Endings As Beginnings

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Erik Marks

This time of year, I feel the collective pull to conform to the creation of new resolutions for the coming year. As humans we are drawn to mark time in a variety of ways. Some put off making a change to an auspicious occasion, a birthday, new year. That could be a long wait, for change.

In our entrance, passage, and raising, we're offered opportunities to be remade, to improve. We are encouraged to inspect and govern ourselves in new ways. Each time we witness this process, the symbolic and esoteric are impressed upon us. Arrival into Freemasonry is not a scheduled rite of passage through which all men will pass. We come to this path for many reasons and all times in our adult lives. Therefore, when we witness the making of a new Mason, we are reminded that, at any moment, we have these process available inside. They are waiting to be reactivated within the initiated.

We could wait for the new year to start. We’ve done this. It puts a lot of pressure on a single moment, making it, momentous. Break it down and normalize the process--it can become more accessible. The next witnessed third degree could be the moment to take up the reformation of self. Not soon enough. The first of the month...start over then, this could also work. But this strategy still puts off what could be done NOW, today. End the day, end of a cycle, the end of the light, and reawake from the night. And start off with morning’s arrival, remaking yourself anew. Yet, this present moment is still available: at the end of this breath, a pause. Ever so slight is the pause. And thereafter, start life again and implement change. In sixth grade, Mr. Swapp proclaimed: “...this is the first day of the rest of your life!” He was right.

The tools are here, you have them (or, you're on your way to acquiring them). The hour is now and change towards light is always available. The longest night behind us, we are bathed in more light every day. Speak the prayer. Commit. Remain aware of things that attempt to pull you off the path, internal and external. Even brief change is worthwhile and worth building upon. At the end of this year, resolve not to wait until next year, next month, next week, tomorrow, to be and act your best. 

~EAM

Brother Erik Marks is a clinical social worker whose usual vocation has been in the field of human services in a wide range of settings since 1990. He was raised in 2017 by his biologically younger Brother and then Worshipful Master in Alpha Lodge in Framingham, MA. You may contact brother Marks by email: erik@StrongGrip.org