...being the Strength and Support

Happy New Year !!

Harmony being the strength and support of all institutions, but more especially this of ours.....


As I mentioned in the piece on harmony, I was challenged by WB Carl Davis about the use of harmony in our ritual and the meaning of the word. Since writing that, the words strength and support have been running through my head constantly. Little did I know the depth of the definition I would find.

Strength is one those words that can be used in a variety of ways yet have a continuity of meaning.
In researching the word, there are anywhere from 8-12+ definitions or uses of the word...strength.

Obviously it the quality or state of being strong. This can apply to raw physical strength, mental strength, and moral strength. Power of moral firmness, vigor, and courage.

We've always heard that there is strength in numbers which is also another definition or usage. Strength can be measured in the moral potency such as in the effective force of argument. As we continue, the term strength can be used to describe one's ability to resist force or wear.

Strength can define the effectiveness or essential characteristic of certain chemical bodies or in our case the effectiveness and essential characteristics of the fraternity. Going further, strength alludes to a particular proportion of light, color, intensity, sound, etc.

My favorite is that it is something or someone that gives one strength or sustenance....a source of power and or encouragement.

The above is paraphrased and in some cases plagiarized from Dictionary.com

We can draw many parallels from the meanings in the dictionary to the craft. The fraternity of Freemasonry teaches lessons from many symbols, but also words. Harmony being the strength indicates that the very fiber that holds this great institution together is the strength we need to survive and is the reason we have survived all of these years.

Recently we have seen the effects of weakening standards.....by being weak we were not able to resist the wearing away of our moral teachings.....thus we allowed some to join our ranks, only to learn that they were less than honest and began to eat away at the fiber of our being.....we have to be strong in whom we allow to join our ranks. To regain the strength that we once had, I'm certainly not suggesting that the fraternity as a whole is weak, just certain aspects need to be tightened up.

Freemasonry can provide power and encouragement to those brothers that seek it. If you have talked to a brother that is "strong" in the craft who has experienced an illness.....he will testify to the strength of the brothers of the craft who visited, prayed for, and encouraged that brother during his illness.

I know for myself that when I attend a degree, I draw a feeling of being rejuvenated, something that I gain much strength from.......the warmth of the fellowship of my brothers.

From the Fellowcraft lecture think about the five pillars.....the way in which their different components work together to provide strength, unity, and beauty. The five senses of human nature that work in harmony with each other and how one strengthens the other. The seven liberal arts and sciences that also work in harmony, in fact the part concerning music illustrates that composing delightful harmony by a mathematical and proportional arrangement.......mathematics work in conjunction with music, astronomy, geometry, logic....and grammar and rhetoric leads into logic and the circle continues in.....you guessed it.....harmony.

At this point I am going to let support be the next topic.....stay tuned