Ashlar Undressed

Friends, Family, & Fraternity…

We are in a different time today than 50 years ago. Today we email and text each other. We look for the shortcut to communication to “save time” and we “multi-task” to accomplish more in a day. Are we accomplishing more? Can we really create the relationships that last a lifetime and are based on solid fundamental principles?

My thoughts are no. We need actual undivided human face to face interaction to create and preserve solid relationships. Where does one go to find this environment? I am going to say the Masonic fraternity. Ironically a set of groups that are about 50 years behind the times, yet that is exactly what every community needs.

Imagine a fine group of experienced community leaders yet not all of them have email, or cell phones, or even a computer. A group, that when they get together it is just to become better friends and enjoy refreshment without the interruption of the outside world. Some say that the fraternity is behind the times yet membership is growing. Obviously there is a need being filled and maybe the need is peace and harmony away from the constant interruption of digital communication.

It is difficult today to meet and create a good friendship, a friendship that will last the tests of time. My closest friends are still the ones from DeMolay that I met back in the 80’s. Well, I now have another great friend that I feel he will be part of my life forever. When was the last time you made a great friendship?

This friend of mine (and many others) is a great guy that I met through the fraternity. He has a wife and kids and his family structure matches mine. Our child raising philosophies are similar and so are our charity beliefs. His daughter’s birthday party was yesterday and I and family had a great time. Meeting him was just one more reason I am glad to associate and be an active member of the Masonic fraternity.

Friday the 13th, Templar bad luck?

It was on this date, October 13, 1307 — and presumably on a Friday — that King Philip IV (”the Fair”) of France arrested all of the Templar Knights. The religious order had been the subject of rumors of blasphemy and irreligious practices, but in fact the Knights of the Temple of Solomon or (from their logo) the Red Cross Knights, were “just brutal, pious, simple-minded men,” who became wealthy and corrupt as soon as the Church showered blessings and money on the order.

The Templars were formed after the First Crusade as a body of knights charged with prosecuting the crusades, and with living morally upright lives in the service of their church. So unpopular was that second qualification in the Middle Ages that the core of the Templars was only nine knights. The number slowly increased until, in 1128, they were incorporated as a monastic order with the usual three vows. By 1200, they were so rich and loose in morals that a contemporary jibe for heavy drinking was “He drinks like a Templar.” Their wealth increased through the same ruse the Jews used to circumvent the Church law against lending money at interest — the original meaning of usury. The party only came to an end when the Templars became so corrupt and so powerful that Philip, at the urging of Pope Clement V, had to extinguish them.

The leaders were tortured into confessing impiety and sodomy in their houses and, although the method is not conducive to extracting truth, it is clear that the practices were rampant. The methods were standard: “The feet of the accused were oiled and fired, splinters were driven under their toe- and finger-nails, weights were tied to their genital organs, and so on,” says McCabe. “Some underwent torture six or seven times. A large number, including the Grand Master [Jacques DeMolay] and three other leading Masters, confessed and were burned alive.”*

The popular legend that the end of the Templars took place on a Friday the 13th, and that that is the origin of the bad luck associated with the day, is just as fabulous as that it arose from the 13 Christian apostles (including the traitor Judas) at the Last Supper. The legend of Loki crashing a banquet of 12 Norse revelers in Valhalla was another, later, turn on the fable. But although there are some references to Friday being unlucky in Geoffrey Chaucer’s time (14th century: “And on a Friday fell all this mischance”), there appears to be no reliable reference to the unluckiness of Friday the 13th before the 1800s.

In the Gregorian calendar, the 13th is slightly more likely to fall on a Friday than on any other day of the week, and any month beginning on a Sunday will have a Friday the 13th, but rational thinkers ignore the superstition. Still, Paraskevidekatriaphobia, or fear of Friday the 13th, seems common enough to be the reason many people will skip work, refuse to travel, and not start anything new on that day — and why some buildings have no 13th floor and Room 13 often disappears. Is there something to the superstition? We might remember the troubles in 1970 during the flight of Apollo 13.

But Friday the 13th is considered unlucky only in Western, Christian-dominated cultures: there is no such superstition in Asia or the Islamic world. The superstition can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, people will engage in what logicians call “confirmation bias” when bad things happen on a day you already believe is bad. When Philip the Fair decided to arrest and torture and burn the Templars on this day in 1307, he had back of him no tradition of bad luck or good luck associated with the 13th day of the month — but it was unfortunate for about one hundred Christians!

300 – defending women and children

I watched the movie 300 last night. It is a story based on a true event. It is when the Spartans defended their city / civilization from the Persians. It was a great movie and there are many things I could comment on, but I want to point out the Spartan’s commitment to their community.

Without turning this into a political discussion, the United States is at a turning point in history. I don’t feel that many politicians are truly looking out for the people. The 300 Spartan soldiers that went to defend their country were fighting against thousands. They repeated more than 5 times the reasons they were going to die. They did not want their women and children to be enslaved by the Persians. They went with the full understanding that they were going to die, but felt they would make a big enough impact to save their women and children.

Other than our heroic soldiers that are currently at war, is there anyone in public office with that level of commitment? The last time we (as a county) were that committed was when we became a country. When those brave men signed the declaration of independence they knew they were signing away their life for the betterment of their women and children. They gave the ultimate sacrifice for the gain of everyone else.

Now sit back and think a little about all the campaigning so far, all the “promises” that have been made, all the problems that have been created and brought to your attention. What is the real threat to the United States? What is our current day “Persians”? The Spartan’s were lead to battle by their president; he was located in the front. When election time comes who is going to lead?

I know, lots of questions. Bottom line, great movie, go see it.