Balancing Time with Masonry's Tools: A Level-Headed Approach

Dive into Masonry's novel take on time management as we discuss the profound life lessons behind the level and 24-inch gauge. Learn to balance daily activities, assess long-term prospects, and navigate life's emotional rollercoasters with timeless guidance.

Key Points
• Masonry's tools for time assessment
• Balancing life with the 24-inch gauge
• Using the level for life reflection
• Contextualizing life's moments
• Handling emotional responses wisely

Best Quotes
00:01 - 00:06
• "Masonry has a couple of tools specifically devoted to the concept of time."

00:54 - 01:04
• "With the 24 inch gauge, you really are taught that your time is proportional and it should be invested specifically in certain ways."

02:07 - 02:17
• "The level is really more of an a, a, a sanity check, like a plum or, or something like that, like, you know, the other tools in the craft."

03:49 - 03:58
• "Is the situation going to be different in a day? If I don't take action, or if I do take action, is it gonna be different in a week?"

05:03 - 05:35
• "The, you will often make decisions that are calamitous. So as you're looking to use the level appropriately and to essentially better separate its function from the 24 inch gauge, ask those questions to yourself when you're in those moments of sort of emotional turmoil and help you, it'll, it should help you contextualize against the entirety of your life, the specific response that you're experiencing."

Creators & Guests

Host

Brian Mattocks

Host and Founder of A Mason's Work - a podcast designed to help you use symbolism to grow. He's been working in the craft for over a decade and served as WM, trustee, and sat in every appointed chair in a lodge - at least once :D

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.

00:01
Masonry has a couple of tools specifically devoted to the concept of time. One of those is the level, and one of them is the 24 inch gauge. The level is much more of a global time evaluation in terms of reconciling how you operate on a day-to-day basis relative to the timeline of your life. It is very much the, the idea that everything has a season, and that in that, you need to be mindful of how much time you spend worrying about certain things or delivering certain activities or doing certain tasks. With the 24 inch gauge, you get quite a, a different kind of take on time. With the 24 inch gauge, you really are taught that your time is proportional and it should be invested specifically in certain ways. Now, the guidance in the ritual about, you know, eight hours for, for each refreshment sleep, just relief of worthy distress, brethren and your usual vocation are guidelines more than anything else.

01:18
But the, the real sort of idea of a 24 inch gauge is how you distribute your, your time allotment on a daily basis should be balanced, whereas the, the level in comparison gives you that sort of global timescale. So when you're sitting there and you are in reflection, you're looking at your, your sort of day to day, one of the things that makes sense is working with the level to really evaluate the, the amount of time and attention you're giving a thing, right? So unlike a planful application of the 24 inch gauge, where it's like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna schedule, I'm going to, you know, do my time management, the level is really more of an a, a, a sanity check, like a plum or, or something like that, like, you know, the other tools in the craft. It is very much a, I'm in a, you know, in a, in a situation here where I'm not sure about, you know, how, how am I, how I'm responding? Am I, am I overreacting? Am I underreacting? Do I need to adjust my delivery? Do I need to adjust my behaviors in this context? And that level of time really is that, essentially that that tool that's gonna help you assess on the, the gauges whether or not you're in the red, right? So, so how will you do this? What's

02:59
A good way to approach applying that tool? When you are in a situation where you, you are confronted with a disproportionate emotional response, I am reacting strongly to something that I'm not sure I understand fully, or I am taking something very, very seriously, and perhaps maybe I shouldn't. When you're having a strong emotional response or a strong behavioral response or a compulsive behavioral response, one of the first things you want to do is sit down and ask yourself the following questions. These are, these are great for kind of a short, medium, and long term evaluations. So first, is the situation going to be different in a day? If I don't take action, or if I do take action, is it gonna be different in a week? If I do or don't take action, is it gonna be different in months or years? Will I be thinking about this as strongly in 10 years as I am right now, or feeling about this as strongly in 10 years as I'm right now?

04:12
That application that those, those series of questions that you use, the level to get to, will help you take perhaps some of what feels like a rollercoaster ride in the moment, and contextualize the bumps and trials and tribulations in such a way that you don't, in the middle of a, let's say, an emotional flurry, make lifelong decisions. This is a big deal when it comes to giving yourself an appropriate, for example, or an appropriate refractory period after a death or a major life event, a wedding don't immediately make strong emotional decisions or strong decision or lifelong decisions in a situation where you are going to have strong emotions. The, you will often make decisions that are calamitous. So as you're looking to use the level appropriately and to essentially better separate its function from the 24 inch gauge, ask those questions to yourself when you're in those moments of sort of emotional turmoil and help you, it'll, it should help you contextualize against the entirety of your life, the specific response that you're experiencing. See you next time.