‘Summer School of happiness education’

    

National Archives

Grand Lodge wants to send us to summer school.

Joining the Happy Few, the Band of Brothers of Arizona Lodge of Research 1, the Grand Lodge of New York has entered the partnership with Arizona State University, which works with the National Constitution Center, in offering “What the Founders Meant by Happiness: A Journey Through Virtue and Character” online course. It is free of charge and it’s open now, so get started and work your way toward the certificate by clicking here.

According to ASU:

ASU

This course provides learners of all ages with a deeper understanding of what the Founders meant by happiness and why they considered it essential to both personal fulfillment and self-government.

Drawing on the lives and writings of the Founders and their successors, classical Greek and Roman philosophy, and Enlightenment thought, learners will explore how happiness was understood as the pursuit of virtue, character, and self-mastery rather than pleasure or comfort. Through close engagement with primary source texts, letters, speeches, and philosophical works, participants will examine how key figures of American history, such as Benjamin Franklin, John and Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln grappled with the virtues—and vices—that shaped their private lives and public actions.

Learners also will develop the skills to think historically and philosophically, analyzing how ideas about virtue, reason, and moral responsibility informed the American experiment in self-government.

Each module includes primary source readings, interpretive essays, and guided reflection activities designed to connect historical ideas to contemporary questions about citizenship, character, and the common good. This course is entirely self-paced, allowing learners to progress on their own schedule.

Created in partnership with the National Constitution Center This course is based on The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America, written by Jeffrey Rosen, CEO Emeritus of the National Constitution Center. It combines Arizona State University’s Principled Innovation framework with the National Constitution Center’s deep scholarly expertise and longstanding commitment to constitutional and civic education. Together, these perspectives equip learners of all ages with a richer understanding of American history and the enduring values necessary to sustain a constitutional democracy.

     

‘Freemasonry and the pursuit of Happiness’

    

National Archives

‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’

Since the vernal equinox passed a minute ago, I think it’s okay to look to an event coming in late spring. This is far outside my orbit, but Arizona Lodge of Research 1 will host a discussion at its quarterly stated meeting on June 10 that’ll be very timely, with the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary only several weeks afterward.

W. Ted Cross

At this meeting, Past Master Ted Cross will discuss “What the Founders Meant by Happiness: A Journey Through Virtue and Character.”

This will connect with the course, created with the National Constitution Center, he teaches at Arizona State University. This class, available free of charge online, is a “guided exploration of happiness, virtue, and democracy,” says ASU, describing the subject thusly:

ASU

What does it mean to live a virtuous life in a free society? This course invites learners to explore happiness not as the personal pursuit of feeling good but as an idea closely tied to character, civic responsibility, leadership, and participation in a constitutional democracy. At the heart of this is the belief that self-government begins with government of the self.

Through letters, speeches, essays, and stories from the founding era, learners see how key figures in American history understood happiness as the cultivation of virtue and self-mastery, and how they wrestled—often imperfectly—with questions of moral judgment in both public and private life.

By engaging with these historical examples, learners consider how ideas about character, leadership, moral responsibility, and civic duty shaped the American experiment in self-government and continue to resonate in our civic life today.

12 Self-Paced Modules

Each module combines primary source texts, interpretive essays, and guided inquiry reflection to support reflection on how ideas from the past can inform judgment, responsibility, and participation in a constitutional democracy today, including:

► What does it mean to pursue happiness in a society shaped by competing values and interests?

► How should character and virtue shape leadership, citizenship, and public decision-making?

► What responsibilities accompany individual freedom in a democratic society?

► How can virtue formation, historical understanding, and self government strengthen civil dialogue and civic life, rather than deepen polarization?

On the Masonic side, this research lodge in its social media says:

What Did the Founders Mean by Happiness? What did the Founders really mean by the “pursuit of Happiness?” Not comfort, but character, virtue, and purpose.

Explore these ideas in a new free online course from ASU and the National Constitution Center. Then join Dr. Ted Cross on June 10 at the Arizona Research Lodge 1 Quarterly Stated Meeting, where he will speak on the course and its connection to Masonic philosophy and practice.

W. Bro. Cross is a Past Master of the lodge. You might know him from several appearances on the Craftsmen Online podcast. He was RW Michael’s guest last August 4—click here—to talk about “The Science of Happiness and Meaning.”

At ASU in Tempe, Cross is the Assistant Vice President, Principled Innovation, in the Office of University Affairs, where he “centers on advancing ASU’s ninth design aspiration—Practice Principled Innovation. Ted collaborates with university leaders to embed practices that draw on values, character, civic and intellectual assets to drive human flourishing at ASU and beyond.”

This sounds like an amazing program for Arizona Lodge of Research’s June 10 meeting at the century-old Phoenix Masonic Temple. Remember, Masonic research that reflects on specific Masonic people and events of the past also ought to make the meaning of Masonry an animating energy in our lives now.

Check out Bro. Cross’ other Craftsmen Online appearance, from December 15, on “The Masonic Mind” here.