A Mason's Work

To follow well is to learn deeply. In this episode, we explore the relational dimension of the Entered Apprentice — the apprenticeship of humility, listening, and repetition. Progress in Masonry and in life begins when we release the need for mastery and learn to serve the work itself. This is where obedience becomes understanding.

🔑 Key Takeaways
  • Learning begins with humility — to follow before leading, to act before evaluating.
  • True growth in relationship comes from receptivity, patience, and trust.
  • Following with intention transforms imitation into mastery.
💬 Featured Quotes
  • 0:00:04 — “In the relational understanding of the Entered Apprentice, it’s inherent to the process to learn how to follow.”
  • 0:00:23 — “There’s an old saying: lead, follow, or get out of the way — and here, it’s about learning how to follow.”
  • 0:00:37 — “It’s execution before evaluation in a lot of cases.”
  • 0:00:47 — “Like many skills, you must learn by doing before you can reflect on what’s been done.”

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.

In the relational understanding of the

entered apprentice maintenance degree or that reflective understanding,

it is inherent to the process of the entered apprentice

maintenance and to essentially learn how to follow for lack of a better way to say it.

There's an old, I guess,

folk wisdom kind of saying lead follower, get the F out of the way.

And in the entered apprentice maintenance process,

particularly from a relational perspective, it is in learning how to follow.

It is execution before evaluation in a lot of cases.

So when you are in a space where you are learning in particular,

like a lot of skills, you have to learn them with the effort of another.

You have to learn them as a result of somebody else's hard work,

or you take a mentor or you are following it's somebody else's footsteps.

There is an inherent relationship developed where there's going to be someone with expertise

giving you the entered apprentice insight and direction on how to execute.

And there's a tension in that as you're an entered apprentice Mason, right?

You're going to want to ask a lot of questions because you want to know why.

And good mentors will take some time to explain that to you.

Great mentors will help create an experience where you learn why organically through the process.

When you are trying to figure out kind of what to do and what not to do,

the very first thing you should default to is execute.

Again, this is like we talked about in the last episode.

A lot of this isn't at bat kind of situation when you're learning something new.

And from a relational perspective, you can't, if we're using the baseball analogy,

it doesn't make sense to ask why the picture is through every pitch that you can't hit.

Why do you do that? Why do you do that?

That doesn't really help you get better at swinging the bat.

What we'll have you get better at swinging the bat is learning how to take every pitch thrown at you.

And so when you start to understand this relationship and understand that your role as an apprentice,

in a lot of ways, is this just following?

It is the receptive nature.

You get to take these experiences and execute without that evaluation.

When we talk about the other degrees, you're going to get that sort of meaningful evaluation back

as you start looking at outcomes. But in the beginning, you're not overly focused on the outcomes,

you're focused on the process. So when it comes to how to use this in your everyday life,

when it comes to it, there is, there are experts in every field and there is unwritten wisdom

available to you in everyone that has executed this thing, whatever it is you're trying to learn.

Everyone that's already done it knows something. If you imagine that they have a secret that

just haven't told you yet, you put on your beginner's mind and start asking good questions.

And you'll find that, again, you ask good questions when the time is appropriate for

to ask good questions. So let me be clear, you'll be able to surface this wisdom and understanding

that is very difficult for an instructor to transmit largely because, again, the way that

mechanic works more often than not, an editor apprentice Mason or an editor apprentice in

any field is going to be trying to figure out the why things work, the how things work, the

what's going on without the execution side. So they don't often get the chance as an instructor,

or as somebody who's trying to mentor you, to surface the insight or wisdom that you are learning

again for the first time. So as you receive these things, as you receive this understanding from them,

again, let's say it's baseball or what have you. They're not going to necessarily have

an understanding about how to explain to you all the little things they already know.

What you should work to do is help to allow that information to come through you. And then,

of course, you're going to feed that back. Like, oh, this is the part I was missing in case you

were curious for the next guy. This is the thing that I needed that you just helped me find through

more at-bats or more pitches or whatever. When you are working on us on your own, where you are

trying to solve this problem without the benefit of a mentor, understand that that probably,

for a lack of a way to say it doesn't really happen. Even if you are learning something new on your

own, there is somebody else who's gone that path before you in a learning process perspective.

So there's a book out there that somebody's written down their expertise,

use that feedback, follow the exercises, even the ones you think are stupid. And you'll find that

in every one of those at-bats and every one of those attempts, you are effectively getting

into the mind of somebody who's done it before you and taking on that follower role to help you move

forward.