June 12, 2023 • 25 mins
Bro. John Nagy returns for a review of the Perfect Points of Entrance. How they have been explained over the years, how they are presented, and to what they truly allude.
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Show Links
Visit Bro. Nagy's blog, "Building Better Builders".... https://buildinghiram.blogspot.com/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/craftsmen-online-podcast--4822031/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:15):
Welcome to the Craftsman Online Podcast,the only five star rated Masonic podcast endorsed
by the Grand Lodge of New York. Any opinions, thoughts, or viewpoints
shared during this program are that atthe individual and do not reflect the official
position of any Grand Lodge appendant orconcordant body from which that member may hail.
I'm your host, brother Michael Arsay, co founder of Craftsman Online dot
com, and you've joined us foran episode on the Perfect Points of Entrance
(00:39):
as we welcome back brother John Naggiefor a review of the perfect points of
interest and how over the years theyhave been presented and exactly what they truly
allude. Welcome back, brother John. Thanks again for having me, Brother
Michael. It's an honor and aprivilege. I have to say this is
part of the ritual that have gonethrough it as an entered apprentice and then
(00:59):
even visiting back. It's never veryeasily understood or fully explained as to what
the perfect points of entrances are becausethere's a debate on how many points consist
of it. And I guess thebig question is, you know, when
and how did this become part ofMasonic ritual. Well, that's a great
question, and as usual, answersmay vary depending on who you talk with.
(01:26):
I do know that the earliest catechismsthat I encountered only had three,
and that was quite a surprise whenI saw, Wait a second, where's
the fourth one? And why arethe other three nothing like what it is
that I remember the first three tobe In my particular run through. I'm
going to reference back to a bookcalled The Craft Perfected Actualizing Our Craft I
(01:49):
wrote a few years back, andit's starting on page fifty nine. It
is a very small section of thebook because I had the same experience as
you. It's like, well,I know I'm to somehow fit those four
points into the virtues and try tomake sense of it, but none of
it made any sense to me.It was almost like it was being force
fed and force fit and I supposedto be able to not only state it,
(02:15):
but state the connections that I'm beingtold they were, and somehow regurgitated
with a hat on the back,and let's move on to the next piece
of information that I'm supposed to memorize. It never made any sense when I
was going through, and none ofthe brothers could explain it to me,
and I like how you started outyour answer by saying it depends on who
(02:36):
you ask, because I'm in thesame boat. It was one of those
things where as an entered apprentice,there's so much that happens that night when
you take the first degree of masonryand you hear this expression the perfect points
of your entrance, and you're like, I don't even know what that means.
And then when you go through yourMasonic Catechism or your education study for
a proficiency, when you say whoyou ask, So as a New York
(02:58):
Freemason, I just know that that'sone of the ways to recognize me as
a Freemason is by the perfect pointsof my entrance. They probably told me
during what we call the historical lecture, But there was so much coming at
me that night that I didn't reallypick up the perfect points until I moved
down here to DC where they actuallysay the perfect points of the entrance in
(03:22):
ritual which is out there, whichare referred to as the principal points the
entrance, the preparation, the obligation, the sign, the grip, the
token or the word, which arethe guttural, the petal, the manual
or the pectoral, and again youhear that, but you're like, what
does it mean? They're in lies. I think one of the biggest confusing
(03:43):
points is that we hear the wordperfect, we connected to points, and
then we hear entrance, and we'resomehow supposed to understand what it is that
these mean to us. And thefact of the matter is the word perfect,
used today, when it is connectedwith other words to create terms and
phrases, is does not have themeaning that it meant back when it was
(04:08):
first adopted. I tried to forcefit it myself. I knew that one
of the dominant meanings back in theeighteen hundreds the word perfect literally meant mature,
saying complete, adult and suitable today, not today's definition like flawless.
(04:30):
Still didn't make any sense until Istarted reading things having to do with legal
ease. To perfect satisfy all requirementscorresponding to an ideal standard of or abstract
concept legally valid or complete. AndI'm saying myself, okay, so when
(04:53):
I hear perfect points of entrance,these are the standards to which all brothers
are being entered into the lodge.By you had mentioned five things. The
preparation, the obligations, signs,grips or tokens, and word. When
you put all that together, there'sa set of sequences that the brothers have
(05:15):
to go through in order for themto be entered properly. When you hear
perfect points of entrance, it's reallyall the standard ways of bringing a brother
in have to be put forth indue form to assure that the candidate was
(05:36):
brought in properly. I'm going todigress a bit because I've written absolutely nothing
about this is but this has beensome really neat conversations that have had with
other Mastard Masons. As an operativeMason, if you go back to the
standard of entrance for an apprentice inan operative setting, they had to be
(05:59):
able of birth, which is tosay, free born with all limbs intact.
And when you consider the perfect pointsof entrance and apply it back to
the time, we're literally are doingStonecraft entrance of apprentices. Let's go through
them. Yeah, So guttural tome, and I still honestly this is
(06:23):
just me speaking freely because only untilthis episode have I really kind of dived
into the research on this. Butto me, guttural is just like how
somebody like physically sounds when they speak, like are they intelligible or understood?
Can? Can they be understood?When they're speaking to others? You have
(06:43):
to literally use your voice to sayI want to join. And not only
that, but when we go backto that phrase able of birth free,
which is to say, free bornand with all limbs intact, that entire
phrase basically means that the individual whois coming in must be free of all
(07:03):
flaws that would prevent them from becominga master mason. Well, if they
can't speak right away, you've gota hindrance to them coming in. So
at the most basic level, ifyou can't speak, you're not free born
with all limbs intact. The entirestatement basically stays that everything is operational,
(07:27):
not only physically but intellectually. Andso if a person is unable to voice,
first of all, that they wantto join, and second be able
to exchange with another human being ofverbal commands and verbal questions and what have
you, they are not capable ofmeeting the requirement of the perfect points of
(07:49):
entrance, right So that's number one. Okay, So now we've got one
perfect point of entrance understood in sucha way that it makes sense. And
oh, by the way, noneof this is explained by our brothers.
Right. What I love about thisseason on the podcast and the visits that
you've had on the episodes, isthat we're really diving into a lot of
(08:13):
the grist of material that is notcovered anywhere really in Masonic education, not
only with brothers and lodges. Butpeople just don't ask. They kind of
glaze over this phrase. When Iheard the perfect points of my entrance and
was taught what that meant in theCatechism, I thought it was oh okay.
I came into a lodge, Iwas dressed properly, I sharped my
(08:35):
corners, I stood the way Iwas supposed to say, and I was
the perfect candidates going through the degreesas I could be. But that is
not what we're talking about here,Honestly, they when you consider how we
go through, we're told what todo, were directed how to do it,
and we're told what to say backin return when I asked it,
(08:58):
but none of it is understood.So you know, we're rolling up our
sleeves right now. Let's tackle thesecond one. So we start from the
gut and we move up to thepectoral, which to me, I just
think of working out at the gymsand it's a peck day, so we're
going to do some chest exercises.I the only thing I can think of
in freemasonry is that we're told thatwithin our chest is the most vital organ
(09:22):
that we're supposed to protect. Letme ask a simple question and maybe you
can tie it into the pectoral.Where were you first prepared? Okay to
make sense now, So do youlook at that as like having a strong
chest, like physically that you're aI don't want to use the word like
able body, but physically strong,like you can be laborious, like you
(09:46):
can do work as like operative masons. Or do you look at it as
I am a very bound person towhere I would not say any I can
keep things secret in my chest andyou are just like running with it beautifully.
At the raw as stone craft level, they have the muscular chur to
(10:09):
do the work. Okay, Butwhen we take that to the speculative sense,
we don't want to enter any brotherswho are really not prepared to become
a mason. So when you talkabout pectoral, we're talking about it is
the person totally improperly prepared to becomea mason. And if they don't,
(10:30):
well, they're missing the pectoral aspect. And are they willing to keep within
their chest the secrets of masonry,then they miss the pectorial aspect. I
mean, I go down the listof things have you do with this sharp
implement, kind of reminding you,hey, you know you've got to keep
this stuff in your chest and abideby what we're about to say. And
(10:52):
if that person doesn't have the pectoralaspect of entrance, why would we want
to have them enter into our craft? So I know we're moving from the
floor up, so it goes gutturalpectoral. Then we get to manual,
and honestly, John, the onlything I can think about with manual is
we've all bought or hopefully a caror something that requires the owner's manual and
(11:16):
that you're able to read it andfix or do whatever maintenance is required.
That's the only thing that comes toI've never understood manual from that point.
Manual comes from manage, which meansto basically use your hands. And this
goes back to the able of birth. All limbs intact, if you do
not have the ability to reach outwith your hand and sign the petition,
(11:41):
reach out the hand and read abrother symbolically. What happens is you're really
not a candidate. You have tobe able to manage things, and managing
is manual. And if you lackthe ability to to manage even the barest
essentials of your own life, whywould we want you in the craft?
(12:07):
Very true? I mean, Ithink about it now where a lot of
lodges are facing the uphill challenge ofgetting brothers to come and participate in meetings
and engaging them and trying to produceprograms or whatever we can to make this
experience what they were seeking. Andthat's absolutely a question that I think everyone
is talking about when they say guardingthe West Gate. It's yes, we
(12:30):
should be looking at the quality orthe character of the individual, But also
are they really doing this to justget this small thing and then leave or
are they looking to make a lifelongcommitment, because freemasonry is it's a way
of life. It's not just ashort term agreement that you make. When
you look at just the first three. If the person lacks the ability to
(12:52):
communicate, doesn't have the heart forwhat it is, they're about to get
involved in and are unable to evenmanage the barest aspects of their lives,
why would we want them? Thelast one? This one can be confusing
because if you read it incorrectly,it looks like it says the pedal,
but it's the pedal. And tome, when I first heard it,
(13:16):
I thought of the penal like thepenal gland in your mind, because I
understood we're working our way from thefloor up so to this. That's all
I have for an explanation. I'mturning over to learn from you basically what
we're talking about. Here are yourlegs again from an operative sense, all
limbs intact. So what happens hereis when we take the operative sense.
(13:39):
Of course, you would not wantto have any apprentice that can't communicate,
can't do manual labor, cannot manage, and also has no standing. However,
when you consider that, what itstands for is this is how an
apprentice enters into and across the thresholdfrom the profane world to the temple world.
(14:05):
This is how they circumamulate, andthis is how they wind up moving
about the lodge. This is whatthey used to first approach the altar to
commit to the obligations that are required. So much of this goes back to
the operative. But when you seewhat the people is associated with, it
(14:28):
has to do with justice. Ifan individual is incapable of movement, if
they're stuck, if they're not ableto emulate, and also if they have
no standing of justice in their livesas in a value system life which we
want them to enter. These aresome of the things that come up very
(14:48):
quickly for me only after twenty yearsof examination. Hey listener, it's brother
Michael Arc, co founder of CraftsmanOnline and host of our podcast. We
are excited to roll out our newsuper Fan subscription. What's a Superfan,
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(15:58):
So, Brother John, we've talkeda lot about the speculative side of
the perfect points of the entrance.I want to kind of transition more now
to the operative or the esoteric sideof it. And doing some research into
our episode, I consulted Coyle's MasonicEncyclopedia, and it offers this definition that
(16:18):
the four perfect points of entrance constitutethe esoteric closing of each of the lectures
on Temperance, Fortitude, prudence,and Justice, to which they respectively,
do not apply, illustrate, orin any way belongs, so that the
esoteric portions of the four lectures haveto be somewhat manipulated to make a connection
with them. Now, I'll tellyou this, I went to law school
(16:40):
for one year and when I readthat definition, I felt like I honestly
got nothing from it. So esoterically, my question to you, as as
a learned season brother, do youfeel that the perfect points allude to the
entrance of the candidate into lodge aswe've discussed, or is there also a
possibility that some of the ceremony,the ritual of being admitted or becoming obligated
(17:04):
to the craft are also instilled intothe perfect points of entrance. In order
for you to understand where I'm comingfrom, you have to understand first that
there's a huge difference between accepted andadmitted. When I did some study on
the word accepted, I thought atthe time that I did the research,
(17:30):
I came into that research believing thataccepted and admitted were i basically synonymous to
each other. And as I exploredand looked up Mackie and a few other
wonderful authors out there, I foundthat the word accepted, literally at the
time it was being used in freeand accepted Mason's meant when we talk about
(17:55):
the word accepted, they are becominga member of the craft, either by
joining, being accepted into the craft, being made a mason. All these
words are synonymous, and that hasto do with coming into the actual craft
of masonry and how we view itin the fraternity. Becoming a member of
(18:15):
Freemasonry, However, admitted means tojoin a lodge, so accepted means to
join the craft, as in thediscipline and the profession, whereas admitted is
to join in with others in thatprofession. When you come into the west
(18:40):
Gate, you are coming into notthe lodge, but you are coming into
the craft. And it isn't untilyou obligate yourself that you are just a
seeker trying to be accepted in aprofession. But it is after you are
are accepted as a member of thecraft that you can be admitted into the
(19:06):
lodge. What you're explaining to meis that if there was a bar for
freemasonry, and by bar, Imean this is the difference between talking to
somebody who has an MD or aPhD. And why, yes, on
paper, they're a doctor, butthey'll say, I'm not a practicing physician.
I have not taken the boards tobecome that. Like, yes,
(19:29):
you can go to law school andget a legal degree, but until you
pass the bar, you cannot bea practicing attorney. Big differences here and
exactly what you're talking about, becausefor me, when I first thought going
back to the perfect points of myentrance were, yes, not only how
I entered the lodge, but everythingthat I was instructed to do up until
(19:51):
the moment in beyond when I tookthe obligation as to how I was physically
positioned and the words and responses thatI was given the literal instruction on how
to be the brother at that level. As the perfect points of entrance reflect,
you are not becoming a lodge member. You are becoming a member of
(20:15):
the craft. And it is onlyafter you become a member of the craft
that you can be admitted into alodge. There's so many subtleties to what's
going on here. Unless you understandthe different levels in what's really going on,
a lot of it just as ablur, and you can easily mistake
(20:36):
one for the other. And Iknow at the beginning of the podcast,
somewhere in that disclaimer I say theseare our opinions or our viewpoints and not
that of any great But I wouldjust like to impress this upon our listener.
If you happen to be a brother, I believe that displaying the perfect
points of the entrance is also whatmakes you a Master Mason or Brother Mason,
(20:57):
whatever degree that you're on. Andby that I mean, don't fall
to the point where it's acceptable togive sloppy do guards and signs. Don't
fall to the point where it's acceptablein your heart or your mind to not
give the proper floor work or treateverything that's happening with the revenants that it
(21:19):
should when you're in ladge. Don'tallow that to happen. Keep your standard
high because, as you know,Brother John has said, like perfect is
not what we can achieve. It'sa standard that we are trying to strive
to reach. I understand where you'regoing with us. There are multiple levels
(21:40):
of these perfect points of entrance,and when they add the four cardinal virtues
are what we are to aspire tohave internalized as a consequence of doing the
work of the entrand apprentice. Sowe've got the four perfect points of entrance
coming into the crest. But what'sreally neat is when you look at the
(22:03):
four cardinal virtues that are put togetherwith the perfect points of entrance, you
start to realize that you really don'tbecome a mature craft member until you have
internalized those four virtues. Because literally, and I'm going to take it to
(22:23):
the next level, brother, becausethat's where you like to go with it.
Yeah, if you do not havethose four cardinal virtues internalized by the
time that you are done with yourentered apprentice work and ready to pass to
the Fellowcraft, you're not ready becausethe Fellowcraft you have to have at a
(22:44):
minimum the four cardinal virtuals internalized.Along with them, a three theological virtues
must also be internalized, because ifyou don't have all of those internalized and
acting out in your life on adaily basis, you really haven't passed.
You are still working on a commonashler, which I refer to as a
(23:11):
rough ashler that's being worked and notyet perfected. And if you've heard our
episode with Brotherneggie on the Lost Wordand the Secrets of being a Master Mason,
I would also say one of theways to recognize that you're a master
Mason is in your actions, inyour words, how you conduct yourself.
And to again not to keep beatingthe same drone, but that to me
(23:36):
is also reflected in the perfect pointsof our entrance, not just in lodge,
but also in life. What arecertain signs are you upright unbiased in
your ways? Now you have thesquare of virtue literally driving everything that you
do, And are you fair andacquitable in all that you do with yourself
(23:57):
and others? You've got right there, and you can see through the behavior
and the choices of a Masturmason whetherthey had actually internalized their fellowcraft working tools
or not. If they have,you see the signs. If they haven't,
well you can see those two well, I think is the wise Jedi
(24:18):
Yoda. You're able to embrace allof them. But no, it's also
an example like having spent time onour podcast and just knowing you, there's
no doubt that if I was tostep into your place of business, or
into your lodge, or into yourhome, that you would be the same
man, the same John that Iknow in all three of those places.
(24:40):
Intuitive you are. This has beenthe Craftsman Online Podcast, and again I
want to think one of my favoriteguests to have come on every month and
I learned so much from him andcontinue to do so. Brother John Nagi,
thank you again for being a partof this a pleasure and honor.
It has been my good friend.If you've enjoyed this episode and you want
(25:02):
to hear more, you can tellSiri or Alexa to play The Craftsman Online
Podcast or available on all streaming platforms, with new episodes every Monday morning until
next time. Let peace and harmonyprevail.
Welcome to the Craftsman Online Podcast,the only five star rated Masonic podcast endorsed
by the Grand Lodge of New York. Any opinions, thoughts, or viewpoints
shared during this program are that atthe individual and do not reflect the official
position of any Grand Lodge appendant orconcordant body from which that member may hail.
I'm your host, brother Michael Arsay, co founder of Craftsman Online dot
com, and you've joined us foran episode on the Perfect Points of Entrance
(00:39):
as we welcome back brother John Naggiefor a review of the perfect points of
interest and how over the years theyhave been presented and exactly what they truly
allude. Welcome back, brother John. Thanks again for having me, Brother
Michael. It's an honor and aprivilege. I have to say this is
part of the ritual that have gonethrough it as an entered apprentice and then
(00:59):
even visiting back. It's never veryeasily understood or fully explained as to what
the perfect points of entrances are becausethere's a debate on how many points consist
of it. And I guess thebig question is, you know, when
and how did this become part ofMasonic ritual. Well, that's a great
question, and as usual, answersmay vary depending on who you talk with.
(01:26):
I do know that the earliest catechismsthat I encountered only had three,
and that was quite a surprise whenI saw, Wait a second, where's
the fourth one? And why arethe other three nothing like what it is
that I remember the first three tobe In my particular run through. I'm
going to reference back to a bookcalled The Craft Perfected Actualizing Our Craft I
(01:49):
wrote a few years back, andit's starting on page fifty nine. It
is a very small section of thebook because I had the same experience as
you. It's like, well,I know I'm to somehow fit those four
points into the virtues and try tomake sense of it, but none of
it made any sense to me.It was almost like it was being force
fed and force fit and I supposedto be able to not only state it,
(02:15):
but state the connections that I'm beingtold they were, and somehow regurgitated
with a hat on the back,and let's move on to the next piece
of information that I'm supposed to memorize. It never made any sense when I
was going through, and none ofthe brothers could explain it to me,
and I like how you started outyour answer by saying it depends on who
(02:36):
you ask, because I'm in thesame boat. It was one of those
things where as an entered apprentice,there's so much that happens that night when
you take the first degree of masonryand you hear this expression the perfect points
of your entrance, and you're like, I don't even know what that means.
And then when you go through yourMasonic Catechism or your education study for
a proficiency, when you say whoyou ask, So as a New York
(02:58):
Freemason, I just know that that'sone of the ways to recognize me as
a Freemason is by the perfect pointsof my entrance. They probably told me
during what we call the historical lecture, But there was so much coming at
me that night that I didn't reallypick up the perfect points until I moved
down here to DC where they actuallysay the perfect points of the entrance in
(03:22):
ritual which is out there, whichare referred to as the principal points the
entrance, the preparation, the obligation, the sign, the grip, the
token or the word, which arethe guttural, the petal, the manual
or the pectoral, and again youhear that, but you're like, what
does it mean? They're in lies. I think one of the biggest confusing
(03:43):
points is that we hear the wordperfect, we connected to points, and
then we hear entrance, and we'resomehow supposed to understand what it is that
these mean to us. And thefact of the matter is the word perfect,
used today, when it is connectedwith other words to create terms and
phrases, is does not have themeaning that it meant back when it was
(04:08):
first adopted. I tried to forcefit it myself. I knew that one
of the dominant meanings back in theeighteen hundreds the word perfect literally meant mature,
saying complete, adult and suitable today, not today's definition like flawless.
(04:30):
Still didn't make any sense until Istarted reading things having to do with legal
ease. To perfect satisfy all requirementscorresponding to an ideal standard of or abstract
concept legally valid or complete. AndI'm saying myself, okay, so when
(04:53):
I hear perfect points of entrance,these are the standards to which all brothers
are being entered into the lodge.By you had mentioned five things. The
preparation, the obligations, signs,grips or tokens, and word. When
you put all that together, there'sa set of sequences that the brothers have
(05:15):
to go through in order for themto be entered properly. When you hear
perfect points of entrance, it's reallyall the standard ways of bringing a brother
in have to be put forth indue form to assure that the candidate was
(05:36):
brought in properly. I'm going todigress a bit because I've written absolutely nothing
about this is but this has beensome really neat conversations that have had with
other Mastard Masons. As an operativeMason, if you go back to the
standard of entrance for an apprentice inan operative setting, they had to be
(05:59):
able of birth, which is tosay, free born with all limbs intact.
And when you consider the perfect pointsof entrance and apply it back to
the time, we're literally are doingStonecraft entrance of apprentices. Let's go through
them. Yeah, So guttural tome, and I still honestly this is
(06:23):
just me speaking freely because only untilthis episode have I really kind of dived
into the research on this. Butto me, guttural is just like how
somebody like physically sounds when they speak, like are they intelligible or understood?
Can? Can they be understood?When they're speaking to others? You have
(06:43):
to literally use your voice to sayI want to join. And not only
that, but when we go backto that phrase able of birth free,
which is to say, free bornand with all limbs intact, that entire
phrase basically means that the individual whois coming in must be free of all
(07:03):
flaws that would prevent them from becominga master mason. Well, if they
can't speak right away, you've gota hindrance to them coming in. So
at the most basic level, ifyou can't speak, you're not free born
with all limbs intact. The entirestatement basically stays that everything is operational,
(07:27):
not only physically but intellectually. Andso if a person is unable to voice,
first of all, that they wantto join, and second be able
to exchange with another human being ofverbal commands and verbal questions and what have
you, they are not capable ofmeeting the requirement of the perfect points of
(07:49):
entrance, right So that's number one. Okay, So now we've got one
perfect point of entrance understood in sucha way that it makes sense. And
oh, by the way, noneof this is explained by our brothers.
Right. What I love about thisseason on the podcast and the visits that
you've had on the episodes, isthat we're really diving into a lot of
(08:13):
the grist of material that is notcovered anywhere really in Masonic education, not
only with brothers and lodges. Butpeople just don't ask. They kind of
glaze over this phrase. When Iheard the perfect points of my entrance and
was taught what that meant in theCatechism, I thought it was oh okay.
I came into a lodge, Iwas dressed properly, I sharped my
(08:35):
corners, I stood the way Iwas supposed to say, and I was
the perfect candidates going through the degreesas I could be. But that is
not what we're talking about here,Honestly, they when you consider how we
go through, we're told what todo, were directed how to do it,
and we're told what to say backin return when I asked it,
(08:58):
but none of it is understood.So you know, we're rolling up our
sleeves right now. Let's tackle thesecond one. So we start from the
gut and we move up to thepectoral, which to me, I just
think of working out at the gymsand it's a peck day, so we're
going to do some chest exercises.I the only thing I can think of
in freemasonry is that we're told thatwithin our chest is the most vital organ
(09:22):
that we're supposed to protect. Letme ask a simple question and maybe you
can tie it into the pectoral.Where were you first prepared? Okay to
make sense now, So do youlook at that as like having a strong
chest, like physically that you're aI don't want to use the word like
able body, but physically strong,like you can be laborious, like you
(09:46):
can do work as like operative masons. Or do you look at it as
I am a very bound person towhere I would not say any I can
keep things secret in my chest andyou are just like running with it beautifully.
At the raw as stone craft level, they have the muscular chur to
(10:09):
do the work. Okay, Butwhen we take that to the speculative sense,
we don't want to enter any brotherswho are really not prepared to become
a mason. So when you talkabout pectoral, we're talking about it is
the person totally improperly prepared to becomea mason. And if they don't,
(10:30):
well, they're missing the pectoral aspect. And are they willing to keep within
their chest the secrets of masonry,then they miss the pectorial aspect. I
mean, I go down the listof things have you do with this sharp
implement, kind of reminding you,hey, you know you've got to keep
this stuff in your chest and abideby what we're about to say. And
(10:52):
if that person doesn't have the pectoralaspect of entrance, why would we want
to have them enter into our craft? So I know we're moving from the
floor up, so it goes gutturalpectoral. Then we get to manual,
and honestly, John, the onlything I can think about with manual is
we've all bought or hopefully a caror something that requires the owner's manual and
(11:16):
that you're able to read it andfix or do whatever maintenance is required.
That's the only thing that comes toI've never understood manual from that point.
Manual comes from manage, which meansto basically use your hands. And this
goes back to the able of birth. All limbs intact, if you do
not have the ability to reach outwith your hand and sign the petition,
(11:41):
reach out the hand and read abrother symbolically. What happens is you're really
not a candidate. You have tobe able to manage things, and managing
is manual. And if you lackthe ability to to manage even the barest
essentials of your own life, whywould we want you in the craft?
(12:07):
Very true? I mean, Ithink about it now where a lot of
lodges are facing the uphill challenge ofgetting brothers to come and participate in meetings
and engaging them and trying to produceprograms or whatever we can to make this
experience what they were seeking. Andthat's absolutely a question that I think everyone
is talking about when they say guardingthe West Gate. It's yes, we
(12:30):
should be looking at the quality orthe character of the individual, But also
are they really doing this to justget this small thing and then leave or
are they looking to make a lifelongcommitment, because freemasonry is it's a way
of life. It's not just ashort term agreement that you make. When
you look at just the first three. If the person lacks the ability to
(12:52):
communicate, doesn't have the heart forwhat it is, they're about to get
involved in and are unable to evenmanage the barest aspects of their lives,
why would we want them? Thelast one? This one can be confusing
because if you read it incorrectly,it looks like it says the pedal,
but it's the pedal. And tome, when I first heard it,
(13:16):
I thought of the penal like thepenal gland in your mind, because I
understood we're working our way from thefloor up so to this. That's all
I have for an explanation. I'mturning over to learn from you basically what
we're talking about. Here are yourlegs again from an operative sense, all
limbs intact. So what happens hereis when we take the operative sense.
(13:39):
Of course, you would not wantto have any apprentice that can't communicate,
can't do manual labor, cannot manage, and also has no standing. However,
when you consider that, what itstands for is this is how an
apprentice enters into and across the thresholdfrom the profane world to the temple world.
(14:05):
This is how they circumamulate, andthis is how they wind up moving
about the lodge. This is whatthey used to first approach the altar to
commit to the obligations that are required. So much of this goes back to
the operative. But when you seewhat the people is associated with, it
(14:28):
has to do with justice. Ifan individual is incapable of movement, if
they're stuck, if they're not ableto emulate, and also if they have
no standing of justice in their livesas in a value system life which we
want them to enter. These aresome of the things that come up very
(14:48):
quickly for me only after twenty yearsof examination. Hey listener, it's brother
Michael Arc, co founder of CraftsmanOnline and host of our podcast. We
are excited to roll out our newsuper Fan subscription. What's a Superfan,
(15:11):
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(15:35):
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(15:58):
So, Brother John, we've talkeda lot about the speculative side of
the perfect points of the entrance.I want to kind of transition more now
to the operative or the esoteric sideof it. And doing some research into
our episode, I consulted Coyle's MasonicEncyclopedia, and it offers this definition that
(16:18):
the four perfect points of entrance constitutethe esoteric closing of each of the lectures
on Temperance, Fortitude, prudence,and Justice, to which they respectively,
do not apply, illustrate, orin any way belongs, so that the
esoteric portions of the four lectures haveto be somewhat manipulated to make a connection
with them. Now, I'll tellyou this, I went to law school
(16:40):
for one year and when I readthat definition, I felt like I honestly
got nothing from it. So esoterically, my question to you, as as
a learned season brother, do youfeel that the perfect points allude to the
entrance of the candidate into lodge aswe've discussed, or is there also a
possibility that some of the ceremony,the ritual of being admitted or becoming obligated
(17:04):
to the craft are also instilled intothe perfect points of entrance. In order
for you to understand where I'm comingfrom, you have to understand first that
there's a huge difference between accepted andadmitted. When I did some study on
the word accepted, I thought atthe time that I did the research,
(17:30):
I came into that research believing thataccepted and admitted were i basically synonymous to
each other. And as I exploredand looked up Mackie and a few other
wonderful authors out there, I foundthat the word accepted, literally at the
time it was being used in freeand accepted Mason's meant when we talk about
(17:55):
the word accepted, they are becominga member of the craft, either by
joining, being accepted into the craft, being made a mason. All these
words are synonymous, and that hasto do with coming into the actual craft
of masonry and how we view itin the fraternity. Becoming a member of
(18:15):
Freemasonry, However, admitted means tojoin a lodge, so accepted means to
join the craft, as in thediscipline and the profession, whereas admitted is
to join in with others in thatprofession. When you come into the west
(18:40):
Gate, you are coming into notthe lodge, but you are coming into
the craft. And it isn't untilyou obligate yourself that you are just a
seeker trying to be accepted in aprofession. But it is after you are
are accepted as a member of thecraft that you can be admitted into the
(19:06):
lodge. What you're explaining to meis that if there was a bar for
freemasonry, and by bar, Imean this is the difference between talking to
somebody who has an MD or aPhD. And why, yes, on
paper, they're a doctor, butthey'll say, I'm not a practicing physician.
I have not taken the boards tobecome that. Like, yes,
(19:29):
you can go to law school andget a legal degree, but until you
pass the bar, you cannot bea practicing attorney. Big differences here and
exactly what you're talking about, becausefor me, when I first thought going
back to the perfect points of myentrance were, yes, not only how
I entered the lodge, but everythingthat I was instructed to do up until
(19:51):
the moment in beyond when I tookthe obligation as to how I was physically
positioned and the words and responses thatI was given the literal instruction on how
to be the brother at that level. As the perfect points of entrance reflect,
you are not becoming a lodge member. You are becoming a member of
(20:15):
the craft. And it is onlyafter you become a member of the craft
that you can be admitted into alodge. There's so many subtleties to what's
going on here. Unless you understandthe different levels in what's really going on,
a lot of it just as ablur, and you can easily mistake
(20:36):
one for the other. And Iknow at the beginning of the podcast,
somewhere in that disclaimer I say theseare our opinions or our viewpoints and not
that of any great But I wouldjust like to impress this upon our listener.
If you happen to be a brother, I believe that displaying the perfect
points of the entrance is also whatmakes you a Master Mason or Brother Mason,
(20:57):
whatever degree that you're on. Andby that I mean, don't fall
to the point where it's acceptable togive sloppy do guards and signs. Don't
fall to the point where it's acceptablein your heart or your mind to not
give the proper floor work or treateverything that's happening with the revenants that it
(21:19):
should when you're in ladge. Don'tallow that to happen. Keep your standard
high because, as you know,Brother John has said, like perfect is
not what we can achieve. It'sa standard that we are trying to strive
to reach. I understand where you'regoing with us. There are multiple levels
(21:40):
of these perfect points of entrance,and when they add the four cardinal virtues
are what we are to aspire tohave internalized as a consequence of doing the
work of the entrand apprentice. Sowe've got the four perfect points of entrance
coming into the crest. But what'sreally neat is when you look at the
(22:03):
four cardinal virtues that are put togetherwith the perfect points of entrance, you
start to realize that you really don'tbecome a mature craft member until you have
internalized those four virtues. Because literally, and I'm going to take it to
(22:23):
the next level, brother, becausethat's where you like to go with it.
Yeah, if you do not havethose four cardinal virtues internalized by the
time that you are done with yourentered apprentice work and ready to pass to
the Fellowcraft, you're not ready becausethe Fellowcraft you have to have at a
(22:44):
minimum the four cardinal virtuals internalized.Along with them, a three theological virtues
must also be internalized, because ifyou don't have all of those internalized and
acting out in your life on adaily basis, you really haven't passed.
You are still working on a commonashler, which I refer to as a
(23:11):
rough ashler that's being worked and notyet perfected. And if you've heard our
episode with Brotherneggie on the Lost Wordand the Secrets of being a Master Mason,
I would also say one of theways to recognize that you're a master
Mason is in your actions, inyour words, how you conduct yourself.
And to again not to keep beatingthe same drone, but that to me
(23:36):
is also reflected in the perfect pointsof our entrance, not just in lodge,
but also in life. What arecertain signs are you upright unbiased in
your ways? Now you have thesquare of virtue literally driving everything that you
do, And are you fair andacquitable in all that you do with yourself
(23:57):
and others? You've got right there, and you can see through the behavior
and the choices of a Masturmason whetherthey had actually internalized their fellowcraft working tools
or not. If they have,you see the signs. If they haven't,
well you can see those two well, I think is the wise Jedi
(24:18):
Yoda. You're able to embrace allof them. But no, it's also
an example like having spent time onour podcast and just knowing you, there's
no doubt that if I was tostep into your place of business, or
into your lodge, or into yourhome, that you would be the same
man, the same John that Iknow in all three of those places.
(24:40):
Intuitive you are. This has beenthe Craftsman Online Podcast, and again I
want to think one of my favoriteguests to have come on every month and
I learned so much from him andcontinue to do so. Brother John Nagi,
thank you again for being a partof this a pleasure and honor.
It has been my good friend.If you've enjoyed this episode and you want
(25:02):
to hear more, you can tellSiri or Alexa to play The Craftsman Online
Podcast or available on all streaming platforms, with new episodes every Monday morning until
next time. Let peace and harmonyprevail.
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