As Freemasons we should help our local community but while doing so, we also need to raise our eyes to a more distant horizon. When, having been initiated, we are placed in the north-east corner of the lodge, symbolising the cornerstone of that great temple which is Freemasonry, we are contributing not just to the lodge we have joined, and to the Craft, but - let’s be truly idealistic - to all humanity. For every person, by his actions, contributes to the good of the whole. In early Freemasonry this was depicted by the beehive, the symbol of industry and charity.
    Freemasonry has had a strong tradition of charity, since ‘time immemorial’. Concern for others is a natural consequence of the spiritual path all Freemasons are encouraged to tread. But we must not forget that in the same way we care for our fellow human beings, we must care for the earth we all inhabit.
    There has been a view for many centuries that the earth is an inexhaustible quarry which we might plunder at will, that we need not care what we take from it or what rubbish we cast back upon it: that the ebbing tide will take it all away and come back cleansed. Unfortunately the returning water is now choked with everything we thought we had discarded.
    We need to be careful with our earth, for a selfish plundering of resources is not only a significant cause of conflict between people but also between our way of life and that of our planet which is, by such carelessness, rendered more hostile. The physical parameters which support life are surprisingly narrow and, while resilient, are still vulnerable to thoughtlessness and greed.
    Our ritual is blunt on the latter: The Compasses remind you to limit your desires in every station in life…
    I have often found myself addressing the problems of conflict and making the point that Freemasonry, as a fundamental tenet, focuses upon that which humanity holds in common rather than that which drives people apart. By so doing, it seeks to heal all those divisions which breed dispute.
    To bring this important principle of our Craft to the notice of the younger generation who, in due course - and probably sooner than we think - will be making their own contribution to the world, can only be to everyone’s advantage. Certainly, those of this generation who travel on routes which actually pass through the countryside are well aware of the human cost of sectarian division, of greed, of heartlessness and of its idle companion, resolute inaction.
    This issue has an article on Freemasonry in Sabah by my younger daughter who spent most of last year travelling. She occasionally sent me a text message; mostly to tell me that she was about travel somewhere I had advised her to avoid. She survived; and is the better for it. But for all parents who are concerned about the welfare of their children on these adventures I have to report what a relief it is to know that masonic Brethren are keeping an eye out for them. It seems to me a way not only of assuring the safety of travel but also of introducing a younger generation to the strong international bonds which Freemasonry provides.
    I hope that we all talk to our children about Freemasonry and its principles. They may be too busy working, studying or partying at the moment to think of joining but it will surely be comforting to them to know that in the midst of the chaotic world about them there is an international organisation of men, from all walks of life, who are acting as best they can beyond the sectarian distinctions of politics and religion in order to bring a measure of harmony into all of our lives. And - is it not time - to our relationship with the living earth we inhabit?



This issue contains a brochure giving details of the C-Change Trust, a charity which aims to plant trees to absorb the carbon dioxide we release into the atmosphere - ideally each person offsets the carbon emissions they are responsible for by paying to plant trees which will absorb it. It’s a good idea: check www.thec-changetrust.org.
    Our trips to Egypt have always proved popular and the next, departing 2 March 2007, has now been organised. The brochure is available from Tracey Strand, HPB Travel, telephone 01638 674 744.
    Erratum: On page 27 of Freemasonry Today, Issue 37 the upper photograph was wrongly captioned. It should read “Bedern Hall, a restored Guild Hall used by some of the York Trade Guilds.” The chapel of the Vicars Choral is a ruin some fifty yards away.

Michael Baigent MA - Editor