A walk with the dogs

My son Menno (right) with his friend (left) playing with our dog (in Summer)

Friday 2 February I had my evening with the Freemasons. Being a member now for 13 years, I know what to tell about it and what not. There was a time many Freemasons’ wives didn’t even know that their husband was a member and that everything that was going on in their meetings was top secret, but nowadays we are less mysterious about it. Please see the website of Dutch freemasonry here, there you can also be linked to the site of our lodge “De Friesche Trouw” in Leeuwarden. Anyway, there was a discussion about Mozart’s opera “The magic Flute” which many consider to be “Freemason’s opera”. I think there are certainly elements in it that Freemasonry also uses in their ceremonies, but I think it is more a “Life career opera” using ritual acts that are derived from alchemy. In old Masonic paintings and pictures you often see symbols that we now don’t know about anymore, but at that time most educated people had their associations with, and they often derived from alchemy. Alchemy is nowadays associated with searching for a method to turn a stone into a lump of gold, at least by people who never read anything about it. In the 18th century many Freemasons had a hobby in alchemy which they considered as a way to get access to spiritual knowledge and more understanding of forces in human life and interaction See more about it here. C.G. Jung did elaborate study about it, too. Recently I visited an old lodge building from 1770 and saw a painting on which a putti (baby-like little angel) had a prominent place, and that putti was smoking a pipe! We were too busy with other things then, but I certainly will ask explanation about it some day. Anyway, I love the music of the magic flute and next to “Don Giovanni” I arrange it among the most delicious music Mozart ever wrote.
The next day was a household day, back to earth again: walking with the dogs, the laundry, the shopping, the cleaning of the floor together with my beloved Janine. In the evening we had our 2-monthly Mahjong evening, I and 3 ladies assembled around a game I hardly know. I just play because they need a fourth player, and for being and enjoying good company. What interests me about the game is its history and the symbols it uses. It is extremely “random”: by extensive random rules it is made certain that no player gains advantage by the sequence of the tiles or whatever. Also the wind directions play a role: North-West-East-South, and the East is considered to be left from the South, just the opposite of what we see on maps.
This Saturday, I also had the occasion to read an interview with an outspoken atheist who stated that he hated people who were searching the Truth such as me, had no idea of how everything functioned and what it’s all about in life and world. He is a well-known intellectual in the Netherlands (Max Pam, I’d rather call him Max Spam). He said that Nazism wouldn’t have been emerged if there were no Christianity, and that Hitler considered himself a Roman Catholic. And, I saw how he was right in some respects, which shocked my mind. Didn’t Paul reject Judaic Law? Didn’t Luther persecute the Jews because they wouldn’t accept Jesus as their Saviour? Wasn’t there, before World War II, a wide-spread anti-Semitic tendency in European culture, at least tacitly and sometimes openly, tolerated by Christian churches?
And then, wile walking with the two dogs (one of our own and one guest-dog) I decided that Max Pam was a controversial figure who couldn’t be right: in general, the Jews were a cultural minority and it’s almost a sociological law that cultural minorities, especially when they base themselves upon a different religion, are not loved by the mainstream culture and religion. In times of economic depression this can lead to outburst when the illiterate masses look for a scapegoat. Also, saying that he hated searching people clearly demonstrates that he knows how the world and society are functioning. Well, let him think that if it makes him happy. Thank you for letting me think, dear dogs! Now Janine is walking with them and my little son is making a mess with his little friend, making a bowl of popcorn and, because I wasn’t watching, decorating it with mayonnaise, chips, ketchup, chocolate grains, salt and sugar. Upstairs the toys (pieces of Lego and stuff) are spread around on the floor. Not many 62-year old men are enjoying these pleasures, I think. Oh, I remember I have to make a number of calls and paying some bills today, too. So till next time, dear reader, when I hope to continue with my search to the origins of hospitality, the Truth and God.