The Lodge is the center of those activities.
Masonry Does Things in the World.
Masonry teaches that each person has a responsibility to make things
better in the world. Most individuals won't be the ones to find a cure for
cancer, or eliminate poverty, or help create world peace, but every man
and woman and child can do something to help others and to make things a
little better. Masonry is deeply involved with helping people -- it spends
more than $1.4 million dollars every day in the United States, just to
make life a little easier. And the great majority of that help goes to
people who are not Masons. Some of these charities are vast projects, like
the Crippled Children's Hospitals and Burns Institutes built by the
Shriners. Also, Scottish Rite Masons maintain a nationwide network of over
100 Childhood Language Disorders Clinics, Centers, and Programs. Each
helps children afflicted by such conditions as aphasia, dyslexia,
stuttering, and related learning or speech disorders. Some services are
less noticeable, like helping a widow pay her electric bill or buying
coats and shoes for disadvantaged children. And there's just about
anything you can think of in-between. But with projects large or small,
the Masons of a lodge try to help make the world a better place. The lodge
gives them a way to combine with others to do even more good.
Masonry does things "inside" the individual
Mason.
"Grow or die" is a great law of all nature. Most people feel a need for
continued growth and development as individuals. They feel they are not as
honest or as charitable or as compassionate or as loving or as trusting as
they ought to be. Masonry reminds its members over and over again of the
importance of these qualities. It lets men associate with other men of
honor and integrity who believe that things like honesty and compassion
and love and trust are important. In some ways, Masonry is a support group
for men who are trying to make the right decisions. It's easier to
practice these virtues when you know that those around you think they are
important, too, and won't laugh at you. That's a major reason that Masons
enjoy being together.
Masons enjoy each other's company.
It's good to spend time with people you can trust completely, and most
Masons find that in their lodge. While much of lodge activity is spent in
works of charity or in lessons in self-development, much is also spent in
fellowship. Lodges have picnics, camping trips, and many events for the
whole family. Simply put, a lodge is a place to spend time with friends.
For members only, two basic kinds of meetings take place in a lodge. The
most common is a simple business meeting. To open and close the meeting,
there is a ceremony whose purpose is to remind us of the virtues by which
we are supposed to live. Then there is a reading of the minutes; voting on
petitions (applications of men who want to join the fraternity); planning
for charitable functions, family events, and other lodge activities; and
sharing information about members (called "Brothers," as in most
fraternities) who are ill or have some sort of need. The other kind of
meeting is one in which people join the fraternity -- one at which the
"degrees" are performed.
But every lodge serves more than its own members. Frequently, there are
meetings open to the public. Examples are Ladies' Nights, "Brother Bring a
Friend Nights," public installations of officers, Cornerstone Laying
ceremonies, and other special meetings supporting community events and
dealing with topics of local interest.
What's a degree?
A degree is a stage or level of membership. It's also the ceremony by
which a man attains that level of membership. There are three, called
Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason. As you can see, the
names are taken from the craft guilds. In the Middle Ages, when a person
wanted to join a craft, such as the gold smiths or the carpenters or the
stonemasons, he was first apprenticed. As an apprentice, he learned the
tools and skills of the trade. When he had proved his skills, he became a
"Fellow of the Craft" (today we would say "Journeyman"), and when he had
exceptional ability, he was known as a Master of the Craft.
The degrees are plays in which the candidate participates. Each degree
uses symbols to teach, just as plays did in the Middle Ages and as many
theatrical productions do today. (We'll talk about symbols a little
later.)
The Masonic degrees teach the great lessons of life -- the importance of
honor and integrity, of being a person on whom others can rely, of being
both trusting and trustworthy, of realizing that you have a spiritual
nature as well as a physical or animal nature, of the importance of
self-control, of knowing how to love and be loved, of knowing how to keep
confidential what others tell you so that they can "open up" without fear.
Why is Masonry so "secretive"?
It really isn't "secretive," although it sometimes has that reputation.
Masons certainly don't make a secret of the fact that they are members of
the fraternity. We wear rings, lapel pins and tie tacks with Masonic
emblems like the Square and Compasses, the best known of Masonic signs
which, logically, recalls the fraternity's roots in stonemasonry. Masonic
buildings are clearly marked, and are usually listed in the phone book.
Lodge activities are not secret picnics and other events are even listed
in the newspapers, especially in smaller towns. Many lodges have answering
machines which give the upcoming lodge activities. But there are some
Masonic secrets, and they fall into two categories.
The first are the ways in which a man can identify himself as a Mason --
grips and passwords. We keep those private for obvious reasons. It is not
at all unknown for unscrupulous people to try to pass themselves off as
Masons in order to get assistance under false pretenses.
The second group is harder to describe, but they are the ones Masons
usually mean if we talk about "Masonic secrets." They are secrets because
they literally can't be talked about, can't be put into words. They are
the changes that happen to a man when he really accepts responsibility for
his own life and, at the same time, truly decides that his real happiness
is in helping others.
It's a wonderful feeling, but it's something you simply can't explain to
another person. That's why we sometimes say that Masonic secrets cannot (
rather than "may not") be told. Try telling someone exactly what you feel
when you see a beautiful sunset, or when you hear music, like the national
anthem, which suddenly stirs old memories, and you'll understand what we
mean.
"Secret societies" became very popular in America in the late 1800s and
early 1900s. There were literally hundreds of them, and most people
belonged to two or three. Many of them were modeled on Masonry, and made a
great point of having many "secrets." And Masonry got ranked with them.
But if Masonry is a secret society, it's the worst-kept secret in town.
Is Masonry a religion?
The answer to that question is simple. No.
We do use ritual in the meetings, and because there is always an altar or
table with the Volume of the Sacred Law open if a lodge is meeting, some
people have confused Masonry with a religion, but it is not. That does not
mean that religion plays no part in Masonry -- it plays a very important
part. A person who wants to become a Mason must have a belief in God. No
atheist can ever become a Mason. Meetings open with prayer, and a Mason is
taught, as one of the first lessons of Masonry, that one should pray for
divine counsel and guidance before starting an important undertaking. But
that does not make Masonry a "religion."
Sometimes people confuse Masonry with a religion because we call some
Masonic buildings "temples." But we use the word in the same sense that
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes called the Supreme Court a "Temple of
Justice" and because a Masonic lodge is a symbol of the Temple of Solomon.
Neither Masonry nor the Supreme Court is a religion just because its
members meet in a "temple."
In some ways, the relationship between Masonry and religion is like the
relationship between the Parent-Teacher Association (the P.T.A.) and
education. Members of the P.T.A. believe in the importance of education.
They support it. They assert that no man or woman can be a complete and
whole individual or live up to his or her full potential without
education. They encourage students to stay in school and parents to be
involved with the education of their children. They may give scholarships.
They encourage their members to get involved with and support their
individual schools.
But there are some things P.T.A.s do not do. They don't teach. They don't
tell people which school to attend. They don't try to tell people what
they should study or what their major should be.
In much the same way, Masons believe in the importance of religion.
Masonry encourages every Mason to be active in the religion and church of
his own choice. Masonry teaches that, without religion, a man is alone and
lost, and that without religion, he can never reach his full potential.
But Freemasonry does not tell a person which religion he should practice
or how he should practice it. That is between the individual and God. That
is the function of his house of worship, not his fraternity. And Masonry
is a fraternity, not a religion.
What is a Masonic Bible?
Bibles are popular gifts among Masons, frequently given to a man when
he joins the lodge or at other special events. A Masonic Bible is the same
book anyone thinks of as a Bible (it's usually the King James translation)
with a special page in the front on which to write the name of the person
who is receiving it and the occasion on which it is given. Sometimes there
is a special index or information section which shows the person where in
the Bible to find the passages which are quoted in the Masonic ritual.
If Masonry isn't a religion, why does it use ritual?
Many of us may think of religion when we think of ritual, but ritual is
used in every aspect of life. It's so much a part of us that we just don't
notice it. Ritual simply means that some things are done more or less the
same way each time.
Almost all school assemblies, for example, start with the principal or
some other official calling for the attention of the group. Then the group
is led in the Pledge of Allegiance. A school choir or the entire group may
sing the school song. That's a ritual.
Almost all business meetings of every sort call the group to order, have a
reading of the minutes of the last meeting, deal with old business, then
with new business. That's a ritual. Most groups use Robert's Rules of
Order to conduct a meeting. That's probably the best-known book of
ritual in the world.
There are social rituals which tell us how to meet people (we shake
hands), how to join a conversation (we wait for a pause, and then speak),
how to buy tickets to a concert (we wait in line and don't push in ahead
of those who were there first). There are literally hundreds of examples,
and they are all rituals.
Masonry uses a ritual because it's an effective way to teach important
ideas -- the values we've talked about earlier. And it reminds us where we
are, just as the ritual of a business meeting reminds people where they
are and what they are supposed to be doing.
Masonry's ritual is very rich because it is so old. It has developed over
centuries to contain some beautiful language and ideas expressed in
symbols. But there's nothing unusual in using ritual. All of us do it
every day.
Why does Masonry use symbols?
Everyone uses symbols every day, just as we do ritual. We use them
because they communicate quickly. When you see a stop sign , you know what
it means, even if you can't read the word "stop." The circle and line mean
"don't" or "not allowed." In fact, using symbols is probably the oldest
way of communication and the oldest way of teaching.
Masonry uses symbols for the same reason. Some form of the "Square and
Compasses" is the most widely used and known symbol of Masonry. In one
way, this symbol is a kind of trademark for the fraternity, as the "golden
arches" are for McDonald's. When you see the Square and Compasses on a
building, you know that Masons meet there.
And like all symbols, they have a meaning.
The Square symbolizes things of the earth, and it also symbolizes honor,
integrity, truthfulness, and the other ways we should relate to this world
and the people in it. The Compasses symbolize things of the spirit, and
the importance of a well-developed spiritual life, and also the importance
of self-control -- of keeping ourselves within bounds. The G stands for
Geometry, the science which the ancients believed most revealed the glory
of God and His works in the heavens, and it also stands for God, Who must
be at the center of all our thoughts and of all our efforts.
The meanings of most of the other Masonic symbols are obvious. The gavel
teaches the importance of self-control and self-discipline. The hourglass
teaches us that time is always passing, and we should not put off
important decisions.
So, is Masonry education?
Yes. In a very real sense, education is at the center of Masonry. We
have stressed its importance for a very long time. Back in the Middle
Ages, schools were held in the lodges of stonemasons. You have to know a
lot to build a cathedral -- geometry, and structural engineering, and
mathematics, just for a start. And that education was not very widely
available. All the formal schools and colleges trained people for careers
in the church, or in law or medicine. And you had to be a member of the
social upper classes to go to those schools. Stonemasons did not come from
the aristocracy. And so the lodges had to teach the necessary skills and
information. Freemasonry's dedication to education started there.
It has continued. Masons started some of the first public schools in both
Europe and America. We supported legislation to make education universal.
In the 1800s Masons as a group lobbied for the establishment of state
supported education and federal land grant colleges. Today we give
millions of dollars in scholarships each year. We encourage our members to
give volunteer time to their local schools, buy classroom supplies for
teachers, help with literacy programs, and do everything they can to help
assure that each person, adult or child, has the best educational
opportunities possible.
And Masonry supports continuing education and intellectual growth for its
members, insisting that learning more about many things is important for
anyone who wants to keep mentally alert and young.
What does Masonry teach?
Masonry teaches some important principles. There's nothing very
surprising in the list. Masonry teaches that:
Since God is the Creator, all men and women are the children of God.
Because of that, all men and women are brothers and sisters, entitled to
dignity, respect for their opinions, and consideration of their feelings.
Each person must take responsibility for his/her own life and actions.
Neither wealth nor poverty, education nor ignorance, health nor sickness
excuses any person from doing the best he or she can do or being the best
person possible under the circumstances.
No one has the right to tell another person what he or she must think
or believe. Each man and woman has an absolute right to intellectual,
spiritual, economic, and political freedom. This is a right given by God,
not by man. All tyranny, in every form, is illegitimate.
Each person must learn and practice self-control. Each person
must make sure his spiritual nature triumphs over his animal nature.
Another way to say the same thing is that even when we are tempted to
anger, we must not be violent. Even when we are tempted to selfishness, we
must be charitable. Even when we want to "write someone off," we must
remember that he or she is a human and entitled to our respect. Even when
we want to give up, we must go on. Even when we are hated, we must return
love, or, at a minimum, we must not hate back. It isn't easy!
Faith must be in the center of our lives. We find that faith in
our houses of worship, not in Freemasonry, but Masonry constantly teaches
that a person's faith, whatever it may be, is central to a good life.
Each person has a responsibly to be a good citizen, obeying the law.
That doesn't mean we can't try to change things, but change must take
place in legal ways.
It is important to work to make this world better for all who live in
it. Masonry teaches the importance of doing good, not because it
assures a person's entrance into heaven -- that's a question for a
religion, not a fraternity -- but because we have a duty to all other men
and women to make their lives as fulfilling as they can be.
Honor and integrity are essential to life. Life, without honor
and integrity, is without meaning.
What are the requirements for membership?
The person who wants to join Masonry must be a man (it's a fraternity),
sound in body and mind, who believes in God, is at least the minimum age
required by Masonry in his state, and has a good reputation.
(Incidentally, the "sound in body" requirement -- which comes from the
stonemasons of the Middle Ages -- doesn't mean that a physically
challenged man cannot be a Mason; many are).
Those are the only "formal" requirements. But there are others, not so
formal. He should believe in helping others. He should believe there is
more to life than pleasure and money. He should be willing to respect the
opinions of others. And he should want to grow and develop as a human
being.
How does a man become a Mason?
Some men are surprised that no one has ever asked them to become a
Mason. They may even feel that the Masons in their town don't think they
are "good enough" to join. But it doesn't work that way. For hundreds of
years, Masons have been forbidden to ask others to join the fraternity. We
can talk to friends about Masonry, we can tell them about what Masonry
does. We can tell them why we enjoy it. But we can't ask, much less
pressure anyone to join.
There's a good reason for that. It isn't that we're trying to be
exclusive. But becoming a Mason is a very serious thing. Joining Masonry
is making a permanent life commitment to live in certain ways. We've
listed most of them above -- to live with honor and integrity, to be
willing to share and care about others, to trust each other, and to place
ultimate trust in God. No one should be "talked into" making such a
decision.
So, when a man decides he wants to be a Mason, he asks a Mason for a
petition or application. He fills it out and gives it to the Mason, and
that Mason takes it to the local lodge. The Master of the lodge will
appoint a committee to visit with the man and his family, find out a
little about him and why he wants to be a Mason, tell him and his family
about Masonry, and answer their questions. The committee reports to the
lodge, and the lodge votes on the petition. If the vote is affirmative --
and it usually is -- the lodge will contact the man to set the date for
the Entered Apprentice Degree. When the person has completed all three
degrees, he is a Master Mason and a full member of the fraternity.
So, what's a Mason?
A Mason is a man who has decided that he likes to feel good about
himself and others. He cares about the future as well as the past, and
does what he can, both alone and with others, to make the future good for
everyone.
Many men over many generations have answered the question, "What is a
Mason?" One of the most eloquent was written by the Reverend Joseph Fort
Newton, an internationally honored minister of the first half of the 20th
Century.
When is a man a Mason?
When he can look out over the rivers, the hills, and the
far horizon with a profound sense of his own littleness in the vast
scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope, and courage which is the
root of every virtue.
When he knows that down in his heart every man is as noble, as vile, as
divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to
forgive, and to love his fellow man.
When he knows how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yea, even in
their sins knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds.
When he has learned how to make friends and to keep them, and above all
how to keep friends with himself When he loves flowers, can hunt birds
without a gun, and feels the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he
hears the laugh of a little child.
When he can be happy and high-minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life.
When star-crowned trees and the glint of sunlight on flowing waters,
subdue him like the thought of one much loved and long dead.
When no voice of distress reaches his ears in vain, and no hand seeks
his aid without response.
When he finds good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of
divine things and sees majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of
that faith may be.
When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and
into the face of the most forlorn fellow mortal and see something beyond
sin.
When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope.
When he has kept faith with himself with his fellow man, and with his
God; in his hand a sword for evil, in his heart a bit of a song -- glad
to live, but not afraid to die!
Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which
it is trying to give to all the world.
