Many moons if one wanted to find or read a Masonic Book or magazine, you had to find, then go to a Masonic Library to peruse their titles. I also haunted many used bookstores in my region, most of which are no longer in business. We had a very fine Library in Syracuse, but when the Syracuse Temple closed down in 1984 that library became the seed for the Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington, MA, and the Greenland Collection now housed in the Utica Branch of the Robert R. Livingston Library. Soon after I was Raised, I went in search of More and Further Light in my Lodge only to find a small bookcase. I was looking for more, so I began with making inquiries, and by 1995 had acquired enough books to found the Onondaga Masonic Districts Historical Society (OMDHS), to be followed in 1998 by the Oswego Society. This was pretty much B.C. (Before Computers). Now our OMDHS Libraries in Liverpool and Phoenix now have over twenty bookcases filled with books, magazines, papers, and artifacts.

Thanks to the internet a new, vast resource is available. The only catch is sometimes the resource appears and in a relatively short amount of time, may no longer appear on the internet. This prompted me to begin capturing various resources of Masonic interests, and filing them on my hard drive and/or posting them on my Masonic Library website. In addition to sharing these resources on my website, a thumb drive of about 95GB of files has been forwarded for safekeeping to the Chancellor Robert R Livingston Library at the Grand Lodge of New York.

Who buildeth the Door upon which you must Knock?
What is you find when all Seas have been Crossed?

Needless to say there are tens of thousands of books and articles one could read or consult in one’s search for More and Further Light, so where does one begin or conduct one’s journey?’ In our recent Reading Room meeting, we shared a discussion on Wilmshurst’s, The Meaning of Masonry. That evening, it was noted that Wilsmhurst points to the hidden secrets in our Craft:

“Our teaching is purposely veiled in allegory and symbol and its deeper import does not appear upon the surface of the ritual itself. This is partly in correspondence with human life itself and the world we live in, which are themselves but allegories and symbols of another life and the veils of another world; and partly intentional also, so that only those who have reverent and understanding minds may penetrate into the more hidden meaning of the doctrine of the Craft. The deeper secrets in Masonry, like the deeper secrets of life, are heavily veiled; are closely hidden.
“They exist concealed beneath a great reservation; but whoso knows anything of them knows also that they are “many and valuable,” and that they are disclosed only to those who act upon the hint given in our lectures,
“Seek and ye shall find; ask and ye shall have; knock and it shall be opened unto you.”

Aside from Masonic books, there is a limitless resource of additional books, experiences, and insights available to the Seeker of Light. It is well for one to become mindful and aware of what transpires in each Here and Now of one’s journey. In doing so, one does not have to concern himself about what book to read or what experience to have, for they will slowly reveal themselves in due Order. From among the limitless resources, a small sampling of which may be seen at the OMDHS website, one may select one or more to which one may be drawn. Be sure to not always accept what you find as “absolute truth” but take it within you for that “truth therein you may find.” And slowly the diversity, the Duality, will shift toward the Unity to be found that rests wordlessly within.