The Level and the Deferred Life Plan

This episode confronts the quiet danger of deferral—the belief that fulfillment lies somewhere beyond the present moment. Drawing on the Masonic symbol of the Level, it examines our relationship with time, mortality, and the myths of “someday.” True labor, it argues, cannot be postponed. 

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Projecting fulfillment into the future often leads to inaction.
• The Masonic Level reminds us that life only unfolds in the present.
• “One day” thinking is a comforting lie that shields us from discomfort now.

💬 Featured Quotes

We plan for a tomorrow that will never come. — [00:00:23]
One day when I’m rich, one day when I’m healthy, one day when I am, uh, old and frail… — [00:00:25]
Those experiences in some far off imagined future aren’t necessarily useful. — [00:00:42]

🔗 Explore Related Episodes

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• The Gavel and the Temptation to Settle
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• Put On Your Apron: Becoming the Mason You Were Raised to Be
  Calls Masons into action—today, not tomorrow—by challenging symbolic procrastination.

Creators and 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.

I want to take a minute to talk about something that got me tripped up for a very, very long

time.

Uh, most of my life is packed.

Uh, and one of the things that we remember when we start talking about the under,

Masonic understanding of time, uh, is that in many ways we plan for a tomorrow that

will never come.

Uh, one day when I'm rich, one day when I'm healthy, one day when I am, uh, old and frail

or, you know, uh, whatever those sort of, uh, daydreaming kind of thoughts, those experiences

in some far off imagined future, um, aren't necessarily useful.

Uh, and I say that with a huge, you know, caveat and grain assault, uh, one, we talk about

the, uh, the one day in the future, we never imagine, uh, the things that stay the same.

Uh, I'll give you an example, uh, one day in the future when I'm rich, uh, and famous

and whatever else.

I don't think that, uh, I think about how much different my life is going to be.

I often forget to include like, I'm still going to need to eat breakfast or I'm still going

to need to exercise every day or I'm still going to need to, you know, do all the tasks

required for daily hygiene.

This is a productive lens to use when evaluating your future goals and objectives, because

what happens when we daydream is we often decouple, uh, from life.

We decouple from the concepts, uh, the, the, the sort of harsh realities of everyday

living, uh, in our dream future, we don't imagine it's going to be raining or we don't

imagine it's going to be hot or cold or what have you.

Our dream futures, uh, oftentimes neglect reality.

And in becoming separate from reality, we also essentially guarantee that they are never going to

come. So when we start to do the work to take the steps required to do the work like we talked

about in the last episode, to get from point A to point B, uh, we stop daydreaming about this

manufactured, uh, wonderful reality and we start executing on the steps required to get there.

Now I caveat, caveat all of that to say, you know, it's important to have goals.

It's important to have, uh, dreams and hopes and aspirations.

But because they are not envisioned in a real life, uh, they neglect all of the real life

constraints required to either overcome or embrace to make that happen.

So as you're doing your work, as you are, uh, reflecting on where you want to go and how you're

going to get there, uh, it makes more sense to lean into what you know you have to do.

I know I will need a vacation. I know I will need, uh, to perform daily exercise or hygiene.

I know I will continue to need to eat, right? Despite, uh, wouldn't it be great if I didn't have to.

Um, all of that understanding then allows you to actually use those structural underpinnings

of a life to create those aspirational experiences that you're looking to, to build.

So lean into those supporting behaviors, figure out how you might use those to help you achieve

your objectives and in doing that, your daydreams will become closer and closer and closer

to your active reality.