…presented at Reba Lodge No. 515, Brantford, February 8, 2008.

Helen Keller said:
“Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding line, and no way of knowing how near the harbor was. "Light! Give me light!" was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour.”

Helen Keller was blind but her insight has been an inspiration to many
The light she sought was not material, not the light restored to our initiates.

We come to know that the light of masonry is a spiritual light. Masonry does not speak of gaining material things. I offers no ‘how to’ clues to wealth.

It does offer the contemplation of a way to inner peace. From and unknown source, perhaps a mason, comes a list of symptoms of inner peace. If, perchance, you have noticed the onset of any of them from time to time, do not take medication. Sit back for just a moment and appreciate you progress. If none seem to spring to your notice, take meditation. Sit back and re-think where you are at in your life.

Get ready for here they are:
• A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experience
• An unmistakable ability to enjoy the moment
• A loss of interest in judging other people
• A loss of interest in judging self
• A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others
• An inability to worry (this is a very serious symptom!)
• Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation
• Frequent acts of smiling
• An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than to make them happen
• An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.
Lillie Tomlin, the comedienne, said of life,”If the answer is love, could you re-phrase the question?”

Sorry, Miss Tomlin! We’re masons.

Elie Wiesel, the novelist noted his views about life:

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”

A mason cannot be indifferent.

A mason faces life by daring to gain that “most important of all knowledge – the knowledge of yourself.” Wisdom grows out of his knowledge. Happiness comes with inner peace. The communication of happiness allows others the hope that they too may, by emulating you, find their own happiness. Surely that is the greatest charity we can extend.
Find light! Emanate light! Give of yourself!