A Mason's Work

This episode examines the behavioral application of the Plumb, focusing on what it means to stay grounded without becoming rigid. The Plumb is used to test whether behavior remains aligned with values and truth, especially under movement, pressure, or temptation.

🔑 Key Takeaways
  • Grounding is dynamic, not rigid or stubborn.
  • The plumb moves, swings, and settles — behavior works the same way.
  • Staying still long enough allows truth to reassert itself.
  • Behavioral alignment must be tested against values, not outcomes.
  • Pro-social behaviors can still be “out of plumb” if misapplied.
💬 Featured Quotes
  • “From a behavior level, the plumb is the ability to stay true regardless of the circumstances.” (0:00–0:13)
  • “That grounding is not to be confused with rigidity or stubbornness.” (0:34–0:45)
  • “You’ll note that it moves. It swings.” (0:56–1:01)
  • “It has a tendency… to move in an equal and opposite direction.” (1:01–1:08)
  • “It’s a very dynamic kind of thing, even though ironically, it always points at the center of the earth.” (1:08–1:17)
  • “If you stop moving, it stops moving and points to ground.” (1:59–2:08)
  • “Is my behavior in alignment with a grounded behavior?” (2:39–2:45)
  • “Is it the true way to go about solving the problem in a right way, in a moral way?” (2:48–2:58)
  • “Whatever is grounding your behaviors… you should occasionally take inventory of your behavior.” (3:13–3:27)
  • “Is the behavior I’m undertaking pulling me off of that truth?” (3:27–3:39)
  • “If you’re undertaking a set of behaviors that isn’t true to who you are… you’re operating out of plumb.” (4:37–4:54)
  • “Some of the behaviors you have may be pro social… but they are being used in a way that is out of plumb.” (5:29–5:57)
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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.

From a behavior level, the plumb is the ability to stay true regardless of the circumstances.

Now, there is some important things to kind of get for lay of the land here.

Let's start with the easy stuff.

The plumb, again, given the functional use of it, is to point the gravity to the center of the earth.

That grounding is not to be confused with rigidity or stubbornness.

If you've ever held a plumb line and if you don't have one that's fine, you can take any piece of string and put a weight on it for just a second and build your own,

so you can get the physical sense of it.

I recommend you do that.

You'll note that it moves.

It swings.

It has a tendency based on how you move to kind of move in an equal and opposite direction.

It's a very dynamic kind of thing, even though ironically, it always points at a center of the earth.

In a lot of ways, it's just like a compass.

If you take a magnetic compass from your scouting days or what have you, if you have those, you can put that in your hand and that little magnetic needle in there tends to wobble and move around.

It will eventually come to rest and point to a direction.

Plumb is the same thing. It's a dynamic kind of thing.

It will move a little bit and eventually, if you're still enough, it will stop.

It'll stop moving and point to ground.

And in that behavior, in many ways is all the instruction you need.

In the fact that if you stop moving, it stops moving and points to ground,

that's an instructive meditation in and of itself.

When we look at plumb though as well, we want to understand what it means internally.

So we can look at our own behavior and say, hey, I am doing x or y or z, whatever those are.

I am, is my behavior in alignment with a grounded behavior?

Am I using the behavior the way it's the outcome that I'm trying to get to?

Is it the right behavior for that outcome?

Is it the true way to go about solving the problem in a right way, in a moral way, in a way that makes sense, in a way that doesn't hurt people?

Whatever those, whatever your grounding is, and that's usually grounded in values, it's grounded in beliefs, it's grounded in religion, whatever, whatever take you have on that, right?

Whatever is grounding your behaviors, you should occasionally take inventory of your behavior and evaluate it for its ability to help you.

In a grounded way to, is the behavior I'm undertaking pulling me off of that truth?

So this happens a lot with behaviors that maybe are addictive, for example.

So your abuse of food or substances or chemicals or any of the kind of media, whatever those abuses might be, put them right on the list.

And is this behavior helping me accomplish my objectives?

Is this behavior true to who I am as a person? Is this behavior the kind of thing that's going to.

Allowing to who I am as a person? Now I want to be clear here, the role of the square is to determine if the behavior is going to deliver the objective, right?

So the square is all about testing it for essentially fitness for purpose.

The plum is about centering your behavior and yourself and your beliefs and all of that kind of stuff.

Fitness for purpose ideally is again a different tool, but at the same time, if you're undertaking a set of behaviors that isn't true to who you are and is delivering an outcome you don't want, you're operating out of plum.

I'll give you a personal example.

For me, approval seeking behavior in a lot of cases, wanting other people to kind of like me and like who I am oftentimes actually pulls me off of my true self and my true work.

And, and if I don't figure out how to rein that in, I am going to be operating out of plum.

I mean that the behavior itself is bad. It means that relative to who I am as a person and what my objectives are, what I believe some behaviors or my goals are, it means that that behavior isn't serving.

So, you know, a lot of the things will you'll come to find out particularly when you start sitting with the plum is that a lot of the behaviors you have may be pro social, they may be generally good behaviors, moral behaviors, but they are being used in a way that is not.

They're being used in a way that's out of plum with kind of the design intent with what you're trying to do with where you're heading where you need to go and what your objectives are.

And so the plum should sitting with the plum should help you sort of make some connections there and as you go through that sort of behavior inventory, maybe move some behaviors in and out or more aligned or less aligned with the plum.