Freemasonry Is What It Is
It's not something else
Yesterday Mrs. Bailey and I wasted about an hour listening to a Mason tell us that no one understand the meaning of Masonry, or indeed what Masonry is.
Only him.
Only he knows.
His fellow Lodge members, the men who made him a Freemason, don’t know what Masonry is. They are all idiots.
(The fact that he’s a Past Master of his Lodge, and therefore, by his own logic The Chief Idiot seems to have escaped his notice.)
The Officers elected to govern his Grand Lodge are according to him all idiots and grifters as well. Past and present, not a one of them understands the meaning of Freemasonry, what it truly is, or why it exists in our world.
Podcast guys don’t escape his judgement either.
Now me, I’m not a podcast listener. I’m a written word kind of guy, and it is very rare that I actually listen to a Masonic podcast. But, I’m a Mason who is active on social media, so I’m certainly aware of the vast ecosystem of Masonic podcasts available to all of us.
He talked about one of the biggest, oldest, and best known Masonic podcasts too. (At least I think it is one of the biggest, oldest, and best known, based on my really limited experience with such things.) Anyway, it’s a big one with multiple hosts and a huge variety of Masonic related topics and guests.
All those podcast guys are idiots too. They don’t have the first clue about Masonry, its purpose, or its meaning. They don’t know what it is to be a Mason.
Importantly, according to this guy, none of these men, not the guys in his Lodge, not the officers of his Grand Lodge, and none of these podcast guys actually understand what it is that they must learn in order to discover the meaning of Masonry. They just aren’t smart enough to properly educate themselves about our Ancient Craft.
Only him.
Only he understands Freemasonry.
Everyone else is wrong.
Some of us Masons are wrong because we are idiots.
Other of us are wrong because we are crooks and grifters.
But maybe, just maybe, he can teach us. Perhaps, if we will all just listen to his arguments long enough, he just might be able to lead us to the Masonic Promised Land.
(I can’t help but notice that in his time as Worshipful Master he was unable to persuade his own Lodge members of his singular genius, but hey.)
I find all of this quite interesting because trying to reason with him is exactly the same as trying to reason with a conspiracy obsessed anti-mason. I guess nuts are nuts, in an apron or terrified of aprons.
But I wonder, if a man truly believes that every other Mason out there is dead wrong about Freemasonry… All of them, from the Lodge members he’s closest to, to podcasters he’s never met… If all of them are wrong, idiots and thieves… The Masons of today, and the Masons of the past…
Does the thought ever enter his mind that maybe he’s the one who is wrong?
If you can help, the Masonic Service Association has published a disaster relief appeal for the earthquake in Venezuela. Chris Hodapp has the details.
If you want more from me, I’ve got some of my recent favorites collected on my Linky Thingy.
I know what Masonry means to me and I have no assurance that it means the same thing to any other Mason, but that certainly doesn't make them wrong. It could also be that Masonry holds the same meaning for me as it does for at least a few other Brothers, but I don't think that makes them, or me, right.
We're in a Fratnernity that has profound meaning but lacks precise and consistent definition. From that I might conclude that the expert who claiimed to be the only Brother who knows the meaning might be confused.
It reminds me of the old joke from home:
A guy is driving on the Autobahn and as the radio is on, he hears a public service announcement: Be aware, there is a crazy guy driving against the traffic in the opposite direction.
He looks angrily through the windshield and yells 'One guy, my ass... there are hundreds!'