Oscar Wilde: Freemason Wisdom *Revisited*

by Midnight Freemason Founder

Todd E. Creason, 33˚

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."

~Oscar Wilde

Apollo University Lodge #357

Oxford England

From the Editor - Published almost six years ago, this piece received some good traction even at a time when the Midnight Freemasons weren’t so big. It speaks to the nature of truly living. Oscar Wilde being one of the crafts most prolific thinkers has been quoted countless times, however this one is one of my favorites. Enjoy

~RHJ

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We are the designers of our own lives. We make all the decisions, good and bad. It's easy to look at your life as something that happens to you, instead of something you're in charge of. The truth is, it's up to us whether we participate in life, or sit back and watch it pass by.

Perhaps you're thinking to yourself right now "yeah, someday when I'm not so busy, and I have more time, I'd really like to spend more time enjoying life." But nobody knows how much time they have on earth. It could all be over in another eighty years, or before the sun goes down today. There are too many unknowns in life to assume you can do things tomorrow, or ten years from now, or when you retire maybe. If you really want to get into the game, shouldn't you do that today?

If not now, then when?

~TEC

Todd E. Creason, 33° is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor. He is the award winning author of several books and novels, including the Famous American Freemasons series. He is the author of the From Labor to Refreshment blog. He is the Worshipful Master of Homer Lodge No. 199 and a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754, where is currently serves as Secretary. He is the Sovereign Master of the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a Fellow at the Missouri Lodge of Research. (FMLR) and a charter member of a new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter U.D. You can contact him at: webmaster@toddcreason.org

Freemason Wisdom: Oscar Wilde On Education

"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."

~Oscar Wilde

Apollo University Lodge No. 357

Oxford, England

There are a lot of versions of this saying.  Everyone from Benjamin Franklin to Winston Churchill have made similar remarks.  They all seemed to understand the same thing--while education is important, there's a great deal you can't learn in the classroom.  Many of mankind's most intangible strengths have nothing to do with formal education--they come from lessons we learn by living life.  The best lessons are the ones we learn the hard way. They come from failures and mistakes we make along the way.  They come from falling in and out of love.  They come from facing adversity.  They come from making friends as well as enemies.  They come from being knocked down, and from standing back up again. 

I worry about our children. We learned those lessons by surviving our childhood (which wasn't always easy).  Our children are growing up in a world where most of the obstacles have been removed.  Will they ever learn those hard-won lessons about life when they are seldom challenged by adversity?  Could that be why so many kids today have problems with anxiety?  When do kids in today's world learn how to cope with the challenges life is going to throw at them? 

~TEC

Freemason Wisdom: Oscar Wilde

"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter."

~Oscar Wilde

Apollo University Lodge No. 357

Oxford, England

Oscar Wilde: Freemason Wisdom

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."

~Oscar Wilde

Apollo University Lodge #357

Oxford England

We are the designers of our own lives.  We make all the decisions, good and bad.  It's easy to look at your life as something that happens to you, instead of something you're in charge of.  The truth is, it's up to us whether we participate in life, or sit back and watch it pass by. 
 
Perhaps you're thinking to yourself right now "yeah, someday when I'm not so busy, and I have more time, I'd really like to spend more time enjoying life."  But nobody knows how much time they have on earth.  It could all be over in another eighty years, or before the sun goes down today.  There are too many unknowns in life to assume you can do things tomorrow, or ten years from now, or when you retire maybe.  If you really want to get into the game, shouldn't you do that today?
 
If not now, then when?