X-Oriente

Jason and Eric are joined by special guest, M.: W.: Joe Crociata, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Washington, D.C. and Masonic scholar to talk about Table Proceedings, aka The Festive Board. They talk about the background of these proceedings, The Seven Toasts, why they are important and some tips to insure that your Festive board is a memorable Masonic event.

Jason and Eric discuss the idea that there are winners and losers in Freemasonry and how that might help and hurt the Craft as a whole.

One way to lessen the effect of ego and improve well-being is through meditation and the practice of Mindfulness. Visit the show notes at www.xoriente.com to access a bunch of useful tools and resources to help you get started or get better.

Jason said, "Masonry's biggest problem is Ego." Eric wanted to know more. In this episode we talk about how ego can get in the way of the Craft.

We talk about the need to change all the time, but HOW should we innovate in Freemasonry? Eric and Jason discuss ways to framing he problems and an approach to iterative innovation that preserves what is essential about the Craft. This episode was damaged when our systems crashed during the live broadcast. We've spliced together nearly all of the content. We apologize for the inconvenience.

"The map is not the terrain, we are told." In this episode, Jason and Eric (and our Live audience) explore the importance of symbols, how symbols work, and finally banish the word "symbology" from the lexicon.

In this episode Jason and Eric are joined by Chris Hodapp to discuss his recent blog entry The Decline of Men, and what Freemasons Need to Do About It. We had some technical issues with Chris' audio, we apologize for the difficulty. We think it is worth the listen.

While Jason is still completing his invasion of the European continent, Eric is joined by special guest host Juan Sepulveda. In addition to being one of the hosts of The Masonic Roundtable and host of The Winding Stairs podcasts, Bro. Sepulveda is an accomplished artist, and creator of a unique Masonic education program called Applied Freemasonry. In this episode we explore how we can make the tools of Masonry more applicable to everyday life.

Join special guest host Jason Richards from the Masonic Roundtable and Eric Diamond as they discuss that we as Freemasons should expect but don't get, and what we shouldn't feel entitled to.

Eric and Jason discuss the elements of Enlightenment thinking and what we need to do to get better at it.

Jason and Eric discuss two paths in Freemasonry: The path of Enlightenment philosophy and the path of Esoteric philosophy and why both are critical to Freemasonry's survival. We reference Antoine Faivre's excellent paper "The Two Lights: Thoughts On Two Constituative Lights of Masonic History" published in A Path to Freemasonry: the International Review of Villard DeHonnecourt, the Research Journal of the GLNF.

Why is it so important that a Freemason believe in a Supreme Being? In this episode, Jason and Eric take the First of the Old Charges apart using PARDES to see why this requirement is so important and so misunderstood.

This was supposed to be episode 93, but we had a bit of a snafu with the show numbering. So while it says 93 on the title, it is really No. 95. You'll get over it. In this episode, recorded back in January, Eric and Jason reflect on their Masonic New Years resolutions.

During Masonic Week, Eric and Jason met up on Friday for a cookout lunch at the Grand Lodge of DC, where we were joined by Pete Normand. We thought it would be fun to do an episode about "Masonic Pet Peeves," and while we started with those intentions, the conversation went much deeper.

In this episode, Eric has breakfast at Masonic Week with several podcasters including Mike "The Intern" Hambrecht, Jon "Big Data" Ruark, and Jason "The Mason" Richards of The Masonic Roundtable, and Frater O of Whence Came You?