One thing an editor is never short of is advice - and he gets the pick of the crop: the wisdom and complacency of age, the seasoned caution and intolerance of middle-age, the enthusiasm and impatience of youth. There’s insight, vision, vexation, criticism and creativity - and it all comes tumbling into my in-tray and into my mind. What am I to make of it - apart, that is, from the Letters pages? One thing at least is clear to me. Masonry is alive and kicking: the energy and will for future growth and expansion are there. Indeed, I am convinced that there is far more energy and will for growth than many brethren might imagine. How can we release it?
    Let’s look to the future. Men of energy and purpose are busy creating the nostalgia of tomorrow - and they in their turn will also endure the criticism - and, hopefully, gratitude - of future generations. As we approach a new century, we may all ask: what are we to give to the future? What are our best gifts? To whom can we offer them? What must we leave behind? We want to pass on the very best. The man who plants the seed may not live to see the tree and all those who will come to nest in it. History waits for no man “and our little life is rounded with a sleep”. Let’s not sleep while we are alive. The perennial cry of the sage is “Wake up!”
    These reflections seem particularly poignant as I read Doug Pickford’s interview with comedian Bro Jim Davidson (beginning on page 24 of this issue). For a popular funny man the jester has surprisingly serious thoughts. I was struck by his realisation of the potential power of the Craft to rehabilitate the man who has gone astray. As a result of our Craft advocating high moral standards, some of us are prone to sit in the judgement seat. I am reminded of the psalmist: “None is righteous; no, not one.” We all need a guiding hand. We need the lights of the Craft. Perhaps it is when a man has strayed from his true work and path that he stands most in need of a guiding hand and structure to live by, should, that is, he genuinely desire it. Jim Davidson has much to communicate about the true meaning of brotherly love.
    When we chip away with our masons’ tools at the outer appearance of events, when we penetrate the shell of history and journey within to the meaning of things, then we come to the substance, the true grain: the eternal life. In our hearts lie luminous chips off the Great Architect’s block. Let’s not leave them undisturbed! Have we hidden our light under a bushel? As masons, we live to shine. Shine on! For a new century awaits us, but will not wait for us.
    And so I return to my in-tray and its fragments of thought. When we gather the fragments together as a whole, the edifice of Masonry is strong; taken apart, the edifice falls. The narrow-minded, being gross, will not enter the narrow way. Only the best will do. To distil the spirit, we must burn off the gross. Growth is the only sign of life - and the sign of growth is change - not change for change’s sake but the changes which come from a greater infusion of life. Beneath the appearance, the spirit remains the same, glorious for all time, for the more we grow, in consistency with that spirit, the more beautiful the Craft becomes. Goodness, truth and beauty must never be separated; they work as one.
    Tobias Churton