Disinformation From A Masonic Perspective
We have a lot of experience with this current cultural panic
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That out of the way, on with today’s essay!
Since the days of Leo Taxil, and likely before, Freemasonry has been the subject of attacks utilizing disinformation. Traditionally we have responded to those attacks by ignoring them. We don’t feed the trolls. Although there have been some efforts to reclaim the narrative from time to time and place to place.
But that disinformation is not the focus of my essay today.
Today I will be exploring some of the Masonic disinformation that we ourselves create and spread.
Perhaps another way to focus on it would be the power of myth, for myth is indeed powerful.
However we consider it, here are a few quick examples:
I have heard, for as long as I’ve been a Mason, people say that Freemasonry was founded in the year 1717. I’ve even heard a Grand Master (who certainly should have known better) spout this line.
Of course it is nonsense. In 1717 (some Masonic scholars actually point to a slightly later date) four preexisting London Lodges got together and founded the organization that eventually morphed into what we now know as the United Grand Lodge Of England.
Basic reason can tell us that if there were four preexisting Lodges to get together in 1717, then clearly Freemasonry was founded prior to 1717.
Indeed we know from written records, of Lodges and of Masons, that Freemasonry existed long before the formation of that Grand Lodge in 1717. How old Freemasonry might be no one can know, but we can prove that it is much, much older than a 1717 birthdate.
So what actually happened in 1717? What isn’t disinformation?
Our current system of Masonic governance was created in 1717 (or the slightly later date current scholarship points to.)
Masonry wasn’t founded in 1717, our way of governing it was.
So why do so many point to this date? Why doesn’t UGLE actively work to correct it?
My hunch is because it serves UGLE.
UGLE’s status as the premier Grand Lodge in the world is enhanced and maintained by letting the bulk of Masons believe this disinformation to be true.
But the important questions to my mind are:
Does this myth of 1717 cause our Craft any harm?
In my view, it doesn’t. My view might be different if I was living in Scotland, but I just don’t see the harm in it. Other than making those who say it look foolish.
Should the Craft try to somehow suppress the disinformation of a 1717 founding of freemasonry?
Of course not. Some people can’t wrap their heads around a founding date of ‘Freemasonry is so ancient that no one knows, or can know, when it was founded, who founded it, or where it was founded.’ They need an easy and clean answer and 1717 provides that to them.
Let’s consider a second story:
The Stonemason’s Guild origin theory.
The story goes something like this. Long ago, builders of magnificent stone structures were members of guilds, and they built shacks against the sides of these structures while construction was going on. In these shacks, the guilds held their meetings, and passed their members to the ranks of apprentice, fellow, and master.
As time went on, rich noblemen saw these guild meetings, and decided that they looked cool, so they asked the stone masons if they could come and hang out in the meetings. The stone masons agreed, for who doesn’t want a rich friend with a sword, and admitted the nobles into their lodges, passing them through the ranks in an honorary sort of way. These noblemen became the first Speculative Freemasons.
If you ask me, that story makes just about zero sense. There is no friggin way, to my mind, that the Earl of Earltown or some such guy is going to want to go hang out with the guys he’s hired to build his town’s new church. In medieval times, these two vastly different groups of people were not going to hang out together. If there was drinking to be done and talk to be had, it would be done with those of similar social position in that caste focused society.
That said, lots of Masons believe this, including probably the majority of Masonic scholars, and many will declare a guy nuts if he doesn’t blindly accept it as true.
To my mind, the Templar origin theory makes a great deal more sense. It runs something like the following.
When France’s Philip The Fair arrested and imprisoned the Knights Templar, some of them managed to escape capture, along with their fleet, and made their way to Scotland. They then, as they were wanted men throughout the Christian world, created Freemasonry as a secret organization of mutual aid and assistance.
In other words, they devised a way to pass themselves off as Masons in order to avoid being captured, tortured, and killed. In time, the secret organization created for their self protection flourished.
It is believed by many that this theory was created by a modern author, John Robinson, but that is not correct. We have written documents showing that it was believed hundreds of years prior to Robinson putting pen to paper.
Beyond these two theories of Masonic origin, many more exist. None can be proven or disproven no matter what claims might be made, for the origin of our Ancient Craft truly is lost to the mists of time.
Should we as a Craft officially favor one of these theories over another? Try to suppress those that disagree with whatever official line might be adopted?
Of course not. Just because we don’t and can’t know where and when Freemasonry might come from does not mean that many Masons and scholars shouldn’t try to solve the enigma. For some Masons this kind of research is something that they love doing, and if they come up with novel theories, that gives us all something to think about and ponder, and if there is one thing that Freemasonry encourages, it is thinking, striving for the truth and the Light.
Let’s consider:
It is Freemasonry’s official line, insofar as we can have an official line, that Freemasonry is not a religion. That’s what our Grand Lodges have to say, as far as I’m aware, all of them.
But…
Get a small group of Masons together after a Lodge meeting. If they are all very comfortable with each other, and they all trust each other, and if circumstances are just right so they feel good about opening up. Well when that happens, and the subject comes up, you’ll often hear a Mason say that Freemasonry is his religion or his religious practice.
This has even been touched upon in Emeth’s Rummer & Grapes gatherings via Zoom. Lightly, probingly, but Zoom is not the most conducive environment for the sharing of such private thoughts. Even so, it has been hinted at there.
Could our Lodges be considered the Churches of the Holy Sts. John at Jerusalem? For some Masons, they are. For others, of course, they are not.
So why has official Masonry taken the stance that Freemasonry is not a religion, when some Masons consider it to be so for themselves?
I imagine that the stance is insisted upon in order to avoid conflict with existing religious denominations. No one wants our Lodges to be in conflict with our Churches, and this official stance helps to prevent that.
Nevertheless, some Masons see it differently. And their views about it should not be suppressed. Indeed, they should not feel pressure or the need to self-censor their belief about it. That belief, is for some, a fundamental part of their personal Masonic pathway, and of course holding that belief harms no one except for the man who decides to insist upon some kind of non-existent Masonic orthodoxy.
My personal favorite is the Forget Me Not flower.
When I was Grand Master, I had the Forget Me Not emblazoned on just about everything. Right there where the G normally goes, I put a Forget Me Not, and put that symbol on challenge coins, pins, glasswear, coasters, you name it. Even today I wear a black leather jacket with it proudly emblazoned on the back.
I’ve written extensively about the Forget Me Not in the past here. So I won’t repeat the story today.
But the important thing is, in the context of this essay, we don’t know if the Forget Me Not story is factually true, or if it is a myth. We can’t know. We can’t know because none of us were there. Anyone who was there is dead.
Some claim it is true, some claim it is not true. Some will fight to enforce their personal belief around this, as I learned when for the first and only time ever I was thrown out of a Masonic Facebook group because I committed the horrible crime of writing that I didn’t know if the story was true or not. (The guy who ran the group insisted it is false and when it comes up requires members who comment to state that it is false.)
The important thing about the Forget Me Not story is that it is a Masonic symbol that teaches a powerful Masonic lesson.
If it is factually correct or not is completely beside the point.
The only thing that matters is that it teaches Freemasons something that is of immeasurable value for them to learn. If it is a myth, it is a myth in the highest and greatest sense.
It matters no more if it is factually correct or not any more than it matters if the story we all know about our Brother Hiram is factually correct or not. What is important in both cases is not the correctness of the story, but in the lessons taught by the story.
These are just a few examples of what could be considered Masonic disinformation that are encouraged by Masons. None of them harm our Craft, nor our Masons, and they can’t harm Freemasonry unless we were to decide to look at them dogmatically.
Disinformation will always exist in our world, and within every topic or group we might engage with. That’s OK. In some cases, like the Forget Me Not, it can even be a tremendous positive.
Indeed myth has served as a civilizing influence on humanity since the dawn of time.
I very much enjoy your posts & essays, please don't quit. :)
MW, an excellent, thought provoking essay. Thank you for your thoughts and insights.