Veonor M. Sotak, 32
Arvada, Colorado

Masonry, as a “temple of the minds of men,” constantly needs new builders if it is to meet the challenges of life and time.

Upon a hilltop, I once saw a building, and I was told it was a Temple. What a Temple it must have been, but now it looked like a relic. One could hardly see it, for it was covered with the vines of years and was now nearly buried in the undergrowth of time.

Then one day, I saw men putting up a building, but it was not a building one would normally see. Each man was shaping his own stone before he put it into place. It was as if each man knew that the stone he was given was not in the form he would like it to be. As each man cared for his own life--circumscribing his desires and emotions--so each stone was carved. It was shaped from the alembic of the mind that formed it, and so the stone became a part of him. As time went by and each stone was put into place, one could see that as each stone was different, so each man was different. In their own way, as they cradled each stone into place, it was as if they were giving birth to a new thing, a place that would be the repository of the identities and characters of all the men involved.

The building became a Temple of the minds of men who knew that, as they traveled, the journey was not random and meaningless, but a journey to seek wisdom and make life a purposeful pursuit, a journey that would never be fruitful unless one is prepared. Those who have travelled before knew the nature of life. They knew that if experience is not pressed through a matrix of guided direction, the true meaning of life can be lost in the mirage of futility. Thus men of destiny prepared others for a meaningful destiny.

So it was. The stones were put into place and became a building which, because of each builder’s effort, became an image of the spirits and minds of these men. How important always to remember that this Temple must be renewed by new men, men who will always keep a clear vision of the importance of man and of his destiny. Let us not live to see this Temple of the mind destroyed by the vines of time.