MOUTH TO EAR
My Brother, you told me last time that I need to identify those values I hold highest in order to use them as I do my Duty in life. How do I accomplish this?
First, Brother, you need to identify the values exhibited by those around you. Your associates on a day to day basis exhibit many positive traits worthy of study. The clerk at the store may be courteous and helpful. The policeman on the corner may be attentive to his surroundings and fair in his enforcement of the Law. Within Lodge, your Brothers may work together in harmony completing service projects. They may demonstrate brotherly love for each other. Individuals become role models in our society when they live their values.
Next, it is wise to study the past. Reading a biography often reveals the values held by the subject of the study. One of the greatest books about values is also at the core of what it means to be a Mason. This work is familiar to most Masons, and is readily available. Morals and Dogma, by Albert Pike, remains
a valuable resource to anyone
seeking to learn about values, even though it is a most demanding work.
For something less demanding, consider reaching back into your youth, and study the teachings from Boy Scout days, most specifically, the Scout Law.
Use the internet to search the term, “Values”, and you will discover pages of lists and guides to understanding what values are. Assemble a list. Understand that no list you assemble will be all inclusive, and that any list you assemble will be long. Understand that your list and mine may be quite different, even though, as Masons, we share many core values.
Now, Brother, take your list, and pick out the twenty values that mean the most to you. Undoubtedly, this will be demanding. From this, identify the ten values that have been consistently the most important to you throughout your life. Contemplate what these values tell you about how you should approach the duties in your life.
Fred Ayers
PM, Syracuse Lodge #309, Syracuse Kansas
Frederiucksburg Lodge #794
The Guiding Light / Feb. 2016 13