District Membership Committee

εὑρίσκω heurískō "I find” - used to show that you have been successful in something you were trying to do. You have been a successful Master. Now that you’re out of the chair, what’s next?

To guide the more junior members to get to where you have been. Throw them a rope, and ask them to hang tight because you have got them covered.

The brain reward system.

Here is a scientifically proven fact about how your mind works. If you punish your brain for doing the wrong thing, it will stop doing the specific thing you punished it for.

But if you reward your brain for doing the right thing, it will keep doing the specific thing you rewarded it for.

And so, if you try to change your behaviour by punishing yourself, you might stop doing the bad thing you were doing, but whatever you do next will be completely unpredictable.

Because punishment only tells you what not to do. But if you focus on rewarding yourself for doing the right thing, you will predictably do more and more of the things you want to keep doing.

So you can keep hating yourself if you want, but it's completely ineffective at getting yourself to become the person you want to become.

Masonic context.

Now put that in the context of memorising rituals or one’s performance in the ceremony. If you were a PM and had to guide one of the brethren. How could you use this?

It is a given that you are respected, by the EA, FC, and MM as a Past Master, either by rank and seniority or observation. But understand this:

1. The EA, FC, and MM are NOT at your level of expertise. “Experience is the teacher of all things - Caesar”.

2. He may want to go at a slower (sign of disengagement or distraction) or faster pace (sign of impatience). “Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude - Marston”.

3. Checking on him once is insufficient to build a bond. “You don't build a bond without being present - James Earl Jones”.

4. Don’t set expectations for either of you. “Expectations are the root of all disappointments - Shakespeare”.

You’re learning from each other and this is one of the foundations to being a better man. Mutual respect has its excellencies.

Group dynamics suggest that working in a peer group fosters a bond between your “apprentices” and helps motivate them.

Be both a speaker of words and a doer of deeds - Homer   

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