Answering my own questions

I am thinking about writing a few posts about Freemasonry. Yeah, I know I said I was bored with it, but I lied. If you came here looking for pictures of my family, well, come back a little later. I know some of my Freemason friends drop by this blog and also that people who do web searches often find my posts so that is reason enough to continue. I just finished watching a documentary about Freemasonry that was on PBS. It was very good, but it also had Dan Brown's publicist making quite a big deal about how much Freemasonry will enter the consciousness of the world in the next year or so with his next book. At least they bothered to distinguish between the short lived Illuminati movement and American Freemasonry during the founding of this country. That helps.

The reason I want to make these posts is because when I joined Freemasonry I had a ton of questions. I didn't feel comfortable asking my brethren because I didn't want to seem rude. I posted some messages on a couple of Freemason forums but sometimes was frustrated with the response. I later found out that most of the guys replying were from outside the US and learned that Freemasonry elsewhere is a whole lot different than the way it is practiced here.

A lot of my posts expressed a great deal of agitation and frustration with trying to come to grips with the experience. I'm a pretty rational guy. No, I don't belong to CSICOP, but I don't have a lot of patience for astrological mumbo jumbo. Mostly I just hate it when people are vauge or resort to claims like 'they can't explain it in words'. Worst of all is one guy who replied to my question by saying "It's so painfully obvoius I didn't think your question was serious." Well, I wouldn't have asked it if I didn't want an answer, thank you very much.

One of the few talents I have is that I can explain complex things in very plain language. I like to say I'm a pretty stupid guy for being a computer genius. It takes me a long time to learn something new. However, once I learn it, I can usually take it and run with it, and the degree of productivity I exhibit often compensates for my fundamental idiocy. Once I do understand something I feel compelled to explain it to other people without the aid of advanced mathematics and other forms of obfuscation. I have published a number of articles in magazines and books over the years and I still get good feedback on them today. Just yesterday someone called and asked if they could use my pattern matching algorithm called 'Gestalt' that I published in Dr. Dobbs Journal almost twenty years ago. I'm glad to see it still useful today since I think iit s the most common sense thing I have ever published.

So, before I go into this, I should probably talk about what it is that I cannot talk about. "Isn't Freemasonry supposed to be sekrit?" you might ask. "Aren't you going to get dragged into a dark alley and be killed in a brutal fashion if you blog about the craft?"

Well, the short answer is, no and no. The only official 'secrets' in Freemasonry are handshakes, passwords, and some ceremonies. These 'secrets' are not secret at all. They were published over a 150 years ago in something called 'Duncans Ritual'. You used to be able to purchase a Masonic ritual book at the local store in St. Louis years ago. I just watched two documentaries both of which showed our most super-sekrit handshake and described our rituals in some detail. There have been published, over the centuries, literally thousands of books that dissect our ritual in exhuastive detail. Meanwhile, today, Interent websites publish all of our 'secrets' in thousands of places.

Nevertheless, I still won't tell you the passwords, handshakes, or secret ceremony. Afterall, I made a promise. You might ask, why even pretend that it is secret? Well, because it is our tradition. I won't get into the history of Freemasonry here in this post because I would really start to digress then. Suffice it to say that, historically, there were many very, very, good reasons to keep these things secret and we continue that tradition today. I mean, afterall, if you really wanted to keep it secret, wouldn't you change your handshake and password once it had been compromised? But, we don't. It is a our tradition and once you start changing it, it becomes something else and that would be lame. I hear over in England they have removed so much of the original ritual in attempts to modernize it and become 'politically correct' that the entire experience is watered down to the point that there doesn't seem to be much Freemasonry left in it.

I'm glad we don't change it and I hope we never do. Sometimes political correctness goes too far.

The other reason to still keep it secret (and with this I mean don't visit the websites or read the books that publish it) is because if you ever become a Freemason your experience will lose much of its designed impact if you already know what is going to transpire.

I know, because I speak from experience on this point. So, let me get back to the goal of this message which is to talk about my own Freemason experience, the questions I had, and how I think I can answer some of them today.

In November of 2004 I read a story in Newsweek about how Freemasonry was actively looking for members. Traditionally in our society it was such a great honor to be accepted into the Fraternity that there was no great lack for candidates. Today, what with television, video games, the Internet, long commutes, and a hundred other distractions it never enters people's minds to join a social and charitable club. I know I had certainly never thought about it. Even when I heard Freemasons mentioned in books it was always like some fictional character, not an organization I could actually apply to join.

I asked my father about it (he was a Moose, and Elk, but never made it up the animal-social-club-food-chain to become a Mason). His response was that the Masons were the 'elite' club to belong to and he was most impressed that I would even consider joining.

My thoughts back then were on the topic of friends. Our very good friends Lenny and Diane Brown, who lived next door, were moving away. I felt like I was losing a close bond of male friendship and the idea struck me that my primary criteria for making new friends was whoever happened to buy a house near me. That seemed like a pretty hit or miss affair.

Of course, for most people, they can find lots of opportunities for socialization and community involvement in their church. However, Johnny don't do that. I do not support organized forms of Christianity. I won't go into the personal reasons for this but, let me assure you, they are well founded and quite strong. I spoke to one my colleagues at work, he is British, and his view was that Freemasons existed for the sole purpose of 'nicking' each other up. I asked him what that meant and he said it was to curry special favor.

I started looking on the Internet next. That was an eye opener indeed. All I found on the Internet was a bunch of extreme fanatical rabid fundamentalist Christians who claimed Freemasons were all satanists and a bunch of conspiracy theorists who claimed we were out to control the world.

Reading all of this definitely convinced me this might be the right organization for me. Just imagine this, I could join, make new friends, and the average fundamentalist would assume I was worshiping Satan. To me, that was just a bonus. If the fundamentalists hated it, chances are there was something in it that would suit me. As far as the conspiracy theorists go, I figured if Freemasons are the guys who are secretly in control of the world, well, heck, I might as well be in the loop. Afterall, even if it is just an old boys network, I have noticed that I am starting to become quite the old boy.

Next I faced my biggest challenge. The first requirement to join is that you have to be a man of good character. Well, I like to think I am, so that wasn't the problem. The problem was that I had say I believed in God. And, not just say it, but believe it when I said it. I'm not sure they would care, but it mattered to me. Since I'm supposedly some wildy famous atheist on the Internet I thought that might be a problem. After some thought I came to realize that I do, in fact, believe in God but I just don't necessarily believe in the same God that other people believe in. I knew that Freemasons referred to God as 'the Great Architect of the Universe' and that matched my views on deity quite nicely.

Now that I was finally over these hurdles I contacted the Grand Lodge of the State of Missouri and was next contacted by a lodge in my area. I spoke to the nice guy on the phone and he brought over a petition. I wrote a check for $150 and sent it in. I learned that my petition was to be read in the lodge and a committee of investigation formed. During this time I started trying to clean up my act. I posted a public proclamation on my atheist website that I did, in fact, believe in God. Wooh, I hoped that cleared things up. I gave them references, my friend John Oberschelp and the President of Sony Online Entertainment John Smedly. I figured, if Freemasons were the most powerful guys in the community having the President of a major corporation as a reference wouldn't hurt. They called both of my references and they said nice things about me. Thanks guys!

Next the committee of investigation showed up at my house and we had a pleasant chat. I touched on some philisophical issues and tried to learn just what it was they exactly 'do' in a Freemason lodge. I didn't learn much about that though. They talked about some charity work and community involvement, and a business meeting, but not much else. (They sure didn't say they recited a bunch of three hundred year old mumbo jumbo all from rote memory.)

The next week my petition was read in lodge with a favorable report and they voted on me. I had read on the Internet how this process works and learned that this is where the term 'black-ball' comes from. Fortunately they voted me in and I was prepared to undergo my initiation experience.

Now, the thing I did next I regret. In retrospect I'm not sure I would have, or could have, done anything differently. However, if you are reading this and might join some day, please try not to do what I did. Instead, call me and I will explain in more detail why you shouldn't and why it is ok not to.

What I did is that I read the entire damned ritual ceremony I was about to experience. You see, that's just the way I am. I knew I was going to have to swear an oath and I sure as hell wasn't going to swear an oath without knowing what it was ahead of time! So, I read the entire ritual online. Or, at least I tried to. It was extremely boring. I did read the oath and figured I could live with it. My biggest fear now was that the ritual was so stupid and so boring that I already was second guessing my decision before I was even initiated.

I did learn from speaking to some of the guys in the lodge that only one in ten people who becomes a Freemason actually attends lodge regularily. So, I figured, worst case scenario is that I could get my three degrees, chalk that off as a neat human experience (and add to my ever growing cache of 'experience points') and not go back again. As long as I paid my dues, nobody would mind.

When I was finally initiated I was a bit overwhelmed and confused by it all. The experience was a lot different than reading it online; though I did not have any major surprises either. I was simply flabberghasted at the demonstration of memory work. It left me awed and stunned. And, mostly wondering, do they expect *me* to do that? Finally, I asked myself 'Is that all there is?"

Somehow, a part of me, was hoping to have some kind of religious experience. I thought, just maybe, I might 'feel' something as I went through the ceremony. But, I just didn't. I had a million questions but I didn't know what was appropriate to even ask. Afterwards we had pie and cookies, everybody shook my hand, said congratulations, and I just didn't know what to think. I was amazed at how many men came out 'just for me'. It was all a little bit bewildering I have to say.

Instead of turning to my brethren I tried the Internet. I felt more comfortable asking some hard questions there rather than taking a chance of offending one of the guys who worked so hard to perform the ceremony for me.

So, this covers my experience up to the point of receiving my EA degree. What follows is the message loaded with questions that I posted on a message forum right aftwards. Hopefully, now I can answer them for myself!

I became an EA this week and I am quite excited about my involvement in Freemasonry. I had a private email exchange with a brother mason where I expressed some of my general confusion about the ritual aspect of Masonry. He was kind enough to reply in a helpful manner, but I thought the topic might be worth exploring further in the forum.

Today I met with my teacher at the lodge and posed some of the same questions to him, and I got some helpful answers.

In my private email exchange I expressed a general query about the 'meaning' of the ritual. I observed that at my own initiation that the 'work' Masons do boils down simply to mass quantities of rote memorization. Memorization of a ritual that makes relatively little sense to the rational mind. It exists, apparently, because of ancient tradition and makes relatively little sense in a modern context.

If the only thing Masons do in Lodge is memorize and perform vast tracts of ritual I was concerned if that was 'enough' for me to stay involved long term. Personally I am more interested in the charitable aspects of Masonry, to be quite honest.

Today my lodge brother explained to me that if that is my calling then I am free to make that be part of my role in Masonry. He told me examples of how he himself had started charitable programs in the lodge that had never existed before. He reminded me that Masonry is what I make of it.

I found this very reassuring and I look forward to my continued involvement in the charitable services and community involvement of our lodge.

However, this still leaves the question of ritual itself? What purpose does it serve?

Well, one purpose it might serve for *me* is as my religious service. Now, I know I hear gasps of dismay from my fellow Masons. Masonry is most definitely *not* a religion they say. Well, I'm sure it is not to them but I am quite comfortable with it serving that role in my own life.

The lodge meetings have a chaplain and prayers, worship God, and teache lessons of morality. For me it serves the same role organized religion does for others. You see, I am not a Christian. I have been reassured that I do not have to be a Christian to belong to Freemasonry, I only have to have a strong belief in God. Which I do. However, my God is not the God of the bible, nor is my God the Christian God. My God is the Grand Architect of the Universe, the creator of all things. And Freemasonry, its beliefs and precepts, its system of morality, all match my personal religious points of view strongly.

So, for these reasons, I am comfortable participating in the ritual in that fashion and for that purpose.

Another point I raised in the email was whether or not Freemason ritual served some 'esoteric' purpose.

There are many, many, many, books that say that this is in fact exactly the case. The entire theosophical movement is predicated on this notion.

Meanwhile, the good brother who I wrote to was simply aghast that I would dare suggest such a thing.

However, why is it so unusual to ask that question? I have stacks of books on my bookshelf that claim this is, in fact, the exact purpose of Freemason ritual.

I'm not sure I can see why Masons would keep coming back to lodge, or invest the amount of time, energy, and effort, required to memorize these complex rituals if they cannot find some meaning in them.

Is that too strange a question to pose?

So in this message you can see that I was already really bugged by the ritual aspect of Freemasonry. Yeah, I kind of liked it as an analog for a Church service that didn't require me to believe in stuff I don't actually believe in, but I didn't understand the rest. To me it seemed like 'all they did' was ritual.

Now, well over a year later, I am memorizing that ritual for fun, I am going through the chairs, I have joined two Blue lodges, the Shrine, and am a DeMolay advisor. Of course, I didn't know then what I know now.

Back then I was intimidated by the ritualistic work. Since I have an absolutely terrible memory I couldn't fathom how in any amount of time I could memorzie anything, and even if I did, I couldn't imagine why it would be worth doing.

The way it happened was that as I attended regular meetings I found that I ended up picking up the ritual just through repetition alone. One day I realized I had the entire closing charge memorized and I hadn't even tried. Next I tried to actually memorize some ritual on purpose and I had some success. I found that the more ritual I knew the more enjoyable the meeting was. I especially found that when I performed the ritual, and performed it correctly, it gave me a very satsified feeling. No, I didn't have psychic visions or cast magic spells, I simply left the meeting feeling a lot better than when I arrived. I didn't know all these things back then, and nobody explained why I would enjoy it and why it was worth doing.

What bugs me is that we don't face this head on, explain exactly this to new members. Let them know, up front, that a lot of what 'we do' is memorize this centuries old drama and perform it; that it isn't all pancake breakfasts and scholarship programs. Inform them that not only can they memorize this ritual but that the process itself is a gratifying experience. Finally, tell them that they have seven years to memorize each part if they want to go through the chairs in sequence and have the full Freemason experience. I have never heard anyone in my lodge confront this topic directly, especially to new members. I figured it out on my own and gave it time to let it 'grow on me'. For the vast majority of new members they never bother. In future posts I am going to explore this concept of ritual some more, but for now let me say that it is enough that it 'feels good' to do it right and correct and that performing it in unison with an entire lodge especially more so.

Finally, there was my repeated objection that memorizing a performing ritual was 'all that we do'. I now know that isn't the case. Sure, our regular meetings and degree work do focus on ritualistic work. However, now many Masonic activities are involved in my social life that I do much more than just our regular stated communication. I love working with the youth groups, DeMolay and Rainbow. I enjoy the time before, after, and during meetings with my brethren. I never imagined I would find the ritual itself so satisfying . I attend fundraisers and other charity events like Shriners activities. It has greatly enhanced my social life and brought me many new friends. I even enjoy the little pleasures of meeting another Mason out in the world and knowing we have this bond with one another.

I wish I could have told myself that then. But, now let's hear what the Freemasons on the message forum had to say in reply to my questions.

Ruff Ashler
No, of course not. The fact is, the rituals do have meaning, but it is a meaning which is not always, or even usually, apparent to everyone who practises them.

Speaking in general terms only, for ritual is done differently from place to place, Masonic Degree work exists to make men into Masons. Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it; but Freemasons make more of themselves by Initiation ceremonies. That's what they're for.

But in order to make those ceremonies happen, men have to learn the words and the moves, and this they do by meeting teachers and watching other ritual work. There is usually a strong social element, too.

What more explanation do you need? You know what guys are like: we have our hobbies. Pigeon racing, stamp collecting, trainspotting, birdwatching, Initiating Masons. A guy thing.

Russel Holland
Jratcliff

Generally many, too many Masons have no conceptual knowledge of the science that underpins Masonry. This is referred to the second degree but it is left to the brother to uncover it. Most consider the expression to relate to such processes as measuring stones for operative masons.

Many brothers feel some magnetism in the ritual but are unable to do anything specific to increase the magnetism other than learn the ritual well and be sincere.

Of course in this difficult situation many lodges are not very magnetic in their rituals and have trouble holding members. Hence the 50 year decline in Masonic membership.

If you wish to discover the Masonic science you may start with the Entered Apprentice Tracing Board. Do not think that this is a picture illustrating traditional Masonic imagery.

The TB is a direct instruction to you as to how to enter the Temple in the Heavens not made with hands. To start with you must learn what it is to ascend Jacob's Ladder. To get you started I will tell you that it is qabalistic exercise known as Rising on the Planes.

Go for it.

Cheers

Russell

Hubert in New Zealand
Welcome to the forum jratcliff,

Masonry is indeed "spiritual" but one needs to search that out themselves- the craft is simply a means to this end.

As in all organisations, clubs, etc, some are more into it than others, thus we have Lodges that meet purely for socialising and others that are there for study. We even have CoMasonic Lodges that admit both women & men on an equal footing.

The whole purpose of memorising our work is so that once we Know what we are doing, we can then put some "feeling" into the work, and thus discover the ENERGY that purvades this sublime establishment.

These mixed lodges do tend to be more into the "esoteric & spiritual" side of Masonry

From Russell Holland again (from Australia) but this time with questions instead of answers.

Jratcliff

My take on the few lodges that I have belonged to is that there are 3 types of Mason:

- those who think the supper is the measure of the lodge - even learning the ritual is a bit of a bore
- those who think that Masonry is an art - it can be learned by hanging around and trying, but it cannot be taught
- those who think Masonry is a science and that it can be taught in a systematic way to those who are willing.

The first group get on with the second because they agree that there is nothing to be taught (only a ritual to be learned if you are so inclined)

The second group get on with the third because they agree that we must go beyond the form of ritual into the spirit

The first and third group have nothing in common.

If you are very lucky you will have some of each in your lodge.

If not, go looking around other lodges.

Here are some questions for you to ask:

- what is the real work of a lodge when all the brethren are Master Masons?

- Why are lodge aprons blue"

- why is there a star in the pavement of the lodge instead of in the ceiling?

- why is there no chair in the North? (except for Co-M)

- who is the Widow?

- where did the lion come from?

The last 2 better wait until you are a MM.

Compare the answers you get and examine them for meaning.

Most answers given in Masonry are blinds - intended to satisfy those who are easy to satisfy.

Cheers

Russell