Reflection

The Cable Tow

The Real Noose Around Our Neck

“Release yourself — only you can.” A White Rabbit column on what the cable-tow really binds, and why no one else can loosen it for you.

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The cable-tow is one of the most simple concepts in Masonry, right? Or is it? It certainly feels cut and dry with the way the current ritual would have us believe. However, as with most of our rituals, we tend to only retain the face value words we learn without any real study or meditation. In fact, another word we gloss over is meditation! But that rabbit hole is for another day.

I hear Brothers use the term with a little more frequency than I would like to hear, to be honest — mainly as an excuse for time, which is frankly as loosely attached to the actual lesson as can be. Which I will explain. The actual lesson to be retained is with regards to our mind and conscience. A recurring theme from the beginning of our journey, actually.

When we are standing outside the doors of Freemasonry, we really have no idea what the Craft has to offer. Generally speaking, we join for one or two of several reasons in my opinion: simple curiosity, family legacy, the history of our forefathers, the ancient mysteries in theology and philosophy, philanthropy, and plain ole fraternity and fellowship. We have many preconceived notions in relation to Freemasonry — even those expressed to us by our recommenders as we started our journey. However, like our ritual, it extends a little deeper.

Have you ever meditated on all of the events that have made you who you are? What has really contributed to shaping your thoughts and feelings — yes, both. We are talking about our mind and conscience: that which has manifested our morals, character, spirit, and our spirituality. On top of all the layers of events, consider all the people in your life, good and bad, that were part of those events. In “White Rabbit” fashion, we should go deeper and consider that our feelings toward those people affect our events as well — which creates the priority of how both the event itself and the people in it impact how we recall that event, and the depth to which it contributes to your life as imagined in your mind and conscience. No, this isn’t a therapy session, but it is a picture I want to paint to help you understand the gravity of the cable-tow that is around your neck when you approach Freemasonry. It can be quite heavy. In fact, most often it is that cable-tow that prevents men from even joining. They simply cannot give up their own thoughts on matters of the world to open their mind to the beautiful lessons we have an opportunity to learn. But the lesson here is that all of our preconceived notions are what impacts what we learn, how we learn, and how we retain it. Sometimes it can even create a false understanding of a lesson, principle, or even an outside event, because someone else told us one side of it and left out the other — creating an impression on our minds where we were never given the opportunity to shape our own opinions as free thinkers.

What is most scary to me is that within our own Brotherhood — myself included — we are still living in bondage today because of what could not be left outside the door. Many times this bondage is what stifles a lodge, because we infuse our own beliefs into the lessons, practices, and traditions that were never intended to be manipulated by us. On the other side, sometimes we stifle the traditions and practices that are meant to be flexible and organic in nature, caused by a dogma we created that stifles our freedom of expression and thought — removing the rhetoric that Freemasonry requires to grow as men and Masons. Without challenging conversations, how will we sharpen ourselves? How will we get to that perfect stone if we are not willing to remove our blemishes? Those new decisions for ourselves only get changed when we learn new ways we may not have considered before becoming a Mason.

In conclusion, my Brothers, we decide our cable-tow. No one else. We have the freedom to decide our priorities. We get to decide our schedules. We decide if we are willing to be a mentor to others, and if we can be taught further by another. We can decide if we can approach each Brother with love, even if we do not always agree, knowing that he loves this Craft just like we do and is only trying to bring to the table what he believes is good for the Craft — offering what he can. When we release our cable-tows, we allow ourselves to learn new things, and even try new things, by opening ourselves up to Masonry and to each other, as the good men and better Brothers that we want to be. We decide how open we are to all the light that is available to us. Thank you, and I hope you enjoyed this edition of The White Rabbit.