As males we often seek incentives such as recognition, power, and success in our endeavors. This desire for accomplishment drives us to take risks and pursue challenges directly. Often and even without our conscious recognition, societal expectations play a significant role in shaping our actions; the pressure to conform or provide for others may serve as powerful motivators. If it is a more selfish motivation, few are more urgent to males than those who we fancy. Within males has been instilled certain instincts relating to competition and procreation. These innate drives can impact decision-making processes and shape behavior patterns. All of these observations about what motivates us, but none of them tell us if we as individuals ought to do anything in particular. In my view, David Hume’s comments on the difference between is and ought with respect to common morality are a key to understanding why we engage with what and who we do and behave as we do.
Freemasonry can be a padlock for that key behind which you will discover treasures which the study of Freemasonry can yield.
In Freemasonry we learn to subdue our passions, but it is up to us to learn why we ought to do so to walk with temperance.
In Freemasonry we are taught that it is through the study of the liberal arts that we will polish and adorn the mind, which is so, but it is upon our shoulders that rests the responsibility to understand the value of this study in our lives.
In Freemasonry we understand that we are bound to duty, honour, and gratitude, but it is up to us to determine why we, individually, should embrace one another in brotherly love.