The New Mason
He's the difference maker
As experienced Masons, looking to improve the experience in our Lodge, we can convince our Brothers to support incremental changes that over time add up, and that over time will result in a greatly improved Lodge experience.
If we happen to find ourselves standing in the East, we have a tremendous opportunity to accelerate this process.
But we, all of us who have been Masons for a few, or a lot, of years, aren’t the men who will transform our Ancient Craft into truly Legendary Freemasonry.
The new Masons we are mentoring and coaching at this very moment are.
Or they can be, if we teach them well.
This is because these brand new Masons have drive and energy. They are open to new ideas, and they are not weighted down by internalized attitudes of how things have ‘always’ been done in our Lodge.
They can create, and can be, the change makers we seek.
I was blessed with an extraordinary mentor through my Degrees. He taught me our ritual directly, but much more importantly, he taught me how to learn about Masonry, and vitally, how to learn about the aspects of Freemasonry that I was most interested in. Now, years and years later, he is still there, providing his friendship and his support.
In light of my experience with him, I’ve always jumped at the opportunity to mentor new Masons as they are going through their own Degrees, and I’ve always tried to do a good job of it.
But, I’ve also gotten a lot better at it through the years.
As I’ve become more experienced, and worked with a widely diverse group of men, my ability to help our newest Masons has improved. That of course is how it is with anything we practice.
Right now, I am mentoring two truly extraordinary Brothers. One is just about to return his EA Proficiency, and the second has just received his Master Mason Degree.
Both have read as much about Freemasonry as some Masons will read in a lifetime. Because both have purchased great Masonic books at my recommendation. Long ago Brother Mackey pointed out that Masons don’t read. I think most of us here know that to be largely true, and it hasn’t changed since he wrote it roughly 150 years ago.
But Masons will read, will become voracious readers, if while we are mentoring them we encourage them to read, and point out some good Masonic books that will speak directly to their interests.
Both are proudly wearing high quality aprons that they purchased themselves, shunning the awful loaner aprons most members of the Lodge wear. Why? Because someone pointed out to them how much sharper they would look, and feel, wearing actual lambskin instead of a wrinkled old rag.
One has returned two amazing Proficiencies, having memorized the entire Posting Lectures. The other will return an equally amazing Proficiency, by delivering a superb paper in which he explains the First Degree, and what it means to him in great detail.
The newest Master Mason has already asked about parts he can memorize for upcoming Degree conferrals, and our new Entered Apprentice has already become a valued voice in our efforts to preserve and improve our building. Each have different interests, so each are following different pathways.
Despite those differences, both will be amazing Masons in the years to come, and both will birth changes our Lodge needs to continue to thrive.
Mentoring and coaching our new Masons is the very best opportunity we have to bring about positive change and create truly Legendary Freemasonry.
It is also, I would argue, probably the most important thing we can do as Masons.
We do well to seize the opportunity to mentor our new Masons, and when that opportunity is given to us, we must make certain to never squander it.
In addition to mentoring these young masons through the degrees and recommending reading materials, it is a ripe opportunity to guide these men towards restoring masonry back to what it should be. To one day be able to achieve goals of, for example, becoming an observant lodge. Showing them what a real masonic experience they should be having and comparing it to the boring business meetings most lodges find themselves stuck in. The evolution of masonry will take years to overcome the inertia of the way we’ve always done things mentality and will only be accomplished by the next generation.
"The way we have always done it", "if it works, don't fix it" These two phrases are some of the most toxic phrases know to man.
They both tie back to allowing what's good enough (or not quite) to get in the way of what's best. They breed apathy and discontent. This creates mediocrity and eventually this mediocrity becomes normalized deviance.
I believe this is where we are right now in many aspects of our craft.
I have taken over the coordination of a long standing event. As I talked to a seasoned, past coordinator of this event, I brought new ideas and each was met with an immediate no, that is not the way we have done it. Or with, we tired it that way once and it did not work.
This Brother went as far to say that he does not want to be that guy who says, "that's not the way we've always done it". He uttered those words in the very same breath as he was shooting down the suggestions I am making.
This is also what happened in my career as I left nuclear power generation in NC to work for a public utility district in WA.
Cameron is spot on with the idea of incremental change. Once I could adapt my leadership style to the culture of eastern WA and implement my vision is phases as to not overwhelm and crush the district under the rigor of we applied in a nuclear power generation operation, I was all of a sudden easy to work with.
I see a parallel in my leadership role in Masonry as well. We coordinated this event I mentioned and stayed within the constraint of the "way we have always done it", with one difference, we took the experience up a level in every way we could without breaching the tradition. For next year, i the coming weeks we will begin to solicit feedback from my lodge and from the brothers we were present from other lodges, apply this feedback in a most thoughtful manner and gently move away from "the way we have always done it". Finally!