In Freemasonry it is often said that we value the internal and not the external qualifications of a man.
I think that the leads to the question: When it comes to those petitioning for initiation, what are some of the internal qualifications that we should be looking for?
How can we know if a man possesses them?
Do we, despite our stated principal, end up thinking more about the man’s external qualifications than his internal qualifications, or do we truly consider the internal?
Do we, sometimes, use our stated partial irrelevancy of external qualifications, to let a man through our West Gate who is unsuitable, and who we probably should have recognized as unsuitable by giving some measure of consideration to those external qualifications?
Willingness / desire to improve is the basic foundation. Without this, progress can't be made, and the lessons that Freemasonry has to offer don't matter and won't work for a person. You can start off a deeply flawed person and with this attribute get somewhere good. Or you can start off a pretty decent person, lack this trait, and go....nowhere.
If you have a desire to improve, you can find and manufacture most of the rest of the tools you'll need on the way.
How do you know if a man possess it? If I sign for a candidate, when we ballot I have to stand up and speak for the candidate. I always say the same thing: ignore what the man has said, look at what he has done. If he was offered information, did he take it and learn it? If he was told it's a good idea to get to know lodge members did he do that? By the time I'm speaking for someone in lodge, the answer is yes or I wouldn't be in that situation.
It's simple but hard: give men opportunities. Ask them to do things. And when they seize the opportunities and do the stuff, you've got a good candidate. If they don't, or can't be bothered, then put yourself in the position of the conductor / SD when he would enter the door: are we sure we're answering the questions?
We definitely let lots of men through the west gate who we shouldn't. Masonry right now has a sort of baked-in membership anxiety which is very negative for the fraternity. No, we shouldn't turn people away with "jump through hoops" tests but we also shouldn't be easy to join, and we shouldn't offer excess help to people who don't show themselves to be driven to be a part of the organization. Freemasonry hasn't yet come to terms with the reality that it's going to shrink a lot for demographic reasons, and that there will be fewer lodges in the future. Wishing to forestall that outcome, lodges will sometimes bring in unsuitable candidates trying to get something going, only to find them fall out of participation later for any number of reasons.
If we follow our guide of “Making good men better”, then that is where we must start. How do we know if a man is good when he first approaches a lodge? We are duty bound to ask the questions on the petition, but they should only be a starting point. When we first meet a potential candidate, our first impressions are of the external. The man’s appearance, his language and grammar are what we are first introduced to. When we start speaking with the man, we continue to be focused on his external attributes, where he works, where he lives, his family dynamics. It isn’t until we work past the “getting to know you” phase that we’re able to start delving into the man’s internal qualities. What is his belief structure? Does he believe in a Supreme Being? What does he do in his “spare” time? By the time we get to a candidates internal qualities, we’ve already gathered a picture of his external. Right or wrong, it’s unavoidable. A candidates external successes or failings don’t determine if he’s a good man. Learning the internal qualities of a man is difficult at best and certainly will take time and multiple interactions. We want to learn about a man’s inner most thoughts. Is he accepting of new and different ideas? Is he willing and able to give of himself, can he be a servant? Perhaps the question shouldn’t be about whether we’re looking at a candidates external or internal attributes but how we select Brothers to sit on investigation committees. Should a training be put together, whether it’s along the format of the Secretary and Treasurer training or presented at the LLR, to educate Lodge leaders to the importance of a thorough investigation. I think now is the time to share throughout the jurisdiction the importance of guarding the West Gate.
I’ve mentioned it before, potential candidates always tell you what you want to hear. It’s difficult to interview someone without giving the benefit of the doubt. So, it’s a two edged sword.
This is why I firmly believe that we must take time getting to know them and then get to know us... Instead of rushing to a petition.... Far to many times I see brothers talking about petitions with men that are interested after only 2 weeks.... Well how is that anywhere near enough time to truly get to know someone. I believe it should be months before anyone asks for a petition., Or is pressured to ask... And in that time spend time with the brethren and the lodge other wise alot of what we will get is people saying what ever they think we might like.. only to be let it and leave shortly after or be toxic within the fraternity.
I had this discussion with a few of the brothers from my lodge awhile back and we came up with some qualification for a man to be admitted in our lodge and made a Mason. The qualifications we would accept into our lodge are:
-Great attendance to lodge dinners (pre lodge functions) and functions outside of lodge.
-If he is willing to meet and befriend every man in our lodge when he is invited to our dinner and functions outside of lodge.
-If we can trust this man with our wives, kids, wallet, pets.
-If he is willing to memorize a paragraph of what we ask him to memorize, and willing to return the memory work with a committee of brothers as his witness.
-Does this man seem to think he is always right, and everything is never his fault?
-Can this man be made aware of his faults and has a desire to improve on his faults?
-His manners and how he treats other members of our lodge and how he treats people outside of the lodge.
-If he’s willing to put in community service work with the brothers before he is even considered.
Willingness / desire to improve is the basic foundation. Without this, progress can't be made, and the lessons that Freemasonry has to offer don't matter and won't work for a person. You can start off a deeply flawed person and with this attribute get somewhere good. Or you can start off a pretty decent person, lack this trait, and go....nowhere.
If you have a desire to improve, you can find and manufacture most of the rest of the tools you'll need on the way.
How do you know if a man possess it? If I sign for a candidate, when we ballot I have to stand up and speak for the candidate. I always say the same thing: ignore what the man has said, look at what he has done. If he was offered information, did he take it and learn it? If he was told it's a good idea to get to know lodge members did he do that? By the time I'm speaking for someone in lodge, the answer is yes or I wouldn't be in that situation.
It's simple but hard: give men opportunities. Ask them to do things. And when they seize the opportunities and do the stuff, you've got a good candidate. If they don't, or can't be bothered, then put yourself in the position of the conductor / SD when he would enter the door: are we sure we're answering the questions?
We definitely let lots of men through the west gate who we shouldn't. Masonry right now has a sort of baked-in membership anxiety which is very negative for the fraternity. No, we shouldn't turn people away with "jump through hoops" tests but we also shouldn't be easy to join, and we shouldn't offer excess help to people who don't show themselves to be driven to be a part of the organization. Freemasonry hasn't yet come to terms with the reality that it's going to shrink a lot for demographic reasons, and that there will be fewer lodges in the future. Wishing to forestall that outcome, lodges will sometimes bring in unsuitable candidates trying to get something going, only to find them fall out of participation later for any number of reasons.
If we follow our guide of “Making good men better”, then that is where we must start. How do we know if a man is good when he first approaches a lodge? We are duty bound to ask the questions on the petition, but they should only be a starting point. When we first meet a potential candidate, our first impressions are of the external. The man’s appearance, his language and grammar are what we are first introduced to. When we start speaking with the man, we continue to be focused on his external attributes, where he works, where he lives, his family dynamics. It isn’t until we work past the “getting to know you” phase that we’re able to start delving into the man’s internal qualities. What is his belief structure? Does he believe in a Supreme Being? What does he do in his “spare” time? By the time we get to a candidates internal qualities, we’ve already gathered a picture of his external. Right or wrong, it’s unavoidable. A candidates external successes or failings don’t determine if he’s a good man. Learning the internal qualities of a man is difficult at best and certainly will take time and multiple interactions. We want to learn about a man’s inner most thoughts. Is he accepting of new and different ideas? Is he willing and able to give of himself, can he be a servant? Perhaps the question shouldn’t be about whether we’re looking at a candidates external or internal attributes but how we select Brothers to sit on investigation committees. Should a training be put together, whether it’s along the format of the Secretary and Treasurer training or presented at the LLR, to educate Lodge leaders to the importance of a thorough investigation. I think now is the time to share throughout the jurisdiction the importance of guarding the West Gate.
I’ve mentioned it before, potential candidates always tell you what you want to hear. It’s difficult to interview someone without giving the benefit of the doubt. So, it’s a two edged sword.
This is why I firmly believe that we must take time getting to know them and then get to know us... Instead of rushing to a petition.... Far to many times I see brothers talking about petitions with men that are interested after only 2 weeks.... Well how is that anywhere near enough time to truly get to know someone. I believe it should be months before anyone asks for a petition., Or is pressured to ask... And in that time spend time with the brethren and the lodge other wise alot of what we will get is people saying what ever they think we might like.. only to be let it and leave shortly after or be toxic within the fraternity.
I had this discussion with a few of the brothers from my lodge awhile back and we came up with some qualification for a man to be admitted in our lodge and made a Mason. The qualifications we would accept into our lodge are:
-Great attendance to lodge dinners (pre lodge functions) and functions outside of lodge.
-If he is willing to meet and befriend every man in our lodge when he is invited to our dinner and functions outside of lodge.
-If we can trust this man with our wives, kids, wallet, pets.
-If he is willing to memorize a paragraph of what we ask him to memorize, and willing to return the memory work with a committee of brothers as his witness.
-Does this man seem to think he is always right, and everything is never his fault?
-Can this man be made aware of his faults and has a desire to improve on his faults?
-His manners and how he treats other members of our lodge and how he treats people outside of the lodge.
-If he’s willing to put in community service work with the brothers before he is even considered.
No less…