The title of this essay is the opposite of what the ancient sages used to teach: Primum vivere, deinde philosophari (Live first, then philosophize). My argument is simply that, to live well, one has to have a philosophy of life, a compass or a map that assists us to orient our way through this thick forest of existence, where sometimes one sees the heavens, but more often must have the eyes set on the ground to avoid stumbling.

            Philosophize to live.

            "Where does this road lead to?" Asked Alice, and the answer she got should teach us something: if you don't know where you want to go, any road is the same.

            We, as Masons, have a clear objective, and that makes it easy to choose the road, that is, to adopt a position in life that shall help us to understand, to suffer the vicissitudes of fate without giving in to despair when misfortune makes a visit, nor become drunk with success, if and when it comes. In short, to behave like rational human beings.

            This Masonic philosophy is not learned reading volumes of metaphysics, ethics, esthetics and logic. To philosophize, said Henry Corbin, is not to be a spectator of philosophy, but to act it.

            I shall try, then, to present some ideas, not original, but taken from thinkers who faced the same questions we have to cope with. I'll begin by quoting Dr. Johnson. Life is not long, he said, and we must not waste too much time deliberating how we shall spend it.

            Another one wrote: when one finally learns to use time well, most of his life had already passed. Oliver Wendell Holmes expounded on this idea: "Most of us," he wrote, "go to our grave with our music still inside us". Why does this happen? Too often it is because we are always preparing ourselves to live. Before we realize it, the time is gone.

            The Spanish playwright Calderón said it in two verses: "Living being the most, all the rest is less".

            This attitude towards life is not pessimist, but realist. In the Middle Ages, and until recently, it was common for men to place a skull on the desk, or an hourglass, sometimes with the inscription Tempora Fugit, time flies. We Masons are always conscious of the fleeting nature of earthly life, remembering the experiences of the Raising ceremony.

            Leaving this point, which should be clear, let us see what meaning we can give to life itself. The Italian writer Louis Calafarte wrote: "Dying is one thing, not living is another." The poet Stephen Vincent Benet said, "Life is not lost by dying. Life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways."

            The good life, according to Christopher Morley, is composed of three things: learning, earning and aspiring.

            Groucho Marx had another idea: "The secret of life is honesty and correctness. If you can fake that, you've got it made". Or, like somebody else said: you can fool part of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time. Generally that is enough.

            Grouch also said: "These are my principles, if you don't like them… well, I have others."

            Unlike Groucho, we Masons do not change our principles. Let us see some of them:

            In the Opening Ritual of Scottish Rite lodges, the question is asked, "What is the purpose for which we are assembled?" And the answer is, "To build temples to Virtue, and dungeons to sin." In other words, we do not pretend to be perfectly virtuous, but to honor and respect Virtue. We do not proclaim that we shall extirpate sin, but that we constrain it, we enclose it and do not allow it freedom of action. Freemasonry's attitude is profoundly realistic, based on the knowledge of human nature. Perfection is impossible, a sterile ideal, but restricting everything that degrades the human being is possible. We have the tools to do it, as long as we have the will.

             The poet William Arthur Ward wrote:

                        The pessimist complains about the wind

                        The optimist expects it to change

                        The realist adjusts the sails.

            Another poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox – interesting, how the same idea can be expressed in different ways – wrote:

                        One ship sails East, and another West,

                        By the self-same winds that blow.     

                        'Tis the set of the sails and not the gales

                        That tells the way we go.

 

            The central idea in both cases is that we cannot change what happens to us, which is out of our hands, but we can control how we react.

            Masonic philosophy is deeply infused with Hebrew wisdom. This is not surprising, since the formulators of speculative Freemasonry appreciated the Bible, and many studied Hebrew to be able to read it in the original.

            A fundamental principle of Judaism is responsibility. The individual is endowed with freedom to decide, He can choose to act or not to act. He is not compelled by the stars or a pitiless fate. This freedom is one side of the coin, and the reverse is responsibility.

            Thus, as our Brother Goethe wrote in Faust, "He alone deserves freedom and life, who is daily compelled to conquer them for himself." How is freedom conquered? In two ways: dominating our passions, that is freedom directed inward; and not accepting dogma or opinions presented as facts. That is freedom directed outward.

            The Entered Apprentice is given symbolic tools, the Gavel and the Chisel. Their most important lesson is that the Apprentice has to work on the stone (himself) with his own hands. He is the one who strikes the chisel with the gavel. He is responsible for his progress, his spiritual and intellectual development. This does not depend on the government, or the father, or the teacher. This is the fundamental principle of humanism: man forges his own destiny.

            Of course, having good parents, good teachers, a good wife or husband is a great advantage. And don’t forget good luck. But the final responsibility is one's own.

            I would like to end by quoting some lines from the Spanish poet Antonio Machado, who was also a Mason. Let me tell you in advance what I believe the poet wanted to say: that we must face life with optimism, because at every moment we can choose our way. What happened is over. The past has vanished, we have only the present to live fully, enjoy the company of family, friends and brothers, laugh a little, and walk forward with confidence.

            This is what Machado wrote:

                        Traveler, there is no road

                        The road is made by walking.

                        Traveler, there is no road.

                        Only wakes in the sea.