LEVEL STEPS – 100 Daily Meditations for Freemasons Jonty Marks, Perfect 7 Publishing, 2004. Paperback, 108 pages (A6), £5.50. ISBN 0-9548743-0-7 Available from The Freemason Ltd, tel. 0870 922 0352 email info@thefreemason.com

When the Editor asked me to review this, I was a little worried. How do you review the Book of Common Prayer, or the Bhavagad Gita? How, come to that, ought one to review the Emulation Lectures? Well, since I have reviewed the latter, I had better plunge in to this, a book of meditations for Freemasons.
    Probably one of the most hackneyed, not to say misused phrases in masonic ritual, is that relating to making ‘a daily advancement in masonic knowledge’. The problem with that phrase is that it can be interpreted by anyone to suit their own idea of what a masonic pursuit ought to be. The Preceptor of a lodge of instruction will, of course, use it to exhort his pupils to learn the ritual by heart, words, actions and all.
    And there lies the most monumental misconception that exists about Freemasonry – that as long as we learn the words correctly, all the rest will follow. It is a little like putting the cart before the horse. Give a person the idea, the allegory first, and let him clothe it in words, the better to understand the concept. If you smother with words before experiencing the truth, you may never get there.
    ‘Daily meditations for Freemasons’ seems to me to be a concept long overdue. Jonti Marks says that we should use the symbols and meaning of the Craft ‘to clothe our individual beliefs in the greater majesty of actions inspired by them’ and refers to Freemasonry as ‘the outer form of our inner growth’. He selects from a broad range of quotations, masonic and non-masonic, and embroiders a tapestry of meditation, using the colours of the threads in the selected quotation.
    And the whole thing is presented in a way that is easily assimilated. The longest meditation is less than 200 words; the shortest a mere 90. I have not come across many books that help you to get down and experience your Freemasonry at ground level, but this is certainly one. And it fits into your inside pocket too.
    Julian Rees