Mandatory Proficiency, Edicts and Free?masonry

What do we do?
What can we do?
We have to do something...

What came first the Freemason or the ritual that made him?
The ritual.
How so?
It is what separates us from the other animal or benefit clubs.
Then why is the ritual different in every jurisdiction and not universal...we are the universal brotherhood?
It is close enough...its not about the ritual anyway...
Why is the ritual different within every jurisdiction?
Stop asking questions and memorize your ritual.

Free.......

So here we are, in a light speed age of information where the most mundane facts and nuggets of knowledge are readily accessible with the slightest swish of a finger tip by any human and we come to the realization that we have an ancient order with readily accessible secrets and a stagnating or dwindling number of men who wish to become or stay a member of our fraternity. In a number of meetings and discussions it becomes apparent that the Craft needs to change its ways or die.

What do we change?
Ohhh that old rule that you have to go through the initiation yourself and take your time to learn what it is to be a member...the kids now a days want things fast, in an instant even. Let's do it all in a day. Come in in the morning, give a check, sit in a theater and watch the whole thing and walk out with a membership card...ohhh they'll come in in droves.

So what did we learn? The type of man who wants things in an instant is not the type of man we need to bring back the glory days of the Craft.

Back to the trestleboard.

I got it, I got it!! It's that other silly old rule that we don't recruit or ask men to join...that's our problem. The young guys out there just don't know what we are about. Let's do fancy advertising campaigns and while we are at it, let's throw open our doors and let them in to see what we are all about...that'll bring them in to stay...

Books, blogs, websites, commercials, movies and open houses brought them in finally, but like before many of those who came to knock on the West Gate came out of curiosity and not a deep desire to change their beings from a rough ashlar to the perfect stone capable of building upon. Making yourself a better man was the original promise wasn't it?

That was it! Ohhh we got a bunch of guys now and they are coming to the meetings but they keep on asking questions and frankly I don't know how to answer them. How do we keep them from straying? They have so many options out there and I am not quite sure that we are delivering on the promise of what we advertised. They are looking for Benjamin Franklin while we are sitting around Colonel Sanders...What makes us different???
The RITUAL!
Yeah! You are right. That is what separates us, it is the ritual of becoming a Master Mason that makes us the greatest fraternity in the world. We need to stress that it is important to learn the ritual and what it is to be a Freemason. Education is what they are after. Let's give it to them!

With the renewed interest in Freemasonry, and for the first time in a long time a slight uptick in men joining, it became imperative, that the Freemasonry that was in the commercials and banners was what was experienced in the lodge room and Masonic Education was inculcated. But what education was brought to the eager or curious minds? Deep thought? Insight into the common and universal plight of a boy into manhood? Not usually. We dragged out the extended edition directors cut of Freemason lectures to men who didn't even read the book.

They are not staying! What are we doing wrong? Isn't it that old school stuff they were after?...We gave it to them?
Who gave it to them?
Ohhh you're right! And when you are right you are right and brother you are right! The guys that were educating were not educated enough to give the education. We need guidelines and stricter controls of who and how the new young guys get the Masonic experience. Let's certify that every man who is leading a lodge can deliver the goods...but how do we test them? It is not something easily defined that separates those special brothers that can keep 'em listening...I got it!
Philosophy? Esoterica? 7 liberal arts and sciences? I cant imagine how we can test the modern masonic leader to insure that we create a healthy fraternity?
Ritual.
Ritual?? I'm not so sure...it is not even something that is exactly standard in our small jurisdiction. 
Listen, hidden in our ritual is the deep stuff that these new guys are seeking. If we can ensure that every new man in the order receives the standard ritual in the way it is in our book at least we know they are getting something that they are after... They want this esoteric stuff and if we give it to them good they will stay...right?

So here we are in one of the worlds oldest fraternities. Once the ground-spring for development and change in the entire planet and a blueprint for how an educated society of equals can survive and prosper and we find ourselves forcing men to deliver empty words perfectly to curious minds who may or may not listen to those words and more often than not take the words themselves for granted.
I have said this numerous times and in countless ways.
Freemasonry needs men who are looking for something better and it can deliver.
Perfect ritual performed by someone who doesn't even really know your name or who you are, can not deliver the initiatic and deeply spiritual things that are hidden within its veils.
The ritual is not in itself the thing that can save our fraternity.
Nor is camaraderie.
Nor is a fancy lodge room.
I go back to an old description of the Order I joined and seek everyday.

Freemasonry is a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.

And that is all that it is...

Think about that my brothers, ponder that description, take that building block and make a temple.

Eureka! We have much work to do...

The Unmentionable Spector

This has and will always be a personal blog about my journey into and around Freemasonry, albeit a somewhat anonymous one. I have always been candid and frank about most of my experiences. I have written things that I probably should not have and have held back some things that I should more than once.
Apart from some minor posts in the last year my writing has all but dried up like so many other Masonic bloggers around what was once a very exciting and vibrant group of like minded individuals.
For me the muse that once fed my fervent prose has gone.
Like many men before me, I was a seeker of light and discovered the ancient fraternity out of a combination of deep need and heady research. There are many outlets available for a man to dedicate his time and energy to and my spirit was drawn, like a moth to flame, to a brotherhood represented by two builders tools locked in an iconic embrace.
I have stated numerous times and in way too many ways on this site of what I found when I approached and passed through the West Gate on my way to the East. I dove in head first following my heart and the providence that led me to the ancient craft. Like an infatuated youth the order held my thoughts every waking minute and my dreams at night. In retrospect I am ashamed at how much of my energy and valuable thoughts were taken away from my precious wife and children by my devotion to Freemasonry, but that is how my personality is, I do not do anything half way.
So where am I, you might ask.
Well, last spring I finally got a job equal to my skills after a long drought of layoffs and part time work. My new job has eaten up allot of my time and energy but at least I am getting paid well for it. Masonicly I have not stepped foot in my lodge for over a year now. I have kept up with what has been going on there but the last time I was at lodge it was made crystal clear to me that what I had tried to do was not wanted or appreciated. I had attempted to demit but was talked out of it and have questioned my decision ever since. My thoughts and ideas of what lodge I would like to belong to has completely changed and my old lodge fits none of them.
Others who followed me in the idea of a "different kind of lodge" have also dropped off and although I had nothing to do with anyone's decision directly, the blame has been laid at my feet. In fact at the most recent election (of which I could not attend because I was hundreds of miles away at work nor any intention of going to anyway) the rumor that was murmured around the room was that I was going to show up out of nowhere and "start some trouble," like some phantom menace....Oh my god I am Voldemort!
Just hearing of what has been said in my absence hurts me to the core and the idea of what was accomplished in the five years of my dedication to a positive idea as being labeled "trouble," has led me to believe that my continued support of men who do not want it is unwarranted.
Under my Grand Lodges rules and regulations a brother may demit form his lodge if his dues are paid in full. I would then receive a certificate of demit which would make me a kind of unsigned Freemason free agent. The ramifications of this decision are heavy especially since I am not a member of another lodge and my "regularity" would be in question. I don't know what to do, but I no longer belong to the group of men who I called brother for so long...at least not all of them.
Over the past year I have received numerous calls and emails from the readers of this blog that have lifted my spirit and cemented my decision in joining Freemasonry in the first place. If it weren't for you, or this work of love, I may well have just given up on the craft altogether. I still wear my ring although lately I have gone days without taking it out of the small jeans pocket where it resides when not on my finger.
My questions still linger. My spirit has taken quite a blow.
There is much work to be done.

The Lonely Esoteric

The Craft gather,

the spirit is up.

They share a meal,

they share a cup.

Camaraderie and fellowship

is everywhere,

yet the deeper meanings

are lost.

The gavel cracks on stone,

get to your seat.

The purging and Tileing

and opening greet.

The Wardens the Deacons

are doing their jobs,

but the words fall on

deaf ears.

We do what we do

'cause its always been done.

The ritual the language

for some are not fun.

But silently, the one who knows and learns

absorbs everything said and performed.

The Lonely Esoteric.

Everything has a reason

to most it's just lost..
Every sound, every motion
are friverously tossed
Round the secret closed room like
some silly old play without a
worthy director.

Was it ever understood,
or just simply hummed?
Like a familiar old tune
with words that were dumbed.
So that more could learn it and
spread it around and not even know
what they're singing.

Perhaps

Or maybe it's structure
was carefully decided.
To carefully conceal it
from ones we should hide it.
And gather stray seekers one spark at a time
who will see it
for what it is worth.

A strange ancient beacon
with knowledge just hidden.
For some small groups of men
to great things are always bidden
like a bird to a flower
that hides its sweet
nectar.

Then one after one
after disappointment and trial.
Gather themselves together
Regardless the mile,
of distance they traveled
and create a smoldering
fire.

Be not lonely esoteric,
just be patient and true.
For your comrades are waiting
to come and join you.
They are lost and wondering
and hungry for more learning and just need
a good place to gather.

Observing the Lecture

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of traveling with 3 dear Brothers from the lodge I was once Master to visit another "Old St. Johns Lodge" here in Connecticut. We spent a little over an hour in the car to get there, but because of the tremendous amount of fellowship and Brotherly love we have for each other, it seemed like a few fleeting moments. We talked and laughed and griped, but the first two were more prevalent in the cigar smoke filled SUV as we traveled up the valley from the coast to the heart of our small state.
Why did this small band of Brothers undertake this journey you ask?
Well, we were on our way to have dinner and enjoy a lecture from Worshipful Brother Andrew Hammer, author and Past Master of Alexandria-Washington Lodge no. 22 in Virginia (which apparently had some famous founding father of the United States as a member in the past with the initials G.W.). His book, Observing The Craft was the topic of the evening and his host was Wyllys St. Johns Lodge no. 4, in West Hartford Connecticut. I had been meaning to travel up to Wyllys St. Johns for a while, as they are the first lodge in Connecticut, I believe, to institute a Chamber of Reflection and the guest speaker was an added incentive to make the trip. No sooner had I sent out an email to the like minded Brothers in my old Lodge announcing that I was traveling, I received immediate positive responses to join me.
We arrived in a misty rain and entered the big brick building with the classical facade just in time for a tour and some idle chat. I had said hello to our graceful and ever ebullient Deputy Grand Master who introduced me to a young dedicated Brother that also is a reader of this blog. One of the greatest thrills I receive is talking to someone who reads my stuff and I was very glad for meeting this new Brother and talking about my last post and his journey so far in the craft. I cut short our conversation and caught up with my traveling party just in time to be taken to the Chamber of Reflection.
What can I say... I certainly had heart palpitations when I saw it and I think I can say that we were all floored by the simple room in the attic of this huge temple and how it must affect the men who are voted in to receive the degrees of our Order. You can read about these chambers and see pictures of what is in them, but until you step into a well appointed room set aside for this purpose you cant imagine what it would be like to be in one. The walls were painted black with the word V.I.T.R.I.O.L and a few other alchemical symbols in white. A small desk with a skull and bone, salt, sulpher, a picture of a rooster and a picture of a skeleton were against one wall and a lone mirror was on the other. All lit by a single flickering lamp. It was beautifully done. The Chamber of Reflection in this lodge was just recently incorporated into their ritual and the long term effect it may have on the lodge is not yet known, but the Master of the lodge said you can see the difference on the candidates faces when they exit the room before their Masonic journey begins. I am definitely jealous and wish that my quest started in such a profound and introspective room.
Wyllys-St. Johns has one of the youngest officer lines in the state and their rallying cry to a deeper Freemasonry has been the book that we came to hear about, Observing The Craft.
W:.B:. Hammer has been a Freemason a little longer than I and we have had a similar experience along our paths. We both joined old lodges. We both were searching for a place to tie ourselves to the bigger things in life by joining and we didn't find what we were looking for. Our biggest differences are that he took a break in the beginning to regroup and I am taking a break now, and he has that charming British accent and I have a semi-New York cabby way of talking.
His book is all about restoring the foundation that he and I both believe is what our fraternity was meant to be: an initiatic Order where men come to grow themselves both mentally and spiritually. For most of his lecture I sat there just nodding my head, loving the fact that another Brother had put down all of the things I have said on this blog in a book form and is traveling the country giving talks to lodges about it. Brother Andrew has never read my blog but in my head I was thinking back to posts I had written over the last 5 years and saying Here Here in my head. I have still yet to read the book and will follow up with a proper review when I finish but one of his finer points that I took from his talk was what he disliked about how his lodge was "sold" to prospective members and how he has changed it.
He said when he came into his lodge, the three questions asked by the investigating committee were;
1. Do you believe in God? 2. Are you the proper age? And 3. Do you know that George Washington was a member of our lodge? It is an enlightening point that shows that most lodges are not looking for men to better themselves but simply looking for another dues paying member to whisk through the degrees and get the money and they try to sell sell sell our fraternity to any man that walks through the door. I for one was guilty of similar selling with my old lodge and could not wait to give the prospective member my long winded tour, with historical undertones, in hopes to try and keep them interested.
Brother Andrew's most profound statement was that he was more interested in making a lodge where George Washington would want to be a member, than one that sat on the laurels that he once was.
That one hit deep. A lodge that is more interested in the men who belong to it or want to be a part of it than the ones who once did. That is what I want in a lodge. Not to diminish my obsession with history in the least, which is what distracted much of my time in my old lodge but I never saw the forest for the trees.
The little trip I took last night to eat a good meal, enjoy...really enjoy the company of my Brothers and leave on a higher level than when I came is what I joined Freemasonry for, not to be in a dusty old building filled with priceless artifacts...well I never will get over my obsession with history, I just need to separate it from what I want in a lodge.
Thank you Brothers of Wyllys St. Johns no. 4,
Bravo Worshipful Brother Andrew Hammer,
You have both done your job on this Traveling Man.

A Recognized Traveling Man

I think that there is one thing that all Freemasons can agree upon. Freemasons agree upon something...that is preposterous, I know you may say, but yes I think I know one thing that is truly universally appreciated in our fraternity. It is something that unifies us into a congruous mass of men, freely traveling this time and space. It is something that will uplift the most despondent brother or make the quietest mason suddenly talk with a smile on his face...

My daughter was elated all week long and the night before our trip she could not sleep. The third grade was going into the city to reinforce their current study of immigration into the United States by spending the day at one of the most iconic of all symbols, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. 

The copper giantess holding the torch of freedom as a beacon to the world is, in my opinion, one of the greatest monuments ever erected on this planet. The huge statue was not erected to memorialize a king or leader, or to mark the place of a significant battle. No, this colossus was envisioned by men from a country founded upon the same enlightenment ideals as the United States, as a gift to uplift America during its most trying time, the American Civil War.

The idea for La Liberté éclairant le monde (Liberty Enlightening the World), the statues original name, came during a dinner at Édouard René de Laboulaye's home in France. Laboulaye was a law professor and politician who was a tremendous admirer of the American Constitution. This dinner was attended by many Freemasons including the Marquis deLafayette's grandsons Oscar and Edmond, Henri Martin a historian and prominent Mason, and a young artist Frédéric Bartholdi, a member of Lodge Alsace Lorraine, in Paris.

During the dinner, Laboulaye said that it would be fitting that a monument to freedom be erected in the United States and that it should be a joint effort between France and America. The idea continued in conversations between Bartholdi and Laboulaye, but was delayed by the Franco-Prussian War and the politically repressive situation in France under Napoleon III. 

After many years and significant monetary support from Freemasons in France, the Statue of Liberty was erected on an island in New York Harbor so that all who entered America could sail past a symbol of friendship and freedom.
So there I was, responsible for a few third graders for the day, not only for their safety but also the weighty responsibility of enlightening their minds. Us chaperons had free reign on how we spent the day with our kids once we landed on Liberty Island so as soon as the ferry hit the dock we were off. We quickly headed towards the back of the monument where we had run into a Bartholdi impersonator on our last visit here but he was no where to be found on this trip. I rambled on about the history of the statue and the Island, my daughter is used to my haughty historical side and I was worried that the other two kids might not catch on, but they were enjoying it just as much as my girl. We touched a stone from the quarry where the copper ore that was used for the statue came and the boy in our group kept noticing how the other groups just passed it by or stood on top of it not knowing what it really was.
It was a overcast day, there were not allot of tourists and we quickly breezed around the Island towards the front. We snuck into a tour group to hear what they were learning and took some good pictures under our lady then headed back behind the statue for some lunch.
All of the wrought iron tables were vacant as they still had some residual rain on them from the morning but we decided to sit at one anyway when out of nowhere a gentleman in a parks uniform appeared. he saw our table dilemma and without hesitation pulled out a rag to dry off the chairs and the table all the while asking the kids if they were enjoying lady liberty. I asked him what he did on the island and he told us that he was the keeper of the torch, the only one allowed to climb up the small ladder through the statues arm to take care of her beacon of freedom. It was such a special treat to talk to him that I had the kids take a picture with Louis Prosper. His kind manners and ebullient attitude left quite an impression on our little group and what a name for the keeper of the torch. He grabbed his hard hat that he had put to the side while he dried our eating spot and trotted off to the monument on his way to the top while we said thanks and waved goodbye.
Uplifted by our chance encounter we ate lunch, excitedly talking about our great few hours so far and rushed to the dock just in time to catch the ferry over to Ellis Island. We stood in the bow of the ferry and I asked the kids to imagine themselves sailing past the Statue and coming into Ellis Island as immigrants recently separated from their family and friends. The ferry approached the other island and we went downstairs to get first in line to get off and spend the rest of our day learning about the peopling of the United States.
I kept telling the kids to stand close and to pay attention and had my hand on my daughters shoulder when a man next to me said " I see you're a traveling man." He looked about my age, had a backpack on and must have noticed my ring.
"I certainly am Brother," I replied and we exchanged a friendly grip. He told me he was from a lodge in Brooklyn and that he worked in the museum on Ellis Island. I said how nice it always is to run into another Freemason to which he said I would be surprised how often he runs into brethren at the park. He then told me how he had helped organize a re-dedication of the corner stone with full masonic ceremony by the Grand Lodge of New York and New Jersey which must have been such an amazing experience given all of the Masonic connections with the statue. Before I knew it the ferry docked and my Brother was wishing us a great rest of our visit and bid us a fond farewell and headed into the building. 
We spent the rest of the afternoon thoroughly enjoying exploring the beautiful building where so many people began their quest in America, including my own grandparents. My little tour group had a great time and learned allot.
So that's it.
I think that is the one thing all Freemasons can agree upon, because I see stories like this one all of the time on social media and they are always liked by all of the Brethren...being recognized as a Brother while traveling is awesome...that is why I always wear my ring....

And spending the day with your child learning and enjoying each others company is the greatest time spent in the world.

A Coal Away From The Fire

I enjoyed a very nice conversation the other night with a very good friend and current WM of a local lodge the other evening while we waited for loved ones to finish what they were doing. He told me of what was going on in his lodge and I listened with as much interest and empathy as only one who has served his lodge can understand. The strange thing about the whole chat, was that for the first time in many years the attentive ear my friend received was as far from being an active mason as it has ever been. I have been as far away from a lodge as I have ever been since I have written this blog and I am not sure of how I feel about it.
There are many factors that have led to my hiatus, including finally finding a very challenging and time consuming job, along with the usual constraints of being a father of three with a wife who works full time also, along with some other heavy baggage that you may be full aware. All of these things have led to my not going to my lodge or any other lodge for that matter. I am still a Freemason, a very proud one at that, I still wear my masonic ring everyday and answer the usual questions that comes with wearing such regalia but the farther I get away from going to lodge regularly the more I begin to ask the question of what it is I gained from regular attendance.
This question in my mind makes the Past Master in me shiver to my essence. When I was the one trying to get the brethren out to every stated communication or to the various events that were planned, I would think that the brothers that weren't there had somehow fallen off the wagon, masonically speaking, or had lost what it is that makes us an order. It was a very narrow minded thought but it is definitely one that every dedicated officer has at every poorly attended gathering.
The further I get away from regular attendance, the more I have garnered the question of what it is that makes us "Free" masons. Was slavish devotion to our home lodge thought of when the masonic order was developed? Is the lodge we are raised in the end all be all of our masonic existence, or were we meant  to be the traveling men we call ourselves? These are tough questions, but I have no doubt that many brothers like myself have found themselves at a masonic crossroad where they have found these questions echoing in their head.
I have not the answer, I travel on.
What have you discovered?

Reflected Light

Sometimes all I can do is reflect brilliant light.

Please go to From Darkness to Light by Bro. Vick for a well thought essay on leadership from someone who knows all about it.