I completely agree that a one-size-fits-all approach to our Lodges would damage our Fraternity. At the same time I believe we need the shared purpose of imbedding the lessons of our degrees and rituals into our everyday lives.
Taken to the extreme, emphasis on the ritual without understanding how the lessons help us in the outer world runs the risk of creating a Lodge full of Masonic trivia experts. Emphasis on fellowship without lessons that illustrate the practical application of the ritual run the risk of converting the ms of rft int int an exs.
All things in moderation.
And one thing you wrote really resonates with me: "We do not want a Grand Lodge that dictates everything to Lodges." Is there any way you can proclaim that this statement becomes the first page of the Washington Masonic Code?
As we've discussed before, a lodge should be able to identify just what kind of a lodge they are. Without direction or participation a lodge is just a building with guys wearing suits who meet once a month to pay bills. Too many lodges I've seen in our jurisdiction (and I assume elsewhere) fall into the same tedious group. I spend more time socializing with my little motorcycle chapter I ride with than my fraternal brothers. The chapter has a singular purpose, to advance motorcycle rights in the state, and we do what we can to help promote and protect our rights for the benefit of everyone who rides.
It should be the same with the craft. Being able to recite memorized words is not masonry. Arguing about bills, and inconsequential business in a meeting isn't masonry. We have a singular goal, but all too often fail to pursue it.
RE; Book club. It can be said if you want to conceal secrets, the best way is to write a book. Masonry Dissected should be read by every Mason. Just in the first paragraph few will investigate its meanings. The ancients (inc. Dionysus Artificers) kept a secret called "Avesa," which is revealed here with Hiram Abif. “When a Philosopher has passed a certain number of years in service for the upliftment of humanity, having fulfilled the purpose of his soul upon incarnation, he earns the right to retire from the world and to enjoy the freedom demanded or his own spiritual evolution. In the Order of the Philosophers are enrolled the names of many Brothers who have feigned death in one place or who have mysteriously disappeared, only to transplant themselves to another." -Comte de Gabalis, 1670
Good morning Grand Master,
I completely agree that a one-size-fits-all approach to our Lodges would damage our Fraternity. At the same time I believe we need the shared purpose of imbedding the lessons of our degrees and rituals into our everyday lives.
Taken to the extreme, emphasis on the ritual without understanding how the lessons help us in the outer world runs the risk of creating a Lodge full of Masonic trivia experts. Emphasis on fellowship without lessons that illustrate the practical application of the ritual run the risk of converting the ms of rft int int an exs.
All things in moderation.
And one thing you wrote really resonates with me: "We do not want a Grand Lodge that dictates everything to Lodges." Is there any way you can proclaim that this statement becomes the first page of the Washington Masonic Code?
As we've discussed before, a lodge should be able to identify just what kind of a lodge they are. Without direction or participation a lodge is just a building with guys wearing suits who meet once a month to pay bills. Too many lodges I've seen in our jurisdiction (and I assume elsewhere) fall into the same tedious group. I spend more time socializing with my little motorcycle chapter I ride with than my fraternal brothers. The chapter has a singular purpose, to advance motorcycle rights in the state, and we do what we can to help promote and protect our rights for the benefit of everyone who rides.
It should be the same with the craft. Being able to recite memorized words is not masonry. Arguing about bills, and inconsequential business in a meeting isn't masonry. We have a singular goal, but all too often fail to pursue it.
RE; Book club. It can be said if you want to conceal secrets, the best way is to write a book. Masonry Dissected should be read by every Mason. Just in the first paragraph few will investigate its meanings. The ancients (inc. Dionysus Artificers) kept a secret called "Avesa," which is revealed here with Hiram Abif. “When a Philosopher has passed a certain number of years in service for the upliftment of humanity, having fulfilled the purpose of his soul upon incarnation, he earns the right to retire from the world and to enjoy the freedom demanded or his own spiritual evolution. In the Order of the Philosophers are enrolled the names of many Brothers who have feigned death in one place or who have mysteriously disappeared, only to transplant themselves to another." -Comte de Gabalis, 1670