9.01.2010

A new Masonic Year

A new Masonic year starts and with it the spiritual chain of the Brotherhood is reestablished with the effort of the collective of Brethren. Doing freemasonry in a place where the conjunction of different civilizations and cultures is so remarkable is a challenge for those who have the chance to participate in it. It is a symbiosis of the West (and the Christian traditions) and the East (and the Buddhist or Taoist traditions) looking  to transform Men in better Human beings and more responsible citizens. It has been argued that Freemasonry is outdated and has no response to the problems of the 21st Century. In a certain perspective this is true: if Freemasonry glue itself to the strictness of the ritualistic traditions as an end in itself it will loose the general ground. If Freemasonry looks deeply in what are the problems of Mankind and debate them in its ranks, probably a constructive effort will help to attack them. It is both a problem of attitude and leadership.
Doing ritualism has it has been done in the last three hundred years Freemasonry aims to confront the eternal questions: what is the mission of Men on Earth?; how much spirituality do we need to make people that surround us happier?; what interlinks Men with God?
Faith has a role surely in this debate but the pursuit of enlightenment helps Man to understand (better) that he is not in the center of the Universe, that other realities co-exist beyond human frustrations, ambitions or hatred. The search for spirituality turn to be again an important topic of reflexion in the communion of Men; it is however a road with many obstacles and demons. People are tempted to use the ignorance (and belief) of some to impose by force some sort of dogmatism and make the others slave of it. We assist to it many times in history and as we know history repeats itself sometimes as a drama, and other as a farse.
This is the advantage of Freemasonry as an open-minded Order, open to everyone that pursuits a faith but not interested in taking side in the battleground among religions and clergy. A battle that somehow has been insinuated under the arguments of rechristianization and respect for the universality of the Islam. These are topics that we are not interested because they derivate Men from their crucial issues, to have their job done, to help those who are in need, and create better conditions for the future generations.
Gama