A Mason's Work

The mind defaults to measurement. It ranks, sorts, and evaluates without being asked to. Workman's Rules Six and Seven, drawn from Brian Mattocks' book A Mason's Work, address exactly what happens when that ranking process bleeds into moral territory — when observations about other people's circumstances become verdicts about their character or worth. The result is a world populated entirely by he

Show Notes

The mind defaults to measurement. It ranks, sorts, and evaluates without being asked to. Workman's Rules Six and Seven, drawn from Brian Mattocks' book A Mason's Work, address exactly what happens when that ranking process bleeds into moral territory — when observations about other people's circumstances become verdicts about their character or worth. The result is a world populated entirely by heroes and jerks, with you uncomfortably wedged somewhere in between.

Compassion, as it's treated here, is not tolerance or excuse-making. It is the honest recognition that most of what separates people — where they were born, how they were educated, what resources surrounded them growing up — was not chosen. The karmic dice, as Brian puts it, land differently for everyone. That doesn't erase accountability, but it does dismantle the reflex to turn someone else's circumstances into a character judgment. Masonic tools like the gauge, the square, and the plumb are meant for measuring your own work — not for sizing up the people around you.

This episode opens a week-long examination of the comparison engine: what it is, how it distorts both self-perception and perception of others, and what becomes possible when you start to redirect it.

  • Workman's Rules Six and Seven from A Mason's Work
  • How the brain converts observation into moral verdict
  • The hero/jerk trap and why it leaves no room for nuance
  • Compassion as clarity, not indulgence
  • Accidents of birth versus personal accountability
  • Using Masonic tools on yourself instead of on others

Start paying attention to how often you look up or look down at others throughout your day — that awareness is the beginning of something useful.

Free Lodge Resource: Download the A Mason's Work Discussion Guide - a free, printable discussion guide for your lodge education night. No signup required.

Ready to go deeper? A Mason's Work - the operative method in full. Or bring Brian to your lodge: Virtual Lodge Education Session - $250.

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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.