What are the 'benefits" of becoming a SR mason?

[Free and Accepted]

Hi there. I and my best friend in my lodge are contemplating on attending to Spring 2008 Scottish Rite Class in May. Obviously we are both MM's at the Blue Lodge. What difference did SR make in your life in genral? How id you benefit from it? Any cons and pros other than obvious time that is required etc?
If you'd feel more comfortable to discuss this in private then you can send me a private message to exchange email adresses for further correspondence. Thanks.
Fraternal regards!

[MASON]

What difference did SR make in your life in genral? How id you benefit from it? Any cons and pros other than obvious time that is required etc?

Before asking for the benefits, what do you think you can give to Scottish Rite? What do you expect out of it? Do you really believe in yourself to be ready for Scottish Rite teachings (degrees)?

[Free and Accepted]

Good question but hard to answer. As far as I'm concerned there is no degree above the MM. However the general belief is that SR (just like YR and others) is great for further exposure to the principles of Freemasonry. But I really have no idea what that exposure is like nor do I know  if those "principles" are something new or something I already may have seen but did not understand what they meant.
Also just to clarify any misunderstanding I meant moral benefits and improvements in your life when I said "benefits. Nothing materialistic.
I think I am ready for another journey. In all fairness I was very interested in Knights Templar. For obvious reasons such as religious requirements I cannot join them. I still read a lot about them though.
Everybody I talk to say nothing but good things about SR. I just cannot decide whether to be more involved in my lodge and serve that way or go on a new journey to improve myself. I can probably do both (time permitting). As I said I'd like to be mnore active at BL but also discover new horizons.

[MASON]

I meant moral benefits and improvements in your life when I said "benefits.

If that is what you are looking for, that is what you are going to get. However, you better make sure you can spend enough time for it. Because Its teachings and degrees are more deeper and philosophical.

I think I am ready for another journey

Then its time to get deeper (closer) into the Light.

[Free and Accepted]

Time is certainly something that I have to work on from this year on. Making time for myself that is. I'm already thinking about ways to "create" more time to spend in Turkey as well as getting more involved in activities that I truly enjoy. That of course includes anything masonic. On an irrelevant note I'm hoping that if the US economy gets a little better in the next couple of years maybe I can leave the corporate world and have my own small business which in return would give me more free time to do things that I'd like to do. We'll see.

The SR Valley here has only 2 meetings a year. So I don't think that i would need a lot of time to save for it. However the most time consuming part would be readin as usual. It's somethiung that I love to do. So I'll always make sure that I have time to read.

Are you in Turkey? If yes, how often do they meet there? I'd imagine that would me more than twice a year like here.

[Free and Accepted]

Dear Mason,
following our discussion here I called 2 friens of mine tonight that are both SR (one is 32. and the other 33.) They were quite happy to hear that I was interested in SR. They offered their help (i.e. petitioning for me) before anyway. So I just downloaded the petition off the Valley's website.  I'll fill it out and give it to them very soon. So they can sign it and hand it over to the Valley.
I'm hoping to attend the next class in May '08.
I think what I read here convinced me once more to pursue the SR route.
Regards

[Free and Accepted]

Bugun (Cumartesi) itibariyla SR  32° oldum. SR Passport'umda 32. derece sayfasi onaylandi ama yolculuk yeni basliyor. Rituelleri fazla komplike olmasa da felsefesi bayagi okuma ve hazmetme gerektiriyor SR'in. Epeydir okuyorum amd daha yolun basindayim durumu var. Zaten yolun belirli bir sonuda yok aslinda. Ne kadar cok icine girerseniz o kadar cok yeni konular cikiyor.
Arkadaslar da seninkisi hizli oldu seneye de 33° olursun artik diye takilip durdular bugun. O biraz zor da isin felsefesini daha iyi ogrenelim once dedim cevaben. Isin asli da o zaten. Bazi yakin arkadaslar bu sene icerisinde York Rite'a ve Shriners'a katilalim diye karar aldilar. Genelde bizim grubun grup psikolojisi bayagi guclu ve karar alinca herseyi beraber yapiyoruz ama bu sefer ben biraz ayri hareket edecegim galiba. BL ve SR zaten hem zaman aliyor hem de SR biraz zaman alacak alayin felsefesini hazmetmek acisindan. Bu yuzden biraz arastirmaya agirlik verip sosyal aktiviteleri sinirli tutacagim gibi gozukuyor. Is, loca faaliyetleri, sosyal hayat vesaire  derken okuma ve arastirmaya hakikaten istenilen kadar zaman bulunmuyor.

[Isis]

Congratulations sir...Hopefully you find your requirements down there.

[Free and Accepted]

Sorry, I forgot that we were supposed to post in English in this section (right?). I wanted to go back and change my original post so I could post the same stuff in English. But for some reason the system won't let me do that. So there you go. My apologies ...

[AthenS]

I believe that this is close to impossible to know...