A correspondent who shall remain nameless writes:
I was perusing the blog and I ran into a couple of posts that really touched on the same issue: The diminishing "soul" of Sigma Phi Epsilon."Sound Spirit" indeed. What a great concept!
What I would ask, not to the author, but in response to the question is this: We are working on "Sound Mind and Sound Body", but what about "Sound Spirit"?
There are some who say it is part of "Sound Mind", or some who equate it to fundamentalist religious principles, but I think that both arguments are a bunch of crap. I can go to school and sharpen my mind, I can go to a gym and sharpen my body, but where can I go to shape, nurture, and lift up my spirit? I can go to my fraternity brothers.
What is more spiritual than the bonds of brotherhood or a sacred kinship with your fellow man? Our ritual is a beautiful thing and should be celebrated and promoted as much as possible. I really don't have time to go off on a rant, but maybe that should be a discussion point on the blog...and maybe a resolution at Conclave in Nashville.
Sound Mind, Sound Body, and SOUND SPIRIT.
In recent years the ritual has taken a back seat to a collection of costly and marginally effective programs with catchy names that only a few members can ever hope to attend. Ritual is given lip service at best. This is shown by the way it has been fragmented and de-emphasized until it is now possible to be a 'full member' and graduate without ever having completed the entire ritual cycle. How does that square with "Sound Spirit"?
The 'secular' process that has been adopted by our national leadership (and I use the term loosely) is to identify "fast track" prospects and then give them ever more challenging - and rewarding - "opportunities". The men whose personal ambitions focus on the next rung stray further and further from brotherhood and toward personal aggrandizement. This serves to cull the group down to an elite few who expect to be given plum assignments. In that way we look more and more like a certain reality TV missing only the phrase "You're Fired!". Where is the "Sound Spirit"?
Not everyone who focuses on the "Leadership Continuum" to the exclusion of his chapter brothers will grow up to be a Freeark. This carefully crafted experiment in 'molding tomorrows leaders' will send the best and brightest into the world of private business where they will, no doubt, succeed. One may only hope they remember their roots.
The myriad issues that confront us, including relevancy and risk management among many others, need answers. The answers are in our Ritual, which is our code and guide for living our daily lives, if we will allow it to be. We must embrace it and include its principles in our every endeavor. Otherwise we are hypocrites and may as well be in the Business Club.
If we want the Fraternity to endure for another hundred years we must regain our soul. We must reignite the fire in our hearts. We must recover our ritual roots. Let's add "Sound Spirit" to "Sound Mind" and "Sound Body".
From an undisclosed location, I'm Diogenes and I approved this message.
