July 7, 2025 • 32 mins
What does it mean to uphold justice when faced with the defense of the seemingly indefensible? Join us as we talk about Thomas B. Davis' thought-provoking book, "Defense of the Ruffians: A Dialogue with Conscience," with a unique perspective from within the Masonic tradition. My guest this week is RW Don Gorham, Grand Tiler of the Grand Lodge of New York, who shares his insights on the book's exploration of ethics, the presumption of innocence, and how you can share this Masonic Light in your Lodge.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, Concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast, the only
Masonic podcast endorsed by the Grand Lodge in New York.
I'm your host, wrighte worship fil Michael Ars. Looking forward
to kicking off another work week with me and you
and my guest this week as we get into one
of the most thought provoking books written by a Freemason,
most recently, it's Thomas B. Davis's Defense of the Ruffians.
(00:51):
And if you're like, oh, I may have heard of
this before. Yeah, it's a small book, but it's also
a pretty cool one act play. And the brother that's
going to be joining us this week, and I had
a great idea to share it with you. Let's welcome
him in from the Brand Lodge of New York. Right,
Worshipful Don Gouram Grand Tyler, Welcome to the Craftsman Online Podcast.
My friend.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, good evening. This is an opportunity that I have.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Sought and in place of the giant sword that he
carries into the Grand Lodge session. For our YouTube live streamers,
you're seeing him surrounded by guitars behind him. So I
know the question the audience is asking, is, Brother, before
we get into the Defense of the Three Ruffians, what's
the story with the guitars behind you?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Not much.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
I've always been interested. I'm not particularly great at it. However,
everyone has a different voice, and I noodle around and
something comes up, and that's kind of like how I meditate.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
They're as good starting ice breakers for when you do
these virtual meetings, it immediately draws your eye and people
are like, oh wow, what's your favorite song? What guitar
do you play? So just something to look forward to
for YouTube live. All right, So we're going to get
to the visual aid the book here that both of
us have a copy of Defense of the Ruffians. And
if you've never heard of this play, or like me,
(02:06):
you had and have not secured your own copy, don't worry.
The link to order this for yourself will be in
the notes for this episode from Amazon. Brother Tom, we
got to just start like where your story began with me.
You were one of the brothers who were so kind
to come to DC, the nation's capital, when I got
my commission to be all right worshipful and serve our Grandmaster,
(02:28):
most Worshipful Steven Adam Rubin. That was really the first
time we talked, and we kind of started bonding over
the concept of this play, The Defense of the Ruffians.
When did you first hear about it?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
So in my travels to my district, the Noble ninth
Manhattan in King Staman Beethoven, there's a brother Major West,
and you introduced me to this, and you know, we
had thought about working on it together and doing some
kind of traveling thing with it some time ago, and
since then, every once in a while I go back
(03:01):
into it, and during the time when we had met,
I was back into it again. And so now we're
here and trying to go through what this all meant.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, it's crazy how the story evolves, because we met
around this time last year here in DC, and then
earlier this year in twenty twenty five, we connected again
at Unity Day, which was a special event hosted by
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and I believe January because
it was pretty cool, and at dinner that night we
(03:34):
started talking about this book again. And you said, hey, brother,
I'm just going to send you a copy of it,
and I just took it as like one of those
nice things that sometimes a brother or a friend will say.
A few days later, this arrives in my mailbox from Amazon.
It was the quickest and most exciting read that I've
ever done. And then I couldn't wait to call and
talk with you about it because I had heard of
(03:56):
this story as a one act play, which it is
is that was written way after our ritual that we
know of the legend of Hiram Biff and the Heraamic legend.
And what's fascinating about this is this play revolves around
one person and there's two characters. Can you tell our
listener a little bit about that.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Basically, this is a story about Jubilum. He's awaiting execution
after his brothers Jubila and Jubilou have already been, and
Conscience brings himself into play and starts asking him some
questions you talked about, you know when this was made.
This was from nineteen seventy seven by an author, Thomas B.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Davis.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
And although this isn't canon, it's really an interesting look
into the background of especially jubil Um. You know, we
always look at as him a biff, as the exemplar,
and we know a little bit about him being an architect,
and hear about him in a second degree, and now
back in the third why did these guys, these brothers,
(05:01):
you know, want the word or think they did deserve
the work? And what was their motivation? We really have nothing.
So this is a really really whether you know, it's
again it's not canon, but it's a really interesting way
to look fever into the building of the temple and
our third degree ritual. Why these three brothers did what
(05:23):
they did.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Just a reminder, while this episode is fully intended for
Masons on all levels, it's also for those that just
have an interest in freemasonry. So as you've gone out
and gotten whatever version of the Masonic ritual, most people
are aware of the Herramic legend, and as Brother Dawn
points out, this is not actually part of any standard
work or lecture or ritual or code or anything in masonry.
(05:46):
It's clearly out in publication, so it's something that you
can easily and openly talk about with anyway anyone because
no secrets are really revealed in here. The true secrets
are as we go through the degree and then study
it afterwards. As master Masons, we have our own impression
or maybe our own idea of why of what motivated
(06:06):
the Ruffians to do what they did to try to
obtain the secret word from Grandmaster Hiram Abiff. But this
book gives a little bit more of that detail. How
did you find the eeriness of the conversation between Jubilum
and himself with his own conscious that inner dialogue that
starts to build up.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I don't know that I found it eerie because I'm
having that conversation on a Daili basis myself.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
It's actually really familiar, okay.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
And you know what, that's the point when I when
I had said about Hiram Abif be an exemplar, I
think just as much, let's say, prior to masonry, and
even still because we're still working on ourselves, on our
spirits and temples. So you know, I find a lot
of commonality with the jubilung him as an exemplar of
(06:54):
a person who I don't want.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
M What do you mean by that?
Speaker 4 (06:58):
If you look at the hieramic drama and one of
the things I was grateful or in recent years was
the reintroduction of the soliloq creact. If you take it
alone in our third degree ritual in the drama, it
would seem like he goes from murderous design to remorse.
And you could and you can read it as such.
You know, at first, he's got this dramatic sarcasm about
(07:21):
these u pomp and pageantry and and you know stately columns,
uh are blessed from the heavens and such and uh.
And then all of a sudden he has this realization
where he sees that Grandmaster ram Abiff has held on
to his value. I look, if you, if I take
entertain this play, then I get a little deeper look,
(07:41):
and I see it more as him being automatically remorseful.
He's I think he's more just in a place of
mutual respect for another person who's holding onto his values,
because Jubulum is sticking by his guns on this too,
and so I think it's just a matter of respect.
And and later on throughout this play, you kind of
(08:01):
hear him dancing around the conscience and he himself are
he's contradicting himself where he doesn't his ego won't allow
him to reveal to himself that he's not in the right.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
That was the part for me. It was so interesting
when I talked about it being eerie, because as you're saying,
when this story falls, just imagine, you know, if you've
been through the Master Mason's degree, you've been through the
Herramic legend, you've been through the drama. This is the
part that happens after they get captured and convicted for
killing Grandmaster Hiram Abiff, which in our ritual happens in
(08:37):
like five seconds, and this kind of fills in that
blank because his other two brothers, Jubilo and Jubelah, have
already been executed. So he's sitting there kind of going
through those final steps and the only person he's having
a conversation with is the voice in his own head
that as the audience member, you're hearing all of this,
(08:58):
and he's kind of walking through all of the stages
of mourning or passing all of those those stages of
death and like separation. But he's also kind as you're
getting to he's he's justifying why he did what he did,
and unlike most criminals, like at the end when they're
getting ready to face their execution, They're like, Okay, I
did it. I'm sorry, I'm remorseful. Spare me as you
(09:21):
point out, like this guy is challenging all of this
all the way up until his final breath.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah, this is jubil I'm in the beginning of a story.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
You know, conscience enters ju Below and he's like, you
know they're already how how audit is that they are dead?
And I am not, and and a lot of the
portrayals of the drama and I'm by no means am
I saying that anybody's doing it wrong. You'll see Jubilah, Jubilou,
and Jubilum all kind of coming in like the brute
and with a lot of strength. And in masonry, and
(09:50):
we have a lot of allegory. Our symbols mean multiple things.
And I treat Jubilo, jub Below and Jubilum like first
second degree wisdom, strength, beauty, the younger, the middle child,
and the older child, and and so keeping with the beauty,
wisdom of beauty, strength and wisdom. I see like Jubila
(10:11):
coming in, and you know he doesn't come in so strong.
He thinks what he has to say will be enough.
To get the word. You have Jubilo who's more of
a middle child, who needs to prove to both of
these guys, so he's going to come in more British,
and I kind of look at Jubilum coming in with
not only this this this strong physical authority, but he's
(10:33):
been around a while and he has something to say
and he's going to be forceful, but it's more coming
out of the command of himself.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
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(12:05):
I also find fascinating as the role as we welcome
on right WORSHIPFLP brother Don Borum, who's the Grand Tyler
for the Grand Lodge of New York. And for those
YouTube live streamers, you can kind of get a sense
he's a pretty big dude, probably like a linebacker, if
not a defensive end or tight end in college playing football.
But the size of the sword that you carry for
our listener, if you could just think of the smallest
(12:27):
mason or person, you know, that's about the size of
the sword that he gets to carry into the Grand
Lodge session to kind of get the party started. And
it's interesting because we always associate the sword as like
a symbol of justice, right and here you are walking
in with this. So it's very interesting to get your
perspective on this prisoner now who's sitting here kind of
(12:48):
mulling over his own conscious like kind of recreating his
memories of the murder of Pima Biff, while he's also
kind of putting together the reality of like being punished
for this for death was interesting. One of the motivations
of why he did it was to get a word
that he had not yet been ind not yet earned
the right to receive. And he kind of challenges that
(13:10):
idea at a certain point where he's like, why was
this being kept from me? I should have gotten this?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
When I talk about the identification, you know, as a
young man, you know, finding trying to find career in
any job, you know, I mean, how often was I
jubilong like, you know, toiling it were not feeling recognized,
you know, or worse yet, seeing someone else who didn't
think the work at hard and gets the recognition, you know,
or maybe he just sucking a rut, you know, pointing
(13:35):
a finger excuses elsewhere. And that's where I find identification
with him. So in the play, he even says that
he and his brothers know how to build a temple.
And but then he kind of like almost he says
something about how you but maybe we didn't know what
greatness was, maybe we didn't know what righteousness was. But
(13:58):
that's where I talked about ego before, where his ego
won't with him like see that, Yeah, that's that's actually
me and not not the guy that thinks he knows everything.
And and so he wants the word because you know
they've been toiling uh in these in these uh in
the in the pits with the stone, and all he
hears is that, you know, when the temple's completed, I'll
get my money and or you know, get the get
(14:19):
the word. Actually in uh he doesn't. They don't get it,
and but they feel that they deserve it. And the
thing is is the word was an allowance like a
like a work visa when you when you travel, you know,
to prove that you have the skills.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
The reason why we we we we had those guilds
of tradesmen were to to protect ourselves and not to
have other workers say that they're they're master mason's and
then producing shoddy work, because that would lessen our ability
to collect on jubilom here thinks that he's worthy, you know,
and I'm sure and this is the thing too, like uh,
(14:53):
I think him as the the artificer, you know, and
not that he had to convince too hard. Jubilo and Juwbilo,
I mean Juwilo that you know, they need, they deserve
the word.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
They were working and toying alone together, so but they
didn't really get what it meant, you know, the mastership
of the earning of it.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
You touched on a couple of key points when it
comes to the brothers listening that are getting ready for
the third degree. I know in some jurisdictions they don't
get the chance to wear the costumes like we do
in the Grand Lodge of New York and other jurisdictions,
they don't have the narrator part to kind of really
frame the story and kind of fill the audience and
brothers in as to what's going on. But it doesn't
matter really what jurisdiction are in, because I've seen some
(15:34):
brothers make the same mistake when they're cast into the
roles of first, second, or third base, as we like
to say, they take the role of the Ruffians as
being ro O U G H. Instead of r U
F F I A N and they try to.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Rough up the other. Yeah, that's that's an amazing way
to look at that. I didn't think of that.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah, you were kind of touching on that, like there's
people that rough you up, right, and it's tough to say,
Like being in the city, I'm sure you've seen someone
who's been roughed up or bumped up against a wall,
and we've all seen this in movies or in the media.
But then there's being an actual ruffian. And you were
kind of describing that as some of the ignorance that
kind of comes as like a younger person. Do you
(16:16):
understand now, do you have like a new appreciation for
if somebody was to say, hey, stop backing, like stop
backing like a ruffian? Does that have a new meaning
to you?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Now?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Sure, sure it does. It's an importance too, like you know,
when we hear a word and we think of it
in context, but we don't really take a deeper look
into it. I practice ritual, you know, and rework and
I actually like to use certain parts of our ritual
in conversation to bring a word into title together and
you know, implement it in my life. But there's a
lot of stuff that I haven't and I used to
(16:46):
urge when I was in AGL. You know, you hear
one charge at a degree, I would always urge them
to read that one and the other one that's there
that you didn't hear, to take a deeper look. You know,
I've been diving in more and more into this play,
and then all of a sudden, I'm like, you know,
I should be also now diving back into my ritual,
(17:08):
my stand work lectures to get a different understanding. You know,
when I first came in, when you first hear it,
you know, this is all new stuff, and you know,
and I'm not the same person I was fourteen years
ago because of what's Maazingry has done for me. So
I need to take another look at that to balance
that out with this new being that I am in microth.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Defense of the Ruffians is the book. It's a dialogue
with Conscious by Thomas B. Davis. As we mentioned earlier on,
you can find the notes in for this episode the
link to purchase this on Amazon as it's widely available.
It's been out in circulation for a while. Right Worshipful
Brother Don gorm is our guest on the Craftsman Online podcast.
The cool thing I like about this book is that
it's only fifteen pages long. And don you and I
(17:49):
have shared many late night conversations and just phone conversations
about parts of this book. If there was one takeaway
that you have, what's the one thing that you would
want to share with someone who's not very familiar with
it that it could learn something Just from this podcast
episode today.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
One of the things about you know, why Jubilum was
you know, so hard on getting this word. You know,
he came from working in an orchard and you know
his father did they prune trees to take care of
them so they would they would flourish. During the building
of King Solomon's temple, you know, taxes were raised to
you know, so that they could fund that that big project.
(18:27):
And uh, you know, people weren't buying trees or or
they had the money to even feed themselves, and they
he could they so their work wasn't there. Uh, so
they were put into the into the quarries.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
And then and then conscience is asking this question about
you know, so what's the difference and you know, you know,
so he's talking about, you know, the heat of the sun,
you know, the stones, not him not looking at the stones,
but the stones staring back at him. Some wonderful words
in the in this uh and and and to make
visions of of how it was like for them. And
(19:02):
I don't even want to like recite any of the
poetry of his description of working in the orchard. You
know when he talks about you know the shade, you
know sun shade, these two proposing things and you know
how the breeze does this, and you know, I would
prefer that a reader would go in and try to
just like suss that out themselves. It's really kind of
(19:26):
sweet when you think about it. Maybe it's a glorified
look at his past too, like you know, things were
always seemed rosier, and it's like it wasn't really happy
at work, but he was certainly happier there than he
was in the quarries.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
And when you think about it, like esoterically, it's like, yeah,
he preferred the lighter laborer than to the heavier labor
the work that was being done without the sound of
tool and without the this and the that that we
know from our ritual, Like it was hard work putting
together King Solomon semple. You can see why these guys
who were like literally busting their butts would be like, hey,
I feel like I've earned, but I've been promised I
(20:01):
was going to be given. And you're like, no, no, no, no, no, no,
not yet. You haven't done completed the work yet. Come
when that's when this is finished? And why that would
provoke them to come to this, Which that was the
part that I found interesting just going through it, is
that it's not necessarily a conversation between his consciousness and
the prisoner, so to speak. It's really familiar with kind
(20:21):
of our catechism, where the conscious part of his brain
is asking a question, which as the reader, you're already like, hey,
I've been through this if for those that have gone through,
and you're like, already know what his answer should be,
and then he gives a different answer or an alternate answer,
and you're like, hmm, well, I never really considered that
from the mindset of somebody that would think this or
(20:42):
do that. And I kind of thought about it of
times when I have screwed up in life and maybe
wasn't in the right place of mind, and was later
going through and doing the autopsy on what I put
the mistake I had done and trying to like rectify
things and almost in a way lecturing yourself if you
know what I mean. The Crass but Online podcast proudly
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Speaker 4 (22:06):
In your experience with the ritual, how how how when
you when you're watching the interplay between ju below, Jubilo
Jublau and Jubilong with the hire and Biff, how does
that make you feel?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
You know, it's interesting because every time, no matter what
degree it is like some this is my tenth year
in masonry, so I'm always still picking up like little
seeds of new ideas, like stuff I didn't catch the
first time, no matter how many times I've read it
or seen it, but specifically through the interplay. So here's
what's interesting is that every time I go witness a degree,
there's always that moment where I'm like, well, I never
(22:38):
seen that before in a Masonic degree, And it's usually
an action that's done by the candidate because well, they
don't have a speaking part and they don't really know
what to do. So it's always interesting to see their
reactions when they're confronted by the Ruffians. And without giving
too much away of how the degrees are performed, it's
(22:59):
very clear that can see some of their facial expressions
when the candidate is going through it. And I've seen
guys who kind of are shocked, like they feel like
they're getting mugged, you know, in a back alley somewhere.
I feel some guys that kind of have that you know,
fight or flight thing that's starting to pump through them,
Like I get concerned about that. But then I've also
(23:19):
seen guys where they have like this almost like Joker
from The Batman, cool calm and collectness, where they're like,
what do you think you're scaring me? And they're just
like and I'm always like, what is this brother thinking
about when he's going through this? But to kind of
echo the point that you're making is that I would
personally like to see kind of a progressive stare step
(23:42):
of intimidation for lack of a better term, when it
comes to the interactions, because when you really get into
the grist of what the ritual was about, they didn't
really intend to kill this guy. That wasn't their plan
to murder him. They honestly thought that they could just
convince him through different tactics for him to give up
this password that they wanted so that they could leave
(24:02):
job early and get paid right. So it really wasn't
until juw Belum at the end. And that's what I
find so interesting when you talk about the physical description
of him as being the bigger brother of the three
and my sonic brother. Honestly, he's the one that gets
quote unquote rough. He's the one and that moment that
(24:23):
decides I have to kill this guy because if he
gets past me, he's going to get to a safe
place and then the three of us are going to
be in really big trouble. And even then is you
really kind of go through the forensic analysis of the
crime scene, so to speak, you realize that these guys
number one really weren't very good craftsmen. They were bad
fellow crafts they're even worse murderers and schemers. They kind
(24:47):
of had a plan on how they wanted to escape,
but that even got foiled, and at the end of
the day, as bad as they were for doing what
they did, they eventually admitted to doing it and.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Justice was served.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
So that was the part that I found really interesting
coming back to this book was the take that Jubilum's
consciousness has with him and preparing him to like receive
this punishment, and Jubilum, in my opinion, almost still kind
of being defiant all the way up until the very
end where it's going to happen, and he didn't really
regret it, which kind of also educates us to the
(25:23):
fact that some people go through life as a ruffian
and they never learned from their mistakes.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
You know. I think there's a big reason why Jubilum
has the inability to correct himself, because we all do.
We start everything with Dad. I believe jubilm to be
a godless man. He references Moses in here, and he'll
talk about God, but he only and he says something
(25:50):
else which is really pure, that if Adam had done
to what Adam had done, if he had done it
in front of Solomon, would have been a crime, not
a say. And so he's a he's a grand justifier. Uh,
Jubilam is uh. But I believe it's a lot of
it has to do because he it's told about him
that he is the center of his own universe, and and.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
And conscience even asks him, what about you? You?
Speaker 4 (26:16):
And the work he especially Master Mason's, you know, they
were the ones sitting in the shade. Uh, you know,
and he had to disdain he again. He gained a
motimum of respect for Iron a fifth, but he taught
him a pompous man.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
He couldn't he couldn't understand the weight of the authority.
He didn't have patience, uh to get what he what
he deserved. And his inability to resolve himself is because
he I don't I don't think he believed that there
was anything that he needed to to do to get
to the stately heavens.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
And the other part of it that I find so
interesting is so they do say it's a conversation between
you know, the conscience and the prisoner, right, but it
almost sounds like, and I've never been in jail or prison,
but it almost sounds at first that it's another prisoner
that's calling out from somewhere in the cells, because the
questions that his conscience is asking him as someone that
(27:16):
goes like through the line of like moral decisions and
good versus all those ethical dilemmas that you have, the
conscience is really phrasing it like, well did you do this?
Did you realize you were wrong for doing it this way?
Am a person who believes themselves to be innocent wouldn't
question their motives or their actions. They would have just
(27:38):
so it does make me wonder that he's he probably
had some remorse towards the end, but yet his rationale,
he really believed that what he was doing was right,
but that the murder was wrong, that that was the
bad part obviously, And it seems like he has a
tough issue with coming everything that motivated him from him
(27:59):
feeling like as you, let's say today and today's talk
would be unfair working conditions, look of wages, like all
of the things that kind of crushed down on us
as modern men. And that's why I find some of
these like ancient mysteries to be so relevant to us.
It's like, yeah, but there's what society has different determined
to be good and bad, but there's also what we,
(28:20):
inside of our own moral code have defined to be
good and bad. And when you step outside of that, like,
that's when justice and punishment have to have to come
in and rectify things.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
We talked about justice too, and and researching this a
little bit further, looking at words, I was kind of
struggling to find justice until I took these two types
of justice, which are distributive justice, which which was what
Jubilung was looking for in his opportunity and his reward right,
(28:54):
equal bay and all that kind of thing. And then
there's a retributive justice, which is the punishment for the
wrong doing. So he's seeking distributive justice, and he because
of what he did, he's receiving a retributive justice, I think,
and I love the way it just so happens that
those two words kind of like bring out together and
(29:15):
the dichotomy really wrinks true in this play.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, and it's definitely a cautionary tale for those of us,
you know, watching or reading this. It's just that just
because you do the work doesn't guarantee you to get
the benefit from it. But sometimes that the benefit of
the work is something that is unseen to you. You
may not actually receive the benefit ever or many years
down the road. You just have to do the work.
(29:40):
And this is kind of to me when I had
the explanation. You know, a brother once said to me,
stop being such a ruffian, and I like looked at
him and I'm like, I'm not being a rupt What
are you talking?
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Like?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
That's insulting, Like what do you talk? And then I realized,
I'm like, oh, I'm trying to obtain something that I'm
not really worthy of receiving. Yet I need to put
more time into doing this thing so that there's a
there's no need for a justification.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
To get it.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
It's present to everybody that you've earned this, that you
can display the proficiency and be able to do it.
And I think that that's what makes the when you
ask about the characters of the Ruffians. I think that's
what makes it so beautiful at the quote unquote end
of your Masonic degree story is to come across these
three characters, because I can guarantee you as a master Mason,
(30:27):
you're going to meet people who want to be a
part of the fraternity. And we talk about guarding the
West Gate all the time, but you're going to meet
guys that get in and all they want to do
is just get that master Mason's degree so that they
can what get the ring that they want where the apron,
just have the title, whatever the case may be. And
there's nothing wrong that that's their motivation for that. But
(30:47):
you understand that it being a master Mason means so
more than just those quote unquote material things. And I
think that's what part of the character and the story,
the allegory of the Ruffians is really supposed to remind us.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
You know I said before about him looking at the
master Masons and and and hire him a biff.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
You know what about me? You know I'm doing all
the work.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
He doesn't see or understand that those master Masons were
going through what he have already been through. What he's
been they've they've they've tried that death as many of
our brothers have before, right, and and and the just
because you're not like ripping chisels and stone that you know,
the Grand irom Abiff is, his labor is to eighty
(31:29):
thousand fellow craft Room put Man. He had a lot
to do, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Thanks again to my guest this week, right Worshipful Brother
Don Gorum, Grand Tyler of the Grand Lodge of New York,
not only for sharing the book but also his thoughts
on the play. If you've enjoyed this episode and you'd
like to hear more of the crafts But Online podcast,
well I've got a couple of ways to do it. One,
you could think about joining us over on Patreon. For
just five dollars a month. You can get access to
(31:56):
all of our past episodes, plus some of the extra
time that we've had with guests. And I'm even going
to throw in a three seven day trial to get
you started. Find the link in the notes for this episode,
or us on Patreon at Craftsman Online. Until then, have
a fantastic week and let peace and harmony prevail.
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, Concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast, the only
Masonic podcast endorsed by the Grand Lodge in New York.
I'm your host, wrighte worship fil Michael Ars. Looking forward
to kicking off another work week with me and you
and my guest this week as we get into one
of the most thought provoking books written by a Freemason,
most recently, it's Thomas B. Davis's Defense of the Ruffians.
(00:51):
And if you're like, oh, I may have heard of
this before. Yeah, it's a small book, but it's also
a pretty cool one act play. And the brother that's
going to be joining us this week, and I had
a great idea to share it with you. Let's welcome
him in from the Brand Lodge of New York. Right,
Worshipful Don Gouram Grand Tyler, Welcome to the Craftsman Online Podcast.
My friend.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, good evening. This is an opportunity that I have.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Sought and in place of the giant sword that he
carries into the Grand Lodge session. For our YouTube live streamers,
you're seeing him surrounded by guitars behind him. So I
know the question the audience is asking, is, Brother, before
we get into the Defense of the Three Ruffians, what's
the story with the guitars behind you?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Not much.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
I've always been interested. I'm not particularly great at it. However,
everyone has a different voice, and I noodle around and
something comes up, and that's kind of like how I meditate.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
They're as good starting ice breakers for when you do
these virtual meetings, it immediately draws your eye and people
are like, oh wow, what's your favorite song? What guitar
do you play? So just something to look forward to
for YouTube live. All right, So we're going to get
to the visual aid the book here that both of
us have a copy of Defense of the Ruffians. And
if you've never heard of this play, or like me,
(02:06):
you had and have not secured your own copy, don't worry.
The link to order this for yourself will be in
the notes for this episode from Amazon. Brother Tom, we
got to just start like where your story began with me.
You were one of the brothers who were so kind
to come to DC, the nation's capital, when I got
my commission to be all right worshipful and serve our Grandmaster,
(02:28):
most Worshipful Steven Adam Rubin. That was really the first
time we talked, and we kind of started bonding over
the concept of this play, The Defense of the Ruffians.
When did you first hear about it?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
So in my travels to my district, the Noble ninth
Manhattan in King Staman Beethoven, there's a brother Major West,
and you introduced me to this, and you know, we
had thought about working on it together and doing some
kind of traveling thing with it some time ago, and
since then, every once in a while I go back
(03:01):
into it, and during the time when we had met,
I was back into it again. And so now we're
here and trying to go through what this all meant.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, it's crazy how the story evolves, because we met
around this time last year here in DC, and then
earlier this year in twenty twenty five, we connected again
at Unity Day, which was a special event hosted by
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and I believe January because
it was pretty cool, and at dinner that night we
(03:34):
started talking about this book again. And you said, hey, brother,
I'm just going to send you a copy of it,
and I just took it as like one of those
nice things that sometimes a brother or a friend will say.
A few days later, this arrives in my mailbox from Amazon.
It was the quickest and most exciting read that I've
ever done. And then I couldn't wait to call and
talk with you about it because I had heard of
(03:56):
this story as a one act play, which it is
is that was written way after our ritual that we
know of the legend of Hiram Biff and the Heraamic legend.
And what's fascinating about this is this play revolves around
one person and there's two characters. Can you tell our
listener a little bit about that.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Basically, this is a story about Jubilum. He's awaiting execution
after his brothers Jubila and Jubilou have already been, and
Conscience brings himself into play and starts asking him some
questions you talked about, you know when this was made.
This was from nineteen seventy seven by an author, Thomas B.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Davis.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
And although this isn't canon, it's really an interesting look
into the background of especially jubil Um. You know, we
always look at as him a biff, as the exemplar,
and we know a little bit about him being an architect,
and hear about him in a second degree, and now
back in the third why did these guys, these brothers,
(05:01):
you know, want the word or think they did deserve
the work? And what was their motivation? We really have nothing.
So this is a really really whether you know, it's
again it's not canon, but it's a really interesting way
to look fever into the building of the temple and
our third degree ritual. Why these three brothers did what
(05:23):
they did.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Just a reminder, while this episode is fully intended for
Masons on all levels, it's also for those that just
have an interest in freemasonry. So as you've gone out
and gotten whatever version of the Masonic ritual, most people
are aware of the Herramic legend, and as Brother Dawn
points out, this is not actually part of any standard
work or lecture or ritual or code or anything in masonry.
(05:46):
It's clearly out in publication, so it's something that you
can easily and openly talk about with anyway anyone because
no secrets are really revealed in here. The true secrets
are as we go through the degree and then study
it afterwards. As master Masons, we have our own impression
or maybe our own idea of why of what motivated
(06:06):
the Ruffians to do what they did to try to
obtain the secret word from Grandmaster Hiram Abiff. But this
book gives a little bit more of that detail. How
did you find the eeriness of the conversation between Jubilum
and himself with his own conscious that inner dialogue that
starts to build up.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I don't know that I found it eerie because I'm
having that conversation on a Daili basis myself.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
It's actually really familiar, okay.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
And you know what, that's the point when I when
I had said about Hiram Abif be an exemplar, I
think just as much, let's say, prior to masonry, and
even still because we're still working on ourselves, on our
spirits and temples. So you know, I find a lot
of commonality with the jubilung him as an exemplar of
(06:54):
a person who I don't want.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
M What do you mean by that?
Speaker 4 (06:58):
If you look at the hieramic drama and one of
the things I was grateful or in recent years was
the reintroduction of the soliloq creact. If you take it
alone in our third degree ritual in the drama, it
would seem like he goes from murderous design to remorse.
And you could and you can read it as such.
You know, at first, he's got this dramatic sarcasm about
(07:21):
these u pomp and pageantry and and you know stately columns,
uh are blessed from the heavens and such and uh.
And then all of a sudden he has this realization
where he sees that Grandmaster ram Abiff has held on
to his value. I look, if you, if I take
entertain this play, then I get a little deeper look,
(07:41):
and I see it more as him being automatically remorseful.
He's I think he's more just in a place of
mutual respect for another person who's holding onto his values,
because Jubulum is sticking by his guns on this too,
and so I think it's just a matter of respect.
And and later on throughout this play, you kind of
(08:01):
hear him dancing around the conscience and he himself are
he's contradicting himself where he doesn't his ego won't allow
him to reveal to himself that he's not in the right.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
That was the part for me. It was so interesting
when I talked about it being eerie, because as you're saying,
when this story falls, just imagine, you know, if you've
been through the Master Mason's degree, you've been through the
Herramic legend, you've been through the drama. This is the
part that happens after they get captured and convicted for
killing Grandmaster Hiram Abiff, which in our ritual happens in
(08:37):
like five seconds, and this kind of fills in that
blank because his other two brothers, Jubilo and Jubelah, have
already been executed. So he's sitting there kind of going
through those final steps and the only person he's having
a conversation with is the voice in his own head
that as the audience member, you're hearing all of this,
(08:58):
and he's kind of walking through all of the stages
of mourning or passing all of those those stages of
death and like separation. But he's also kind as you're
getting to he's he's justifying why he did what he did,
and unlike most criminals, like at the end when they're
getting ready to face their execution, They're like, Okay, I
did it. I'm sorry, I'm remorseful. Spare me as you
(09:21):
point out, like this guy is challenging all of this
all the way up until his final breath.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah, this is jubil I'm in the beginning of a story.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
You know, conscience enters ju Below and he's like, you
know they're already how how audit is that they are dead?
And I am not, and and a lot of the
portrayals of the drama and I'm by no means am
I saying that anybody's doing it wrong. You'll see Jubilah, Jubilou,
and Jubilum all kind of coming in like the brute
and with a lot of strength. And in masonry, and
(09:50):
we have a lot of allegory. Our symbols mean multiple things.
And I treat Jubilo, jub Below and Jubilum like first
second degree wisdom, strength, beauty, the younger, the middle child,
and the older child, and and so keeping with the beauty,
wisdom of beauty, strength and wisdom. I see like Jubila
(10:11):
coming in, and you know he doesn't come in so strong.
He thinks what he has to say will be enough.
To get the word. You have Jubilo who's more of
a middle child, who needs to prove to both of
these guys, so he's going to come in more British,
and I kind of look at Jubilum coming in with
not only this this this strong physical authority, but he's
(10:33):
been around a while and he has something to say
and he's going to be forceful, but it's more coming
out of the command of himself.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
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(11:09):
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(12:05):
I also find fascinating as the role as we welcome
on right WORSHIPFLP brother Don Borum, who's the Grand Tyler
for the Grand Lodge of New York. And for those
YouTube live streamers, you can kind of get a sense
he's a pretty big dude, probably like a linebacker, if
not a defensive end or tight end in college playing football.
But the size of the sword that you carry for
our listener, if you could just think of the smallest
(12:27):
mason or person, you know, that's about the size of
the sword that he gets to carry into the Grand
Lodge session to kind of get the party started. And
it's interesting because we always associate the sword as like
a symbol of justice, right and here you are walking
in with this. So it's very interesting to get your
perspective on this prisoner now who's sitting here kind of
(12:48):
mulling over his own conscious like kind of recreating his
memories of the murder of Pima Biff, while he's also
kind of putting together the reality of like being punished
for this for death was interesting. One of the motivations
of why he did it was to get a word
that he had not yet been ind not yet earned
the right to receive. And he kind of challenges that
(13:10):
idea at a certain point where he's like, why was
this being kept from me? I should have gotten this?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
When I talk about the identification, you know, as a
young man, you know, finding trying to find career in
any job, you know, I mean, how often was I
jubilong like, you know, toiling it were not feeling recognized,
you know, or worse yet, seeing someone else who didn't
think the work at hard and gets the recognition, you know,
or maybe he just sucking a rut, you know, pointing
(13:35):
a finger excuses elsewhere. And that's where I find identification
with him. So in the play, he even says that
he and his brothers know how to build a temple.
And but then he kind of like almost he says
something about how you but maybe we didn't know what
greatness was, maybe we didn't know what righteousness was. But
(13:58):
that's where I talked about ego before, where his ego
won't with him like see that, Yeah, that's that's actually
me and not not the guy that thinks he knows everything.
And and so he wants the word because you know
they've been toiling uh in these in these uh in
the in the pits with the stone, and all he
hears is that, you know, when the temple's completed, I'll
get my money and or you know, get the get
(14:19):
the word. Actually in uh he doesn't. They don't get it,
and but they feel that they deserve it. And the
thing is is the word was an allowance like a
like a work visa when you when you travel, you know,
to prove that you have the skills.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
The reason why we we we we had those guilds
of tradesmen were to to protect ourselves and not to
have other workers say that they're they're master mason's and
then producing shoddy work, because that would lessen our ability
to collect on jubilom here thinks that he's worthy, you know,
and I'm sure and this is the thing too, like uh,
(14:53):
I think him as the the artificer, you know, and
not that he had to convince too hard. Jubilo and Juwbilo,
I mean Juwilo that you know, they need, they deserve
the word.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
They were working and toying alone together, so but they
didn't really get what it meant, you know, the mastership
of the earning of it.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
You touched on a couple of key points when it
comes to the brothers listening that are getting ready for
the third degree. I know in some jurisdictions they don't
get the chance to wear the costumes like we do
in the Grand Lodge of New York and other jurisdictions,
they don't have the narrator part to kind of really
frame the story and kind of fill the audience and
brothers in as to what's going on. But it doesn't
matter really what jurisdiction are in, because I've seen some
(15:34):
brothers make the same mistake when they're cast into the
roles of first, second, or third base, as we like
to say, they take the role of the Ruffians as
being ro O U G H. Instead of r U
F F I A N and they try to.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Rough up the other. Yeah, that's that's an amazing way
to look at that. I didn't think of that.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah, you were kind of touching on that, like there's
people that rough you up, right, and it's tough to say,
Like being in the city, I'm sure you've seen someone
who's been roughed up or bumped up against a wall,
and we've all seen this in movies or in the media.
But then there's being an actual ruffian. And you were
kind of describing that as some of the ignorance that
kind of comes as like a younger person. Do you
(16:16):
understand now, do you have like a new appreciation for
if somebody was to say, hey, stop backing, like stop
backing like a ruffian? Does that have a new meaning
to you?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Now?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Sure, sure it does. It's an importance too, like you know,
when we hear a word and we think of it
in context, but we don't really take a deeper look
into it. I practice ritual, you know, and rework and
I actually like to use certain parts of our ritual
in conversation to bring a word into title together and
you know, implement it in my life. But there's a
lot of stuff that I haven't and I used to
(16:46):
urge when I was in AGL. You know, you hear
one charge at a degree, I would always urge them
to read that one and the other one that's there
that you didn't hear, to take a deeper look. You know,
I've been diving in more and more into this play,
and then all of a sudden, I'm like, you know,
I should be also now diving back into my ritual,
(17:08):
my stand work lectures to get a different understanding. You know,
when I first came in, when you first hear it,
you know, this is all new stuff, and you know,
and I'm not the same person I was fourteen years
ago because of what's Maazingry has done for me. So
I need to take another look at that to balance
that out with this new being that I am in microth.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Defense of the Ruffians is the book. It's a dialogue
with Conscious by Thomas B. Davis. As we mentioned earlier on,
you can find the notes in for this episode the
link to purchase this on Amazon as it's widely available.
It's been out in circulation for a while. Right Worshipful
Brother Don gorm is our guest on the Craftsman Online podcast.
The cool thing I like about this book is that
it's only fifteen pages long. And don you and I
(17:49):
have shared many late night conversations and just phone conversations
about parts of this book. If there was one takeaway
that you have, what's the one thing that you would
want to share with someone who's not very familiar with
it that it could learn something Just from this podcast
episode today.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
One of the things about you know, why Jubilum was
you know, so hard on getting this word. You know,
he came from working in an orchard and you know
his father did they prune trees to take care of
them so they would they would flourish. During the building
of King Solomon's temple, you know, taxes were raised to
you know, so that they could fund that that big project.
(18:27):
And uh, you know, people weren't buying trees or or
they had the money to even feed themselves, and they
he could they so their work wasn't there. Uh, so
they were put into the into the quarries.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
And then and then conscience is asking this question about
you know, so what's the difference and you know, you know,
so he's talking about, you know, the heat of the sun,
you know, the stones, not him not looking at the stones,
but the stones staring back at him. Some wonderful words
in the in this uh and and and to make
visions of of how it was like for them. And
(19:02):
I don't even want to like recite any of the
poetry of his description of working in the orchard. You
know when he talks about you know the shade, you
know sun shade, these two proposing things and you know
how the breeze does this, and you know, I would
prefer that a reader would go in and try to
just like suss that out themselves. It's really kind of
(19:26):
sweet when you think about it. Maybe it's a glorified
look at his past too, like you know, things were
always seemed rosier, and it's like it wasn't really happy
at work, but he was certainly happier there than he
was in the quarries.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
And when you think about it, like esoterically, it's like, yeah,
he preferred the lighter laborer than to the heavier labor
the work that was being done without the sound of
tool and without the this and the that that we
know from our ritual, Like it was hard work putting
together King Solomon semple. You can see why these guys
who were like literally busting their butts would be like, hey,
I feel like I've earned, but I've been promised I
(20:01):
was going to be given. And you're like, no, no, no, no, no, no,
not yet. You haven't done completed the work yet. Come
when that's when this is finished? And why that would
provoke them to come to this, Which that was the
part that I found interesting just going through it, is
that it's not necessarily a conversation between his consciousness and
the prisoner, so to speak. It's really familiar with kind
(20:21):
of our catechism, where the conscious part of his brain
is asking a question, which as the reader, you're already like, hey,
I've been through this if for those that have gone through,
and you're like, already know what his answer should be,
and then he gives a different answer or an alternate answer,
and you're like, hmm, well, I never really considered that
from the mindset of somebody that would think this or
(20:42):
do that. And I kind of thought about it of
times when I have screwed up in life and maybe
wasn't in the right place of mind, and was later
going through and doing the autopsy on what I put
the mistake I had done and trying to like rectify
things and almost in a way lecturing yourself if you
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Speaker 4 (22:06):
In your experience with the ritual, how how how when
you when you're watching the interplay between ju below, Jubilo
Jublau and Jubilong with the hire and Biff, how does
that make you feel?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
You know, it's interesting because every time, no matter what
degree it is like some this is my tenth year
in masonry, so I'm always still picking up like little
seeds of new ideas, like stuff I didn't catch the
first time, no matter how many times I've read it
or seen it, but specifically through the interplay. So here's
what's interesting is that every time I go witness a degree,
there's always that moment where I'm like, well, I never
(22:38):
seen that before in a Masonic degree, And it's usually
an action that's done by the candidate because well, they
don't have a speaking part and they don't really know
what to do. So it's always interesting to see their
reactions when they're confronted by the Ruffians. And without giving
too much away of how the degrees are performed, it's
(22:59):
very clear that can see some of their facial expressions
when the candidate is going through it. And I've seen
guys who kind of are shocked, like they feel like
they're getting mugged, you know, in a back alley somewhere.
I feel some guys that kind of have that you know,
fight or flight thing that's starting to pump through them,
Like I get concerned about that. But then I've also
(23:19):
seen guys where they have like this almost like Joker
from The Batman, cool calm and collectness, where they're like,
what do you think you're scaring me? And they're just
like and I'm always like, what is this brother thinking
about when he's going through this? But to kind of
echo the point that you're making is that I would
personally like to see kind of a progressive stare step
(23:42):
of intimidation for lack of a better term, when it
comes to the interactions, because when you really get into
the grist of what the ritual was about, they didn't
really intend to kill this guy. That wasn't their plan
to murder him. They honestly thought that they could just
convince him through different tactics for him to give up
this password that they wanted so that they could leave
(24:02):
job early and get paid right. So it really wasn't
until juw Belum at the end. And that's what I
find so interesting when you talk about the physical description
of him as being the bigger brother of the three
and my sonic brother. Honestly, he's the one that gets
quote unquote rough. He's the one and that moment that
(24:23):
decides I have to kill this guy because if he
gets past me, he's going to get to a safe
place and then the three of us are going to
be in really big trouble. And even then is you
really kind of go through the forensic analysis of the
crime scene, so to speak, you realize that these guys
number one really weren't very good craftsmen. They were bad
fellow crafts they're even worse murderers and schemers. They kind
(24:47):
of had a plan on how they wanted to escape,
but that even got foiled, and at the end of
the day, as bad as they were for doing what
they did, they eventually admitted to doing it and.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Justice was served.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
So that was the part that I found really interesting
coming back to this book was the take that Jubilum's
consciousness has with him and preparing him to like receive
this punishment, and Jubilum, in my opinion, almost still kind
of being defiant all the way up until the very
end where it's going to happen, and he didn't really
regret it, which kind of also educates us to the
(25:23):
fact that some people go through life as a ruffian
and they never learned from their mistakes.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
You know. I think there's a big reason why Jubilum
has the inability to correct himself, because we all do.
We start everything with Dad. I believe jubilm to be
a godless man. He references Moses in here, and he'll
talk about God, but he only and he says something
(25:50):
else which is really pure, that if Adam had done
to what Adam had done, if he had done it
in front of Solomon, would have been a crime, not
a say. And so he's a he's a grand justifier. Uh,
Jubilam is uh. But I believe it's a lot of
it has to do because he it's told about him
that he is the center of his own universe, and and.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
And conscience even asks him, what about you? You?
Speaker 4 (26:16):
And the work he especially Master Mason's, you know, they
were the ones sitting in the shade. Uh, you know,
and he had to disdain he again. He gained a
motimum of respect for Iron a fifth, but he taught
him a pompous man.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
He couldn't he couldn't understand the weight of the authority.
He didn't have patience, uh to get what he what
he deserved. And his inability to resolve himself is because
he I don't I don't think he believed that there
was anything that he needed to to do to get
to the stately heavens.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
And the other part of it that I find so
interesting is so they do say it's a conversation between
you know, the conscience and the prisoner, right, but it
almost sounds like, and I've never been in jail or prison,
but it almost sounds at first that it's another prisoner
that's calling out from somewhere in the cells, because the
questions that his conscience is asking him as someone that
(27:16):
goes like through the line of like moral decisions and
good versus all those ethical dilemmas that you have, the
conscience is really phrasing it like, well did you do this?
Did you realize you were wrong for doing it this way?
Am a person who believes themselves to be innocent wouldn't
question their motives or their actions. They would have just
(27:38):
so it does make me wonder that he's he probably
had some remorse towards the end, but yet his rationale,
he really believed that what he was doing was right,
but that the murder was wrong, that that was the
bad part obviously, And it seems like he has a
tough issue with coming everything that motivated him from him
(27:59):
feeling like as you, let's say today and today's talk
would be unfair working conditions, look of wages, like all
of the things that kind of crushed down on us
as modern men. And that's why I find some of
these like ancient mysteries to be so relevant to us.
It's like, yeah, but there's what society has different determined
to be good and bad, but there's also what we,
(28:20):
inside of our own moral code have defined to be
good and bad. And when you step outside of that, like,
that's when justice and punishment have to have to come
in and rectify things.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
We talked about justice too, and and researching this a
little bit further, looking at words, I was kind of
struggling to find justice until I took these two types
of justice, which are distributive justice, which which was what
Jubilung was looking for in his opportunity and his reward right,
(28:54):
equal bay and all that kind of thing. And then
there's a retributive justice, which is the punishment for the
wrong doing. So he's seeking distributive justice, and he because
of what he did, he's receiving a retributive justice, I think,
and I love the way it just so happens that
those two words kind of like bring out together and
(29:15):
the dichotomy really wrinks true in this play.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, and it's definitely a cautionary tale for those of us,
you know, watching or reading this. It's just that just
because you do the work doesn't guarantee you to get
the benefit from it. But sometimes that the benefit of
the work is something that is unseen to you. You
may not actually receive the benefit ever or many years
down the road. You just have to do the work.
(29:40):
And this is kind of to me when I had
the explanation. You know, a brother once said to me,
stop being such a ruffian, and I like looked at
him and I'm like, I'm not being a rupt What
are you talking?
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Like?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
That's insulting, Like what do you talk? And then I realized,
I'm like, oh, I'm trying to obtain something that I'm
not really worthy of receiving. Yet I need to put
more time into doing this thing so that there's a
there's no need for a justification.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
To get it.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
It's present to everybody that you've earned this, that you
can display the proficiency and be able to do it.
And I think that that's what makes the when you
ask about the characters of the Ruffians. I think that's
what makes it so beautiful at the quote unquote end
of your Masonic degree story is to come across these
three characters, because I can guarantee you as a master Mason,
(30:27):
you're going to meet people who want to be a
part of the fraternity. And we talk about guarding the
West Gate all the time, but you're going to meet
guys that get in and all they want to do
is just get that master Mason's degree so that they
can what get the ring that they want where the apron,
just have the title, whatever the case may be. And
there's nothing wrong that that's their motivation for that. But
(30:47):
you understand that it being a master Mason means so
more than just those quote unquote material things. And I
think that's what part of the character and the story,
the allegory of the Ruffians is really supposed to remind us.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
You know I said before about him looking at the
master Masons and and and hire him a biff.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
You know what about me? You know I'm doing all
the work.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
He doesn't see or understand that those master Masons were
going through what he have already been through. What he's
been they've they've they've tried that death as many of
our brothers have before, right, and and and the just
because you're not like ripping chisels and stone that you know,
the Grand irom Abiff is, his labor is to eighty
(31:29):
thousand fellow craft Room put Man. He had a lot
to do, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Thanks again to my guest this week, right Worshipful Brother
Don Gorum, Grand Tyler of the Grand Lodge of New York,
not only for sharing the book but also his thoughts
on the play. If you've enjoyed this episode and you'd
like to hear more of the crafts But Online podcast,
well I've got a couple of ways to do it. One,
you could think about joining us over on Patreon. For
just five dollars a month. You can get access to
(31:56):
all of our past episodes, plus some of the extra
time that we've had with guests. And I'm even going
to throw in a three seven day trial to get
you started. Find the link in the notes for this episode,
or us on Patreon at Craftsman Online. Until then, have
a fantastic week and let peace and harmony prevail.
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