I appreciate the link, and hope no one will take it as a political rather than sociological argument.
I have put it plainly in one of my first article for Empire State Mason magazine: We want things to be different, as long as we don't have to change anything.
I have written and spoken on this many times. Social media is as fundamental a shift in the human condition as was the invention of writing. And I mean this with no exaggeration whatsoever. It will take generations for us to sort it out, as we always do. In the meantime, the newer generations got no advice from us -- as it didn't exist in our younger days -- and it's an understandable mess.
Thank you for sharing the article, and your perspective on its applicability to Masonry. I read it when first posted, and it certainly gives much to consider.
Ultimately I have to agree that technology has radically changed our world, and I think that we have very little understanding of what its impacts are, and even less understanding about how to respond to those impacts.
That said, I remain optimistic. Over the long march of time humanity shows a great propensity towards improvement.
To make my way in a Lodge I had to move lodges. No one should have to do that. A Lodge should always help a brother work his way around the lodge not keep holding him back.
I've not actually dropped my membership from a Lodge, but I too have moved from one Lodge to another in search of a better Masonic Experience for myself, and I've encouraged other folks who weren't enjoying their Lodge Experience to do so as well. We are all unique, and in some ways, our Lodges are quite unique as well.
It is, I think, much better that a man find a Lodge he can enjoy than Masonry losing the man, and that is what would eventually happen if he felt somehow locked in to a Lodge that didn't meet his needs.
It was more of two people who did not like me held me back. I had enough after three years of this and moved four of us on the same day. I am the only one still in and went in as master three weeks ago.
Harmony. Harmony is a roadblock. Sounds weird, I know.
We place fairly great emphasis on harmony, on consensus, on unanimity (look how we do our balloting for candidates, elections for leaders). And we are a conservative organization. Not politically, but in the sense that I think the fraternity is fundamentally suspicious of change: something important & vital might be lost! It is not in the power of any man to make innovations in the body of masonry. Plot twist: there's no definition of what is the body of masonry, so what you're *not* allowed to touch has no real bounds.
You are asking what we want ourselves & lodges to "become". That implies change.
The roadblock in my opinion is how do you change that which actively resists change? By slow, grinding consensus building. Which is a careful skill to develop over time, but not one everyone has. Does that mean they are not permitted to change? Well, no not really - but also practically - yes.
The other side of this perspective is that PARTICULAR BROTHERS ARE THE ROADBLOCK. We placate and coddle them because we are desperate for their membership, or worse yet, they command or influence a cabal of older Brothers who never attend Lodge accept to sabotage a vote. Tell me anyone here hasn't seen such a thing.
Placing too much value on harmony removes necessary admonition and discipline. Some of us need to be gaveled down, or even not given permission to enter Lodge.
“they command or influence a cabal of older Brothers who never attend Lodge accept to sabotage a vote. Tell me anyone here hasn't seen such a thing.”
Which reminds me of a story back when I was Worshipful Master of my Lodge the first time, back in 1999. A rumor had gone around that I planned to cover changing the By-laws to adversely affect our Scholarship fund, which was strongly guarded by the “old guard” of the Lodge. In this case, that’s fine; I wasn’t even considering the scholarship fund, I was thinking about something else. Nevertheless, a whole slew of “old-timers” showed up at the next meeting. I greeted them, some of whom I had never met before, and I asked one of those who I did know how come the great turnout? That Brother told me the supposed reason, and I assured them I wasn’t even thinking about the Scholarship fund, but a light bulb went off and I promptly turned that meeting into a Past Master’s night.
No surprise, the meeting ended well. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to retain all of those who showed up, but I gained a few. 😉
Who said a 25-year-old can’t have a few tricks up his sleeve?
I would say most have the following roadblocks: A lodge who has slipped from the memory of the community it resides in due to 50 years of apathy and burned out Masters/secretaries. Due to 70 years of poor financial planning, a lodge stuck with an ageing membership on a fixed income with no funds to keep the buildings and grounds up for the next 30 years and a building built for 3X the membership that currently exists. Finally, a lack of clear dedicated and well educated leadership enabled by well kept and freely available Grand lodge Metadata to make the best decisions and lead to any sort of prosperity. There, I said it. The decisions necessary to turn that around are difficult. But drastic change requires, sacrifice and hard work.
I can't disagree with any of the things you mention. I've certainly seen Lodges challenged by each of those things. Luckily though, each of them are things we can address. If we can find the will to do so.
I had to move lodges to hopefully find the experience I was needing, and what I felt was best for the fraternity. There were more than a few brothers in the lodge that didn't agree with my assessment of what was wrong, yet when I pointed out to them just what the problems were, they acknowledged it, but refused to change to fix them. Instead, they fell back into the old comfortable "we've always done it that way" mentality, and merrily continued to ignore what was really going on.
I do want to point out that over the years, the Lodge Leadership Retreat has morphed into something quite valuable. Beyond the basic classes like secretary duties, financial planning, installation planning, temple board governance (all valuable classes) they have expanded into subjects like leadership, retention, beyond the six steps, and other classes that point out problems and potential solutions facing the fraternity today. I urge all lodges to send brothers to the LLR, as you are investing in your future. It's no coincidence that one indication that a lodge is failing is that they haven't ever sent anyone to attend these classes.
>>>It's no coincidence that one indication that a lodge is failing is that they haven't ever sent anyone >>>to attend these classes.
This is exactly correct. When I was traveling to Lodges as a part of the Grand Line when I would see an obviously failing Lodge, I'd often check to see how long it had been since they had sent anyone to the Lodge Leadership Retreat. Seemingly without fail those dying Lodges either hadn't ever sent anyone, or hadn't sent anyone for many years.
But of course if the Jurisdiction works so hard to put on a program designed to teach Lodge leaders how to create thriving Lodges, and those leaders refuse to attend, it is no wonder that they fail.
I appreciate the link, and hope no one will take it as a political rather than sociological argument.
I have put it plainly in one of my first article for Empire State Mason magazine: We want things to be different, as long as we don't have to change anything.
I have written and spoken on this many times. Social media is as fundamental a shift in the human condition as was the invention of writing. And I mean this with no exaggeration whatsoever. It will take generations for us to sort it out, as we always do. In the meantime, the newer generations got no advice from us -- as it didn't exist in our younger days -- and it's an understandable mess.
Thank you for sharing the article, and your perspective on its applicability to Masonry. I read it when first posted, and it certainly gives much to consider.
Ultimately I have to agree that technology has radically changed our world, and I think that we have very little understanding of what its impacts are, and even less understanding about how to respond to those impacts.
That said, I remain optimistic. Over the long march of time humanity shows a great propensity towards improvement.
To make my way in a Lodge I had to move lodges. No one should have to do that. A Lodge should always help a brother work his way around the lodge not keep holding him back.
To enjoy my lodge experience I had to move lodges. Lodge culture can be a inhibitor.
I've not actually dropped my membership from a Lodge, but I too have moved from one Lodge to another in search of a better Masonic Experience for myself, and I've encouraged other folks who weren't enjoying their Lodge Experience to do so as well. We are all unique, and in some ways, our Lodges are quite unique as well.
It is, I think, much better that a man find a Lodge he can enjoy than Masonry losing the man, and that is what would eventually happen if he felt somehow locked in to a Lodge that didn't meet his needs.
It was more of two people who did not like me held me back. I had enough after three years of this and moved four of us on the same day. I am the only one still in and went in as master three weeks ago.
Harmony. Harmony is a roadblock. Sounds weird, I know.
We place fairly great emphasis on harmony, on consensus, on unanimity (look how we do our balloting for candidates, elections for leaders). And we are a conservative organization. Not politically, but in the sense that I think the fraternity is fundamentally suspicious of change: something important & vital might be lost! It is not in the power of any man to make innovations in the body of masonry. Plot twist: there's no definition of what is the body of masonry, so what you're *not* allowed to touch has no real bounds.
You are asking what we want ourselves & lodges to "become". That implies change.
The roadblock in my opinion is how do you change that which actively resists change? By slow, grinding consensus building. Which is a careful skill to develop over time, but not one everyone has. Does that mean they are not permitted to change? Well, no not really - but also practically - yes.
The other side of this perspective is that PARTICULAR BROTHERS ARE THE ROADBLOCK. We placate and coddle them because we are desperate for their membership, or worse yet, they command or influence a cabal of older Brothers who never attend Lodge accept to sabotage a vote. Tell me anyone here hasn't seen such a thing.
Placing too much value on harmony removes necessary admonition and discipline. Some of us need to be gaveled down, or even not given permission to enter Lodge.
Yes this too. Notice the difference in these two constructions:
"We place great emphasis on harmony and consensus" (people nod, they like this)
"Every brother, even the most argumentative, gets a veto vote on everything" (people get mad, disagree)
Notice how, so frequently, they are the same thing though.
“they command or influence a cabal of older Brothers who never attend Lodge accept to sabotage a vote. Tell me anyone here hasn't seen such a thing.”
Which reminds me of a story back when I was Worshipful Master of my Lodge the first time, back in 1999. A rumor had gone around that I planned to cover changing the By-laws to adversely affect our Scholarship fund, which was strongly guarded by the “old guard” of the Lodge. In this case, that’s fine; I wasn’t even considering the scholarship fund, I was thinking about something else. Nevertheless, a whole slew of “old-timers” showed up at the next meeting. I greeted them, some of whom I had never met before, and I asked one of those who I did know how come the great turnout? That Brother told me the supposed reason, and I assured them I wasn’t even thinking about the Scholarship fund, but a light bulb went off and I promptly turned that meeting into a Past Master’s night.
No surprise, the meeting ended well. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to retain all of those who showed up, but I gained a few. 😉
Who said a 25-year-old can’t have a few tricks up his sleeve?
I may have to steal that idea, lol
>>>a cabal of older Brothers who never attend Lodge accept to sabotage a vote.
Yep, as someone here mentioned not too long ago, if you want to have great attendance at a meeting, schedule a vote on a dues increase!
This is a very interesting perspective. Thank you for sharing it, I've been pondering it since your post a couple of days ago.
I would say most have the following roadblocks: A lodge who has slipped from the memory of the community it resides in due to 50 years of apathy and burned out Masters/secretaries. Due to 70 years of poor financial planning, a lodge stuck with an ageing membership on a fixed income with no funds to keep the buildings and grounds up for the next 30 years and a building built for 3X the membership that currently exists. Finally, a lack of clear dedicated and well educated leadership enabled by well kept and freely available Grand lodge Metadata to make the best decisions and lead to any sort of prosperity. There, I said it. The decisions necessary to turn that around are difficult. But drastic change requires, sacrifice and hard work.
I can't disagree with any of the things you mention. I've certainly seen Lodges challenged by each of those things. Luckily though, each of them are things we can address. If we can find the will to do so.
My point exactly.
I see many road blocks in Mansonic lodges, and most of the time the road blocks are us.
We do very often seem to be our own worst enemies.
I had to move lodges to hopefully find the experience I was needing, and what I felt was best for the fraternity. There were more than a few brothers in the lodge that didn't agree with my assessment of what was wrong, yet when I pointed out to them just what the problems were, they acknowledged it, but refused to change to fix them. Instead, they fell back into the old comfortable "we've always done it that way" mentality, and merrily continued to ignore what was really going on.
I do want to point out that over the years, the Lodge Leadership Retreat has morphed into something quite valuable. Beyond the basic classes like secretary duties, financial planning, installation planning, temple board governance (all valuable classes) they have expanded into subjects like leadership, retention, beyond the six steps, and other classes that point out problems and potential solutions facing the fraternity today. I urge all lodges to send brothers to the LLR, as you are investing in your future. It's no coincidence that one indication that a lodge is failing is that they haven't ever sent anyone to attend these classes.
>>>It's no coincidence that one indication that a lodge is failing is that they haven't ever sent anyone >>>to attend these classes.
This is exactly correct. When I was traveling to Lodges as a part of the Grand Line when I would see an obviously failing Lodge, I'd often check to see how long it had been since they had sent anyone to the Lodge Leadership Retreat. Seemingly without fail those dying Lodges either hadn't ever sent anyone, or hadn't sent anyone for many years.
But of course if the Jurisdiction works so hard to put on a program designed to teach Lodge leaders how to create thriving Lodges, and those leaders refuse to attend, it is no wonder that they fail.