Scene: a generic, fictional discussion between a Prospective Candidate and a Master Mason. The Prospective Candidate comes into a local lodge one evening before a stated meeting.
Prospective Candidate (PC): Hi. Is there someone around that I might talk to? I’d like to find out more about masonry
MM: Sure, come on in and we’ll talk, have a seat.
PC: Great! I wasn’t sure what I needed to do and I saw the cars in your parking lot, so I decided to stop in.
MM: Great! We’ll be happy to talk to you. How did you come across masonry or what aroused your curiosity? Do you have any family members who are masons?
PC: Actually yes, my grandfather and his brothers were all masons, plus one of my uncles is a mason.
MM: Awesome! So, did they talk to you about what masonry is, or why they joined?
PC: A little bit. Mostly my uncle. He told me about making good men better, and about going through degrees, but he didn’t really tell me any details. I have done some digging around online and I’ve read a lot of things I found there.
MM: Well, we really don’t encourage internet searches because there is a lot of incorrect and flat out bad information online. But I see you’re here, so nothing scared you away I guess?
PC: (Chuckles) yes, I know there’s bad info out there, my uncle warned me. I did find some things he said were pretty good.
MM: Well good. Did anything in particular catch your eye?
PC: Yes, I’m really intrigued by the history and the degrees. I have a lot of questions about old traditions and how masons have kept a lot of things from way back in the 1700’s. I love history and customs and I’m really intrigued about joining something, a club or a fraternity or something that is historic and stands for things, has principles, and keeps them going.
MM: Well that’s great. I think we have a lot to talk to you about.
Flash forward two years and our prospective candidate is now a young master mason (YMM).
YMM: Candidates and instructors should be allowed to use cypher books for the catechisms.
MM: But our tradition is the “instructive tongue to the receptive ear”. That is how we have historically passed the work along to new generations
YMM: Times change and we need to change with the times. And it’s time for festival format degrees! We need to get out there and recruit new members and then initiate them in one-day festivals! And the only memory work we should ask them to do is the Master Mason’s Obligation. Why do we waste everyone’s time learning catechisms?
MM: Shouldn’t we honor our brothers that have gone before us and provided us these unique and beautiful degrees, and lessons, and traditions?
YMM: It’s time to change. Today’s masons don’t have time for all this memory work and they don’t have a year to waste on progressing from one degree to another. We need to accommodate today’s prospective members.
My brothers, I’ve provided these fictional conversations to illustrate the predicament we, today’s masons, find ourselves in. First let me be clear, I am not automatically against change or modernization. I am against reflexive change or changes for the sake of convenience. I am stridently opposed to change(s) that would remake our fraternity into something unrecognizable or something it was never intended to be! And I am frequently confounded by the thought process in which prospective member joins an organization because they admire and respect it’s form and function, and then set about trying to change it to become something other than what it was and that they so admired when they joined.
Freemasonry is “a system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols”. This is the most common description of the purpose of our fraternity. We are brothers who join together for the purpose of preserving and participating in this system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols. The term “system” informs us that freemasonry is the sum total of many parts working together methodically to perpetuate masonic ideals.
The system is comprised of the structured fraternity which sets moral expectations and behavioral requirements for the members, the processes for conveying and learning the ideals, the instructional style (allegory) for conveyance of the ideals, and the collection of symbols that illustrate and represent the ideals.
Changes to masonry are difficult and they are difficult for a reason. Change begets change and once difficult changes begin, they become easier with every passing generation. When you change the process for conveying and learning the ideals, perhaps by adding festival-style degrees, allowing the use of books to learn catechisms, and so forth, you’ve changed the “process for conveying and learning the ideals” as promulgated by our fraternal ancestors and you have changed the “system of morality”; it is no longer the historic and traditional system with the unique customs practices that sets masonry apart from other fraternities and clubs. It may still be different from those other fraternities but, it is no longer the system of morality as we have inherited it.
Change begets change my brethren. I provide this piece for your consideration. I am not reflexively against change(s) and I can in fact list two or three ideas that I support that would make things better but keep our system essentially intact. I am reflexively against changes simply to shortcut the system (of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols) and that stray from masonic ideals for convenience sake. Once we make changes to make things easier, we have changed the nature and the character of our fraternity which is, after all, only one part of the system of morality, but it is the part designed to perpetuate masonic form and ideals for future generations and distinguish masonry as unique among all community and social organizations.
Think deeply my brothers on those changes you believe will “save” the fraternity. Can you save an institution by changing it to something it was not designed or intended to be? The one thing I urge you to do when considering a major change to our system is to learn as much as you can about why it is the way it currently is. What was the intent behind the current process or rule? Sometimes you may find sound reasons for the current set up or you might find that changes to that process may have unintended effects on other masonic traditions.
Can we reasonably expect to save masonry by changing it to something else? Do we want to? If we unleash the winds of change, can we control them once they are set free upon the craft? Will we recognize our fraternal order in four, three, or even just two generations?
After much consideration my brethren it is my opinion that changes to masonry should be approached with caution, respect, and an appropriate amount of fear in order to control and guide our hands lest we unintentionally remake our craft. We trace masonic roots and ideals back hundreds of years through documents and legends. The masonic legacy is now in our hands to protect and provide to future generations along with its sacred traditions, rituals, customs, and symbols. Let us choose wisely as we ponder our decisions and the future of masonry because I do believe a cut or change that is too deep risks severing the cord linking our historic and beautiful roots to masons of the future.
Travel safely and ponder deeply my brethren!
S&F
BroBill
((Coming soon: a paper version of this blog post which will include new, additional content... keep an eye out for "the rest of the story"!))
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