Is Freemasonry Brain Dead?
Why do we insist that there are no significant secrets?
Recently I read a really compelling line:
“…proclaiming ‘there are no secrets,’ have nearly led to the brain death of the Masonic fraternity.”
-Brother R. Lane Dossett, Ad Lucem XXVII
I often hear claims running something like: ‘The only secrets in Freemasonry are the grips, words, and signs we use to identify ourselves to each other.’
And honestly, I’ve always found those claims to be quite absurd.
For a couple of reasons.
First of all, I don’t believe it is true. I believe that there are profound secrets within Freemasonry. Profound secrets that aren’t grips, or words, or hand signals.
But that these profound secrets aren’t secrets because we don’t communicate them. Rather they are secrets because we can’t communicate them. The real secrets of Freemasonry are things that must be experienced, they can’t be explained, they must be lived.
Secondly, claims that there are no secrets removes a mystique about our Ancient Craft that existed for hundreds of years. People want to be a part of something special. Something uncommon. Something elite. Indeed something with secrets.
So, why on earth would we lie, and say that there are no meaningful secrets? Well, we know why. Our Craft began doing that decades ago because our leadership at the time thought that doing so would be a good public relations move. They thought that anti-Masons would object to us less if we stopped claiming to possess secrets.
Public Relations like that should be our least important consideration, if we consider such nonsense at all. We will never change the mind of those who hate us, so we need not even bother to try.
If we hope to regain the mystique and mystery of Freemasonry, if we hope to truly create Legendary Freemasonry once again, we need to stop saying things that debase and degrade our Ancient Craft.
We must admit to ourselves that Masonic secrets do exist, and then we must strive to experience and realize them in our own lives.
We must also explain the nature of our secrets to our Candidates. So that they understand that they must look beyond the lectures, must learn and search deeply within themselves to discover the true lessons of our Craft.
By doing so, we will revitalize our own Masonic experience, and Freemasonry as a whole.
The real secret is what you discovered about yourself, the intangible that can't be communicated.
To Learn, To subdue my passions, and improve my self in masonry. I, for one, am perplexed at how many don't read or study the tomes of literature written over the last 400 years on the craft, its origins, and personal philosophy. Even noticing the outright hostility towards esoterism of some of the craft when discussing it. Although, that appears to be waning in a lot of lodges as younger men join our ranks. I always tell people, its more than fundraising for the community and dinners. the rabbit hole is deep Alice, all you have to do is look.
It is no wonder people declare that there are no secrets, for they have not looked hard enough.