PEDXINGISMO

(Pedxingismo S01.Ep01)

Shoshin is a word from Zen Buddhism that means “beginner’s mind.” It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner would. The term is especially used in the study of Zen outlined in the framework, “in the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”

This mindset is encapsulated in an ancient Japanese proverb that admonish, “shoshin wasurubekarazu”, roughly translated as, Never Lose Your Beginner’s Spirit or We Should Not Forget Our Beginner’s Spirit.

Shoshin can be aptly applied as guide to our own personal Masonic journey. Whatever degrees, position, rank, titles or honors we have reached and received in Masonry, we must never forget our beginners or Apprentice spirit. Let our passion of serving the craft and keen appetite in searching for Masonic knowledge and more light, when we were just beginning always inspire us. After all we are forever apprentices of life, fellows for all and Master to ourselves.

August 18 is an important date in my Masonic history. Today, August 18, 2021 marks a decade and five years of my initiation as an Entered Apprentice Mason in Jacques DeMolay Memorial Lodge No. 305. It was in the Eugene Stafford Hall of the iconic Scottish Rite Temple in Taft Ave., Manila, where I first saw the light, beheld the grandeur and beauty of a Masonic lodge at work, laid my Masonic edifice in the Northeast corner and started the first step of my Masonic journey.

Here’s a photo after my initiation rite. With me is my First Degree conferring Worshipful Master, a schoolmate in MSU Marawi, a brother and fellow Chevalier of the Order of DeMolay, VW Jonathan Denver Cuezon .