A man was being hung for a very serious crime. As he was standing on the gallows the executioner asked him if he had any comments before he died. The man said "Sir, I swear this is all a masonic conspiracy. I think the policeman that arrested me was a mason. The jailers were masons, and I think even the judge was a mason. I've bene railroaded and I don't think this is right.
The executioner shrugged his shoulders, put the cowl over the mans head, tightened the noose, and said "ok, now, step off with your left foot"...
Humans need humor. We cannot take ourselves so seriously that we lose sight of our human-ness. Many funny things happen at our meetings. We have a large population of former military in my lodge, of all branches (except Space Force, at the moment), and we are constantly picking on each other, in a friendly way. We all laugh, and think of clever rejoinders to riposte. Even during meetings, a mistake will cause a snicker to run through the gathering. But, we all make mistakes, even the most proficient among us. And laughter helps to ease the embarrassment. Loosen up! Have fun!
To all things, a season. I remember when I was SW and then later when I was Master, my good brother WB Larry Smith was in turn JW and SW. We both enjoyed the opening and closing rituals, and often there was a playful element to our performance. I want to be clear, it wasn’t mocking, or clowning, but rather an echoing of the joy we felt performing the rite. There was lots of smiling, and the ritual flowed. Was that humor, maybe. I think we sometimes forget that joy is as legitimate a path to the divine as is overly somber.
As to humor, jokes, and belly laughs; of course, they have a place in our Lodges. It’s my belief that they belong between the opening and closing, but not during the opening or closing. (tho after a mistake in ritual, a gentle laugh might be more constructive than criticism). Humor has been used for centuries to communicate and teach, and it relieves the tensions that evolve whenever people, even those with close bonds, work together. In the case of Lodge, a Temple of Friendship and Virtue, our humor should always be gentle and kind, never biting or mocking. I have heard racist and sexist jokes told in Lodge, which I feel is the antithesis of Masonry.
As you all know by now, my primary Masonic focus is the esoteric. My experience in that realm, studying many cultures and religions, has taught me that the trickster is an integral part of human spirituality. In myths the trickster is not always kind, and in Lodge we should always be kind, but the trickster is also playful in his teachings. In many cultures all the best gifts humanity receives come as the punch line of a joke.
After Lodge is over, in the dining hall, when food and drink are shared and fellowship is both relaxed and meaningful, then there is little as comforting and strengthening to a Lodge as a good laugh. Life is hard, and laughing with trusted friends is one of the few salves to the challenges of everyday life….of course humor is appropriate in Lodge, its essential to a healthy Lodge.
The absolute best time for humor, even outrageous humor, in my view is during ritual/degree practices.
I have an example from my own Lodge:
We've all I imagine stood watching as a candidate was taking his obligation. Well, no matter how well the Master enunciates his words, once in awhile a candidate will respond back with something completely off the wall. Nervousness or whatever made him hear something much different than what was actually said.
When what he repeats back is actually funny, well, then the Master can tend to completely lose his train of thought. The flow is gone.
We would practice for just that. The Master would be practicing taking the 'candidate' through the obligation, and the 'candidate' at odd intervals would come back with whatever funny line struck him at the time. This would, more often than not, trip up the Master.
Trip him up the first couple of times. After that, he learned to compensate for hearing the wrong thing back. It wouldn't trip him up anymore.
The obligation is the most obvious example of this, but we used it throughout practices, whenever there was the Q&A. Hearing the wrong Q or the wrong A in practice truly does forge us to not lose our flow when it happens to occur in open Lodge.
We can start with our history. Why did a large fraternal order that emphasis on light come from the dark age? Because there were so many knights.
A man was being hung for a very serious crime. As he was standing on the gallows the executioner asked him if he had any comments before he died. The man said "Sir, I swear this is all a masonic conspiracy. I think the policeman that arrested me was a mason. The jailers were masons, and I think even the judge was a mason. I've bene railroaded and I don't think this is right.
The executioner shrugged his shoulders, put the cowl over the mans head, tightened the noose, and said "ok, now, step off with your left foot"...
Humans need humor. We cannot take ourselves so seriously that we lose sight of our human-ness. Many funny things happen at our meetings. We have a large population of former military in my lodge, of all branches (except Space Force, at the moment), and we are constantly picking on each other, in a friendly way. We all laugh, and think of clever rejoinders to riposte. Even during meetings, a mistake will cause a snicker to run through the gathering. But, we all make mistakes, even the most proficient among us. And laughter helps to ease the embarrassment. Loosen up! Have fun!
To all things, a season. I remember when I was SW and then later when I was Master, my good brother WB Larry Smith was in turn JW and SW. We both enjoyed the opening and closing rituals, and often there was a playful element to our performance. I want to be clear, it wasn’t mocking, or clowning, but rather an echoing of the joy we felt performing the rite. There was lots of smiling, and the ritual flowed. Was that humor, maybe. I think we sometimes forget that joy is as legitimate a path to the divine as is overly somber.
As to humor, jokes, and belly laughs; of course, they have a place in our Lodges. It’s my belief that they belong between the opening and closing, but not during the opening or closing. (tho after a mistake in ritual, a gentle laugh might be more constructive than criticism). Humor has been used for centuries to communicate and teach, and it relieves the tensions that evolve whenever people, even those with close bonds, work together. In the case of Lodge, a Temple of Friendship and Virtue, our humor should always be gentle and kind, never biting or mocking. I have heard racist and sexist jokes told in Lodge, which I feel is the antithesis of Masonry.
As you all know by now, my primary Masonic focus is the esoteric. My experience in that realm, studying many cultures and religions, has taught me that the trickster is an integral part of human spirituality. In myths the trickster is not always kind, and in Lodge we should always be kind, but the trickster is also playful in his teachings. In many cultures all the best gifts humanity receives come as the punch line of a joke.
After Lodge is over, in the dining hall, when food and drink are shared and fellowship is both relaxed and meaningful, then there is little as comforting and strengthening to a Lodge as a good laugh. Life is hard, and laughing with trusted friends is one of the few salves to the challenges of everyday life….of course humor is appropriate in Lodge, its essential to a healthy Lodge.
The absolute best time for humor, even outrageous humor, in my view is during ritual/degree practices.
I have an example from my own Lodge:
We've all I imagine stood watching as a candidate was taking his obligation. Well, no matter how well the Master enunciates his words, once in awhile a candidate will respond back with something completely off the wall. Nervousness or whatever made him hear something much different than what was actually said.
When what he repeats back is actually funny, well, then the Master can tend to completely lose his train of thought. The flow is gone.
We would practice for just that. The Master would be practicing taking the 'candidate' through the obligation, and the 'candidate' at odd intervals would come back with whatever funny line struck him at the time. This would, more often than not, trip up the Master.
Trip him up the first couple of times. After that, he learned to compensate for hearing the wrong thing back. It wouldn't trip him up anymore.
The obligation is the most obvious example of this, but we used it throughout practices, whenever there was the Q&A. Hearing the wrong Q or the wrong A in practice truly does forge us to not lose our flow when it happens to occur in open Lodge.