Internal wisdom and the initiatory act

  As a boy, I use to run around the forests surrounding my home. I was exploring, looking under rocks, under fallen trees, and inside of caves. I was searching for something. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew in my heart and soul that it was out there and that I would find it. There was a mystical feeling to that search and a yearning that refused to let it die. Hours would pass in those forests and yet, I could never find what it was and didn’t until later in my life.

I’ve gone through many phases in search of what it was and you would be surprised by the steep contrasts of those phases. To give you an idea, I was going to raves and underground parties at age 18, for example, and becoming a Freemason at age 21.

As it turns out, the solution was internal and not external. It’s strange, you could spend a lifetime searching on the outside for what’s inside. It’s so typical and instinctual, too, that we look for validation through external means, which only reflects our insecurity and intellectual laziness.

“A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that’s unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein

Freemasonry helped identify what I was searching for. Freemasonry, like many orders founded on the Mysteries, will show you the door, but only you can open it.

If you’ve ever been to the House of the Temple, the headquarters of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, you might have noticed a chair or throne that says, “Know Thyself.”

Image: PheonixMasonry

Freemasonry led me to the understanding that it was myself and my own internal wisdom that I was searching for. That was the answer.