No comments on what you wrote, Irmeli, except to say that I enjoyed reading them. But I do have a question. In what organization or group did you learn freemasonry? I was under the impression that it was closed to women.
Unc --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Irmeli Mattsson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > > It is the most unique achievement we can have as human beings. > > Infinitely complex and arduous to accomplish, yet absolutely > > irreproducible by anyone else. Uniquely personal to each of us is > > our journey to liberation, our journey to our Selves. No one else > > can follow our path. > > > > I liked the whole post, but comment only on the passage above. > > This is probably why I have found my spiritual home at co- freemasonry. > There we have no dogmas to follow, just some general ethical > principles like freedom, equality, brotherhood. Freemasonry recognizes > and appreciates hierarchy and uses it as a tool of education, but its > structure is not authoritarian. Critical thinking is appreciated at > every level. We are encouraged to find our own path to truth. When you > progress further you actually see it to be the only way. > > Freemasonry provides a close and long lasting community for spiritual > seekers. The closeness of brotherhood is accomplished through rituals > and symbols as methods of shared communication. We don't need to share > the same worldview to feel brotherhood. The rituals create the close > sharing people often yearn for. > > The founding thesis in our lodge was appreciation of differences of > thought between humans. I have seen many times what kind of richness > it is, when people with different spiritual backgrounds and conceptual > frameworks share their thoughts on certain issues like `loyalty'. > > Compared to freemasonry the eastern traditions of unquestioningly > surrendering to and following a guru feel quite immature as a > methodology to enhance people's spiritual growth. > > In freemasonry the benefits of close sharing can be accomplished > without the pitfalls and very apparent weaknesses of authoritarian > guru systems. > > Freemasonry as a form and structure of spiritual school is very old, > probably thousands of years. Because its methods of education have > been far ahead the societies inside which the lodges have existed, the > system has had to develop powerful methods to hide and protect its > secrets. There is also prevalent the idea that you are initiated to > deeper aspects only, when you have reached certain maturity. And many > people evaluate the maturity of the candidate. It is not at the mercy > of the possibly self-serving interests of a guru. > > Irmeli > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
