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The Big Idea: True wisdom isn't a "magic pill" hidden behind esoteric doors; it’s only valuable if it can be applied to solve real problems in your life right now.
Key Highlights:
- The danger of becoming a "consumer" of mystical secrets rather than a collaborator in your own growth.
- Why interpretive domains like Freemasonry often attract "extreme positions" and "crazy things".
- If a piece of wisdom doesn't make sense yet, stop forcing it—go back to your life, find the friction, and try again later.
Mindfulness Minute: Evaluate one piece of "advice" or "knowledge" you’ve been holding onto. If you can't find a way to use it today, set it aside and focus on your immediate environment.
Memorable Quote: "If you can't use it now, it's not useful."
Creators and Guests
What is A Mason's Work?
In this show we discuss the practical applications of masonic symbolism and how the working tools can be used to better yourself, your family, your lodge, and your community. We help good freemasons become better men through honest self development. We talk quite a bit about mental health and men's issues related to emotional and intellectual growth as well.
[00:00] And so you've probably heard on this channel over the course of the last several years,
[00:08] me say things like don't get attached to outcomes.
[00:12] Getting attached to outcomes is a challenge for a lot of people and really a nightmare
[00:17] scenario long term.
[00:19] And the reason for this, of course, is that if you get attached to outcomes and the work
[00:27] you do doesn't go your way because you don't get the outcome you want, you run afoul of
[00:31] stopping the effort.
[00:33] You get rejected, disappointed, what have you, and then just basically stop doing the thing.
[00:39] That is very difficult for a lot of folks because we are pushed towards mindset in the
[00:48] sort of everyday life that we have to the only thing that matters is the outcome.
[00:53] It's your, you know, it's the number on a scale.
[00:56] It's the number in your bank account.
[00:58] It's, you know, the number of cars in your garage.
[01:03] And that focus distracts you from what is probably the single most important part of the entire
[01:12] process.
[01:13] And that is living.
[01:16] I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but you're supposed to enjoy this stuff.
[01:21] Not the having of things, but the process of acquiring these things.
[01:27] This shift from outcomes to process changes the way you approach all sorts of challenges.
[01:36] You're probably, and this is a kind of a cold, hard truth for a lot of folks.
[01:43] You're probably never going to love the suffering part of the conversation.
[01:50] Right.
[01:52] Right.
[01:52] Uh, the, the strain of lifting weights at the gym, the strain of learning a better way
[02:00] to navigate conflict, the emotional turmoil of coming to grips with somebody who's toxic
[02:08] in your life and having to manage that.
[02:11] There is a ton of realities that happen, uh, along the way towards these outcomes that
[02:19] everyone else is describing on social media as, uh, you know, just do this.
[02:24] There's an instant formula, you know, X plus Y equals Z.
[02:27] And that's almost never true because your life is yours.
[02:34] The processes that you need to cook are for you.
[02:39] And there is no repeatable formula.
[02:43] And I say that with a strong sense of caveats and stuff like that.
[02:48] Um, there are some things that work for most people move more, eat less, right?
[02:55] Or take medicine, whatever the case may be.
[02:57] These are all easy and obvious and legitimate steps that everyone who has been successful
[03:03] at say weight loss has followed.
[03:06] But beyond that, eat less, move more.
[03:11] There is a ton.
[03:12] Oh, what's the phrase?
[03:13] The devil's in the details.
[03:15] There's a ton of nuance there.
[03:17] And you see, if you go online and you look lots of folks fighting over the details of the
[03:24] nuance, eat this, don't eat that.
[03:26] This food's magical.
[03:27] This food's not magical.
[03:28] This food's awful for you.
[03:30] This one causes cancer.
[03:31] This one causes you to have, you know, psychic powers, whatever the case may be.
[03:36] Those sort of nuanced details in a lot of ways, um, should be kind of disregarded.
[03:43] Uh, this, this doesn't mean, you know, uh, go eat, you know, mercury because you think
[03:49] it's tasty.
[03:50] This means don't listen to all of that noise and mistake that for the magic solution.
[03:59] There isn't one.
[04:00] The magic solution is the one that you cook for yourself that works for you.
[04:05] The way you're going to make that work is you're going to start like an entered apprentice.
[04:11] You're going to start as a rough ashlar.
[04:13] You're going to find the easiest way to move the goal, the objective forward without, again,
[04:24] without attaching to that objective as the only purpose.
[04:27] There are some, again, some obvious behaviors that will help you move the conversation forward.
[04:33] For example, eat less, move more, uh, to, uh, you know, to help build a, uh, a body that
[04:38] works for, you know, you achieving greater outcomes, longevity, et cetera, you know, better
[04:43] cognitive benefits.
[04:44] You take that, uh, that overall desire, right?
[04:49] I have a desire to have a body that facilitates my goals.
[04:52] And then you go backwards and you say, okay, it's obvious I need to move more.
[04:57] What can I do?
[04:59] Don't go find the magic exercise that's going to fix it.
[05:04] Uh, because there isn't one, uh, don't go find or looking for the one magic supplement
[05:11] that, you know, I'm missing this in my life.
[05:13] Uh, you know, eat vegetables and fruits and, you know, the appropriate amount of protein
[05:20] and that's good.
[05:22] And what's the appropriate amount?
[05:23] There's general guidance on this.
[05:25] Don't look for specifics.
[05:26] Look for the general guidance because your body is going to respond differently.
[05:30] Your needs are going to be different.
[05:32] This is why almost every YouTuber online, uh, or podcaster or anybody in a field that has
[05:39] even a little bit of nuance to it will say, I am not a doctor or I am not a lawyer or
[05:43] I am not, you know, a professional in this space.
[05:46] I'm telling you what worked for me.
[05:48] Well, that's great.
[05:49] It may have worked for that person, uh, but it may not work for you.
[05:53] So drop all that noise and start with the easiest thing you can do.
[05:59] The smallest practical possible step.
[06:01] And we talked about this a little bit last week, find the baby step for you.
[06:08] And don't worry about how much it moves the needle.
[06:12] The, the, the only needle you really need to monitor for is, um, can I keep doing this
[06:19] on a daily basis?
[06:20] Is this something that, that I can, uh, build into my life?
[06:26] If the answer to that question is yes, good.
[06:29] Then you can maybe expand, add on it, grow it over time, make it something stronger, make
[06:34] it something better.
[06:35] But you're not in a place when you're just starting out to go and consume that nuanced
[06:41] research that somebody may have conducted that may be entirely scientifically valid.
[06:46] Uh, you're not there yet.
[06:47] You're just starting out, put on that apron and get attached to the idea that you're going
[06:54] to try a bunch of stuff and whatever works, whatever feels right, uh, is going to be the
[07:01] place that you start.
[07:02] Uh, and then you start collecting better data and all that kind of stuff that's going
[07:05] to happen with good process refinement.
[07:07] And you're going to achieve those outcomes.
[07:09] Um, but, but don't, again, don't get mired up in that magic pill solution stuff that comes
[07:16] your way because, uh, there's lots of folks out there trying to sell you the magic answer.
[07:23] Uh, you know, take this, take this supplement, take this drug, take, you know, uh, lift this
[07:28] weight in this certain way, uh, go do this exercise.
[07:32] And again, we use weight loss here.
[07:33] This isn't a weight loss channel, but we use weight loss because it's, um, cause it's so
[07:37] well explored.
[07:38] It's so well, uh, discovered out there in the space.
[07:41] The same process applies for all things.
[07:45] If you suck at having conversations and it's okay to suck at having conversations, start with
[07:51] how do I have a conversation?
[07:53] Well, I need to be able to be in a room with somebody and that's going to be a challenge for
[07:57] me because I don't like it.
[08:00] It makes me feel anxious.
[08:01] Okay, cool.
[08:01] Let's break down what the anxiety is.
[08:03] Let's figure out what's causing it.
[08:04] For me, for example, if I don't wear earplugs, the overall background noise, because I have
[08:09] ADHD actually makes it very difficult to hear just the one conversation.
[08:14] I hear them all at the same volume.
[08:16] So a big thing for me to reduce my sinusoidal anxiety actually is to put in, ironically enough,
[08:21] earplugs that help me focus on just one conversation at a time.
[08:25] There's little solutions like this.
[08:27] Again, as you approach solving issues in your life, trying to create better quality, you
[08:33] know, moment by moment, uh, life experience, you're going to need to start to get these
[08:39] little feedback mechanisms go and then reach for information and data that you can use to
[08:44] make small little changes that you can repeat forever and iterate on to improve them.
[08:49] Uh, that's the mechanic.
[08:51] That's the way this works.
[08:52] Uh, if you learn nothing more from this channel, if you do nothing else with the content of what
[08:56] we talk about here, uh, you just, if you can master that, if you can master the art of the
[09:02] start on this stuff, uh, you have already beaten the game.