Thank you Welcome to the symbolic Lodge of conversation where Consciousness and curiosity interweave into discussion this is all square podcast I’m your host RL Franks and today’s guest has been on a spirulature journey into the mystical world of Freemasonry this is the story of warshaw brother Kevin Fuller Kevin
Thank you for being a part of our show today my pleasure thank you for having me I’m very excited I can’t where this conversation is going to go I can’t wait to dive into this Kevin how did you find Masonry um actually for years I mean I drove by
Masonic temples and my my son who’s 21 now you know he and I would joke as far as members wonder what they’re doing in there right like what’s going on in there you know we kind of joke as we go by but I mean many of the temples had
Drove by or the Masonic buildings I should say I didn’t even know that they were you know uh held lodges within them so um I really was at kind of like a point in my life for um I was kind of looking for something
More and uh just kind of wanted to be a part of something different um and I did and quite honestly I was intrigued by the mystery right like I wanted to find out what’s going on inside those doors right so um that’s kind of really like sparked my
Interest in masonry it was a change time in my life and then just uh kind of everything lined up and so I reached out to the lodger near my house and um I want to say uh it was probably it was a good month of like just getting
A visit with the guys ahead of time um before I even like was brought in right even brought into Lodge so getting to know some of the guys I think some of the questions that were asked like what I what was I looking for in masonry right and and those were
Things that I had to look Within Myself right and then um not for probably necessarily an external proof but um well I think even in masonry we have that right like we get a new candidate they have something that they’re looking for in masonry and we as I want to say
Maybe more experienced Masons um if they’re voted in we have an obligation to help provide them that experience right absolutely absolutely is spirituality and you know the mystery of the fraternity is if you’ve always been in intrigued into this since you were little or just because you were driving around buildings
Um really masonry I again like when I approached masonry I didn’t know what I was looking for so my history I grew up Roman Catholic um uh but I kind of would say like in my teen years I began through like theological studies kind of go out into
More of the Eastern Traditions or like Hindu and Buddhism and things like that in Islam as well and just from observing because I was never necessarily exposed to that right it wasn’t my annual practice of going to church every week and my religious studies in school
Although I want to say in high school introduced a little bit to that um so when I approached masonry it wasn’t I didn’t even have like the spiritual um kind of like connotation when I approached masonry in fact I remember saying it when I was asked uh at the end
Of uh the first time I was brought into Lodge you know I could say a few words and I was like you know I can’t believe you guys mentioned God like that’s so cool I felt that was fantastic you know and and just the acknowledgment of that
Right the the right for those like non-masons right that part of becoming a Mason one of the requirements you believe in a supreme de or Supreme Being deity whatever it is that you call a supreme being right um and then when I found out that there
Was referenced that was new to me in the Masonic Journey because I didn’t know that you know but I want to say um everything from like I want to say like spiritual Alchemy um probably some more like mystical practices and things like that where I was just uh just from a philosophical
And just uh Curious my Curious nature to approach those things and and then to see some things uh just accented information it was cool it was great yeah I 100 agree with you I’ve Had The Good Fortune to actually watch your journey unfold as from when you started
I’m very close with your Lodge Phoenix Lodge in Perrysburg Ohio why do you think masonry is important in today’s society I’ve felt that there were certain things that I wanted to put down right I wanted to put my phone down right I wanted to be in a group where like I wasn’t glued
To my phone or I wasn’t looking up answers right or I wasn’t like trying to tap into something that was I would say more external um and and for me that was I found that in masonry right like there were different experiences um while it is just you know it’s a it’s
A fraternity right it’s all guys and then to have that unique experience of those men in that setting right because a lot of the guys are guys like I don’t know if we ever would have met you know and been able to spend time uh together outside of the fraternity just giving
Our different paths and our vocations um maybe our interests but I mean there’s nothing like going across like being in an airport and you know Las Vegas Nevada and and running into a Mason and then you’re talking right like you’re talking like your long lost friends right because you we just kind
Of have that Central focal point of Freemasonry if that has that happened to you yes yeah yeah so it’s I mean for me I’ll you know if I see some of the Masonic you know I wear a Masonic ring I’ll walk I’ll be like are you a Mason you know and some you
Know sometimes people are a little standoffish me I’m very open I’m like hey I’m a Mason I’m you know a member of Phoenix Lodge 123 and Ohio um and then we just kind of see where the conversation goes you know and kind of take their temperature you know when
You tell them that you served as an officer and you know then people start to open up okay this isn’t a guy that just you know read some internet free masonry he’s like lived it right it’s a part of him so absolutely yeah you know what separates this fraternity from like some
Of the other great social organizations like Knights of Columbus Elks moose uh Lions Club Kiwanis you know even some of the networking groups like BNI what what do you what do you think draws us together to this well of knowledge and understanding in Freemasonry I don’t
Know if I can speak to any of the other groups because I’ve other than just being familiarized with them or maybe going to a chicken dinner or something like that I don’t really know how they work internally so I couldn’t really compare that to Freemasonry but I mean
For me it’s that Bond right it’s a bond that I think we have and not contrasting you know to any of those organizations but Freemasonry itself is a I know some people don’t like to call it a fraternity right or you might hear them call the a crap the craft or something
Like that right where because I think some of those people when you talk about spirituality masonry has become so much more right it’s not just a uh it’s not just a club right it’s become a part of their life and I think some of the moral teachings that are accented in
Freemasonry that were encouraged to study are is almost a charge to carry that out into the world right so not to just we don’t just leave it there right we have a little bit that we bring with us when we leave that space so yeah I agree with you 100 on that you
Know we talk about a lot of these principles and teachings and there’s a lot of paper writing in here has there been any authors or writers who’s really influenced you on this journey or enhanced your journey by reading more you’re a very scholarly guy in the fraternity so yeah can you talk about
That a little yeah I will and I can’t preface it by going back to like how I began my journey in Freemasonry and what kind of the again going backside I didn’t know what I expected when I went into the lodge and when I went through the process and it’s an initiatory process
Right like there’s things that you go through right and um when I was able to give those few words of like you know how did you you know how did you feel when you know uh you went through this right and in in the in
Our meeting and one of the things I said was um like I really felt like it was happening through me right like it was like this change was happening through me and the more I can’t talk about it with other some of the other Masons um there
Was somebody who told me I was like yeah like three percent of like Masons I don’t know where they get the stats from but they said get what you got you know like it was fantastic experience for me post that um somebody advised me to read William
Serves right so that was probably one of my first like Masonic like author books you know on Freemasonry for the people maybe non-masons who is wilmshurst just to prefer size that um I wish I could uh say a little bit more maybe about his personal life he’s a masonic author okay so um
The meaning of masonry was actually the book that I read so and it can be the way that depending on uh the version that you get of it they’re all I’m gonna say relatively similar but it can be very wordy right and sure very um intellectual heavy right it was
Written at a different time uh in the I would say early 1900s or something like that if I recall I could be wrong sure but so that was the first book I got and there’s a lot of I want to say spiritual connotations in there that he draws and parallels right
Um through the Masonic craft and and then also through uh his reference uh he’s a Christian bass like myself right so a lot of this stuff is referenced uh from that like perspective or the vantage point and um so yeah so that was like you know it was probably a
Good book whoever put that in my hand to for me to read because they saw what I got out of my initiatory uh process right so it’s a good starter book for any young Masons into the fraternity to read I would say if you were looking for
Um like something it’s something to be Revisited it’s going to be a very tough for somebody to digest but again you have to kind of put yourself in my place I was reading as an Entered Apprentice you know and there’s stuff in there that’s way over the Entered Apprentice had
Um but I would look at like Carl claudy or something like that for those are good I want to say like the Entered Apprentice or something like that those are probably good Beginner Books if you’re looking for something light but if you’re if uh you found a spiritual
Connection in Freemasonry I would say William source is good that’s a really good starting point especially if you later on um or have any even coming into the fraternity having exposure to like uh esoteric uh Sciences if you will right or philosophy which is something that you’re very much into I
Mean you touched upon it in the beginning you were talking a little bit about you know spiritual Alchemy yeah you know what’s that all entail when you say that word spiritual Alchemy because we all hear Alchemy and some medieval people trying to turn lead into gold but
What do you think spiritual Alchemy is about um I want to say I mean so just like Freemasonry uses I want to say the um allegory of the Builder right or the the stone Mason right uh so too the spiritual Alchemist would use the allegory of The Alchemist of uh whether
That be working with Metals right and the idea of uh if you know anything about alchemy I think most people think the first thing comes to mind is like turning lead into gold right although there are probably no probably never really happened you can apply that process like spiritually right so
Um in alchemy there are certain processes right various phases of alchemy where things transition and happen um and then doing the work and as a practical like uh metallurg metallurgist and probably mess that up but uh if you’re practicing the metals right you’re going to see a certain result and
You’ll see these things um in the work that you’re doing and they believed in many cases that as these processes were happening without they were also happening within right so there was a spiritual connotation to Alchemy in it of itself um today if you’re not a practicing Alchemist and you’re maybe looking more
Along the lines of spiritual Alchemy let’s say you’re using that as your allegory for a process that would be a change from within so yeah yeah that self-contemplation you know meditating over being how and to be a better man out of these teachings and papers and writers that
Um have been contributing to Freemasonry and you know because it’s like a repository of you know all these collections right it’s been around for hundreds of years and I I noticed that there’s a gap in the Masonic writings um from claudy from you said was it wilermo’s no Wilton Wilms wilmsurst and
It feels like from back when they were writing tilt which was about what time zone back then when that wouldn’t cost early 1900s early 1900s to today where you guys got Jamie Paul lamb Pierce Vaughn Petey Newman um Sean Iyer Roberto Sanchez all these guys why do you think there’s a Revival now
Into writing because I don’t ever hear anybody from the 90s or you know 70s or 60s really writing on masonry I mean about you there was it was happening yeah but why do you think there has been kind of like a Revival into writing I don’t know if it necessarily ever
Really went away in my opinion um I think we’re seeing a lot more because we’re exposed uh or our communication has gotten better right from a distance right and our ability to be able to publish um to send things out to receive manuscripts um and be able to either translate them
Right or then to come up with their new ideas I mean there’s if you go back and you read a lot of I would say some of the Masonic some of the Messiah attacks that we have I mean how many times can you write about the entered a premise degree right
You’re under a certain uh given frame of mind right so I think you’ve seen some of these people that the people you mentioned have really found um a good parallel with whatever it is that they may be exposed to in their um you know outside the Masonic lodge and
Things that parallels if you will that they would bring into their their Masonic life or a new way of looking at their Masonic Journey you think Freemasonry has helped you with you know what they write about um just expounding upon reflecting on some of the teachings do you think
That’s how to become a better man because that’s what you were kind of looking for um you know to build within yourself yeah yeah the I mean through masonry without a doubt it’s uh it and everyone I feel receives different things from the fraternity right or finds things that are unique to
Them that bring up probably the best characteristics or have the ability to bring out their best characteristics um I’ve you know I mentioned my path in like probably more spiritual nature but I enjoy the the ritual and some of the degree works that have taken me into studying that as well
Um it’s helped me probably be a better public speaker right in our meetings we have parliamentary rules or Robert’s Rules of Order right and we have a a chair or the master right who who sits in a chair’s position and runs a meeting right so um I’ve seen Masons that love to just
Get together and do the green bean uh you know and uh chicken dinner kind of thing and just get together maybe have a piece of cake or pie afterwards I’ve seen guys that love uh the business right or doing uh the finances for the lodge right because all those things are important
But I think it’s a good opportunity uh for every man to be able to experience that right and be able to accent that because there’s room for error there nobody’s going to be like hey Robbie listen and like you totally suck at this they’re gonna the guys are
Gonna encourage you to do better right absolutely it’s it’s a also a good support group too right in that regard it’s a welcoming presence in the fraternity you know we’ve read articles on uh people who talk about the agor that thought form that brings everybody together that energy in the room that
You feel that welcomingness and you know that only comes from hundreds of years of people dwelling together for the greater good yeah and one thing I heard uh I wasn’t able to attend your Lodge that day but even after Lodge the fellowship you guys were having in the lodge you want to talk
About you kind of did like a tasting of mead in the lodge and you kind of correlated that into um a great lesson for your Lodge over at Perrysburg yeah so um I just want to clarify so everybody in the state of Ohio we don’t drink in
The lodge room so we consider that consecrated space we don’t drink in The Lodge rooms but we do have de-consecrated space in the Masonic building itself which is not part of the lodge it’s in the hall and um yeah so try to um incorporate um so those of anyone that doesn’t know
What meat is it’s a honey wine so similar in the wine making process that you use honey for the sugars and then I kind of paralleled like the working tools of you know a wine maker if you will or a mead maker you know and then some of the
Things that you put into it right and try to really just uh kind of show how that was unique like our Masonic journey and the symbol set that we use in masonry with the square and the compasses and the things that we think of you know for someone that was working with stone
Right if you were building a cathedral right and you were building a temple for God you know essentially um everything you did right your tools were an extension of not your just your physical ability but when we talk about I’m a carpenter I’m a union carpenter by trade right so
When we talk about pride in our work those tools are an extension of that like the pride that you take in your work right so in the Mead making process I try to point to certain things that were like the tool of the Mead maker right or not just you know you sanitize
Things you try to keep things very clean right you don’t want your wine or me to come out like vinegar at the end right because you have a bad e or a yeast it’s not welcome right absolutely and uh just some of the things I put into it yeah so
I try to really um and then encourage the other brothers to like you know one of our brothers is a DJ you know I want to hear your Masonic you know journey and but put in like the DJ terms you know yeah I could only turn tables or something you know
Those are your working tools right of course no I love it I I like you know how is the modern Mason using the tools that he deals with on a day-to-day basis to better his work better himself provide that income for himself in in life
Um what do you get the most out of this fraternity is it the Brotherhood is it the discussions is it just the traveling is it the fellowship like what do you get excited to come to a lodge because there are lodges that all they do is business meetings yeah right right
Yeah and for I’m not so much into the business Idol I feel like it’s I mean that’s necessary right at least given the day in today’s world and the way that Freemasonry fits into today’s world and how it’s been shaped um that’s necessary but I mean for me
I always feel like I discover I’m always discovering something new you know and I really enjoy that so when I go into the lodge room um a lot of times like I’m gonna say at Phoenix we do a lot of Education right so we will do uh peace and Masonic education
And it varies it could be a brother presenting sometimes we’ll read an article it could be something but the idea is to just spark you know a thought and then have conversation about it and I feel like every time I’m in there I I not only learn something more about
Myself but I learned something about the brothers in that room that I again can take back out into the world right and and really kind of view it through a different lens so for me it’s like it’s really being able to uncover something new you know we think about in masonry and
Even when we think about the symbols even for some of that’s not a Mason right it’s like um if you ever thought about okay what are The Masons doing are they hiding something are they keeping things secret um I want to say that it’s not so much that
But the idea of being able to uncover right or to uncover these things and within ourselves and the brothers in the room so it’s probably for me that’s probably the probably the most joyous thing and it could be anything it doesn’t even have to be about Masonic tools it could be
Like you know what’s important to you I learned something new about you today right and right and your spiritual journey right before this interview so absolutely that was new to me right yeah absolutely I I think it’s a discussion right I think I’ve talked about this on the podcast before that sometimes
Technology limits that social interaction because we see everybody posting the pictures and the videos and their interests but when’s the last time we did a wellness check on them when’s the last time I reached out to you hey let’s get a cup of coffee I is everything going well in your life you
Know because then you see these unfortunate things go on in people’s lives and you had no idea because everything looks all great the grass is green over there and they’re having the best time of their life but they’re really having an internal struggle and that’s what I think I really love about this
Fraternity is how we’re all here for each other yeah I remember a time when you know when you really talked about and it was out of the blue but I think it was so necessary suicide awareness um yeah yeah why do you think why do you think that’s so important in
A fraternal organization of men well I want to say Ed is men right in today’s society we don’t always show each other affection right um nor do I you know like I see you I give you a hug we give we give each other hugs and to me like
I enjoy that that’s how I appreciate like when we meet I’ll give you a hug right but I feel like there’s a lot of guys that are a little bit standoffish but they also don’t know each other as well to be able to do that right and
It kind of had said in the lodge setting that you know this is something that we have here in this space it’s extremely special right like I’ve met you that I wouldn’t know anywhere else right like other than maybe maybe but odds or maybe not right
So we share something here that we don’t share with our families we don’t not maybe some of the guys work together but not always right that we’re not sharing at work this is unique right so there’s things that we can share while we’re here um but you nobody ever talks about those
Things right they don’t talk about maybe the struggles that they’re going through um and it’s just another thing that uh I think it needs to be needs to be talked about more need to hug each other tell you tell your brother you love him right and
Um we have a lot of people that were in the military right and um you know PTSD right the things that most of those guys are pretty good at hiding it right yeah absolutely very stoic yeah stoic individuals and and the point is like we’re here for you in that
Regard man like just call me man or just come up and give me a hug you know like if that’s what you need come give me a hug right like in um I feel like that’s important in the sense that we should do share something special inside the lodge room
And that um those guys should feel welcome when they’re there for a new Mason right yeah even for the guy that’s been around 20 30 years right they should still feel like they should be able to share that experience right so I think suicide awareness comes along
With that right it’s like being aware of how we observe others because like I said not everybody shows that yeah right and that’s really part of the obligation you know I say a point in history where Freemasonry um you know today we have uh health insurance right Freemasonry was a form
Of health insurance or um who’s going to take care of my um my family if I die right I have no my parents are not my parents but I’m sure speaking in the context of you know say 150 years ago my parents maybe passed away maybe I don’t have any
Family I moved to a new area your Lodge brothers were obligated to take care of you right absolutely so we shouldn’t lose that in the fraternity I think it’s an important part of Freemasonry too right absolutely that Fellowship in the fraternity which really unites us yeah and knowing that you’re not alone
In what you’re going through there’s a lot of men who’s all have been a part of highs and lows in their life but yeah we’re charged to be that better man to be there for our brother and that’s why I love the mentorship Mike Lou who’s my partner in all square podcast you
Know fellow crafter I I’m working with him with his degree with his little exam book and I’m not only I’m not only just telling them how to read a code I’m working with him through this journey I’m trying to Enlighten why we say this because I want him to be so prepared because
You know as well as I do out in the Masonic World somebody’s going to test you yeah and there’s going to be somebody who’s portraying they’re amazing because they read an article or they’re wearing a jewel and yeah you have to know if this guy’s really a brother or not and be
Able to show a a veteran of the fraternity um yeah I am amazed and I know what my duties are and um I’m charged to uphold this fraternity you know just like I know a lot of men in the military have that Brotherhood of what they had to go
Through and that’s what I think masonry really exploded into a fraternal aspect because there was men who were stoic who you know were going through PTSD and didn’t have that place where they were able to open up and I think they that’s why everybody rushed to masonry to be
That kind of place yeah and be a part of that Troop that tribe in the fraternity you know um we’re in an interesting time in the world right now and a lot of people your age a lot of people my age we’re not that far apart is really diving into spirituality and
You’re seeing um some people go into institutional churches Rome uh Roman Catholic methodists Protestant non-denom then you’re also seeing people go into other uh branches of spirituality Wiccan um Buddhist um Hindu some of the these Gnostic churches you know what would you know you’re a very spiritual guy and
I know that you’re very in tuned into what you believe in and you’re always constantly learning why do you think right now everybody’s flocking to some form of spirituality I don’t know and I don’t know if it’s necessarily I know you’re kind of point to this happening more now
And maybe before I know I’m I’m coming from a like a Catholic group Catholic Ray like I mentioned yep I grew up Catholic for the most part until I became I want to say like um a little more comfortable to do my own studies I mean I did I was kind of all
Over the place right not not in a sense that I ascribed to I never got away from Christianity it’s always been my core right of course but I think even now I mean the world that we live in it it’s just so um through the means of
Communication that the ads and you know just things that you’re bombarded by you know like it’s hard to discern for someone who who’s never been really like spiritually accustomed to many things it’s very difficult to discern what um is probably true and what is made up right because there’s I think there are
Things out there that will try to um uh maybe uh maybe lead you down the wrong path right that maybe the end result is not necessarily what is going to maybe not going to be beneficial for you as an individual right so those things are very tough to discern
So I feel like right now kind of what you’re pointing to is people are just maybe experimenting right maybe they’re trying to find that home again um where they feel most comfortable right spiritual spirituality right because there’s I think everybody knows of some regard I think even the I would
Like to speak someone that doesn’t maybe believe in a Supreme Being and see their take on it but there’s always something I think inherently even if you call it Instinct right there’s something that you have within you that kind of causes something ancient right yeah um so a lot of people I think
Look for it right you find different things that you look for it in right oh I agree with you 100 you know that’s another thing you know atheism agnostic it’s really either it’s really growing or it’s just portrayed like that on um you know social media that you know
Everybody’s espousing to more of those kind of ideologies and it’s always interesting to have a conversation with somebody I’m like well I don’t me personally this is my belief you know I don’t think all this just happened right there has to be some kind of plan about this and then you get sent
To some of the conspiracy things about simulation Theory and you know we’re in a giant computer we’re nothing but Sims yeah minus a little green Crystal over our heads right somebody made that right there’s somebody probably created that if that was a yeah I don’t know I
I know you can kind of go all over the place with it you know but it I feel like it’s always good to have like a good foundation right like to try to establish your roots and something that you know you feel very comfortable in um and then always going back to right
Being able to go back to that um and just stay rooted in something you know because many of these things um I want to say like uh even like a modern like drug culture right and there’s you see more people I want to see like
Getting into like uh you know go to a music festival today they’re probably doing different stuff than they were doing before but some of the things that you’re probably exposed to um are necessarily is that a Pat is that a pathway that you want to go down right for me that’s
That’s not my thing right um I know in certain cultures and traditions um people have kind of used that right for your Shaman or your medicine man to you for a spiritual awakening and things like that but um I think for most people who are trying to maybe experiment like your
Body can naturally do these things whether you realize it or not you know you can um through whether it’s through meditation I would say even prayer right well let’s go into that um you know not that you have um how do I want to say this not that
There’s one particular way of praying or meditating but why is that so important for an individual um and I want to say for just just a superficially approach it right and we think of meditation I think a lot of times in prayer for some reason I’ve there I’ve been surrounded
By a lot of people that have like this angst who grew up Christian right and like just for whatever reason don’t ascribe to it anymore um and you mentioned prayer and they’re turned off but you talk about meditation they’re like oh yeah and I know what you’re talking about right so I think
Some of the terminology phrase algae use with it um is important but I think it’s important to spend some time I’m communing with yourself for one right and then what you would consider God right or whatever that higher being is to you right so I think there’s some
Time that pulls you outside of the you know getting in your car and going to work right like and knowing you got to go through the routine of what’s going to happen today at work right I know I got to go home I know I gotta plan dinner right and all those
Things seem very noisy in your ad and you can lose uh touch with yourself in my opinion and um it can be um maybe not so healthy and actually can affect your physical nature too right I I 100 agree with you I have add my mind goes a mile a minute I’m
Always like if I hear a noise I’m like what’s that what’s going on I trying to get into a meditative State reflecting on all that I’m grateful for in my life you know my you know my God in connecting with them it doesn’t happen overnight it takes time to be
Able to to do that um wouldn’t you agree yeah I would think about it I’m not a weightlifter right but for someone who’s into bodybuilding to to build muscle mass like you have to stay at it right like you have to continue to lift weights and and then there’s certain things you do
Long way like eating right or eating the right foods that are going to get you there to that whatever end result you’re looking for right so I think you know just like meditation and prayer it’s um something that you have to you have to make it a part of your life
Right like just of like if you’re going to change your diet you know I it’s got to be part of my routine from now on you know and and you have to realize too that many of those practices I mean you’re going to fall right you’re gonna
You know what man I was at a party and there’s a cheeseburger there and I ate a cheeseburger you know like I wasn’t in my diet but it felt good to eat it right and sometimes you get you’ll do that spiritually too you know you’ll air and
I think what’s most important about is your conscious you’re aware of it and then have the desire probably to reapproach it you know that’s right at least my weight training in the spiritual world has probably been uh that’s how I would approach it right absolutely I pray constantly whether
It’s just striving to work or just talking or asking advice you know manifestation manifesting that connection with the Divine um something that’s new to me and I think you know a little bit on because you’ve looked at it can you talk a little bit about Reiki and Reiki therapy
And what that’s about and maybe the benefits of what Reiki therapy is I said that correct right yeah so yeah so I’m a Reiki practitioner and basically Reiki is like enter you could consider energy work right I would say it’s become more popularized at least as
We know it in the modern Reiki setting was probably I think it came out in the of the 20s right from Japan and it was basically a guy that was I’m kind of giving you the Drunk History version that’s fine but it was a dude he
Was on a retreat like a Buddhist Retreat um and um had an experience right an enlightening experience of being able to heal and work with this energy right so a lot of Reiki um through their I want to say the way it’s kind of like carried out in the world today the
States are like three phases right there’s like Reiki one two and three simple nothing fancy but one focus is on being able to lay hands on yourself right and being able to like work with the energy on your own body um and then two is where you’re like
Able to lay hands on other people right and then three is like uh that’s kind of where you’re really pushing to be able to teach others right like you want to be able to hopefully instruct other people if you want right I never had a desire to instruct other people
So I never like myself and never really moved to Reiki three if you will yeah um so I’m going to say it’s like an energy working and I think if you you know think about things in history if you think about the you know even the life
Of uh of Christ and his you know the things that he charged his Apostles with their disciples right they have the ability to lay hands and to heal the sick right I’m not saying that Reiki is that and sure a master Jesus didn’t give me that Authority but I feel like I feel
That there maybe it maybe he did right or maybe that there’s something in there that um gave me the okay to do it because I know I’ve seen just uh benefits uh through my own practice but then also like working with the people that have taught me
Um and then how it affects other people I mean there’s a lot of things out there we can’t see right sure actually they’ve been able to monitor some of the energies uh more recently here where whether it’s Reiki um like Kundalini just about to get into
That because you know I’ve heard of it but I don’t know that much about it I know it’s a yoga it’s a type of yoga correct yeah I’m gonna I’ll kind of get and what’s awesome now is my wife’s uh teaching uh Kundalini uh and really what has to
Do is like this energy that is like the store to the base of the spine if you will and chakras yeah so Shockers you could consider and I’m being very generic when I say this somebody’s if somebody watching me like yeah that’s that’s not right their energy centers within the body right
There’s seven of them um there’s many really just awesome ways to parallel that like if you’re more into the Western Traditions um there’s planetary influences within the body right okay um but uh you know uh Kundalini is an energy that like kind of would snake up
The spine if you will would kind of and stir up and awaken these um you know um spiritual centers or energy centers in your body you know so see that in uh more so in the Eastern world right you’ll you’ll see that not that it hasn’t come to the Western World my
Wife’s teaching here right but sure that’s the idea behind it there’s an energy for us a life force that you have inside of you that you know I think when you begin to work with it that’s when you really be able to feel it right or
You you know to me that’s in a gift that God’s given us to be able to you know make hopefully carry out his will and um or if you want to call God a girl you can do that too but uh sure you know what I’m saying like to be able to like
Give us those abilities to not only experience the world that we live in but then you know carry out his mission too right so you talked a lot about like the Eastern esoteric uh thought and you know Kundalini and reiki’s Eastern right what would be the Western version of that like what would
Westerners be practicing that maybe the East is practicing or is there any is it just more prayer based um I want to say I found um the same thing that I’ve or similar right under a different um under a different symbol set under a different uh whether you want to call it
A myth or a story okay right in the Western World right and you can look at those very same things for a Christian lens um you can look at them through a judaic lens you’re talking about like allegories let’s say allegory but even like some of the cosmology right some of the the
Understanding of the planets maybe perhaps how the world was created um and uh hermeticism you know that’s another I want to see in the Western World those are probably like the three things that I really think of when I think of like you know that kind of like philosophical
And cosmological approach right that happened um in the way that happens in the western world but you also see influences you know even from astrology you’ll see influence in the east and then you’ll see like an oriental influence in the in the west as well too right so
I don’t know you get bogged down by tradition and lineages and everything else and I mean those to me aren’t necessarily what’s important it’s good to have a good foundation or something to resource um but what does it mean to you right right no that’s very well said you know
If you could tell somebody looking for Freemasonry looking spiritually what would you tell them I want to kind of practice I don’t know if you pointing this out so Freemasonry is not necessarily a spiritual school it’s not a religion right it is not something that we engage in to go down a
A religious Rabbit Hole like for me thank you now I was just gonna say thank you for the disclaimer we do normally say that yeah masonry um but it gives you tools that work with your spirituality yeah with your faith to be a better person right they’re working
Tools and you learn how to self-improve yourself and help self-improve others yeah so you were gonna say yeah so you know I want to at least make that clear because we there’s a distinction that being made but it does accent these things well I’m gonna say if you’re like if you’re uh like
Um say your origin is uh your Judaism like I would say like studying a cabal a mystical Judaism right and I’m again I’m seeing these things generic so people can look up the terms and I’m not conflating some of the ologies and the cosmological approaches to some of these things
I’m going to say over the past several years in the Christian from the Christian Viewpoint I really love martinism I mean that is just a beautiful beautiful tradition um and then in the Hermetic sense I mean you can focus on Alchemy and astrology and then Theory right so theoji which is
Theory is more probably going to be along the lines of like what someone would probably consider like a ceremony or ritual type um accent of like whatever it is you could do some people might call it magic some people just may refer to it as ritual right
So I want to say like in the Western World those are probably the three like starting points I would say maybe get into and if that stuff’s too heavy reach out and I’ll you know we can we start maybe smaller I try to think about like where you’re trying to
Um bring it down like maybe lower the bar a little bit but I came in we talked about that like earlier right it’s like diving into the deep end you know that’s always been me too yeah so I have a sometimes have a hard time being able to
Put some of those prompts in front of people of course I mean the Eastern world the bhagavad-gita is a fantastic text um of poetry and um and then to me it’s song right not necessarily and you’re not going to see musical notes but to me that’s what I
Hear when I read it right um you know uh I I mean it just depends on how how far you want to go right if you’re if we’re talking to me that’s more I want to say maybe the esoteric approaches to some of these things and then here’s one thing
That I feel is very hard to do is like find a mentor find somebody you jive with that’s maybe doing maybe of his approach this whether it’s intellectual or whether it’s a mystical approach to find somebody that that is willing to you know give you a book or
Get or say Hey listen like try this right try this breathing technique or try this meditation right if that’s what you’re looking for right yeah I I agree with you um as we round out this episode man what’s what’s one thing you want to tell the world about masonry
I mean really I think the people that are skeptical about Freemasonry should maybe look into it a little bit more get I mean I would say even go as far to knock on the door and seek to become a member because I think they would find something that isn’t necessarily
Something they thought it was it’s probably even even better right like um and if nothing else to do your own little investigation into it or just talk to somebody right talk to a Mason and hopefully get somebody that is able to communicate to you about what the fraternity is let them share you’re
Doing a fantastic thing here letting other masons from different backgrounds in their Masonic Life share their experiences of what Freemasonry is so hopefully your listeners are paying attention to that and um they’ll get a little taste of everybody that all your guests right different different perspective so keep keep uncovering
Those things so that is worse for brother Kevin Fuller a modern Mason in the modern world I’m RL Franks and you are all square Hey RL Franks here thanks again for watching today’s episode don’t forget to like And subscribe also if you believe someone can benefit from the message that we provided on today’s podcast send it over to them you may Inspire them
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