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Greetings From The Shire of New Hamp.

Glen Cook

G A Cook
Site Benefactor
Hi Glen, Thanks for sharing! But I think you may be projecting a bit. A "solitary freemason" is a contradiction--it can't exist. Didn't say a thing about Stavish being an authority. And I defintiely didn't in any way shape or form try to tell anyone what Freemasonry is. That's cuz I'm NOT A MASON. Maybe you confused my post with another? I really appreciate the passion. And you deserve bonus points for using FUN words like BUGALOO and
In sum, no; your term; then why bother mentioning him; that‘s exactly what you did; we agree you are not; since I quoted your post, no confusion; that wasn’t passion, just correction; that is not the word I used.

I shall leave it there.
 

GnosticWretche

Registered User
NEGATIVE/ EXCLUSION:

"Many of us take the position that one is a Freemason when they take the obligation of a Freemason. ...there is no informal, metaphorical, metaphysical, metacarpal, megahertzical, …. Either you is, or you isn’t." --Glen Cook

"...there are no metaphorical Freemasons. The only way one can call themselves one is to knock on the door of a Regular Lodge of Freemasons...and ask to petition to receive the degrees. --Winter

POSITIVE/ INCLUSION:


"You're a mason too, John. You just haven't joined the organization officially." --A Mason talking to CoachN BEFORE he became a Mason.

(first 4 min.)


What's left to say? Contradiction is a conversation killer:
Peace.
 

Winter

Premium Member
NEGATIVE/ EXCLUSION:

"Many of us take the position that one is a Freemason when they take the obligation of a Freemason. ...there is no informal, metaphorical, metaphysical, metacarpal, megahertzical, …. Either you is, or you isn’t." --Glen Cook

"...there are no metaphorical Freemasons. The only way one can call themselves one is to knock on the door of a Regular Lodge of Freemasons...and ask to petition to receive the degrees. --Winter

POSITIVE/ INCLUSION:


"You're a mason too, John. You just haven't joined the organization officially." --A Mason talking to CoachN BEFORE he became a Mason.

(first 4 min.)


What's left to say? Contradiction is a conversation killer:
Peace.
I stand fully by what I said in regards tonyou using the term Freemason to apply to yourself. While our own teachings state that a man is "first made a Mason in their Hearts" this does not imply that they are a Freemason and able to refer to themselves as one. (Something you did in fact do.) It implies that they are ready to receive the degrees. And when we gently remonstrated you on the error, you doubled down on how we are wrong and you are right. As evidenced by the length of this thread. Had you showed any shred of humility and admitted yours was an error of ignorance, not intention, we would have been more than happy to assist you in finding a lodge door to knock on where you could have earned the right to call yourself a Freemason. So, yes, my statement was intended to be exclusory as no man may call themselves a Freemason until they have been initiated in a Lodge of Regular Masons.
 

Glen Cook

G A Cook
Site Benefactor
But is the “positive” statement truthful? If he is a mason, he may enter his lodge and has the privilege of entering others. But he really can’t, as he has not been initiated. So, the statement is factually incorrect.

In masonic ritual, it is commonly taught that one’s obligation makes them as mason. So, in some jurisdictions it is ritualistically incorrect.

In every jurisdiction of which I am aware, it is legally incorrect.

An analogy: ”You’re the President of the United States. You just haven’t been elected or sworn into office.“

In reality, they aren’t the President of the United States.

I think a statement that “you demonstrate the qualities of a Freemason, and all you lack is an initiation.” would capture the spirit of the “positive” statement, while still being accurate.

But in your case, that would not be an accurate statement either.
NEGATIVE/ EXCLUSION:

"Many of us take the position that one is a Freemason when they take the obligation of a Freemason. ...there is no informal, metaphorical, metaphysical, metacarpal, megahertzical, …. Either you is, or you isn’t." --Glen Cook

"...there are no metaphorical Freemasons. The only way one can call themselves one is to knock on the door of a Regular Lodge of Freemasons...and ask to petition to receive the degrees. --Winter

POSITIVE/ INCLUSION:


"You're a mason too, John. You just haven't joined the organization officially." --A Mason talking to CoachN BEFORE he became a Mason.

(first 4 min.)


What's left to say? Contradiction is a conversation killer:
Peace.
 

Bloke

Premium Member
What's left to say? Contradiction is a conversation killer:
Actually, it is often a really good conversation starter ! Especially in Freemasonry, because there are elements which seem to make perfect sense to some, that others will see as a contradiction...

On a slightly different but related tact, to understand what something is, it is often good to understand what it is not....
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
NEGATIVE/ EXCLUSION:

"Many of us take the position that one is a Freemason when they take the obligation of a Freemason. ...there is no informal, metaphorical, metaphysical, metacarpal, megahertzical, …. Either you is, or you isn’t." --Glen Cook

"...there are no metaphorical Freemasons. The only way one can call themselves one is to knock on the door of a Regular Lodge of Freemasons...and ask to petition to receive the degrees. --Winter

POSITIVE/ INCLUSION:


"You're a mason too, John. You just haven't joined the organization officially." --A Mason talking to CoachN BEFORE he became a Mason.

What's left to say? Contradiction is a conversation killer:

Peace.
You're suffering from the same problem many others suffer from. You're confusing Masonry with Freemasonry. If you had studied the trivium sufficiently, you would know the two words take their meaning from how they are used within context.

so... regarding your snide "What's left to say? Contradiction is a conversation killer:" The conversation was killed the moment you stepped off that cliff of logical fallacy... If you were a Master Mason you would not have made SO MANY rookie mistakes.

Time to ignore yet another cowan...
 

Winter

Premium Member
Are you sure that it doesn't say anything about being prepared to be made? There's a huge difference between being prepared and being made..
You are absolutely right. I misspoke and left out the part I meant to emphasize. LoL I was typing on my phone and I regularly let my thoughts get ahead of my thumbs ability to keep pace.
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
You are absolutely right. I misspoke and left out the part I meant to emphasize. LoL I was typing on my phone and I regularly let my thoughts get ahead of my thumbs ability to keep pace.
I suffer from fat thumbs all the time. Thanks for the reality check.

BTW - It's a very common misquote and it's only after I was questioned MANY times about my misquoting it did I become aware of other doing the same.
 
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