Who is Scribe Nehemiah ? – Inner Peace
Continuing on from the Officers of the Lodge 6 part series, we progress on to the Royal Arch.
This is number 1 of a 5 part tutorial series on the Royal Arch Officers.
Each part published monthly in The Square.
Royal Arch Officers: Janitor, Sojourners, Scribe Nehemiah, Scribe Ezra, Principals.
In order to achieve enlightenment it is necessary to have an ‘inner peace’, a calmness of the mind in the midst of turmoil and stress.
They say that knowledge is power. The knowledge of yourself and the world around you, along with those Three Great Lights, will give you that power and that strength for your journey to find your inner peace, your centre, for you will know all you need to know.
In the Holy Royal Arch, the journey is to find your spiritual centre, which is in Jerusalem the representation of your faith.
In Craft Masonry you found your true self; in the Holy Royal Arch you are in search of the true meaning of your faith.
Scribe Nehemiah
Who was he and what does he represent?
The less known Biblical figure, Nehemiah, returned to Jerusalem following the Babylonian Exile in 445 B.C. as the provincial governor of Judah.
On a night walk to survey the walls protecting the city he noticed where the walls were breached (Nehemiah 2:12–15) and enlisted the help of the community, companions, to quickly repair those breaches.
He also persuaded them to set up guards to defend against the constant threat of those who opposed their efforts, including the armies of Samaria, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites.
Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem, illustration by Adolf Hult, 1919
IMAGE LINKED: wikimedia Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Why did W. L. Wilmshurst use Nehemiah as a guide in his book the ‘Meaning of Masonry’?
Nehemiah represents that part of your mind that repairs the ‘wall’ around your faith.
When you have doubts in yourself or doubts in your faith the Companions will assist you in the healing and repairing of those doubts as the community helped repair the breaches in the wall found by Nehemiah.
Nehemiah represents the guide that identifies the dangers and produces strategies to overcome them.
The strategies include prayer, meditation, yoga, tai chi or similar practices depending on your faith or life circumstances.
Conclusion
After travelling together to Jerusalem, the sojourners, skilled men, showed their humility taking on unskilled labour.
It was with humility and working together that they found the ‘Light’. So it is with humility and endeavour, and with the aid of your Companions that you will find what you are looking for, in the most surprising of places, and in the most humble of situations.
You will find the strength to endure, the wisdom to comprehend and the beauty to see. You will find your ‘centre’.
A place of simplicity, calmness and true happiness.
Action
Take a moment to look and see the beauty that is around you and give thanks to your God.
Footnotes
References
The Meaning of Masonry – W. L. Wilmshurst. 1920
Ego is the Enemy – Ryan Holiday
Sojourner Oxford Bibliographies – John R. Spencer
Why is ego the enemy, and what we can do about it. – Ameet Ranadive
The Toxic Ego – Blog :Thoughts and Musing on the Ever Advancing Creation – Solan McClean
The Power of Now – Eckhart Toll
Cambridge Dictionary – dictionary.cambridge.org
Holy Royal Arch Ritual Book.
Article by: Stephen J. Goulding
Stephen was initiated into Freemasonry in 1978 in Tylney Lodge No. 5856 (UGLE). He was Master in 1989 & 2004.
He was Master of the Lodge of Union 38 (UGLE) in 2018. He is also a PZ in the Holy Royal Arch and PM in the Mark Degree.
Stephen served 30 years in the Metropolitan Police Service (London, England) before going into education in 2000, where he became a college lecturer and a mentor for both the college and the University of Greenwich (London, England). Now retired, he teaches Tai Chi and Qigong in the community.
Facebook: Steve Goulding-Tai Chi West Sussex–Chi at Chi
The Meaning of Masonry
By W.L. WILMSHURST
Although the Freemasons number over six million members worldwide, they are a very secretive organization. the general public today thinks of them as a social fraternity like the Rotary Club, but that is hardly the whole truth.
By mysterious coincidence, it seems, many Masons have been major figures in modern history. many of the Founding Fathers of the United States—including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere—were Freemasons.
Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian freedom fighter, was also one, as were the composers Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and writers François Marie Arouet de Voltaire and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The Meaning of Masonry explores the beliefs behind the order, its cryptic rites and symbols, and uncovers its ultimate purpose.
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