really we should like dig intothat and talk about it, so
people understand better.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
We're this negative thinking that really, yeah, some
of those things that you'relooking at is.
It goes back to the Taxill hopes, that presentation that I had
given at Hillsborough Lodgewhere you had this.
Some people might be surprisedto hear, but he was actually a

(21:46):
brother who was writing underthe pseudonym of Leo Taxill, and
this was after he had left thecraft, he had been expelled from
the craft and basically what hewas saying was he had had a
very contentious history withthe Catholic Church.
So he kind of wanted one ofthem and say, hey, well, you

(22:08):
know I've been a brother, I knowI've been initiated, I know
some of their secrets, but theoutside world doesn't know that.
So let me try to see if I canjust create these outrageous
stories and sell them to thepublic, and sell them to the
Catholic Church and, you know,kind of prove that they're

(22:29):
gullible.
You know, and that's that'sexactly what he did.
He started writing underdifferent pseudonyms.
You know he had created thischaracter that was called Diana
Vaughan, who was allegedly likethis goddess that we worship.
He said that Albert Pike wasthe dark pope.
You know, and that there waslike a central temple in front

(22:51):
of the Vatican and wecommunicated through this
telephone where demons connectedand they were sending messages
across the world.
There were these Rosecroy, ifI'm not mistaken, rosecroy
ninjas, you know, like these,these masons that were kind of
very stuff like and infiltratingthese different organizations.

(23:11):
But, then this is where this iswhere you also get this concept
of there's like this, this, thisunique group of pop that is
running everything.
You know which was the, the,the, the, the Pallatus there
that you mentioned, thePalladium.
You know which was thisandrogynous group?
Androgynous because it includedmembers that were both female

(23:34):
and male Diana Vaughan wasalleged to have been a member
and then they were the ones thatwere kind of running the show
around the world.
So that's why, you know, I'veeven had that happen to me where
, back when I was just a mastermason and joined any other pen
and bodies, they asked me well,what degree are you on?
I'm a master mason.
What degree is that?
I'm a third degree Also.
you really don't know what'sright, right, we all get that

(23:57):
experience and you see that, youknow, you see remnants of that,
that that was also somethingthat was, you know, peddled by
the Third Reich, you know when,when Hitler was kind of saying
that the Freemasonry was like anextension of Jewish faith.
You know of them trying to rulethe world and things like that.

(24:19):
So a lot of times people arerepeating these things not
knowing that they're, you know,they're deeply anti Semitic
they're.
They're, they're deeply rootedin lies and things that have
been, you know, proven as lies.
Because after he had come,after Leo Texo had conducted
this hoax, he actually held apress conference, which is where

(24:41):
he was supposed to show to theworld who Diana Von was.
Everybody had gathered aroundto see it and he pretty much
said, hey, this is.
You know, this has been a lie.
You know I've been lying to youthis entire time.
I've developed all thesestories.
But it had reached so much ofthe public already that people
were saying, well, the real textis actually being held by

(25:03):
Freemasons or you know.
Diana Von was actually killed,so that's why they had, you know
he had to create this otherstory.
So you know a lot of thesethings are coming from these.
You know dark places of justlike ignorance and you know,
again, anti Semitism.
So that's why I say that it'sreally a matter of Masonic

(25:23):
education, because it's not onlyabout us educating ourselves
because I've given this lecturebefore and there are some
brothers that have told, come upto me after like I had no idea
this, this had gone on, you know, but it's also educating the
public and saying, hey, listen,this is not who we are, because
this was, this was proven false.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Right.
The guy who wrote it literallysaid ha, joking.
Yeah, he recanted the entirething.
Yeah, but that's not goodenough.
See, they need, they got tohave that.
The fantasy is more interesting.
The fantasy is way moreinteresting than the truth.
It's more entertaining.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
But uh, yes, the Taxilhokes presentation you did.
The second thing that flaggedme that you weren't a normal
public speaker is that at theend of your presentation you had
a list of citations.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Oh, right yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
Where you got your information and that's not
something you see every day in apresentation is sourcing the
information you provided toprove that it's true.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah, and that's actually I lodge um Hibiscus,
number 275, here in Miami.
My mentor is right WarshfordAdrian Castro.
At the time he was the chairmanof Masonic Education, not now.
I'm the chairman in the lodgeof Masonic Education and
something that we have been ableto uphold in the lodge is, for

(26:41):
example, when a, when a brothergets initiated, not only does he
have to, you know, give backhis proficiency, but we also
encourage a brother to give apresentation Right.
So that way he is, uh, he'sinvolved in, you know, masonic
education, he's involved inlearning what he is a member of,
right, because we're allmembers of this.
So we, we should want to, youknow, learn about it.

(27:03):
And then we're also working onthose public speaking skills.
So that's something that fromthe jump, you know, when I went
through and I was told, hey, youknow you, you know we, we would
like for for you to give apresentation, I was very much
involved in, you know, giving asmany presentations as I could,
because that's what that'sactually what I had joined
Freemasonry for.
I like the more educationalside of it.

(27:24):
So, you know, I want to give ashout out to Hibiscus, I want to
give a shout out to RedwishAdrian Castro, because that's
also a big part of okay, you're,you're finding this information
.
Now let's cite it so that ifother people want to go into
more research they know where itis.
But then now people are seeingthat this isn't just something
that's made up.
You know, you were able to tocite, you know as many sources

(27:47):
as possible for your argument.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, that's right and that's one of the things
that that, when I saw that, Irealized that you, you're, you
know that you definitely have aneducational background, or I
didn't realize it at the time,but I knew that you were a
professional, you know, publicspeaker, because you had, you
had the receipts you know youbrought the receipts for
everything that you said.

(28:09):
So, no matter what anybody saysabout it, you know you can
always go.
Well, did you, did you look itup?
Did you, did you do?

Speaker 3 (28:15):
the research.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Did you do your homework?
Here You're due diligence,because a lot of people will.
You know, people can, peoplewant to dispute this stuff, but
when, when it's all there listedout where they can do their own
research and they don't, wellthen we know who we're talking
to.
At that point you know we'retalking to somebody who's hungry
for controversy, you know that,and not actually hungry for

(28:37):
truth, you know.
So that was, yeah, that thatmakes sense.
Let me, let me let's go back tostoicism for a minute.
I want to read you something.
This would be Google'sdefinition of stoicism.
I, I, I like it, google'sdefinition.
Yeah, I did research throughGoogle, uh, uncle Google, and uh
, and up pops, up pops a reallyreally serious looking

(29:00):
definition which a 95% of thetime is total crap.
This one, however, it seemsgood.
Here it is Sto stoicism teachesthe development of self control
and fortitude as a means ofovercoming destructive emotions.
The philosophy holds thatbecoming a clear and unbiased
thinker allows one to understandthe universal reason for logos

(29:22):
we think about that Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
Yeah 100%, I think.
I think that's a, that's aperfect definition and that's
actually something a lot, a lotof a lot of those points are
things that I actually cover inthe in the lecture.
You know, they, the, the stoics, also looked to integrate the
four cardinal virtues, you know,which, as we know, are very
important in the enterprise, thedegree of pre-nationary as a

(29:46):
whole.
You know, so I, I would the100%, I agree that that's a,
that's a great definition forsocialism.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah, I liked that I guess we are pretty stoic in our
.
I guess this is a Hellenistickind of a Greek idea it is.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
And yeah, because it's it's ethical development.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
At its core.
It's it's ethical development.
That's what pre-nationary is.
I mean.
Even in our tagline we make goodmen better you know we're,
we're looking at we're lookingat, even if you want to look at
the, the, the refraction and theperfection of the perfect dash,
right, it's a perfect, thoseare perfect, our, our chemical
symbols of, you know, wanting tobe better, right, being the,

(30:26):
the, the rough asshers, the rudeand imperfect man, and then the
perfect dash, is that thatperfection that we aspire to be?
And then how can we get to that?
Well, we look at the tracingboard, right, where in the
master has run the designs.
So we know the work that hasbeen done, but we also know the
work that needs to be done.
So that's the connection that Imake to journaling right.

(30:47):
I can journal and say this isthe work that I've done thus far
in order to get to X spotemotionally, physically,
mentally, you know.
So that that's kind of theconnection that I was making
there.
Yeah, when it comes tojournaling and the tracing board
, Love it.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
I love it Right, that's so good.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
So tell us you were master of hibiscus lodge.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yes, I was.
I had the pleasure of serving.
I was during the COVID years,so I had 2020 and 2021 is when.
I was master of hibiscus, yeah,which was which was a little bit
difficult, obviously, givengiven the time.
We had a lot of brothers thatfaced COVID, that lost loved
ones during COVID, yeah, and oneof the things that I really

(31:31):
pushed for us to do was for usto meet online and provide
education for anybody thatwanted to join.
Obviously, it was a time wherea lot of brothers were at home,
we weren't allowed to meet inlodges, so I wanted to make sure
that we could at least meetover the internet, you know,
online through zoom, and notonly that, let's give brother

(31:51):
something to to look forward to.
So every month, you know, atour lodge at hibiscus, before
our stated meeting, we alwaysgive a lecture.
You know it's open to thepublic, so that any prospective
candidates, if they want to askany questions, that's the time
to do it.
We provide lectures on a widearray of topics so they can be
more historical, esoteric,whatever you know, whatever our

(32:14):
membership is interested in, andwhat we just did was transfer
that online.
We had some brothers from acrossthe country, like Renee, who's
also going to be speaking at thesymposium, gave a lecture for
us.
Yes, worshful, worshful.
Jamie Paul Lamb, if I'm notmistaken, also gave gave a
presentation, angel Malar.

(32:35):
So we wanted to make sure thatwe had something for the
brothers to you know, to be ableto look forward to and enjoy
and engage in fellowship, evenif we needed to to meet, you
know, meet online or not inperson.
You know, eric Arnes, and alsoanother another good friend of
mine who gave a lecture online.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
So we had him on the show.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
I believe he wrote a book, yes, yeah, we had him on
the show covered.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah yeah, he's big in the Scottish right.
I think he was.
He had shared some tips ofideas from the Scottish right.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Right, yeah, yeah, it was a good interview.
It's a good book.
It was well written.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, and we have so many talented speakers in the
state of Florida going around,absolutely, it's just amazing.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
I mean, or maybe has it always been this way.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
We're kind of new.
I was raised in 2018.
How long have you been amazing?

Speaker 3 (33:28):
I actually now in November.
November 1st was my, my seventhbirthday as a master Mason.
I was raised November 1st 2016.
So you know, so I came in 2016.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Were there people out there doing this, when you,
when you were coming up, did yousee a lot of lecturing going on
.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
I don't think that, that it was like displayed
online.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Right.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
But I do know that there that we did have several
brothers that were, you know,giving giving lectures.
The only thing is that now,which I think is perfect, you
know, we're seeing the flyers,we're seeing the pictures, you
know, and that I think that thatcreates engagement, not only
for other lodges to want toinvite them, but also other
states to want to have thebrothers come in and give

(34:13):
lectures.
Oh yeah, and also, I thinkthat's a great thing.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Have they started asking you to go to drive or fly
to other states yet?

Speaker 3 (34:21):
Why?
Actually, earlier this year Ihad the pleasure of going to
California.
I gave a lecture in a SouthPasadena Lodge.
I've been able to guest edittwo of their issues, so I did
one on stoicism and Freemasonryand I did another one on the
Taxo Hoax.
I recently contributed anarticle on the rise of rhetoric,

(34:43):
so it was on rhetoric in thecraft degrees and I was able to
give my lecture on stoicism overthere at South Pasadena Lodge.
It was actually their 10 yearanniversary of their
illumination lecture series, soit's super cool.
This month Juan Sepulveda wasthe invited guest.
Oh nice, so it's super cool thatwe were able to be a part of

(35:04):
that, and then we're finalizingsome other events that I might
be doing across the country, soI'm really looking forward to
that.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Across the country.
Congratulations.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Yeah, yeah, that's great.
I'm so happy to see thathappening because yeah, it's
super cool to be able torepresent Florida that way, you
know.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
Yeah, in my life.
Yeah, and sharing your time andpassion to just spread light
and Freemasonry.
I mean that's our calling,right?
That's what we're supposed tobe doing.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
Yeah, that's what I like to do.
And so you are a committeeman,I know, in your district this
year yes for yeah, I'm thecommitteeman of Masonic
Education for Wright-WarshfieldDistrict, deputy Grandmaster
Robert Grunfeld, and then I alsohave the honor of being the
zone chairman, zone sevenchairman, for Masonic Leadership

(35:54):
Training.
Oh, that's awesome, oh wow okay, yeah, so I'm pretty involved
in Masonic Education.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
So you're familiar with Bill Katsulis then.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
I am yes, I actually was able to.
We did a state Zoom class and Iwas able to teach one of the
modules.
He taught another one.
I was a Warshfield.
Chuck Dyer taught another oneand.
Warshfield, patrick Tessiertaught another one yes, right,
wow, it's crazy.
We know all these people now.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
Yeah right, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Such involved brothers.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
It's just so fun to be part of a community like this
that's just focused onpositivity and how, lifting each
other up and sharinginformation.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
It's really something special.
The great thing is that, thecool thing about Freemasonry and
I always tell, especially ifbrothers are getting initiated,
I tell them listen, Freemasonrywill provide you the platform to
do whatever you want.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
If you want to put on an event, the lodge will
support you in doing that.
If you want to give apresentation, the lodge will
support you in doing that.
So, whatever you want to do,bring it up to the Warshfield
Master and the lodge, becauseI'm 95% sure that you'll be able
to do it with help.
So I think that that's such abeautiful thing that the craft

(37:15):
provides to us.
Yep.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
We talked to, like I said, a lot of people interested
in joining and almost everyonesays they want to be part of
something bigger than themselves.
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
That's what Masonry has to offer.
The topic that Chris and I willbe talking about is answering
the question does Masonry havesomething to offer to this
hurting country?
Just all the answers, that's alland we believe it does, and I
know you do as well Is that 100%?
George Washington said thatfree Masonry is indispensable in

(37:51):
the training for young men.
I'm butchering the quote there,but what he meant was is that
every young man should gothrough the structure of free
Masonry, regardless of religiousbackground, familial background
, it doesn't matter, none ofthat matters.
The training that you get justa young man can get can help him

(38:14):
to find out who he is.
And we have a real epidemic inthis country of young men who
don't know who they are.
And if you don't know who youare, you cannot know what to do
in this world.
You have to have some sort offoundation and I'm really
excited to see because, as youguys were talking about all this
education going on, the stateof Florida, I think, is poised

(38:37):
to really lead the way.
I mean, of course we'reFloridians, of course we're
going to say that, but I see,but I'm hoping that these
symposiums, what you're doingand what so many others, what
Katsulis is doing, it reallylends itself to an ascendancy,

(38:57):
like I keep saying, to thisancient craft which has
something to offer to thewayward sons out there.
I'm doing research for our talkand some of the stats with
regard to young men, youngAmerican men 18 to 30, is just
alarming, brother.

(39:18):
It is really alarming.
They are lost and we're losingan alarming amount of them to
drug abuse, drug overdose,suicide, jail and prison.
It is absolutely alarming andmy contention, our contention,
is that Free Masonry does havesomething to offer a young man
who hasn't got any training lifetraining.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Yeah, I would agree 100%, because to me it's it's an
identity crisis.
Yeah, I think that young youngmen you know young people in
general are looking for someoneto look up to, and we don't have
those types of people, you know, we don't, we, we don't.
Look at the mythological heroes,you know, I guess we have now,

(40:04):
you know, the Avengers and stufflike that, but I don't think
that they've been able to Bepart of the zeitgeist in such a
way that we want to aspire to bethem.
You know, whereas back then, Iguess people you know, ancient
times, you had people looking upto Hercules and some of the
gods and wanting to, to aspireto their more virtuous side.

(40:24):
And I think that this is whatFreemasonry offers right now to
young men.
You know, it's someone to lookup to, the the opportunity to be
a better person and, mostimportantly, to learn about
yourself, you know, because thatthat's not the core of the
craft.
It's learning about yourself,how to improve yourself, finding
out what makes you tick,finding out what makes you

(40:45):
better, and I think that that'sthat that's the answer that
Freemasonry offers to, tosociety and especially young
young men.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
Yeah, I agree, you know 100% we yeah, we're
practicing for the statecompetition degree team and our
primary instructor is a rightworshipful who's won several
times and, you know, led otherteams to win, and that's that's
he.
He gave us a speech and thatwas kind of the point he said.
When you reach a position ofleadership, it's my hope that

(41:14):
you lean into just being who youare.
Don't worry about stress aboutplans and taking over this or
doing that.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
Really focus on giving the people as much of you
as you can right, whichrequires you which requires you
to know, to know who you are, orat least have a basic
understanding of your belief,structures, what, what you stand
on, what you stand against.
You know, and being able toarticulate that in a way to your
fellows, in a way that showsgentleness and respect.

(41:43):
You know, that's the the true,the true rhetoric Right is is
being able to convey yourpassions, your beliefs, to
another person in a way thatthey understand it and might
actually, you know, learn fromit and or adopt it.
You know, that's that's, that'sthat true ability to speak.
I talked to a lot of young menout there.

(42:04):
Man, they don't, they don'tknow how to talk.
Man, they don't know how toexplain themselves.
I mean basic, just basic needs.
Man, they can't, they, theydon't know how to talk.
And the men who have gonethrough our ancient craft are,
they have something to offer.
That young man who's strugglingto, to be able to take his
thoughts, his, his anger, hisfear, all of this stuff that's

(42:26):
inside his head.
And there's a man out therewho's a Mason who could help him
to.
You know to to, to articulatethat, get it out, get it amongst
his brothers and be raised up.
You know to to contribute,because that's really what it's
about we need.
So you know they say so, go theyoung men, so go the country.
In in in society, so goes thesociety.

(42:48):
Sorry, but that, and that'sreally true, and our young men
are going, going by the wayside,and and this country will
follow, will follow right alongif we don't do something.
I know I'm beating this thingto death, but I'm really
passionate about it because Ireally think we have something
to offer, man.
I really think we do and Ireally think it's going to
happen, as long as we continueTo, to push it, you know, and to

(43:09):
and to encourage brothers Idon't care who you are, if
you're a Mason out there andyou're listening to this Get
involved in education, man.
It either educate or beeducated.
Yeah, you know.
Get, get something going, man.
Go go to your lodge and affectpositive change For the future
of this craft.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
January 13th.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
Yeah, because you tell January 13th go.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
Yeah, because that lineup is crazy.
For, for, for the symposium,you know, you have our senior
grand warden right where shewill tell you a tally on
Sepulveda, and and brother ReneePerez.
I think that you know thepeople that that attend they're,
they're in for a great time,you know, because all of these,
these men are great speakersright, listen a lot of great
things to share.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
I.
I spoke with right worshipful,a tally, and he was what am I
gonna talk about for this long?
He doesn't like to give longspeeches.
He's like, I like to talk forlike five minutes, but I'd
rather have back and forth.
I said what?
What You're talking my lovelanguage, so I was like look,
and then we had about a 30minute back and forth

(44:15):
Conversation just us, and at theend I'm like there you go.
That's exactly what it's gonnabe like.
I am so in.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
I love this, so he wants to talk baby.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
He wants to talk to us.
He wants to talk to the peoplethat are gonna show up about the
fraternity in its future.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
Yeah and it's not gonna be.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
He's not gonna be giving you a long speech and
trying to preach to you.
He wants to have a conversation, which is exciting.
It's not often you get to sitdown and talk to a person who's
gonna be leading the state right, yeah they're there and and
really here and get to askquestions of the person.
So I'm really excited havingthere and you guys I I know I've
seen one and I've seen youspeak and you guys are just

(44:51):
top-notch Right yeah it's gonnabe a great day.
Yeah, everyone should come andget exposed.
You, I don't think you've beenin our area yet.
I don't think you've been downin the Sarasota ish area.

Speaker 3 (45:04):
No, I haven't, I haven't yet.
Yeah, I haven't.
It's actually gonna be my, myvery first time, so that you
know I'm even more excited forthat.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Yes, and you're gonna bring your girlfriend right.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Yes, she's, she's coming along with me, yanich,
you know she's looking forwardto it as well.
She's, she's.
She's actually very interestedand always attending our
lectures that are that are opento the public and she, you know
she likes seeing any speakersthat she can talking about
Freemasonry, so she's very happyabout that.
She's looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
My wife refuses to come and watch me, but I think
if your girlfriend's coming Ican convince her to come and at
least hang out with her.

Speaker 3 (45:39):
So I'll tell her, you know, you know, yeah, and it
will have a great time.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, for sure, yeah, yeah, my wife
will try to get her all, saucythough she might be that's fine.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
Hey, that's great.
Okay, she's okay with that.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
Excellent, now.
Now, this is a venue wherepeople can actually sit and have
a drink and listen to you ifthey want the alcohol is allowed
here, which is a little bitdifferent.
I don't think I've ever seen aMasonic venue quite like that.
Yeah but it should make for amuch more casual environment and
that was the hope.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Yeah, because you don't feel it's so formal.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
It's like right, it's a bit of a formal venue.
You'll be on a stage right withspeakers and lights and all
that but, it should be prettyopen back and forth dialogue
between the speakers in theaudience.
I'm hoping, and a positive way.
Don't worry, they're not gonnathrow a raw fruit at you or
anything you know.

Speaker 3 (46:34):
Make sure that they bring a lot of tomatoes your
tomato guy.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Okay, I like the rotten lettuce myself, daniel
tomato got it Okay.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Lettuce peels right off those tomatoes, explode
after.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
My girlfriend will probably be throwing most of
them.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
She has to hear you practice it a hundred times in
the house.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
She, she has yeah, that is true, she has.
You know, running, running byideas and showing her, you know,
do these graphics with cool andstuff like that.
So she's a process, she's inpart of the process and actually
, right where she will cast heris also part of the process.
Right that as well, because Ialso send it to him, believe it
or not.
I send it to him before I giveit, you know, just to get his
feedback.

(47:16):
And hey, what do you thinkabout this?
You know, you think thisargument is strong.
How do you think that I can,you know, strengthen it a little
bit?
So you know, I, I do, I do makesure that I do that.
And then also, whenever you seemy lectures, every time that
you see it it's it's pretty mucha new lecture, because I love
the Q&A portion for this.
Yeah, if someone asks aquestion and I don't know how to

(47:39):
answer it, what I say is I'mgonna include that in the you
know I'm the next presentation,or I'm gonna do some more
research on that so that everytime that the brothers or
anybody seeing this Presentationagain, you know they're,
they're kind of getting some newinformation that's been added
on.
So that's, it's kind of like aliving document, you know.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
Yeah, always changing and growing as you get more
involvement in it.
Yeah, that's.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
That's kind of the idea with the symposium.
We talked before the show alittle bit, danny, you and I
that this, this idea of thissymposium, we, we, we want to do
four of them a year.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
In.
Just in a perfect world, wecould just go around right in a
different districts.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
You know, and and this is, we're in 23, so we can,
you know, do it here and thenmaybe next quarter, put it
together and go to anotherdistrict and and then another
one, and another one, and builda team, you know, of educators
that can go around and andreally just kind of get the
whole state charged up yeah, youknow to to to educate

(48:39):
themselves.
You know, that's.
I think that's really all we'reasking, you know, hey, hey,
educate, stop, get turn off theNetflix for for a little while,
and and put down the phone andeducate yourself a little bit.
And and I guarantee anybodywho's listening, who, when you
think of education, you think of, you know, the public school
system, sitting in a, in anair-conditioned classroom,

(49:01):
suffocating, being, you know,told all these kind of things
you don't want to do.
That's not what we're talkingabout here.
We're talking about the freeflow of ideas and concepts.
You know that you can educateyourself into free yourself from
ignorance.
This, the seven liberal artsand Sciences.
The word liberal there meansliberating from Ignorance.

(49:22):
That's what is this, though.
Those seven arts and scienceswill liberate the common man
from ignorance, and that'sthat's what we're talking about.
When, when Mason's talk abouteducation masonic education
we're talking about youeducating yourself to a point
where Ignorance is not found inyour conduct or in your thought
process.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
Yeah, and so to piggyback off of that, I mean,
aren't we charged with doingthat when we go through the
follow-up after?
Absolutely told that we have totake on, you know, a university
education.
We have to study the liberalarts, we have to engage with
education.
You know when you're going.
When you go through the, enterthe premises, they agree that
the.
The charge literally tells youyou have now joined a fraternity

(50:07):
where you can have an exchangeof information with these
brothers right.
You know.
So education from the get-go isis at the core of a free
masonry.
You know one thing I yeah, Imight, I might be teasing it a
little bit because I I go into alittle bit more in-depth in the
presentation, but you know when, when you're made an entered

(50:29):
apprentice, we know that whenyou're going to construct an
edifice, you, you, you have toplace the cornerstone in the
northeast corner, right, andwhere are you in the middle of?
You're in the middle, you're inbetween the north, which is a
place of darkness, and you're in, you're at the other side, you
have the east, which is a placeof light.
So you are literally in betweendarkness and light.

(50:50):
You know vice and virtue, youknow Ignorance and and
enlightenment.
You know.
So you, you're constantly Berated with bettering yourself,
that ancient axiom ofknow-thyself.
You know, and learning fromfrom the beginning, we're, we're
taught that that's what we haveto aspire to, to get to.

(51:12):
You know.
So I 100% agree with that.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
Yeah, it's an exciting time for us.
Well, for me, I'm out of theeast and all these obligations
I've had, so I can go a littlebit more bananas on some of the
things I really we like bananasdoing yeah.
It's not like I don't enjoybeing in the leadership role,
but I really don't enjoy beingin the leadership.
It's something you do Becauseyou feel like called to do it

(51:41):
and you want to prove that youcan get this done and hopefully
set an example and show you cando it the right way and all
these you know positive things,but I did way too much this year
.
But we're looking at next yearwe're doing a lot more education
.
Right hopefully more masonicsand posiums ourselves speaking
publicly.
The podcast getting out abroader audience.
We're going to DC With the billof acilis and the grandmasters

(52:05):
will be at the Potomacinstallation and the tomb of the
unknown soldier Lee Reethlaying will be getting as many
people as we can yeah viewed, sothat people can learn what's
going on there and maybe, maybeeven participate in the coming
years.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
Yeah, that's um, that's that's what this show
started off as and it's whatwhat it's gonna it's gonna
always be about is getting the,the, the mason, who's who's
sitting in Lodge to get moreinvolved, to get more involved
in the craft, to understand thecraft, understand your degrees,
understand what it is that youwent through, why you went

(52:40):
through it, understand what youbelieve, why you believe it, and
and go out into the world andwhatever, like I said, whatever
religious background you're from.
Me I'm a, I'm a reformedChristian, you know.
And then we have people who youknow hold to Buddhism.
We have people hold a differentyou know, different types of
religious studies and stuffdoesn't matter.

(53:02):
You can take the foundation thatyou can learn here Through
education and you can betteryourself and your community
through it.
You know, by by having thatgrass.
I know I'm beating this horseto death, but I, uh, I just feel
so, I just feel absolutelypassionate about it.
You know, being um, theeducation, education, it's all
about Educate yourself, man,well, educate.

(53:24):
If you're not educatingyourself, you're doomed.
Then you should be educatingsomeone else because you've
already done the work and and,anyways, I'm gonna get off that
horse.

Speaker 1 (53:32):
What else?
What else we got?
I actually would like to, ifyou don't mind, uh, probe our
guest a little bit.
Go Excellent.
So I'm curious how you got intothe fraternity.
I'm always curious to find outhow these giants that I meet in
the fraternity started out.
What was your initial calling?

Speaker 3 (53:53):
My, my great grandfather from from my
mother's side, was a freemasonin spain and I had heard about
him being a freemason while Iwas growing up.
My grandmother didn't have anyof his regalia or his ring or
anything regarding his masonicuh journey.
And Around my 20s, I mean I gotinitiated, if I'm not mistaken,

(54:15):
when I was 22, around Maybelike 21.
I I just went on google and Ilooked up Masonic lodge nearby
and the first one that came upwas hibiscus, lodge number 275.
At that time we were meeting incoral gables and I I went in, I
visited my lodge.

(54:37):
We always asked prospectivecandidates that before you ask
for a petition, visit at leastfour times.
Why?
Because you want to make surethat, uh, you, you like the
brotherhood, you know that theidentity and the character of
this lodge fits best with yourcharacter, you know, because if

(54:58):
you're interested in maybeanother lodge that might be
interested in other aspects ofpremacery, that's totally cool.
Why would we want to deprive youfrom that?
And from the moment that Ivisited Hibiscus I just fell in
love with.
You know the identity of thelodge and I wanted to be a part
of it, and that's pretty muchhow I joined.
You know, it was because I hadheard about my great grandfather

(55:23):
being a Mason in Spain, butobviously that generation was
very secretive, you know.
So my grandmother didn't reallyknow much about what he did in
terms of being active as a lodgemember.
She just knew that, you know,this day was dedicated to the
lodge and he was gonna go.
So it was pretty much becauseof a family relationship.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
And you got into the line pretty early on, right, you
must have joined, yeah.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
So I got raised and then I became a junior steward,
and then from junior steward Ibecame junior warden, and then
that's how I ended up as master.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But the ritual work reallywasn't difficult for me because
I also have a theater background.
I did drama when I was in highschool, I was in plays, I wrote

(56:14):
plays, so I was very active inthat and that obviously helped
me with having to give back myproficiency and memory work and
stuff like that.
So it was fairly simple for meand then I just like go right
into it.
You know I wanted to help outwith as many things as I could,
especially given my interests,you know, and that's what I've
had, the pleasure, you know, andI'm eternally grateful to be

(56:36):
able to continue helping out,you know, in these areas of free
Masonry, you know.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
It's pretty magnificent when you see
somebody who's clearly in theright place at the right time in
their life and in the societyand their environment, and
that's definitely you.
I have to say you obviouslyhave gotten other.
You've gotten involved inScottish Rite.
Are you also in the York Riteor Grotto or in any other?

Speaker 3 (57:00):
pendant parties.
I'm in the Scottish Rite, I'min the Grotto.
I'm actually gonna go throughthe Royal Arch Degree now, on
November 20th, and I am a StateAdvisor for DMALE.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 3 (57:15):
So, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I'm very happy to be a partof that.
And listen, I always my lodgealways always jokes about this.
When I joined free Masonry, Ihad blue hair, green hair, I had
weird earrings and stuff likethat, and it was so awesome for
the lodge to just to be able tooverlook my craziness and just

(57:40):
say, hey, you're a member, nowyou got what I'm saying.
So this is something that Ialways, because I even have some
friends that are a member.
They wanna become members.
They live in other states andthey say, well, I don't know if
they'll like me, I don't know ifthey'll accept me, and it's
like, listen, the brotherhooddoesn't care because it's all
that that it's the content ofyour character, that's what's

(58:00):
gonna define you, so youshouldn't have to worry about
that.
So we always the brothers frommy lodge always joke.
They're like I kinda like youbetter when you had blue hair or
when you had green hair.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
Well, yeah, it's more interesting to look at?
Yeah, for sure, but when youhave a crown on your head, that
hair color doesn't matter, doesit?

Speaker 2 (58:23):
I'd be happy with any color hair.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
Well, that's interesting that you said you
write screenplays and you writestories.
So we created a new group atthe shrine here at Sahib Shrine
Thread and a few other guyscalled the Three Ruffians, and
we're right now working onwriting our own initiation
ceremony where we talk about, Imean, big picture.

(58:49):
We're taking you on a journeyfrom the Three Ruffians, from
our Master Mason story, toimagine these people surviving
through time, through certainevents, and kind of reforming
themselves over time andbecoming kind of anti-heroes in
modern society.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
But still enjoying the fun things in life.
That's right.

Speaker 1 (59:09):
So if you're interested, maybe we can enlist
you in helping us write some ofthis ritual because I'm really
excited about it.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
Yeah, it's called the Three Ruffians, cigar and
Whiskey Unit.
And it's under yeah, I knowright, it's under Sarasota Saheb
Shrine.
We're a unit of the localshrine.
So yeah, and our firstcommittee chairman right
Worshipful.
I mean Worshipful.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
Burns over there.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
A little prophetic word there.
I think, Anyway, he's in chargeof putting together our ritual
and we had a couple of conceptsalready kind of thrown around.
So it's gonna be a lot of fun.
So yeah brother, if you've gotsome creative juices you wanna
throw our way, man, we'll gettogether with you and put
together a.
Really it's gonna be fun.

(59:59):
The whole theme is it's kind of1940s, so that the Three
Ruffians are transformed into akind of a 1940s gangster motif,
you know and there's three ofthem.
We'll send you our logo.
We created a logo and the logosays it all.
Man, yeah, it says it all.
And we also have a cigar brand,a boutique cigar brand, called

(01:00:21):
Three Ruffians as well.
That goes along with it.
So, first of the year, yeah,it's gonna be a lot of fun.
We use it as a fundraiser toolfor different lodges and stuff.
They use it for fundraisers andstuff, but it doesn't make a
lot of money or anything likethat, but it is kind of fun.
It's kind of yeah, it's gonna bea blast and we're definitely
putting the chamber ofreflection inside that

(01:00:43):
Interesting you mentioned that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Why don't we?

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Chris, because we haven't talked about it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
I know and I saw an email come across.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
You saw it, okay, yeah, yeah, what's up with that
man?
I've been corresponding withour grand secretary about trying
to find out what all would beinvolved in crafting legislation
to bring the chamber ofreflection back to the state of
Florida.
You've got my attention, yeah,and so I have gotten some
guidance from him, as well assome information on what they've
tried to do in the past and whyit didn't work.

Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
Because apparently people have tried to bring the
chamber of reflection back.

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
It's been gone a long time, see.
I thought this was a recentthing, but it's been.
They took it out a long, longtime ago.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
Yeah, a long time ago , apparently back when we had
the Masonic political party andthere was that whole controversy
with a guy that went missingand they blamed the Mason.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
Right, right, yeah, at that time the Morgan affair
the Morgan affair.
Yes, the Morgan, that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
yeah, literally the Morgan affair is the reason they
pulled the plug on the chamberof reflection in the United
States, and the coffin too, yeah.
And so, but as of like the 90s,it seems like a lot of American
jurisdictions are really tryingto bring it back because it's
so powerful.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think it's an important stepin your journey and we can't
talk about what it is on the air, obviously, but yeah, I guess
we can, because it's not Floridawork.
You mean currently?
Yeah, currently, all right,well, explain a little bit about
what the chamber of reflectionis.

Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
That's actually something that I reference in my
lecture on Stoicism.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Oh great, oh awesome, yeah wait.

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
So I do discuss that, I do discuss that and I do it
via we're introducing the masterMason degree to the site on the
Hourglass, which are alsopresent, which are also present
in the chamber of reflection.
So, that's how I kind of openthe conversation to that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
It's like it's meant it's supposed to be in a
cave-like setting, and there'sso many different symbolic
meanings to this.
My favorite one is that you'rein this dark room where it's
just you with your thoughts andyou're forced to answer a few
questions that make you reflect,and it's symbolic of being in
the womb before being born,which is exactly tying into your

(01:02:55):
journey in the fraternity.
Right yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:59):
Yeah, the chamber of reflection is used in the
Scottish right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Yeah, in the York right, I think In the Scottish
right.
It's definitely the York rightin the final degree, which is
pretty amazing, and the Scottishright it's in the 14th degree.
Is that right?
Yeah, somewhere around there.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
Yeah, and there's a lot.
Again, you have the skull, youhave the sight, you have a lot
of different alchemical, a lotof different alchemical symbols
and things, and it's kind ofmeant to you reflect on your
mortality obviously.
You reflect on yourself andother things, so I think there's

(01:03:40):
also a mirror from notmistaking the sides.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
Yes, so one of our past masters is from Puerto Rico
, worshipful Stephen GarciaMorales, and he was just
visiting there.
So he sent us pictures fromtheir actual chamber of
reflection that they use intheir ritual work, and he was
telling me stories of how hewent through it.
He actually questioned in hismind if he was in the right
place.

(01:04:03):
It was such heavy stuff that hedidn't want to think about at
that moment and he said, thatfeeling of not being sure if
he's up to the task of evenbecoming a mason has stuck with
them his whole Masonic career.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
I think it's an important step in the process.
We're missing.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
Well, yeah, in this country we don't die, in this
country we pass away.
And the chamber of reflectionis going to bring home Marcus
Aurelius' quibb Memento More.

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
Remember, you have to die.
You're not going to pass away,You're going to die.
Death is going to take you.
What are you going to do withthe life that you have today?
What are you going to do withit?
Because you are.
It's a one for one ratio.
Everyone's going to make it.
There's no way around it.

(01:04:58):
It's coming.
So I just think it's such apowerful thing and as masons
we're supposed to face truthHead on.
Don't go around it, Don't faceit, and this is the ultimate of
facing.
I just think it's so powerfulman it needs to be reinstituted
into the EA degree.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
Working on it.
We're working on it Now.
Getting back to you, warshful,you're not escaping our clutches
, that's right.
So, if I'm not mistaken, youare working your way through the
proficiency cards and thenattempt to get a gold card.
Is this correct?

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
I am, I am.
I'm actually working on thefollow craft lecture right now.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
Is that your first lecture?

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
That's my first lecture that I'm working through
I would like to get my goldcard just because I want to be
able to help my lodge in thatway to be able to provide the
lectures.

Speaker 1 (01:05:52):
It really is a huge help to the lodge.
And you learn a lot more aboutFreemasonry as you're finding
out, I'm sure, really having tomemorize these lectures, you
become much more well educatedon the topic.

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
Yeah, yeah, because I think that there's a lot, and
this is something that I alwaystell the membership to Open your
blue book.
There's a lot of greatinformation there.
There's even a lot of thingsthat I'm citing in my lectures.
There's a lot of stuff there,and when you're listening to the
lectures, it's providing a lotof information and a lot of
things that are going to putcertain things into perspective

(01:06:28):
for you.
I had attended a Master Masondegree once earlier this year
and one of the brother that wasgiving the lecture.
He said something and I waslike, oh my god, this is
something that I'm developing alecture on and he just said it
right now in the lecture.
So it's really cool to be ableto get engaged in that way.

(01:06:50):
Do you know some?
Hopefully and I'm starting withthe fellowcraft degree, because
the fellowcraft degree isarguably my favorite degree-
yeah, it's everyone's favorite.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Yeah, it really is.
We just did one Tuesday andwhat always amazes me is it gets
the lowest turn out of all thedegrees.
We do a lot of degrees in ourlodge and the fellow crafts are
always the least well attended.
And it blows my mind becauseeveryone loves the lecture and
the degree, so why don't theycome?
It blows my mind.

Speaker 3 (01:07:19):
It's funny because worshipful Jamie Paul Lamb has
actually talked about this.
He wrote a book, pretty much tobe a supplemental material for
the fellowcraft degree.
It's called Approaching theMiddle Chamber.
So check it out if you'reinterested.
And what he talks about isyou're initiated and then you're

(01:07:41):
passed, and then it's almostlike you get to a point where
it's like all right, now you'vegot to be a master.

Speaker 1 (01:07:47):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
And then you get raised and then that's it.
So it's almost like you spendthe least amount of time during
the fellowcraft degree, when ithas so much information.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
Yeah, that's it.
That's exactly right.

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
It's a university class that's there.
You're introduced to so manytopics and so many things are so
important, not only in ourlives but in the Masonic journey
that you know it'smind-boggling that we don't
spend a lot of time on it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
Yeah, that makes sense, because the newness of
the EA it's exciting, it's new,it's you know, and you're there
for a while, at least threemonths probably, right, you're
there practicing.
And then you're raised, masterMason on the other end, which is
the completion of all your work.
But the fellow craft is kind ofthat pathway between the two.
Yeah, so it doesn't get, you'reright.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
People are like oh, I got a step here to get over
there.
Yeah, right, right, so theyjust step through it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
And they miss, in my opinion, the most, the richest
of all of them.
And it's the only one that Ican right now.
It's the only one that I canrecite, you know, question and
answer all the way, frombeginning to end.

Speaker 1 (01:08:54):
The catechism.

Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
Yeah, yeah, I have this mental block on the EA.
It was so hard for me to do.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
Oh my gosh, it's new.
That's why, yeah, but I chokedso badly that it scarred me for
life.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
So after I'm done with a little therapy I'll
probably attempt it.
But we committed, a group of uscommitted, under the tutelage
of Worshipful Burns this year toget all the way to our gold
card in a year.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
Yeah, we're going to treat it like a regular
catechism class.
So we'll have like five or sixMaster Masons and we'll meet
once a week and we'll go throughthis whole thing together.
Yeah, all the proficiency cards, one at a time.

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
It's going to be awesome.
I think maybe we'll do a littlebit of interviewing along the
way and just kind of like tracksome progress and have fun with
it.
You know, and get everybody.
Everybody should be doing thiswe have.
Well, there are two main peoplein our district that do
lectures, but there's probably adozen, half a dozen men that we

(01:09:56):
can rely on who regularly do it, literally two, One of them
sitting right across from me andthe other would be.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
Worshipful Hart.
Well, I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:10:03):
Shout out I'm going to be sitting right now
somewhere up in Georgia.

Speaker 1 (01:10:06):
Yeah, he sent me pictures yesterday.
He actually got one.
He's already got a deer.
He's got some meat for us.
He's been good.

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
Yeah, we don't have to be hunters.
We know one, so it's exactlyyeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:19):
It's a good time for me because I got my gold card
and my brown card in my firstyears of Master Mason and I
didn't get to use it much to behonest with you, there were
other guys that are known and Ididn't.
I'm not good at promoting myself.
Not a lot of people to this dayknow that I even have a gold
card or a brown card.
But now you know, as you workup the line and people get to

(01:10:42):
know you and you meet morepeople.
Now it's a perfect time for mebecause it's just all in my mind
.
You know, I'm doing the degreework, I'm doing the ritual work,
the opening, closing of mylodge, all the time.
So it's easy for me, whereas wehave a Worshipful Barry Hart,
for example, who he's busy doingother stuff.
He's not in the line, he's notdoing ritual work every day Like

(01:11:03):
I am.
So I imagine it's probablyharder for after many years to
keep it fresh in your mind.
I feel actually lucky.

Speaker 3 (01:11:12):
Now, chris, let me ask you something, because I
think this is so cool.
You know, and obviously you'revery open about this, you've
talked, obviously you'vementioned that you know you kind
of have a love haterelationship with public
speaking.
So talk me through that thoughtprocess of you.
Know, I have a love hate withpublic speaking, but I have a
gold card.

Speaker 2 (01:11:33):
So you know where.
That's kind of like you are nowin luxury, you know?
Yeah, that's a greatobservation.

Speaker 1 (01:11:37):
This started when, before I became a Mason, I had a
horrible fear of flying, like Icouldn't get on a plane.
I felt terrified of being inthis box that I had no control
over.

Speaker 3 (01:11:48):
And I just knew it was going down the whole time.

Speaker 1 (01:11:51):
So I didn't ride in a plane until I was almost 30 for
the first time, and theexperience was so traumatizing.
I had to visit some family whowere sick and I had to take
drugs to keep me from having aheart attack in the flight and I
saw I can't go through lifethis way.
These phobias are killing me.

(01:12:11):
And I felt the same way aboutpublic speaking.
It was from my childhood.
If I had to give a presentationin school, I would skip school.
I just wouldn't go that day.
I dropped out my senior year anddidn't finish high school
because I just couldn't do thepublic speaking they expected of
me and I had to go back and getmy GEDs and adults.
So this is literally somethingthat's impacted me my whole life

(01:12:33):
.

Speaker 3 (01:12:34):
And.

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
I decided at one point I'm going to have to face
this fear of flying.
So I went to learn how to fly.
I went to a private pilot'slicense no kidding, and the
study of aerodynamics andlearning about how a plane stays
in the sky and how all thisworks really alleviated a lot of
my anxiety about flying.

Speaker 2 (01:12:55):
Not facts and knowledge.
Imagine that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:57):
I'm diving into facing my fear.
Help me and I can fly now.
I don't like flying overseas,but I'll do it if I have to.
It's one of those things that'sa phobia.
So it's never going to leave me, but I've got it to a point
where I can manage it.
So getting into Freemasonry andgetting tricked into Freemasonry
and actually being forced to dosome public speaking, I was
like wait, you know I did it inphases.

(01:13:20):
To be honest with you, when Idid my first give back, I had to
take my glasses off so that Icouldn't see anybody looking at
me, and that's how I dealt withit initially.
Then they asked me to be acommitteeman where I had to give
formal speeches on my own, and,if I'm going to be honest with
you, I would have some drinksbefore I went to Lodge, and that
was the only way I could getmyself to get up in front of

(01:13:41):
people and do it.
And so it's been a really hardprocess for me to overcome that
fear.
But Freemasonry and learning thelectures is a way for me to
learn.
I watch a lot of YouTube videos.
When I watch people like youspeak, I'm watching a lot, man.
Like I said, I'm watching howyou breathe, how you carry
yourself, what you're doing withyour hands, because I need to

(01:14:02):
learn this stuff.
It helps me alleviate myanxiety if I have something to
work on, and so learning thelectures has been the greatest
gift I've gotten out ofFreemasonry, because I am public
speaking a lot.
As you know because you saidthat you had a background in
acting.
If you can inject yourself intosomething and make it personal,

(01:14:24):
it's a lot easier for me.
I can show you who I am in someway through me doing a lecture.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
Does that make sense?
It's going to be my way, myinflection, my way of delivering
.

Speaker 1 (01:14:37):
It is the way I think about it and you know, when you
watch other people givelectures, like you said, you
heard a brother giving somethingand it sparked something in
your mind because you wereworking on something.
A lot of times I hear otherguys give lectures and the
inflection they use and thethings that they enhance make me
think about it in a differentway than how I learned it,
because I'm thinking of that,the way that I want to project

(01:15:00):
that to somebody when I'm givingit.
So I'm just fascinated by howmuch of yourself you put into
something can give it differentmeaning, as you deliver it.
Absolutely and I'm really sure.
Yeah, it helps me to focus onthose kinds of things instead of
the fact that those eyeballsare looking at me.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
So would you consider that your journey through to
the gold card helped youovercome this fear?

Speaker 1 (01:15:30):
of public speaking.
The work you did it's a giftI've gotten from Freemasonry is
to be freed from this paralyzingfear.

Speaker 2 (01:15:37):
Right yeah, and I've seen it.
I've seen it.
When you and I first starteddoing this, I remember you
telling me that you it's notgone.

Speaker 1 (01:15:45):
We just did a presentation and you're like I
saw it, I was degrading.

Speaker 3 (01:15:48):
The longer we were in front of people, the worse it
got for me.

Speaker 2 (01:15:51):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:15:52):
I was getting more fidgety, and then my arms were
crossed and then I was facing mybody in a different direction.

Speaker 3 (01:15:56):
It's just really uncomfortable for me, and it's a
struggle still.
Well, let me tell you it's noteasy because actually, public
speaking is the number one fearin the world.
It really is.
I haven't read that.
I haven't read that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:08):
And that doesn't ring .
I don't get that.
I've been a public speakersince I was five years old man.
I can't shut up.
I love it.
I absolutely love it and Ithink it's just pure.
It's just that I think I wasjust born that way.
I was not trained in itnecessarily.

Speaker 1 (01:16:30):
I think self-confidence is a big factor.

Speaker 2 (01:16:33):
Self-confidence helps or self-delusion, however you
want it to be.

Speaker 1 (01:16:36):
Yeah, I mean, I take it honestly, because I'm very
critical on myself, I thinkthat's one of the hang-ups that
people have about publicspeaking is they don't want to
look stupid, they want to bejudged.

Speaker 2 (01:16:47):
I think a public speaker has a responsibility to
bring good content and to do hishomework.
Daniel, I know one of thereasons why I'm like that.
The lecture you did up in atHillsboro, I mean I couldn't get
my eyes or ears off it becauseit was so well laid out, because
you did the homework.
I've seen speakers, man, wherethey were, just I just want to

(01:17:09):
poke my own eye out, man,because it was just so hard to
watch, because they weren'tprepared, they were just their
own material and it was reallyego-driven or they weren't
engaging me.
They were really.
You know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:17:24):
They're just raping your brain.

Speaker 2 (01:17:27):
Take this information and put it in there.
We're going to file that undera chrissism.

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
That's another famous chrissism raping your brain.
I watched a guy I timed him onmy watch.
He did the fellowcraft lecturefrom start to finish in 15
minutes.
What Can you imagine that's?

Speaker 2 (01:17:45):
like jogging.

Speaker 1 (01:17:46):
You're not even distinguishing words anymore
when they're coming at you thatfast.

Speaker 3 (01:17:52):
Yeah, you're powering through it, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:55):
Like your speed.

Speaker 3 (01:17:56):
The thing is, this is something like that.
It sucks because we constantlyhave to remind ourselves these
brothers are going through thisfor the first time.

Speaker 2 (01:18:06):
We can do it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:11):
I've seen that this has happened.
It recently happened out inCalifornia.
I think there was a brotherthat's been in the craft for 60
years.
What they did was they didanother enteroprentis degree for
him to be able to do hisobligation.
That's something cool.

Speaker 2 (01:18:25):
I'd never seen that before.
Oh man, what a great idea.

Speaker 3 (01:18:29):
We're only going through this one time.
You have to make sure that, aspart of the degree team and as
the lecturer, you are giving thebest that you can possibly give
so that you can make animpression on this brother To
want to learn from it, to wantto become involved and engaged.
If you're not doing that, thenI think that's going to open up

(01:18:52):
a count of worms.

Speaker 1 (01:18:54):
I think that's something that we should all
keep in our minds at every levelin free masonry is, when
someone comes in, it's all newto them, their first dinner at
the lodge.
You better make a goodimpression.
Their first day to meeting.
Maybe you should celebrate them.
You need to remember that allof these things are that
person's first and they're goingto make a lasting impression.

(01:19:14):
Yep, absolutely Everything.
Everything, including thelecture and the degree work and
the first opening they hear, thefirst closing after the degree.

Speaker 3 (01:19:24):
Even prospective candidates, if they visit your
lodge.
Obviously we're all members ofour lodges, we're all best
friends, but you want to makesure that you're welcoming to
these prospective candidatesBecause they're coming in, they
might feel vulnerable.
they don't know anybody theymight not know a lot about free
masonry, they don't want to askquestions.
We want to make sure that we'reas welcoming as we can possibly

(01:19:45):
be, because if we make a badimpression, not only are we
making a bad impression, butthis is the bigger issue we are
the vantage point through whichthey are experiencing free
masonry.
If I make a bad impression onsomebody, then they're going to
say man, they let Danny become afree mason.

Speaker 1 (01:20:09):
Oh man, then Mason might not be what I've heard
exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:20:14):
That's a big deal because we are all pretty much
ambassadors in that way.

Speaker 1 (01:20:24):
Even in the world, like if you're wearing a Masonic
ring and somebody sees it.
You are the entire fraternityto them.
It's so true.

Speaker 2 (01:20:32):
What do you say?
How you carry?

Speaker 1 (01:20:33):
yourself.
You're representing hundreds ofthousands of people globally.

Speaker 2 (01:20:37):
Right, I was riding my motorcycle yesterday to
various adult beverage locations.
I wear one of my vests.
The particular vest I waswearing has a gigantic
embroidered symbol for a shrinemotor core on it.
It's got Masonic emblems allover it.

(01:20:57):
As I'm riding along, I have toremember that that's what people
are going to see, that it'sreally important that when I'm
riding I'm courteous and I'mprofessional in my riding.
It's motor core.
For goodness sakes, I'msupposed to be one of the best
motorcycle riders in town toride like an idiot.

Speaker 1 (01:21:19):
Competition rider Right.

Speaker 2 (01:21:23):
It matters.
I have a really nice Masonicbaseball cap that I like and
it's very understated.
It has an embroidered symbol onit.
I'm always having to remindmyself when I'm wearing that
darn thing at the checkout lineor wherever you're at man You've

(01:21:44):
got to, but it's important, itmatters.
As I'm growing up for the last35 years being in church and as
a Christian, I've always beenvery aware of the fact that you
have to carry yourself in acertain way.
We don't ever want to be lookedupon as hypocrites in any of
our endeavors.
Masonry teaches us to be kindand courteous and professional

(01:22:07):
to others and to care aboutother people above ourselves.
It's just.
I don't know where I got thisparticular rabbit trail, but I
like it.

Speaker 3 (01:22:18):
I like it.
I just add on to that becauseit's really cool that you
brought that up, I think.
On the flip side, I think thatwe also are going to have those
moments where we're hypocritesand the important thing, is to
learn from it.
Why?
Because one thing that Iconstantly remind myself is that
the Ruffians were brothers too.

Speaker 1 (01:22:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:22:39):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:22:40):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (01:22:43):
They weren't just random people that just stepped
into this area and whatever whatended up happening, but they
were brothers too.
That's another thing,especially with socialism, that
I have taught myself is that Iam liable to make these mistakes
.
I'm not going to make themistakes, but if I do, I need to
learn from it and I need to bea better person.

(01:23:04):
I think that that's what,ultimately, freemasonry reminds
us to reflect on.

Speaker 2 (01:23:09):
Yeah, that's self-awareness, being aware of,
that's right.
That's exactly right, man yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:23:15):
I like to surround myself with people like that,
Even in our fraternity let's behonest, a lot of people aren't
trying to improve themselves.
They're missing the point, butthey're still representing the
fraternity.
But that doesn't mean I have toassociate that closely with
them.
I try to keep my circle verytightly focused on people who

(01:23:36):
are trying to improve themselves.
That doesn't mean you'reperfect.
Like you said, we're all goingto make mistakes.
We have to accept that.
We're all going to makemistakes.
We have to give each other abreak a little bit, especially
if you see that they're tryingto learn from a mistake that
they made.
Let's celebrate that, that'sright.
Let's celebrate it together.
It'll get easier and easier todo that, I think, as we go.

Speaker 2 (01:23:58):
That's right.
Speaking of not making mistakes, let's not make the mistake of
overstaying our welcome with ourlisteners.

Speaker 1 (01:24:03):
We've been into this for an hour and a half it's been
a great conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:24:10):
It always goes by too quick.
I am absolutely blessed,brother, that you decided to
join us.
It's been a great conversation.
Anything you want to share withus before we head out of here?
Specifically, specifically.

Speaker 1 (01:24:26):
You do a lot of lectures.
You talk a lot aboutFreemasonry.
You talk a lot about thingsrelated to Freemasonry, but
you're now talking topotentially Freemasons from
around the world.
Who listens to this podcast?
It would be great to hear yourideas on the future of the
fraternity and how you deal withnegativity and challenges.

(01:24:47):
Those are the kind of thingsthat people really get from.
The podcast is learning fromguests.

Speaker 2 (01:24:52):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:24:53):
How they deal with challenges and what they see for
the future.

Speaker 3 (01:24:57):
I think that any negativity will ultimately go
away if you don't succumb to itand if you don't pay any
attention to it.
Ultimately, I think that thegoal is, especially when it
comes to just speaking onMasonic education, educating
ourselves and educating theoutside world, outside of the

(01:25:18):
fraternity.
I think that it's super coolthat a lot of lodges now are
opening themselves up to wantingto have lectures, whether it be
myself or other Masoniclectures.
I think that it's super cool.
I think that it's somethingthat we should continue to
promote Absolutely because, aswe know by the digest, every
lodging is to have a Masoniceducation committed.

(01:25:40):
That's right.
I think that the worst fullmaster is, even when he's
installed, he vows to educatethe craft, to promote education
within his lodge.
I think that it's super coolthat we're seeing a rise in
lodges and even other Masonicbodies opening up to wanting to

(01:26:03):
have lectures.
As I tell brothers all the time, if I'm available and I am able
to go, I will visit your lodgeand I'll give a lecture.
It just needs to align with mebeing available, but I'm happy
to do it because this is what Ipersonally enjoy from
pre-Masonry and it's what I wantto continue doing, as long as

(01:26:26):
brothers continue to be engaged.
Aside from that, I just want toonce again it's three things I
once again want to wish BrotherFred a happy, belated birthday.

Speaker 2 (01:26:36):
Thank you, brother.

Speaker 3 (01:26:37):
I hope that you have a great weekend with that.
I want to say thank you so muchfor allowing me to be on the
podcast.
I really appreciate it.
I'm a big fan and I'm verygrateful that you would want to
have this conversation with me.
I really appreciate it.
And finally, just January 13th,I want to see everybody at this
lodge.
Yes, it's going to be a greattime.

(01:26:58):
You know we have some amazingspeakers and I think that this
is going to get the ball rollingon a great event that's going
to happen quarterly.
We know it's going to happen.
Negative things are going tocome, but we're just going to
brush that off and we're goingto keep on powering through.
So once again, thank you.
Thank you, guys, so much forletting me be here.

Speaker 2 (01:27:17):
It's been our pleasure, brother, absolutely,
and we will be having you backagain.
Chris, what do you got?

Speaker 1 (01:27:22):
I like what you said.
Let's just ignore the negative,okay.

Speaker 2 (01:27:25):
I can get down.
That's good advice.
Don't feed into it.
Let's not feed into it.

Speaker 1 (01:27:30):
I appreciate you sharing that.

Speaker 2 (01:27:31):
Right on.

Speaker 1 (01:27:33):
I can't hear you, fred, you can't hear me.
Oh, I was ignoring the negative.
Oh, that was pretty good, verygood brother.

Speaker 2 (01:27:40):
Well, there's the sound of the music, and if
you've listened to this point ofthe show, then you are our hero
.
Thank you so much for takingthe time to listen to.
On the Level with Fred andChris, it is our privilege to be
here week after week talkingabout the ancient and honorable
craft that we love and thatwe're passionate about.
We hope you're passionate aboutit too.

(01:28:01):
Take what you've learned todayand go back to your lodge and
make a difference, and we willsee you again next time.

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Interview with W:. Daniel Molina | An Elite Masonic Speaker!

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Interview with W:. Daniel Molina | An Elite Masonic Speaker!