SEBASTIAN ȘUȘMAN
Past Worshipful Master, SARMIZEGETUSA Lodge No. 111, Deva;
Deputy Grand Inspector, NGLR
On the altar of Freemasonry, there were work is a veritable religion, we have laid another flower. In fact, an instant, an hour or more, in which we try to be better, always better. A flower which oft can be a beautiful word, a good thought or a marvelous deed. And when all these things are of the heart and sprinkled with love and forgiveness, then the great work of Freemasonry is almost fulfilled. An even better man, a man who has evolved spirituall who can himself be a flower. And he is not the only one.
The principal purpose of initiatic societies and, obviously, of Freemasonry, is to perfect human nature and to make it apt to receive the direct influences of the superior planes. In the course of evolution, beings that do not progress forming new characteristics, go backward and immediately begin to degenerate. Only what remains supple and flexible is susceptible of letting itself be modeled in new fit forms for the expression of an expanding conscience.
Progress is not a simple problem of latent powers. It is not limited to involution and evolution. A third factor intervenes which makes up along with the other two a triad: Involution, Evolution and Epigenesis.
We are human beings, simple human beings with needs, with desires, in a continuous search for happiness, for equilibrium, for material, emotional and professional achievements. We live ever more alertly and all our desires take up time, we forget or we are too tired to look without ourselves anymore and to see what lies there. We are grateful for our achievements, for what we have built, for what we have become? And we are not talking about material, professional achievements. We are talking about so much more than that. About what masonry is expecting from you. An ever better man! In fact, a man who has evolved spiritually. About a man who has as an objective spiritual evolution. What is spiritual evolution? An increase of the power to understand. Of daily power to understand, of the phenomena that govern life, of the universe and above all of God. But people are different, a different level of understanding, a different degree of knowledge, a different education and hence the great diversity, which is a great plus appears also a great minus. Even the law of love through different eyes is seen differently. And thus for some spiritual evolution does not mean anything yet, whereas other are on the road even if the road is not paved with flowers.
Spiritual evolution means the passage through different stages of conscience, higher and higher, until perfection. But this thing is not possible without love, without forgiveness. If we alone are not capable to evolve, then we evolve with the help of others, because God works through men.
Spiritual development means also that we not follow blindly our reason, but that we listen to our heart. Spirituality means a heart open to the love of the neighbor, clean thoughts and a quiet mind, without any trace of criticism. We think more often of problems, of the worries of tomorrow and we forget to pay attention to our spirit. Our soul is the motor and our center as fulfilled beings, that which moves us from rest, which gives us wings.
The darkest hour is that before the dawn, said Euripides centuries ago. In this case, Euripides was probably referring to one of the most profound experiences of the spiritual path, called the dark night of the soul. In this period we have the sentiment that we are lost, without having any idea what the next step is or in what direction we will walk. The dark night of the soul is the moment in which we no longer feel the connection to the Divinity and we put under a question mark even the purpose of our spiritual journey.
Most of us can remember a time when we are wondering about the direction in which our spiritual journey is heading. There are moments when we feel that we are not making any progress, that life is not better for us, although we are hard at work. Our life is not changing. When we find ourselves in this situation, the range of emotional answers moves from a sentiment of loss of courage to an acute one of renunciation of our work. We are human beings and we live in a world in which achievements and fulfillments are important. And as we know the relationship between our spiritual progress and our life in the physical world does not bear comparison. There are moments when the need to quantify and qualify our spiritual advance surpasses any material comparison. This is the difficult part of the journey.
Another situation which determines The Dark Night is the more and more advanced state of our conscience. There are moments when knowledge surpasses the capacity to practice a new habit. The spiritual journey is the process through which we acquire life experience and it contains the knowledge which we have acquired. The consequence could be that we become more pacific in our life and we no longer work in conformity with the person which we are aspiring to become.
The millennium in which we are living represents innumerable facets of The Dark Night for the entirety of mankind. There are many events in our world which make us question whither we are heading as a planet, as mankind. Although the surface of the Earth is our scene and the place where we look for symptoms, the dark night is a spiritual experience.
In a world ever more thirsty for knowledge, in a century in which the search for oneself has taken absolutely innovative forms, the dark night can only be succeeded by a day. There is need still for a lot of work, a lot of time and a great brotherhood. But as the night is followed by the day, so also mankind after a long sleep, after a dark night, only day can follow. The day of spirituality. In order to pass quicker, it may be easier to remember something from the following story.
– I cannot anymore ! My life is a torture !
– The master took a fistful of ashes and let it fall in a glass of clean water, good for drinking, which hehad on the table, saying:
– These are your sufferings.
– He took another fistful of ashes, the same as the one before, he showed it to our man, then he went near the window and he threw it into the sea. The ashes was spread in an instant and the sea remained as it had been before.
– Do you see? Explained the wise man to him. ,,Each day you must choose between being a glass of water or the sea“.
There are moments in life in which you feel like crying at the pathetic state of this world, this society, or when you are tempted to point accusingly at others. Before that, answer yourself one question: Am I part of the problem or of the solution? And do not forget a beautiful motto: There is certainly a solution somewhere and I am going to find it.
An axiom says that nobody lives for himself alone. Our words and actions constantly affect our fellowmen. Whether we fulfill rightly our duty or whether we neglect it, we favor or ruin life, and of those who find themselves in our entourage and finally of all inhabitants of Earth and even beyond.
The one who has not fulfilled his duty to his family, to his country and to mankind, does not have the right to attempt to live the superior life. To leave, out of selfishness, all the obstacles aside and to live only in order to hurry our spiritual progress is as worthy of remonstration as not caring at all about the spiritual life.
The one who deliberately turns his back on his current duties in order to embrace the spiritual life will certainly be forced to follow again the path of duty, from which he unjustly and wrongly went away, without escaping it, so long as the lesson will not have been learned.
The one who aspires to the superior life may succeed in his efforts only by extending the subjugation of his inferior nature, but he must guard himself from jumping from one extreme to another. You do not even know anymore what to do and yet be good. Very good! For the rest, build.
Masonry, as time went by, has cultivated in the hearts of all the Brethren love, forgiveness, tolerance, brotherly love, the desire for knowledge. In difficult times, when the dark night threatens the soul and the spirit, the Sacred Fire has always thrown light on our path to the Light. Under the aegis of Wisdom, Force and Beauty there is every hope that spiritual evolution not be a dream, but a reality. Let us always place on the altar of Freemasonry a flower. A flower which could be all that is best and most beautiful within you. Here a flower, there a flower, flowers over there. A garden of flowers, several gardens, only gardens of flowers. It cannot be done? Everything is possible! With love, with forgiveness, with faith. On your path to the Light and the Truth sprinkle the most beautiful flowers, for the garden of your soul, of mind, of ours. I embrace you dearly and let us see each other do well.
FOLLOW THE LIGHT WITHIN YOU !
