I read a long screed today that declared the position that Freemasonry is not a secret society, and holds no secrets of importance whatsoever. In fact, according to this writer, Freemasonry holds exactly 9 secrets, those all being forms of recognition for the Three Degrees. That these 9 secrets are passwords, no different from the passwords one uses online. Finally, that nothing else about Freemasonry, whatsoever is secret.
I run across things like that fairly often, I’m sure that everyone else does too.
The thing is, it’s not true. Freemasonry holds a tremendous amount of esoteric content and knowledge. It might not contain the ultimate answer to ‘Life, the Universe, and Everything’ but it certainly points the way. Masonic authors have tackled the esoteric side of Freemasonry for as long as Masons have been writing about the craft, indeed in this country, the Scottish Rite grew to such prominence because of Pike’s work in that area. Prior to him, it was virtually nothing.
Telling the lie that Freemasonry holds no secrets is terribly unfortunate, for not only is it a lie, it also cheapens the very thing that has drawn countless men to our doors over hundreds of years.
Indeed, the very definition of Freemasonry as ‘a peculiar system of morality, illustrated by symbols and veiled in allegory’ points out the fact that it is esoteric at heart.
Why do they claim that Freemasonry is without esoteric teachings, without any secrets of consequence?
Why do they deny that our buildings are properly Masonic Temples, and refer to them instead as Masonic Centers?
It is all some kind of misguided attempt at Public Relations. Masons who say these things do so because they are worried about what the public might say or think about us if we let it be known that esoterica is a part of the Craft. They are worried that religion might decide that Freemasonry is trying to enter its orbit.
But all of that is nuts.
It denies the very thing that draws men to Freemasonry.
I’m going to be really frank here and say that I can make an argument that Freemasonry is a form of religion. A form of religion with only a single dogma, that God exists, but a form of religion nevertheless. I’m also going to say that I know of plenty of Freemasons who believe it to be just that.
So why do so many Freemasons go to such lengths to try to deny it?
Do they not know that they are harming our Ancient Craft?
That through their actions they are pushing it further and further towards being nothing but another institutionalized charity?
I wonder, why did men who do this, and who push for this, become Freemasons? Why didn’t they join the Rotary instead?
Let’s talk about it.
Last night a Lodge had one of its members do a deep dive on Emeth, what it is, the kinds of things discussed here, and how to participate. I was along for the ride, and to answer any questions that might have come up. It was interesting to hear the perspective of another person about this virtual place.
The Lodge then launched its education program for the night by conducting a round robin discussion based on one of the Discussions we had here recently. That is, I think, a very cool and tangible way that a Lodge can benefit from the topics here, and from the knowledge that everyone who contributes provides.
If a Lodge would like to talk about Emeth, I would be pleased to join in that virtual discussion, if desired.
In a sense, it is true about the 9 secrets. All the esoteric knowledge is available elsewhere and is not limited to freemasonry.
Does freemasonry claim to have a special path to that knowledge? Maybe, but again, even that path isn't secret. You don't have to be a freemason to read Pike, or any of the other books that share the knowledge. Once upon a time perhaps there were other secrets not available elsewhere.
What did the Templars discover when they excavated the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem for example? Keep a secret too close and it might end up in the grave with the only person who knew it.
If we think of freemasonry as an esoteric academy that teaches knowledge in a way that allows the student a clear path to that knowledge, even if the knowledge isn't secret, perhaps the best road to it is. But if freemasonry is to make that claim, it should deliver on it. Down to the most remote podunk lodge in the jurisdiction. If grand lodge has any responsibility it should be to enforce that education to knowledge is being pursued by every chartered lodge. That is you are graduated to third degree, you are credentialed as having the knowledge. If a university graduates a baccalaureate who never actually received an education, it's basically just a worthless piece of paper. Masonry needs to increase its standards and enforce them.
Guess i have to ask the question. When did people decide that cyphers and returns, or catechism proficiencies were no longer necessary? And why. We all know the why.
I don't want to sound like an arrogant ass here, but I'm going to do it anyway, just because I think it is important to the discussion.
When I received my Degrees, I returned all three Posting Lectures, in open Lodge, West of the Altar. I worked like a dog on them, and returned them with precision and perfection.
That certainly isn't unique in our history, that is how it is supposed to be, and that is how things were for hundreds of years.
But years ago, long before I became a Freemason, someone decided that doing things the proper way was too hard, so they came up with the Alternate Proficiency. What a dog that thing is. They throw the book at the new Mason and cut him loose.
As I understand it, prior to my Initiation, my Home Lodge had been using the Alternate Proficiency. Then they Initiated me, and I was the first guy that they decided to go back to the old way with.
But, they asked me to do both the Posting Lectures and the Alternate Proficiency. As I say, I did the PL's and I did them well. The Alternate though, I got about half way through it, decided that it was the most moronic thing I had ever seen, not at all in keeping with what Freemasonry is supposed to be, and told them that I wasn't going to do any more of it.
I think that given my PL performance, they decided that my refusal to do the Alternate thing was A-OK.
I have railed against the Alternate Proficiency ever since. To every Lodge that has asked me to talk about mentoring, and to the Craft in general at our Lodge Leadership Retreats. I think I might have talked about how bad I feel it is in my Speech to the Western Conference of Grand Masters a couple of years ago too.
The Alternate Proficiency was, I imagine, embraced by the Fraternity because someone in the past thought that we would get more members if we lowered our standards. I imagine also because Lodges no longer had to provide quality mentors and coaches.
I insisted that our lodge went back to returning proficiency in lodge. Not just to show they know the work, but that they can do it in front of an audience. If you can’t do public speaking, don’t take a chair. I get it, public speaking is not easy. But the only way to get better is to do it.
In addition to that benefit, it also gave me great confidence when I did move into the Chairs. I already knew some of the work from the Lectures, but more importantly, I knew that I could learn the work.
>>"But if freemasonry is to make that claim, it should deliver on it."
I agree. And I believe that Freemasonry is not in a great many Lodge delivering on any of its promises. Freemasonry promises Fellowship, but in far too many Lodges no meaningful opportunities for Fellowship are provided. Freemasonry promises a course of instruction that will help a good man become an even better man, yet in far too many Lodges no meaningful Masonic education is provided.
Now though, I want to say that Emeth, this newsletter and website, it can't provide much in the way of Fellowship, but it truly can provide a base from which that meaningful Masonic education can be provided. Every one of us who are writing here are helping any Lodge that is willing to hop aboard.
The easiest, yet meaningful, Lodge education program imaginable can be had right here. All a WM has to do is snag one of our discussions that he thinks his Lodge would be interested in, and run that same discussion in his Lodge.
Not all of those will of course be of an Esoteric nature, but we are creating enough content here to suit any Lodge, to meet them where they are. Maybe they need to create opportunities for Fellowship, well we have plenty here for them to talk about and consider, just as an example.
>>"Down to the most remote podunk lodge in the jurisdiction."
Agreed. In my experience, Lodge size has little to do with quality. Of my two absolute favorite Lodges in this Jurisdiction, one is quite large, the other fairly small. Both do a spectacular job.
>>"If grand lodge has any responsibility it should be to enforce that education to knowledge is >>being pursued by every chartered lodge."
I've said it before, but it needs repeating. Every Worshipful Master in this Jurisdiction knelt at an altar of God and swore to provide Masonic instruction/education to his Lodge. An Obligation is of no value if it is not required to be followed.
WOW kind of a big topic. Words can become so loaded with meaning. In recent years there have been so many wild claims about conspiracies that have Freemasonry at its core that there is a growing well accepted myth about us that is not true. The other night I saw an ad for a TV show that asked the question "Who has the most secrets the Illuminati or the Freemasons?" In an environment where truth is overwhelmed by entertainment it might be that some Masonic authors are trying to pull back the craziness by focusing on the types of secrets that are concrete, like passwords. It's not a lie, its just not a complete answer. There is another word I would offer that might help clear this issue up, it's the word "arcanum": mysterious or specialized knowledge, language, or information accessible or possessed only by the initiate —usually used in plural. 2 : elixir sense 1." It's kind of a higher level of the idea of a secret. An arcanum is not only a bit of information, but to the initiate it is like an "enzyme" and may stimulate realization and even transformation. Freemasonry has a handful of secrets, but we have thousands of arcanum. Arcanum would not have to be hidden, they only work with people who have the 'decoder ring', ie, initiated into the language and culture of Freemasonry. When a Freemason hears the phrase "giving someone the third degree" it activates a whole cascade of memories, lessons, and maybe a mystery or two. When a non-Mason hears the expression it simply means to be questioned harshly. This mundane example does demonstrate how an arcanum works and how it's not exactly a secret. It also shows that the arcanum does not have to be kept secret, but can be shown in the open. So, it seems to me we have a handful of secrets, that are mostly passwords, BUT we have thousands of arcanum which can unpack volumes of information and can be transformative for the initiate. Arcanum might look like secrets to the non-initiate.
I still maintain that we do have secrets (beyond the modes of recognition) even from our own Initiates, as illustrated by the phrase 'veiled in allegory.' The veil concealing the esoteric meaning behind the exoteric meaning. But I am quite pleased with making a distinction between those kinds of things, and things like our secret words.
And the Arcanum idea isn't lost on our Jurisdiction -- we had a Lodge named as such at one time! Arcana Lodge, No 87. One the oldest Lodges in Seattle. It merged with University Lodge No. 141 in 2005.
We deny that we're a religion because we don't want to upset the Church. We say we're not, because we're not supposed to be a substitute for attending church, although for many (like myself) it is exactly that. The money we spend supporting freemasonry should be (in the church eyes) better spent on them.
As an aside, the final straw for me was watching a local church pass around the offering plates THREE times during a service. Three times, in our little podunk town. Three times, while the pastor talks about his spending time on his yacht at the local yacht club and his collection of harley-davidson motorcycles. A pastor who got his training at a community college night school, and the entire staff was nothing more than nepotism, his wife, his kids, and his brother all drawing salaries. More like a Gypsy gang than a religious group.
But I digress.
We are not a secret society, but a society of secrets.
The things we keep "secret" aren't really secret, they were exposed hundreds of years ago. In fact, the published so called exposés were used by lodges to do their ritual, because there were no written versions around.
But I think that the discussion of whether we are a society with secrets or not is not really important.
The most important thing a man can have is his word. If I can't be trusted to keep my word when given, what kind of man am I? If I can't trust someone to keep their word, then why should I deal with them at all? As the saying goes, my word is my bond. Behind it, it infers honesty, integrity, and fairness. Virtues that every real man should have. Liars, cheats and thieves don't belong to our craft.
So, when I give my word to not tell our secrets, no matter how mundane they are, then that is my assurance that I can keep it. For if I can't be trusted with such a trivial matter like a handshake, how can I be trusted with something important?
As far as the esoteric stuff, Albert Pike was a well read man. Highly educated and voracious consumer of all manner of philosophy, religion, arts, sciences, etc. He liberally "borrowed" teachings from many cultures and compiled them into his work. In this way, there is nothing "secret" about any of it, it is widely available to anyone with a thirst for knowledge, an internet connection, a web browser, and a kindle.
>>"This is all strictly my own opinion, of course."
Of course. And I hope that everyone who reads Emeth also understands that what I write here are my own opinions, not opinions shared by all Freemasons in Washington, nor the Grand Lodge of Washington. I've tried to make that clear on the About Emeth page that people see before they decide to subscribe, but I figure an occasional reminder isn't a bad idea.
>>"We deny that we're a religion because we don't want to upset the Church. We say we're not, >>because we're not supposed to be a substitute for attending church, although for many (like >>myself) it is exactly that. The money we spend supporting freemasonry should be (in the >>church eyes) better spent on them."
I think that you and I see this in the same way.
I am not an anti-religious guy, and I've been fairly well educated in matters of religion through my formative years. Regular church attendance just doesn't do it for me though. I've got my own, very specific ideas, and that kind of freethinking isn't encouraged in any but a tiny minority of churches.
I find my spiritual home, and expression, in Freemasonry.
I have heard it said that Freemasonry can't be a religion, from Freemasons whom I greatly admire, because it is without a path to salvation. I don't think that is correct though because we do have respected religious traditions, of very old lineage, that are completely non-dogmatic, such as the current dominant branch of the Unitarian-Universalists.
Freemasonry works for me on a spiritual level because nothing within it conflicts with my personal beliefs, nor has any Mason (with one notable exception I guess) tried to foist their personal religious beliefs on to me.
I think the thing to remember is people have been writing and producing inaccurate information about Freemasonry since the first man was denied access to our craft. So the question is, how to engage such false narratives. As far as public relations, I think we hurt ourselves more than help when we engage false narratives. I think what is does do is it gives us an opportunity to have discussions, such as this, but also in our lodges. It should also give us pause to re-evaluate what we’re teaching or not teaching our membership. A lot of our esoteric knowledge comes from self-exploration, but not all. Should there be a basic, foundational, knowledge that new brothers are taught by both their mentor and the lodge? We’re not a secret society but we are a society with secrets. We just need to remember that everyone within our fraternity are, with proper timeliness, equally entitled to have access to the “secrets” and the knowledge that comes with them.
>>"Should there be a basic, foundational, knowledge that new brothers are taught by both their >>mentor and the lodge?"
I think that there should be.
And I don't think we need to create the materials ourselves.
I think that we should find the best materials available, such as the Master Craftsman for the Symbolic Lodge, and turn those materials into a curriculum. To that selected books could be added for specific interests that a new Mason might want to explore further. In my view, we should ask our Research Lodges to help out with the creation of such a curriculum.
I personally think that this would be much better than our current Alternate Proficiency. The AC is one of those things that is codified in Washington, so that complicates the process, but it could be done. It also serves as a good example for why we shouldn't vote to put so many things into our Code.
In my opinion, Masonry as a organization is missing broad leadership and high valued purpose. J Ray Shute II in 1949 once said that if Masonry, tied so rigidly to tradition, didn't evolve its purpose to suit societies needs it would find it self irrelevant once the club craze died off. We were so comfortable in our station for so long we didn't evolve the right things to keep with society's needs. Looking critically at how our Grand lodges are structured and the "charity" they solicit etc. I think more than any thing we should be focused on what our local community needs. Its not rest homes, hospitals, and children homes, research foundations, etc. Its basic literacy for members, Financial training, thinking skills, opportunity to have impact and of course local town based focus on the populations needs. We can no longer afford to rest on our reputation as we are now 2 and 3 generations from people remembering the good we do. Members join, they don't know how to organize or lead and find them selfs quickly thrust in to Officer chairs more focused on recital of memorized ritual than how do we operate and bring value. Cities are mixed, diverse and largely migratory no longer stagnant and filled with generations of familys. Men need places to meet, places they can be involved and have a sense of ownership in their own community. "Freemasonry a school of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols" This is only part of the equation. How you apply the lessons from this mystery school is what matters.
I think you are right that our Lodges would do well to focus on local concerns. My town for example has a college within it, not more than 5 or 6 blocks from the Masonic Temple actually. It would be great if we were to find some way to assist with the college foundation, as that would give the Lodge something very tangible to help with, and of course expose the Lodge to a lot of young men.
I also agree that we often push men into Chairs long before they are ready. That is bad for the Lodge, and it is bad for the man too.
Here’s the problem with having a unified message about Freemasonry.
There is no centralized voice of the craft.
There are thousands of Lodges around the world with as many different messages and opinions as there can be.
We are a Tower of Babel when it comes to clear and consistent messages. Add social media to the mix and every opinion, informed or not, carries equal weight for praise as well as criticism.
The only thing coming close to a unified organization is the Conference of Grandmasters and even that august body is split in two between Prince Hall and the rest of the world (under the North American banner). Even then, these two organizations do not collaborate on marketing, communications, and messaging. And while we’re at it, being in what I would hope an enlightened age, why do we have Prince Hall and the rest of the world? Aren’t we the same? Is there even a need? (Yes, I do believe Black Lives Matter, as do Latino lives, as do Asian lives, et al, but wouldn’t it be a milestone if we rolled the two organizations into one where race and ethnicity is not relevant to what we all believe in?)
Our ability to communicate clearly is further diluted by concordant bodies who have their own agendas without any specific regard to overarching messages and avoiding conflicting messages that may be out there.
Oh, and let us not forget the tens of thousands of books, periodicals, and other literature that floods the marketplace, and you get the idea that no matter what we do, we would have difficulty rising above the noise.
Freemasonry has much to offer society, esoterica, civility, support for children and all the outreach we do notwithstanding. Decentralization empowers local Lodges to do things that meet the needs and demands of local communities. But a centralized marketing and communications effort can crystallize who we are and what we stand for with clarity, strength, and economies of scale and neutralizes the confusion of tongues that now permeate over who we are and what we stand for.
You make a strong point that unified messaging to the non Masonic world would be of great benefit.
I think that we may be getting there with the 'Be A Freemason' effort. When it was first introduced it was just the Scottish Rite NMJ, but made available to all Grand Lodges. After that the SR SJ joined the effort, along with the Shrine. I don't know for certain, but I think that the collective Grand Lodges have been adopting it widely. It's been about three years since its start if memory serves.
Time will tell how this cooperative effort works, it is certainly not an easy thing to get all the Grand Lodges pulling in the same direction.
I certainly hope that we can heal all divisions of the past, State GL's / Prince Hall / Continental Freemasonry. We are all Brothers, and we all share the same long and storied lineage.
In a sense, it is true about the 9 secrets. All the esoteric knowledge is available elsewhere and is not limited to freemasonry.
Does freemasonry claim to have a special path to that knowledge? Maybe, but again, even that path isn't secret. You don't have to be a freemason to read Pike, or any of the other books that share the knowledge. Once upon a time perhaps there were other secrets not available elsewhere.
What did the Templars discover when they excavated the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem for example? Keep a secret too close and it might end up in the grave with the only person who knew it.
If we think of freemasonry as an esoteric academy that teaches knowledge in a way that allows the student a clear path to that knowledge, even if the knowledge isn't secret, perhaps the best road to it is. But if freemasonry is to make that claim, it should deliver on it. Down to the most remote podunk lodge in the jurisdiction. If grand lodge has any responsibility it should be to enforce that education to knowledge is being pursued by every chartered lodge. That is you are graduated to third degree, you are credentialed as having the knowledge. If a university graduates a baccalaureate who never actually received an education, it's basically just a worthless piece of paper. Masonry needs to increase its standards and enforce them.
Guess i have to ask the question. When did people decide that cyphers and returns, or catechism proficiencies were no longer necessary? And why. We all know the why.
I don't want to sound like an arrogant ass here, but I'm going to do it anyway, just because I think it is important to the discussion.
When I received my Degrees, I returned all three Posting Lectures, in open Lodge, West of the Altar. I worked like a dog on them, and returned them with precision and perfection.
That certainly isn't unique in our history, that is how it is supposed to be, and that is how things were for hundreds of years.
But years ago, long before I became a Freemason, someone decided that doing things the proper way was too hard, so they came up with the Alternate Proficiency. What a dog that thing is. They throw the book at the new Mason and cut him loose.
As I understand it, prior to my Initiation, my Home Lodge had been using the Alternate Proficiency. Then they Initiated me, and I was the first guy that they decided to go back to the old way with.
But, they asked me to do both the Posting Lectures and the Alternate Proficiency. As I say, I did the PL's and I did them well. The Alternate though, I got about half way through it, decided that it was the most moronic thing I had ever seen, not at all in keeping with what Freemasonry is supposed to be, and told them that I wasn't going to do any more of it.
I think that given my PL performance, they decided that my refusal to do the Alternate thing was A-OK.
I have railed against the Alternate Proficiency ever since. To every Lodge that has asked me to talk about mentoring, and to the Craft in general at our Lodge Leadership Retreats. I think I might have talked about how bad I feel it is in my Speech to the Western Conference of Grand Masters a couple of years ago too.
The Alternate Proficiency was, I imagine, embraced by the Fraternity because someone in the past thought that we would get more members if we lowered our standards. I imagine also because Lodges no longer had to provide quality mentors and coaches.
We have seen how well that has worked out for us.
I insisted that our lodge went back to returning proficiency in lodge. Not just to show they know the work, but that they can do it in front of an audience. If you can’t do public speaking, don’t take a chair. I get it, public speaking is not easy. But the only way to get better is to do it.
In addition to that benefit, it also gave me great confidence when I did move into the Chairs. I already knew some of the work from the Lectures, but more importantly, I knew that I could learn the work.
>>"But if freemasonry is to make that claim, it should deliver on it."
I agree. And I believe that Freemasonry is not in a great many Lodge delivering on any of its promises. Freemasonry promises Fellowship, but in far too many Lodges no meaningful opportunities for Fellowship are provided. Freemasonry promises a course of instruction that will help a good man become an even better man, yet in far too many Lodges no meaningful Masonic education is provided.
Now though, I want to say that Emeth, this newsletter and website, it can't provide much in the way of Fellowship, but it truly can provide a base from which that meaningful Masonic education can be provided. Every one of us who are writing here are helping any Lodge that is willing to hop aboard.
The easiest, yet meaningful, Lodge education program imaginable can be had right here. All a WM has to do is snag one of our discussions that he thinks his Lodge would be interested in, and run that same discussion in his Lodge.
Not all of those will of course be of an Esoteric nature, but we are creating enough content here to suit any Lodge, to meet them where they are. Maybe they need to create opportunities for Fellowship, well we have plenty here for them to talk about and consider, just as an example.
>>"Down to the most remote podunk lodge in the jurisdiction."
Agreed. In my experience, Lodge size has little to do with quality. Of my two absolute favorite Lodges in this Jurisdiction, one is quite large, the other fairly small. Both do a spectacular job.
>>"If grand lodge has any responsibility it should be to enforce that education to knowledge is >>being pursued by every chartered lodge."
I've said it before, but it needs repeating. Every Worshipful Master in this Jurisdiction knelt at an altar of God and swore to provide Masonic instruction/education to his Lodge. An Obligation is of no value if it is not required to be followed.
WOW kind of a big topic. Words can become so loaded with meaning. In recent years there have been so many wild claims about conspiracies that have Freemasonry at its core that there is a growing well accepted myth about us that is not true. The other night I saw an ad for a TV show that asked the question "Who has the most secrets the Illuminati or the Freemasons?" In an environment where truth is overwhelmed by entertainment it might be that some Masonic authors are trying to pull back the craziness by focusing on the types of secrets that are concrete, like passwords. It's not a lie, its just not a complete answer. There is another word I would offer that might help clear this issue up, it's the word "arcanum": mysterious or specialized knowledge, language, or information accessible or possessed only by the initiate —usually used in plural. 2 : elixir sense 1." It's kind of a higher level of the idea of a secret. An arcanum is not only a bit of information, but to the initiate it is like an "enzyme" and may stimulate realization and even transformation. Freemasonry has a handful of secrets, but we have thousands of arcanum. Arcanum would not have to be hidden, they only work with people who have the 'decoder ring', ie, initiated into the language and culture of Freemasonry. When a Freemason hears the phrase "giving someone the third degree" it activates a whole cascade of memories, lessons, and maybe a mystery or two. When a non-Mason hears the expression it simply means to be questioned harshly. This mundane example does demonstrate how an arcanum works and how it's not exactly a secret. It also shows that the arcanum does not have to be kept secret, but can be shown in the open. So, it seems to me we have a handful of secrets, that are mostly passwords, BUT we have thousands of arcanum which can unpack volumes of information and can be transformative for the initiate. Arcanum might look like secrets to the non-initiate.
Arcanum. I like it. Thank you very much!
I still maintain that we do have secrets (beyond the modes of recognition) even from our own Initiates, as illustrated by the phrase 'veiled in allegory.' The veil concealing the esoteric meaning behind the exoteric meaning. But I am quite pleased with making a distinction between those kinds of things, and things like our secret words.
And the Arcanum idea isn't lost on our Jurisdiction -- we had a Lodge named as such at one time! Arcana Lodge, No 87. One the oldest Lodges in Seattle. It merged with University Lodge No. 141 in 2005.
An excellent name! Thanks VW!
This is all strictly my own opinion, of course.
We deny that we're a religion because we don't want to upset the Church. We say we're not, because we're not supposed to be a substitute for attending church, although for many (like myself) it is exactly that. The money we spend supporting freemasonry should be (in the church eyes) better spent on them.
As an aside, the final straw for me was watching a local church pass around the offering plates THREE times during a service. Three times, in our little podunk town. Three times, while the pastor talks about his spending time on his yacht at the local yacht club and his collection of harley-davidson motorcycles. A pastor who got his training at a community college night school, and the entire staff was nothing more than nepotism, his wife, his kids, and his brother all drawing salaries. More like a Gypsy gang than a religious group.
But I digress.
We are not a secret society, but a society of secrets.
The things we keep "secret" aren't really secret, they were exposed hundreds of years ago. In fact, the published so called exposés were used by lodges to do their ritual, because there were no written versions around.
But I think that the discussion of whether we are a society with secrets or not is not really important.
The most important thing a man can have is his word. If I can't be trusted to keep my word when given, what kind of man am I? If I can't trust someone to keep their word, then why should I deal with them at all? As the saying goes, my word is my bond. Behind it, it infers honesty, integrity, and fairness. Virtues that every real man should have. Liars, cheats and thieves don't belong to our craft.
So, when I give my word to not tell our secrets, no matter how mundane they are, then that is my assurance that I can keep it. For if I can't be trusted with such a trivial matter like a handshake, how can I be trusted with something important?
As far as the esoteric stuff, Albert Pike was a well read man. Highly educated and voracious consumer of all manner of philosophy, religion, arts, sciences, etc. He liberally "borrowed" teachings from many cultures and compiled them into his work. In this way, there is nothing "secret" about any of it, it is widely available to anyone with a thirst for knowledge, an internet connection, a web browser, and a kindle.
>>"This is all strictly my own opinion, of course."
Of course. And I hope that everyone who reads Emeth also understands that what I write here are my own opinions, not opinions shared by all Freemasons in Washington, nor the Grand Lodge of Washington. I've tried to make that clear on the About Emeth page that people see before they decide to subscribe, but I figure an occasional reminder isn't a bad idea.
>>"We deny that we're a religion because we don't want to upset the Church. We say we're not, >>because we're not supposed to be a substitute for attending church, although for many (like >>myself) it is exactly that. The money we spend supporting freemasonry should be (in the >>church eyes) better spent on them."
I think that you and I see this in the same way.
I am not an anti-religious guy, and I've been fairly well educated in matters of religion through my formative years. Regular church attendance just doesn't do it for me though. I've got my own, very specific ideas, and that kind of freethinking isn't encouraged in any but a tiny minority of churches.
I find my spiritual home, and expression, in Freemasonry.
I have heard it said that Freemasonry can't be a religion, from Freemasons whom I greatly admire, because it is without a path to salvation. I don't think that is correct though because we do have respected religious traditions, of very old lineage, that are completely non-dogmatic, such as the current dominant branch of the Unitarian-Universalists.
Freemasonry works for me on a spiritual level because nothing within it conflicts with my personal beliefs, nor has any Mason (with one notable exception I guess) tried to foist their personal religious beliefs on to me.
I think the thing to remember is people have been writing and producing inaccurate information about Freemasonry since the first man was denied access to our craft. So the question is, how to engage such false narratives. As far as public relations, I think we hurt ourselves more than help when we engage false narratives. I think what is does do is it gives us an opportunity to have discussions, such as this, but also in our lodges. It should also give us pause to re-evaluate what we’re teaching or not teaching our membership. A lot of our esoteric knowledge comes from self-exploration, but not all. Should there be a basic, foundational, knowledge that new brothers are taught by both their mentor and the lodge? We’re not a secret society but we are a society with secrets. We just need to remember that everyone within our fraternity are, with proper timeliness, equally entitled to have access to the “secrets” and the knowledge that comes with them.
>>"Should there be a basic, foundational, knowledge that new brothers are taught by both their >>mentor and the lodge?"
I think that there should be.
And I don't think we need to create the materials ourselves.
I think that we should find the best materials available, such as the Master Craftsman for the Symbolic Lodge, and turn those materials into a curriculum. To that selected books could be added for specific interests that a new Mason might want to explore further. In my view, we should ask our Research Lodges to help out with the creation of such a curriculum.
I personally think that this would be much better than our current Alternate Proficiency. The AC is one of those things that is codified in Washington, so that complicates the process, but it could be done. It also serves as a good example for why we shouldn't vote to put so many things into our Code.
In my opinion, Masonry as a organization is missing broad leadership and high valued purpose. J Ray Shute II in 1949 once said that if Masonry, tied so rigidly to tradition, didn't evolve its purpose to suit societies needs it would find it self irrelevant once the club craze died off. We were so comfortable in our station for so long we didn't evolve the right things to keep with society's needs. Looking critically at how our Grand lodges are structured and the "charity" they solicit etc. I think more than any thing we should be focused on what our local community needs. Its not rest homes, hospitals, and children homes, research foundations, etc. Its basic literacy for members, Financial training, thinking skills, opportunity to have impact and of course local town based focus on the populations needs. We can no longer afford to rest on our reputation as we are now 2 and 3 generations from people remembering the good we do. Members join, they don't know how to organize or lead and find them selfs quickly thrust in to Officer chairs more focused on recital of memorized ritual than how do we operate and bring value. Cities are mixed, diverse and largely migratory no longer stagnant and filled with generations of familys. Men need places to meet, places they can be involved and have a sense of ownership in their own community. "Freemasonry a school of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols" This is only part of the equation. How you apply the lessons from this mystery school is what matters.
I think you are right that our Lodges would do well to focus on local concerns. My town for example has a college within it, not more than 5 or 6 blocks from the Masonic Temple actually. It would be great if we were to find some way to assist with the college foundation, as that would give the Lodge something very tangible to help with, and of course expose the Lodge to a lot of young men.
I also agree that we often push men into Chairs long before they are ready. That is bad for the Lodge, and it is bad for the man too.
Here’s the problem with having a unified message about Freemasonry.
There is no centralized voice of the craft.
There are thousands of Lodges around the world with as many different messages and opinions as there can be.
We are a Tower of Babel when it comes to clear and consistent messages. Add social media to the mix and every opinion, informed or not, carries equal weight for praise as well as criticism.
The only thing coming close to a unified organization is the Conference of Grandmasters and even that august body is split in two between Prince Hall and the rest of the world (under the North American banner). Even then, these two organizations do not collaborate on marketing, communications, and messaging. And while we’re at it, being in what I would hope an enlightened age, why do we have Prince Hall and the rest of the world? Aren’t we the same? Is there even a need? (Yes, I do believe Black Lives Matter, as do Latino lives, as do Asian lives, et al, but wouldn’t it be a milestone if we rolled the two organizations into one where race and ethnicity is not relevant to what we all believe in?)
Our ability to communicate clearly is further diluted by concordant bodies who have their own agendas without any specific regard to overarching messages and avoiding conflicting messages that may be out there.
Oh, and let us not forget the tens of thousands of books, periodicals, and other literature that floods the marketplace, and you get the idea that no matter what we do, we would have difficulty rising above the noise.
Freemasonry has much to offer society, esoterica, civility, support for children and all the outreach we do notwithstanding. Decentralization empowers local Lodges to do things that meet the needs and demands of local communities. But a centralized marketing and communications effort can crystallize who we are and what we stand for with clarity, strength, and economies of scale and neutralizes the confusion of tongues that now permeate over who we are and what we stand for.
You make a strong point that unified messaging to the non Masonic world would be of great benefit.
I think that we may be getting there with the 'Be A Freemason' effort. When it was first introduced it was just the Scottish Rite NMJ, but made available to all Grand Lodges. After that the SR SJ joined the effort, along with the Shrine. I don't know for certain, but I think that the collective Grand Lodges have been adopting it widely. It's been about three years since its start if memory serves.
Time will tell how this cooperative effort works, it is certainly not an easy thing to get all the Grand Lodges pulling in the same direction.
I certainly hope that we can heal all divisions of the past, State GL's / Prince Hall / Continental Freemasonry. We are all Brothers, and we all share the same long and storied lineage.