Knowing this the blessed one uttered this solemn utterance. "When the real nature of things becomes clear to the meditating Bikshu, then all his doubts fade away since he has learned what is that nature and what its cause. From ignorance spring all the evils. From knowledge comes the cessation of this mass of misery, and then the meditating Brahmana stands dispelling the hosts of Mara like the sun that illuminates the sky."
... and so we keep working away to gain knowledge which will lead to understanding, wisdom and Light.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting…trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home -Wordsworth
...and authority. It does seem that numbers are in decline almost everywhere. The Light has been dimmed?
How sad to see life falter and fade, whether in a flower or a Lodge. But life always seems to persist in one form or another. We see that a flower may return to the earth and reincarnate as another living thing.
The death of a Lodge is equally distressing to watch. Usually there is a scramble among the Brn to save it, but to no avail. When the charter is recalled it is like a reluctant surrender to the inevitable. The dark Lodge continues to live on in the lives of the Brn for a while and then it fades out of memory.
Part of wisdom, I guess, is to accept the inevitable whether it is the death of a lodge or of a nation or of a fraternity. I would like to think the the seeds of renewal can be found in Orders like LDH, where Freemasonry has not be reduced to a social club with secrets. The Ancient Wisdom will live on perhaps in unrecognized ways and forms, but it will persist .
This is a real problem isn't it. 'The starving', 'the sick', 'the destitute', are so much easier to forget or ignore. 'Them elsewhere' are 'not my concern'.
I saw the case of downtrodden people in South Africa I would have killed every last soul for slavery if God allowed this as in the best interest of humanity
I was told you would stunt their growth if I allowed you this level of response.
Level of response: I am reminded of the story about some people who helped an emerging chicken by completing the shell cracking exercise for it. Soon after the chicken died. It seems this initial effort is vital for the chicken's welfare.
On the other hand ... even if we, personally, cannot eradicate starvation, illness, destitution, we can as individuals or lodges contribute manpower or money to organisations dedicated to these specific areas. If you know who to ask, there are always those in need locally (even in affluent suburbs!)
The people involved, needed such a level of injustice to occur that every force of nature bent to drag down the oppressor, and bless the oppressed, and why would I cooter cut their karma, and knock these people out of their right to the blessing of trusting God more than men
So if a lodge or a church goes into renal failure, and self deactivates, something of a better blessing is growing that I might not see just yet, and my faith and hope is God can not fail, and that is not in the program! We are just receiving new teaching methods that become harder to ignore EVERY step of the way
What he said 100% agree with that observation.
Ever loved someone enough to short cycle their karma, Gooo Rooo's do this chit
Short cycling the karma ... maybe when we learn the lesson there is no further need 'to pay the price' for erroneous decision making'.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting…trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home -Wordsworth