TO LEARN TO SUBDUE MY PASSIONS
To Learn to Subdue My Passions Darryl Carter Benjamin B. French Lodge No. 15
To learn to subdue my passions” is a simple yet profound prepositional phrase that forms a cornerstone of the Masonic journey. Subduing one’s passions can be understood on an intuitive psychological level. Our Passions are our emotions, and they must be restrained in a manner such that they do not cause injury to self or others. This noble goal is not the absolute elimination of emotion. In fact, in psychiatry, “fl atness of affect”, can be a sign of serious underlying pathology. The goal for a Mason is to harness emotional energy so that it contr ibutes positively to the harmony of the family, place of business, place of worship, and the Masonic lodge, and make certain that the emotional energies do no harm. This noble goal is a lifelong exercise, which most of us, including me, only partially achieve.
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to us as anger in the Gospel narrative was not anger in the profane sense; the Nazarene was incapable of profane anger.
What is the source of human emotions? No one can deny that there is a biological dimension to human emotions. And no one can deny the power of Freud’s psychoanalytical triad of id, ego and superego, to understand the human psyche. But Freud’s superego ultimately fails to bring peace or harmony to the psyche; it is only the source of guilty feeling, yet another emotion. Aristotle taught that man is a rational animal, but rationality is penultimate to spirituality. Ultimately, man is a spiritual animal. With apologies to Descartes, I dare say that I pray, therefore I am. To truly understand the source of t he negat ive or i nju r iou s aspect of human emotions, one “…to circumscribe our desires…” Yet I submit to you must understand my Brethren, that mere restraint or control of their spiritual origin. The key antagonist is our emotions is necessary, but not sufficient, to attachment. The key protagonist is the antithesis truly subdue our passions. For without a deeper of attachment, i.e. non-attachment, and this is the understanding of the source of human emotion, cornerstone of all wisdom, and the source of the restraining our emotions is nothing more than purest and highest bliss. Lao Tzu, Patanjali, and etiquette. Yeshua of Nazareth overturned the Buddha taught non-attachment. King Solomon, tables of the moneychangers in the Temple and Yeshua of Nazaraeth, and the Prophet Mohammed declared “…you have turned it into a den of taught non-attachment. Selfless non-attachment thieves”. The Nazarene was not a diplomat, nor is a universal principle of spiritual attainment. did he teach diplomacy. Yet, the Nazarene knew King Solomon is the author of three books how to subdue his passions. What might appear of Tanakh (the Old Testament): Proverbs, The Voice of Freemasonry
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