Apologies

Brethren, I apologize for this blog and the mirror blog for being dark for so long. In case you didn't know, I have been pretty busy with other arrangements getting settled in with my new assignment here in Oklahoma. I just moved all my stuff into a house and am now just getting it all set up. Meanwhile still doing my normal job every day. I will get back to this blog as soon as possible I have plenty to write about and I hope you all enjoy it when the time comes. I hope everyones Thanksgiving has been glorious and if I dont get to write here before Christmas I hope that it is blessed in everyones lives.

Bro. Aaron R. Gardner

Knights Templar

Well, after listening to a fellow brothers podcast I have decided that I want to go towards getting my Knights Templar Degree. I am not going to tell you everything that Brother Robert mentioned in his podcast, you can go listen to it yourself at: Whence Came You. But the episode from the 14th of October definitely made me decide that Knights Templar is the next step I would like to get into. So please brethren, if there are any Knights Templar who can help a Soldier who is never in one place very long get his degree work done, ideas on how it can be done, the time frame I should be looking at in order to get all the degree work complete. Etc. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you all..

Travel Lightly,

Bro. Aaron R. Gardner
Flushing Lodge 223, Flushing Michigan

Mustaches and Freemasonry

I was browsing the web late last night when I probably should have been in bed asleep. Yet, I always manage to find things that keep my interest more than sleep. I really should find a healthier hobby than browsing the web when I can't sleep. But, that's a story for another day.

Today's story is about an event that will be going on this November. I found an article on another blog that I encourage you to read. You can find it at The Millennial Freemason. It is a great article about our brethren in Australia who are starting a campaign against a disease that takes lives all time. It affects all parts of our body and some people don't even realize they have it. Cancer.

Now, for those of you who have no idea anything about my life I have been through a personal experience of cancer. I myself did not have it, and I will truly be blessed if I am never diagnosed with cancer. I did have a cousin who fought with cancer. Her fight with Leukemia was a terrible fight and unfortunately she didn't make it. My cousin Emily passed away at the age of 4 to this deadly disease. Women all over the world suffer from Breast cancer, but did you know men suffer from it too? Cancer doesn't affect just one race, or gender. It affects everyone and it affects everyone around the person diagnosed. We can fight this problem together and through the "Movember Movement" sprouting out of Australian Freemason Lodges we can come together as an entire global institution of brethren.

You can get involved by going to the website: Movember. From there you can donate and register to participate in the Mustache November activity. The site tells you all about the movement with some inspiring stories from brothers who have suffered and fought Cancer and some that are still fighting this horrific disease. Even though I do not grow the best mustache in the world any everyone knows it.. I will most definitely be participating in every way I can. Please join me hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder to combat cancer.

This song makes me sing this song by Brandon Heath asking the Great Architect for something that we all need in our lives..."Give me your love for humanity Give me your arms for the broken hearted Ones that are far beyond my reach. Give me your heart for the ones forgotten Give me your eyes so I can see"

Travel Lightly,

Bro. Aaron R. Gardner
Flushing Lodge 223, Flushing Michigan

Freemasonry and Politics

It is no secret that within a constituted lodge we Free and Accepted Masons do not talk about the city, state or national politics while the lodge is opened for business. There are reasons for this. One, it helps keep us on track for work instead of bickering about "should've, could've, would've's". Next, politics has the capability to tear families apart based on their differences. What could it do to a lodge of brothers?

I am not going to declare my political party here in this blog. One, as a Soldier I can not legally tell you one way or the other how I believe. I have every right to vote and have every right to talk about politics just as any one person, as long as I do not declare myself as a Soldier. Well, that has been declared in the About The Author page and post. I WILL tell you that I stand by the Constitution with all my heart and soul. I believe that our nation should be ran based off these beliefs of the Constitution. As should any American. But most specifically any Freemason should believe in the Constitution and should be against anyone or thing against it.

The Nation was founded upon Masonic Values. Many tend to believe that the nation was founded upon Christian values, however if you really look into the history of the Revolution it was all about Freemasonry. The idea of brotherly love, religious tolerance, equality. It speaks of things we do within the lodge and have been since the beginning of Freemasonry. I would even say that our nation was originally suppose to not have political parties. President and Brother George Washington stated in his farewell his strong resentment towards political parties. He believed that political parties though can accomplish things for groups it weakens the government by distracting the leaders duties and responsibilities by the lust of power. I am afraid to say that our nation has fallen away from our original masonic beliefs and Brother Washington was right about political factions. Our nation started falling apart when a non-mason was elected as president under the political affiliation of the "Federalists". Our nation began to divide amongst different political beliefs literally right after our first president. It was between the Federalist's and the Democratic-Republicans. Now its between the Democrats and the Republicans.
Why not vote based on what we were founded upon? A Republic of equality, and Religious Freedom. More importantly, lets set aside all of our differences as a nation meet at the level part at the square and be a nation of Americans; not Republicans, Democrats, Gays or Straights. Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, or Native Americans. Christians, Jews, Buddhists or Muslims.
We are all men. We are all brothers. We are all Americans and what happens on Capitol Hill affects all of us equally. Don't vote for the lesser evil. Vote for what you believe in. I believe in the United States of America, The land of the free and the home of the brave. God Bless This Country.

Fraternally,
Bro. Aaron R. Gardner
Flushing Lodge 223, Flushing Michigan

Is Your Lodge Missing Something?

This idea I have been pondering about this for awhile. However, a brother from the lodge I have been attending has inspired me to actually write on this. What is causing so many Masons to not attend the regular lodge meetings?

Lets look at some things we can do in order to improve our attendance. So many Masons are not getting what they want out of the lodge. We pride ourselves on our slogan of "Making Good Men Better". Yet, it appears that we do not do much of anything in order to do so. We attend the minutes twice a month and vote on certain items within the lodge. Then in between our normal lodge minutes we meet and we go through the ceremonies. Which is great, I love the ceremonies of bringing a man into the fraternity, or raising him to the sublime degree of Master Mason. But what about the times when we aren't going through the ceremonies? We open, we talk about old business, new business, and close. For a lot of younger Masons, or even Older Masons, if we wanted to do that we would go to town hall meetings. What we want as Master Masons is to be better men. We joined the fraternity we are accepted amongst our brothers and now we want to help ourselves become better.

I was reading an article the other day on a program that the Missouri Grand Lodge is putting in effect. It involves classes every normal meeting that a lodge has they go through a class. Or they have a certain subject they are going to address and talk about. Many of us Mason's in today's lodges do not learn anything from the lodge itself. We learn from other Masons from other lodges, from other states, countries, etc. We learn from books we find on the Internet or in bookstores and quite frankly we learn from fellow Master Masons by what they write. I wrote an article for Freemason Network that involved being a gentleman. I am considering posting it on this blog as well. The over all basis of the article is how we should act as Men, Lovers, and Fathers. How we are all of them in one and the head of the household. Taking care of what is ours, and being a good role model. This would be a great subject to talk about in the lodge.

If it isn't the subject of being a gentleman, it should be the basic principles of man, or how about the basic studies of Freemasonry? We have so many symbols and meanings behind them that not all of the are talked about within the ceremonies. We could help newly made Masons really learn what they are suppose to know within our regular meetings. If we just didn't go there to solely socialize in the basements eating and rushing out of there as soon as the Lodge is called to closing.

I highly suggest that we talk to the officers in our lodge and tell them what we need as Master Masons. We need Masonic Education how we go about doing it depends on us as individual lodges or even Grand Lodges to determine how we do it, but we need to do it either way. It will break up the monotony of just going every meeting to hear old business, new business and close. For the better of Masonry.

Travel Lightly Brethren,

Bro. Aaron R. Gardner
Flushing Lodge 223, Flushing Michigan

About Me

I have come to realize that there is nothing on this blog about who I am. There is on the other blog titled Cornerstone Central on Freemason Network. If you would like to check out that site please do I post more information about Freemasonry on that site than any other. In order to sign up for the website know your own personal Masonic Information. It will take a little bit of a process in order to sign up. As for this site, you do not have to be a Freemason in order to view hence why there is going to be less on this site than the other. With that said more about me:

I was born as Aaron Robert Gardner on the 23rd day of the 3rd month in 1989. That means I am 23 years old and represent a younger generation within the lodge. I am a Soldier in the United States Army and have been for 6 years. I have been all over the United States, Europe, Africa and parts of the Middle East. I am a huge history buff and love to learn World history as well as American history from every era. I thrive off social interaction and just love to meet people from every aspect of life. I like to read and learn everything I can. If I do not know something that someone asks about I will research it until I feel pretty comfortable with the material. 

I would like to get to know you a little more as my readers and viewers. It will help determine exactly what I should be posting on this blog to better accommodate what my audience wants to and likes to read. If you have questions about who I am or anything in general rather it be about my personal experiences or Freemasonry please feel free to email me. I am always open to meet new people, talk with them, and share each others experiences.

Fraternally,

              Bro. Aaron R. Gardner

Welcome to Look 2 the East!
 This is the blog that I have decided to spin off Freemasonnetwork.org. Unfortunately, I could not keep the same name of Cornerstone Central. I had to find something that hasn't been used yet on Blogger.com. This blog will basically mirror the blog on Cornerstone Central however, it will not divulge any Masonic Secrets. If you have anything you would like for me to write about please feel free to send me an email at the email I set up specifically for Blogger.com Freemason0323@gmail.com.

Have a good day.

Bro. Aaron Robert Gardner
Flushing Lodge 223, Flushing MI