What do Freemasons actually 'do' in their meetings?

I'm getting hyperlinked by all kinds of Freemasonry websites these days and, somehow, I feel obligated to make a Freemason themed post every now and then.

Last evening I attended the third meeting of my 'metaphysical' discussion group. The crowd is slowly growing, and it is interesting to see new members show up. I took my daughter along so that she could see the work of artist Patrick Nolan who hosts the group. Patrick lives in Foristell, a quaint little town on the railroad tracks about ten miles west of where I live. He lives in what used to be an old general store. By profession Patrick is a real-estate agent but he is also a truly gifted (and prolific) artist. He works in mixed media and almost all of his pieces are a combination of sculpture, painting, fabric weaving, and an eclectic use of 'found' pieces. Some of his more recent work from this year features vast collections of Barbie dolls woven into the painting and sculpture so that the entire piece comes out of the wall at you in 3d. He covers a great deal of the negative space with painted buttons. His art generally has a monotonic feel to it but is rich with many sublte shades and variations.

Other pieces he has done are sculpted paintings made from stitched together and stuffed pieces of old blue jeans. His inspiration comes from African, Haitian, and other forms of tribal artwork. These primitive forms interspersed with an infusion of modern artifacts creates both a rich visual and tactile dichotomy that tickles the mind.

My daughter is a talented artist herself and likes to work in a wide array of media. I knew she would love Patricks work and she certainly did.

Unfortunately, after seeing all of this dazzling artwork, my daughter had to sit through a long and boring discussion between New Age type people. I was surprised that she was so engaged and found the entire evening both enlightening and interesting.

Last night it was my turn to 'present'. Our first two meetings were completely unstructured dialouge. Which was just fine for introductions but everyone felt we needed a context and framework for the discussion. Since each individual member has their own particular philosophy, influenced by experiences in their lives and material they have consumed, we decided it would be cool to have each member give a 'lecture' about their belief system.

I went first. Last night I presented my views about 'life, the Universe, and everything'. I showed up with a stack of about 15 books to demonstrate the rather diverse material I consume to keep my mind busy. I gave a little presentation about how my own belief system has evolved from being a Lutheran Christian, to a hard-core dogmatic atheist and material reductionist (since a college education convinced me this was the 'rational' thing to believe), and slowly evolved towards my fairly mushy conglomeration of fuzzy quantum-physics New Agey beliefs.

Actually, 'belief' is far too strong of a word. And I discussed that as well.

Beliefs are terrible dangerous things. A 'belief' means that you have allowed the neural network in your brain to be 'hard-wired' into a particular configuration. You will then defend it with the same ferocity as an Ape protecting its territory. When you 'believe' something there is, on the one hand, a certain sense of 'security' knowing you 'have it all figured out'. However, when confronted with material which contradicts your belief you will feel great distress.

It is better to be like Robert Anton Wilson who is famous for saying that he "doesn't believe in anything." I feel it is best to adopt the attitude of quantum psychology. Everything in your mind should be a set of 'models' that you assign various 'probablities' to, and you should be able put these models on and take them off like a suit of clothing. In this fashion you can assume whichever model, even multiple models simultaneously, based on the situation at hand and the evidence presented.

I try very hard to adopt this attitude in my interaction with any presumed etic reality external to my own mind. With this approach you are, at all times, 'growing' intellectually because you do not filter things automatically 'in' or 'out' based on preconceived wiring. All models are open and subject to change, as they should be.

Ok, enough preaching.

After this preamble I read some select sections from the Seth material and it was quite well received. The main point I was trying to get across, is that my use of the Seth material as a model for a hypothetical 'spiritual' reality is only because it appears to be *confirmed* by science, not rejected by it. Your average physicist these days will talk quite causally about wave-particle duality, quantum entangelment, superposition, chaos theory, self-organizing complex systems, multiple dimensions, string theory, black holes, the big bang, and all manner of incredible topics that challenge the mind to contemplate. And, most of these guys are pretty damned serious. They have math afterall and math is the cool. In contrast here we have the Seth material which, literally, says all of the same exact things but matches it up with the concept of 'spirit' in the form of a gestalt of information and energy operating simultaneously in out and out time and in and out of multiple Universes. David Bohm's concept of the implicate and explicate order exactly parallel Seth's perspective. In the Seth material he (it, the Ghost) frequently makes comments like "Your scientists do not yet know....." and whatever statement that follows echos something I would read as the bleeding edge in modern cosmology and physics. I find this intriuging. I find it interesting when a complex spiritual world view matches a likewise complex scientific world view of reality. I find it fascinating indeed. And this is what I wanted to share with the group. That science is not an enemy of any spiritual world view, nor is it irrelevant. Instead science continually confirms that reality, at its root level, is not composed of 'things' but rather energy and waves of probability in hyperspace. Or, at least that is what I gather from the reading I have done in the past week. I will let you know when I find a new model to latch onto.

Afterwards we had an open discussion and there were lots of questions.

One question I got is the topic of this post. (I know, you thought I had forgotten that this was supposed to be a Fremason themed message.)

One of the members asked, "I know you can't really talk about it but...I'm curious..just what is it that you Freemasons 'do'?"

This is hardly a surprising question. It is asked all of the time. And, most of the time, it comes from a prospective candidate.

In fact, it is one of my main pet peeves. There is a long standing tradition in Freemasonry to keep an aura of 'mystery' and 'secrecy' about our teachings.

This is, however, completely silly. Freemason rituals are available in hundreds of books and on thousands of websites. Our rituals are re-enacted at least once a week on the History channel in various specials that they keep running over and over again. You can find out our passwords and secret handshakes all over the Internet. And, most importantly, none of this is new!! Our ritual has been well published for over 150 years!

The reason why this is a pet-peeve of mine is because I think it is the number one reason why newly raised members are not active. They get their 3rd degree, they might go out and buy a ring (or not), and then you never see them again.

Why is this? I believe it is because they were told one thing about Freemasonry and what they found in it confused, dissapointed, and turned them off.

When a new member is proposed we form a 'committee of investigation'. This is generally two or three members of the lodge who go to the candidates house and talk to him and his family about the lodge. This allows the propsective member to ask questions about Freemasonry and it allows the lodge to make sure the member is not applying for improper reasons.

The sticking point is that when the prospect asks (and they *always* ask), "Just what is it that you actually 'do' at a meeting?" *NO ONE TELLS HIM*!!!

You are not violating oaths of secrecy to answer this question. You don't have to recite ritual, give him a funny handshake, or say a secret word. Just tell the guy already!!!

So, what is it that we are not telling him? Here, let me tell you!

The answer to the question "Just what is it that you actually 'do' in a Freemason lodge?" is as follows:

"We are an amature theatre group that memorizes and performs an ancient ceremony and try to do it to absolute perfection. We perform the same three dramatic plays over, and over, and over again year in and year out. We memorize every word, movement, and detail of the ceremony until we can nearly recite it in our sleep."

Of course.. this is *not* what the committe of investigation says we do. The committe of investigation says we do the following:

* We conduct a business meeting
* We have a scholarship fund.
* We help our brothers in need.
* We work with the boyscouts, the food pantry, and the entire community in fund rasing events.
* We have fellowship with pie, cookies, and sometimes sandwiches.

Now, every single one of these things is absolutely true. No question about it. However, it does not represent the key activity of the lodge which is to memorize and perform the same ritual over and over again.

When a prospective candidate gets their first, second, and third degrees they are generally confused and bewildered by it all. It is certainly not what they expected, though there were a lot of pie and cookies afterwards and, on his 3rd degree, someone even brought some lovely sandwiches. The candidate is completely blown away by the awe-inspring feats of rote memorization he has seen performed. In some cases one man might recite, word for word, a lecture that lasts as long as 30 minutes, absolutely perfectly. The material is interesting, but confusing as well. Nevertheless, one thought in every candidate's mind is "I sure as hell hope they don't expect me to do that!!!"

Once the candidate has been raised, and is now a newly made Master Mason, he is ready to get to work. He is ready to do that scholarship drive, Boy Scout fundraiser, or community wide fish fry. However, the thing is, he comes back to the next meeting and some *other* guy is getting his first degree. Then, the next time, a guy is getting his second. And then his third. He asks about the Fish Fry and it told "that's not until June." Hmmm..he thinks. Is that all you guys do, is keep performing this play over, and over, and over again? That sure ain't for me. See ya later..

Some of these guys run off and join the Shrine where they do a ton of stuff with the community and have a great deal of fun. But, chances are, you won't see them back in the Blue Lodge very often.

Now this experience I am describing is not universal. There are lodges that rarely perform degree work and, if it needs to be done, they have it performed by an outside team. These lodges actually do a great deal of community activities and their meetings are more like the original description. However, in our area the ritual is key and that is what we focus on primarily. Due to a resurgence of interest in the craft there are a lot of guys being raised lately. In my own lodge, which I have now been in for two years, I have only been to two meetings where we were not conferring a degree!

When I joined these were my own experiences and frustrations. I have a terrible memory. In fact I have massive holes in my memory and can't recall things that happened even a few years ago. I can't remember people's names either. This blog has certainly been helping though. I love that I can click on 'March 2003' in the archives link and get a sense of 'what I was doing then'. That is the reason I post so many photographs and trivia on this site. It is completely personal. I want to use this blog as my own personal Akashic record. Does it have to be so public you might ask? No, it certainly does not. However, I enjoy the experience of writing and I like to share family photographs and activities with my friends.

When I found out about DeMolay, and my son wanted to be involved, I found my own service niche within Freemasonry. I enjoy working with these young men. I love to see them grow and mature as responsible and honorable men. I am proud that my own son is involved and it has given me great pleasure to give my time and resources to help out.

I did join the Shrine but I found there really wasn't anything there for me. I have too many other committments on my time. I do go to a Shrine party once or twice a year and I go to the Circus. I give them money because I believe the Shrine Hospitals to be one of the greatest and most noble causes in human history.

In the Blue Lodge I found that I would go to a meeting and, on the way home, think "That was the stupidest thing I have ever done." Then, a few days later I would find myself wondering "When is the next meeting again?" Over time it began to grow on me. Hearing the same ritual over and over again is almost hypnotic. I found that sitting in lodge left me feeling centered and more peaceful. My favorite piece of ritual in Freemasonry is the closing charge and that little message is what kept me coming back.

Then, something happened. After going to meetings for a few months I found that I had, through osmosis, memorized significant portions of the ritual without even trying! This got me thinking. What would happen if I actually *tried* to memorize some ritual? So, I started with my favorite piece, the closing charge. I did manage to memorize it, though it took me several weeks. Next, I thought, well, sure I memorized it, but I will just forget it in a few days. This is where things got really interesting. I didn't forget it!!?? I can't remember someones name for fifteen seconds, but I could memorize a page of ritual?? How did that happen?

Next I decided to try to memorize something 'big'. So, I worked on the Entered Apprentice charge. This is a relatively longer piece that is two pages. It was *hard*. I had great difficulty memorizing it and it took me probably two months. Yet, once again, something remarkable happened! I didn't forget a single word ever once it was committed to memory! I can recite it any time, any where, any place.

And, reciting that ritual is like a meditation. It is a soothing experience. To deliver it in a lodge confers a great and powerful feeling. To perform this ceremony as a shared experience among a group of men, who have worked to memorize it just like you, leaves you feeling a kind of 'charge' through your whole body and you leave the meeting feeling relaxed and at peace.

The process of memorizing ritual constantly reminds me of the idea of 'the pattern' in the Amber series by Roger Zelazny. In these fantasy novels the main characters would walk a complex and difficult maze that, by the time they got to the end, would infuse them with power and etch its mark on their being. When I try to memorize Freemason ritual I feel like I am setting patterns in my own mind.

In my lodge I see a man who is 90 years old and has every single word of all of the Masonic ritual memorized. He can still recite it with a strong and powerful oratory even though he looks like he is going to fall over at any moment. If the process of memorizing Freemason ritaul can keep your mind that sharp all of the way into the age of 90, I say there has to be something good to it.

Now, finally, we are at the end of this lengthy and rambling post. The purpose of which was to publically, and on the record, reveal "Just what it is we 'do' in a Freemason lodge". I did this because I want other prospective candidates to read this. I want them to know that, besides an occasional fund raiser or pancake breakfast, the bulk of our 'work' involves rote memorization and performance of the same.

And, mostly, I want to confer the idea that this can be a very, very, satisfying thing. I wonder, do a group of theatre actors in a play have these same feelings when they come off the stage? I imagine they probably do.

In this case we are not performing the drama to entertain but, rather, to teach. Our dramas impress upon the mind important basic truths about morality and the duties of a worthy and honorable man in society.

That is really all I have to say on the topic. I hope this is useful to at least one of the new candidates who might wish to seek admission to a lodge.