Arcana Lodge #187 Ancient Free & Accepted Masons Worshipful Master Douglas Roswold Arcana Masonic Hall 920 Lowry Avenue NE Minneapolis, MN 55418

Index of this issue:

News From the East - Special Offer!

Fraternally yours,
Douglas R. Roswold, Master

News From the West

Fraternally yours,
Dave Sibben, Senior Warden

Outstanding Mason of the Month

Harvey Bergstrom

Arcana Lodge is proud to acknowledge the outstanding Mason of the month for June, Harvey Bergstrom. He received his 25-Year Pin last fall. His attendance and participation in activities at the Lodge gives inspiration to his Brother Masons. He is active in the Scottish Rite, having been a member of the lighting committee, and he is also a Shriner.

In Memoriam

The following Brothers have recently answered the roll call of the Grand Architect of the Universe:

EA	September 29, 1971
FC	February 14, 1972
MM	February 21, 1974
Passed On	May 9, 1998

 

EA	November 3, 1958
FC	November 19, 1958
MM	December 13, 1958
Passed On	May 19, 1998

 

Bits and Pieces - Have Gavel - Will Travel

by Brother Tom Lyle, Phoenix, AZ Email: beauty@goodnet.com

From a block of fine marble, a wise sculptor created an elephant. Its beauty had an inner strength which radiated the culture of the East. When asked how he created such a masterpiece, the sculptor replied that he had merely chipped away all that was not the elephant.

Throughout the history of World Culture, there have been many sculptors, yet few of these had the insight and the focus to create masterpiece elephants. The quality of what remains after "chipping away" depends upon how discerning the sculptor was.

Numerous factors affect this level of discernment. Was he mentally bogged down with money worries? Was he emotionally polarized with family matters? Was he overwhelmed by his glimpse into the human condition? Did he simply have a common cold? Was he having a bad day? All these and many more affect the quality of the finished product. (Is this an elephant you would want in your living room?)

It is, of course, no laughing matter to the disappointed sculptor who sees all to well that his finished product is far from the wisdom, strength and beauty of his original concept. What went wrong? Who will he blame for his foolish, weak and ugly elephant? Who will he blame for his lack of discernment in wielding his working tools?

The ancient Taoists taught that a beginner stepping onto the Path of Enlightenment for the first time blames others. One that is traveling the Path of Enlightenment blames only himself; however, one that has completed the Path of Enlightenment blames no one.

As Brothers in Masonry, each of us have been given a concept of imperfection in the symbol of the Rough Ashler, that rough stone just taken from the quarry. We have also been given the concept of perfection in the symbol of the Perfect Ashler or smooth stone. We were admonished to change the present state of our character (which we were to consider as our Rough Ashler), into a perfected character symbolized by the Perfect Ashler.

Not only were we gently challenged to attain this goal, but also we were given the means by which we could achieve it. Thus we were gradually introduced to the symbolism of our working tools, one of which is our common gavel. The common gavel looks like a small wooden ax head and is used to chip away the unnecessary parts of the Rough Ashler. We use it symbolically to chip, shape and smooth our Rough Ashler (our present character), into a Perfect Ashler (our concept of the perfect character). In other words, to chip away all that is not the elephant.

After being presented with our common gavel and other working tools, and given an explanation of their function, we were then set upon a rough and rugged road.

During our travels on this road, we would have many opportunities to use all of our working tools, especially our common gavel.

Most of us are finding that the more we use our common gavel to chip away all that is not our concept of perfection in character, the more we can contemplate and use our other working tools such as the plumb, square, level, and trowel. This is simply due to the fact that our character flaws are distractions from perfection and take up much of our mental and emotional energy. As we consciously remove our character flaws we can then use that freed-up energy to more skillfully and energetically use our other working tools.

On this road toward a more perfect concept and practice of Masonry, each of us will encounter situations and conditions which will cause us to sit back and reflect upon our efforts with our working tools.

We must ask ourselves some vital questions such as, "How much of an increase in the skillful use of my working tools has my experience on this Masonic road of life produced? What is the quality of my Ashler to date? Is it perfect yet? Does my Ashler (my character) exhibit foolishness for all the world to see? Does my Ashler exhibit beauty in which all the world can rejoice, or does it exhibit varying degrees of ugliness from which all the world may shrink?"

Every once in a while it is highly significant for all Masons to reflect upon a realistic evaluation of the present condition of our characters in order to see where we stand in this magnificent on-going process of perfection.

Where we find obvious or subtle degrees of foolishness, weakness, or ugliness of character, that is where we will be focusing our future efforts using our common gavel in an effort to bring our present character (our Rough Ashler) more in line with our Masonic concept of perfection - The Perfect Ashler.

In this process of perfection we can (and should) invoke the blessings of God so that we may have the wisdom to contrive, strength to support, and beauty to adorn all great and important undertakings. Brothers, let there be no doubt about it. According to all Masonic tradition, the perfection of our character is a great and important undertaking, which we, as Masons, are honor bound to ever strive for and achieve.

Special Announcements

THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN

SPONSORED BY

Palestine Lodge #7 F & AM & Cass Lodge #243 AF & AM

The Brethren of Palestine Lodge # 7 F & AM PHA and Cass Lodge #243 AF & AM are please to co-sponsor the Fourth Annual Celebration of the Feast of St. John the Baptist on June 30, 1998, to commemorate the fraternal affection shared between our two Grand Lodges. You are invited to join us in this celebration.

The occasion will be marked by a Feast and Table Lodge to be held in the Fellowship Rooms of Minnehaha Lodge #165 at 5149 Bloomington Avenue South in Minneapolis, MN. The social hour will start at 6:00 p.m. and the feast will begin at 7:00 p.m.. The Table Lodge Ceremony will begin at 8:00 p.m..

Beginning this year we are cordially inviting our wives, our sisters of the order of Eastern Star, and all the affiliated ladies organizations, friends, and prospective fraternal candidates.

The cost of this event is $15.00 per person. Seating is limited - we will accept only the first 100 reservations. Make our your check to W.B. Terry Armstrong and Mail it to him at 1277 Goodrich Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105 (his telephone number is 690-5146), no later than June 22, 1998. Your check is your reservation.

Please Share this invitation.

Grand Lodge of Minnesota Ancient Free and Accepted Masons

One Day to Masonry

A One Day Class for the Three Degrees of a Master Mason

October 24, 1998, 8:00 AM

Scottish Rite Temple, 2011 Dupont Ave So., Minneapolis, MN 55405

This publication is issued with the permission of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M of Minnesota.

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Doug Roswold, Editor at webmaster@arcana187.org

This page was updated on May 02, 2003 by Doug Roswold