Friday, March 9, 2012

Bro John Paul Gomez, Senior Deacon, Doric Lodge No. 316 A.F.& A.M. - FraternalTies

Originally posted: by  TupeloMason® onTuesday, March 6, 2012


Bro John Paul Gomez, Senior Deacon, Doric Lodge No. 316 A.F.& A.M. - FraternalTies

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©2012 All Rights Reserved

The following article was
submitted to our blog, TupeloMason, at our request by a brother in
Canada, which designed the official seal, (pictured above), for Tupelo
Masonic Lodge No. 318 F&AM, which has been implemented on all of
our various social networking sites to include TupeloMason on Facebook,  Twitter,  Friendfeed,  Shutterfly,  MySpace,  and  LinkedIn. You are invited to join us ony any of these forums
that you personally utilize.

We would like for you to personally get to know the
brother that is responsible for this remarkable work and hope that you will take
the time to show your appreciation by saying, "Thank
You!".

You have probably seen the comical photgraph attached
below, "What others think I do...", floating around the internet and I must take
the liberty to personally introduce you to the designer,
himself.

On behalf of Tupelo Masonic Lodge No. 318 F&AM, we would like to
express our sincere regards to Bro Gomez and Fraternal Ties for his
hard work and attention to detail.

Fraternally,
TupeloMason

-----
John Paul
Gomez, Senior Deacon, Doric
Lodge No. 316 A.F.&
A.M.

First of all I would like to
thank Bro. Arnie Cade for giving me the wonderful opportunity to be featured in
Tupelo Masonic Lodge No. 318 blog. I have never written an article about myself
before so please bear with me if this is going to be a somewhat of a boring
piece. 

My Masonic journey began
in my early teens when I joined the International Order of DeMolay in the
Philippines. I moved to Toronto, Canada in 2004 and it was here in this country
that adopted me where I became a Freemason. I was Initiated into the Craft at
Doric Lodge No. 316 A.F. & A.M., Thornhill, Canada on June 26, 2008. I was
Passed on November 11, 2008, and Raised on April 29, 2009.

There where two of us who
got Initiated on the same day. He was also a DeMolay and also hails from the
Philippines. As far as I know, we are the first Filipinos to ever join Doric
Lodge No. 316. As somebody who comes from a country with a long history of
colonial rule, the idea of intermingling with people outside of my ethnic group caused me
anxiety. And so I was very nervous when I first stepped in the Lodge for the
ceremony of my Initiation. This feeling of tension immediately dissolved when I
realized that though no one there are Filipinos but the two us- the members,
officers, and visitors present all came from different parts of the world, have
different cultures, different backgrounds, different belief system, etc, etc. On
that same day, I experienced the warmth of Brotherhood and laughed at myself for
feeling anxious in the first place.
I used to work as a
computer specialist for Fidelity Investments but lost my job when the company
decided to outsource the services that my department provides. I then worked as
a web coordinator for a big retail clothing company based here in Canada but I
resigned after a few months due to personal reasons. I am now happy with my
position as a stay-at-home dad for my lovely wife Rechelle and wonderful kids-
Chienna (11yrs old) and Jachin (2yrs old). To supplement our family income, I
design and sell Masonic neckties on my website http://www.fraternalties.com/.
What I earn from
that website is not enough to equal what an average worker earns in a month and
for that I am eternally grateful to my hardworking wife for maintaining a
regular job. I also maintain a blog on that same website where I regularly post
my Masonic artworks such as this one below.


This piece is composed of
a number of sacred geometry and Masonic imagery. The Greek encryption when
translated reads "Let none ignorant of geometry enter here."- words inscribed by
Plato above the entrance to his famous school. Two of the biggest graphic
elements in this artwork are the Flower of Life and the wings of Ahura Mazda-
considered by the earliest civilizations in West Asia as the god of wisdom,
intelligence, and harmony. Furthermore, the word
Ahura means light and Mazda means wisdom. The other graphic elements that you
can see here are the working tools, the sun and the moon, the pillars, the
ashlars, the five platonic solids, the point within a circle, sprig of acacia,
crossbones, Square and Compasses, the pentagram and the pig pen cypher- all
important symbols in their own right but to discuss each of them here would take
several pages. But if you want to discuss, please follow this link https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150976159720344&l=9222f108cc.

Not all of my work deal
with serious stuff. I also enjoy the tongue-in-cheek approach when producing
art. One of my creations have gone viral within minutes of uploading
it.

The positive feedback
from the Brethren and the public alike are very encouraging and have given me a
new found love in mixed media arts. When speaking in person, I sometimes experience
difficulty in explaining my complete thought. But Freemasonry and art have
helped me to reach out and connect to people around the globe and be understood.
For that I am forever thankful.



Sincerely &
Fraternally,
John Paul
Gomez
Senior Deacon, Doric Lodge No. 316 A.F &
A.M.

--

"One
man is equivalent to all Creation, One man is a world in miniature."
~ Albert Pike



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