Dec 29, 2016 Meeting. Also "Of Light and Knights."

Sir Knights and Cousins,

Gen. H. B. Stoddard KM Council No. 87 will meet this month, and we have a candidate upon which to confer the KM degrees.

Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016 is the next “5th Thursday.” Please mark your calendars accordingly and plan to be in attendance.  

Unless plans change, plan to be at our fellowship dinner at 6:00 PM at Shiraz Shish Ka Bob followed by our meeting afterwards at Brazos Union Lodge.   

Map to Shiraz Shish ka Bob

ARTICLE:  Of Light and Knights
Thinking about a square reveals that it is an instrument that is applied to flat surfaces.  In ancient times, the Earth was presumed to be flat, and so the square became a symbol of that which is earthly.

The compasses were used to describe circles and shapes in geometry that cannot be adequately described by a square.  Thinking for a moment, you will realize that the sky or heavens above constitute a half-sphere or half-circle which can be drawn by the compasses.  Thus, the compasses came to symbolize the heavenly or spiritual.

Every human has a dual nature.  One aspect of human nature involves the animal and material, while the other involves the intellectual and spiritual.  Man's body is said to be formed from the dust of the earth, while his soul, spirit, and intellect are formed in the heavens.  The physical body is of the material earth and, when dead, returns to the material earth–it is earthly and material.  The soul, spirit and intellect are immortal and are heavenly and spiritual in nature.

The compasses' two arms represent man's moral sense and reason.  Moral sense can be defined as that which has been given to man to discern right from wrong. Reason is that which discerns what is wisest and best course of conduct.  The square, representing earthly and material, can be described as the sensual appetites and passions of a human being.  These characteristics are those that man shares with animals and so far as they rule he is but an animal.

In Masonry the candidate's attention is drawn to the square and compasses on the altar.  With the concept of the square representing the earthly and animal passions and the compasses representing the moral sense and reason we can now comprehend the three degrees.  At the earliest degree the candidate is symbolically deprived of light, his moral sense and reason are overpowered and ruled by the earthly appetites and passions of his animal nature, governed by only his basest instincts.  Thus the points of the compasses are overpowered by the square and are placed under it.

Once brought to light, the craftsman has learned to progress from darkness to light and one point of the compasses is elevated above the square.  This represents that the craftsman is on his journal from darkness to light as a man willing to serve the greater good.

Once he has mastered this process, both points of the compasses are elevated above the square indicating that the candidate is now supposed to have attained the awareness that the moral, intellectual and spiritual forces of his nature have become superior to his material and animal forces.  It is the recognition that man owes a greater duty than just to himself.  He has symbolically become master of himself.

In the era of knighthood that flourished around the world around the 12th century forward, the "code of chivalry" started to develop to help regulate and guide knights.  Much as the masonic fraternity took the traditions and tenets of the stonemasons' guilds and applied the precepts and thoughts to moral and social causes, one could say that our knights of today are the same.  That is, they are speculative orders of chivalry that teach the importance of good behavior and social graces rather than emphasizing the art of war and combat.

Each man, in his own way, strives to attain the prestige and fulfillment of knightly virtues.  Some men find this through "combat" on the athletic field or other endeavors.  Freemasonry offers yet another path toward personal knighthood by teaching a man the social graces of equality and fraternity to all men.

In this way, Freemasonry has become a modern conveyor of knightly values.  While not an order of knighthood itself, it imparts to each of its members key moral admonitions that intend to guide a man's behavior both inside the Lodge and out.  Thus we become "Knight Masons" as we continue to pursue our journal from darkness to light by the continual study of good behavior and social graces on our quest towards personal knighthood, and beyond.

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Sources:  The Square and Compasses, by Sir Knight Hoyt O. Samples; pages 25-29, Knight Templar Magazine Dec. 2016.

Freemasonry, Democratic Chivalry Embodied, by Sir Knight Seth Anthony; pages 30-31, Knight Templar Magazine Dec. 2016.