Fit Material

I came across an interesting article today, posted by the Brother at Purposely Hoodwinked, entitled Freemasonry - Why the Wrong Individuals Seek Entrance.

For the last few years, I've been thinking not so much about why the wrong individuals seek entrance, so much as why we admit them.

For numerous reasons, this has occupied a significant amount of my thinking on Freemasonry, a fact that alarms and disgusts me in equal measure. But as a Mason who takes the Craft seriously and views it as my way of life, how could I fail to give it due consideration?

To my mind, the issue of admitting unfit candidates is a major Elephant In The Lodge Room, and I know it to be such because in frank, private discussions with individual Brothers it comes up with disconcerting regularity. We must address this issue frankly and honestly if we are to remain a relevant order that is an active force for good in the world. Otherwise, the inexorable erosion of standards will cause us to devolve into a caricature of ourselves, a tragicomic, dysfunctional organization populated by self-satisfied, petty little men who the Freemasons of yore would not recognize as material fit for the Fraternity.

Bluntly, our chief problem is a dead-on tie between our hypocrisy on the one hand and our cowardice on the other.

If your first reaction is outrage at my having said that, instead of outrage at the uncomfortable but undeniable truth to which it points, then let me assure you, my Brother, that your attitude of knee-jerkily defending the indefensible is our third biggest problem, because it fosters and promotes the first two.

The first step in fixing any problem is to accept that it exists and face it squarely. Denial only exacerbates a problem, and to deny that we have been hypocritical and cowardly in our admission procedures will get us nowhere but further lost.

How have we been hypocritical in the matters pertaining to admission? I cite two instances.

First, I direct your attention to the Standard Work. In the Monitorial portion of the very beginning of the Entered Apprentice Section, there are four questions to be posed to each would-be initiate. He must answer each one in the affirmative.

The very first three things we ask him to affirm are that:

1. He was not improperly solicited to join by a friend who is a member;
2. He was not joining for mercenary motives (business connections and opportunities, etc);
3. He was moved, of his own free will and accord, to join us based on his: 
1. favorable opinion of Freemasonry;
2. desire for knowledge;
3. desire to be of service to society.

When many of your new members are coming from the same watering hole where they all hang out together, or from the same workplace as one of your members, or are conveniently interested in doing business with the Lodge or the building association, then we can safely assume that points 1 and 2 are not being answered truthfully if they are answered in the affirmative. This essentially renders an affirmative answer to point 3 into a borderline blasphemous joke.

Second, I direct you to p. 2-4 of the Lodge Officers Handbook, entitled "The Investigating Committee."

Some Brothers can be forgiven for not possessing this document, as not every Brother on an investigating committee will be, or have been, a Lodge officer. However, the WM has no excuse for lacking it, or not having familiarized himself with its contents, or not familiarizing the investigating committee (which he appoints) of its contents.

Beginning on p. 2-4, the Lodge Officers Handbook devotes just shy of four entire pages to expound upon why the investigation of a petitioner is essentially a sacred duty, and lays forth all that should be considered and how the investigation should be performed.


Can you square any of the above with the "wham-bam, thank you, man" approach to "investigations" of candidates? You know what I'm referring to here. "Investigations" that occur when a prospect shows up at a Lodge meeting to introduce himself and inquire about becoming a member, at which point the Brothers' eyes go saucer-like, somebody makes a mad dash to the office to fetch a petition form and three investigation forms, three guys are rounded up on the spot to "investigate" the prospect by asking him a few perfunctory questions, they all sign the forms, call it good and thank God for a fresh body, and schedule his Initiation on the spot.

Am I exaggerating? I've actually seen this happen more than once. To be sure, not all Lodges are guilty of this lackadaisical approach to investigations. However, if even one Lodge is, it creates a potential headache, heartache, or both for all of us, because once such an unfit candidate is obligated, he is a Mason, and we are all bound to him by the mystic tie.When he reveals his true colors down the road, difficulties -- some of them quite serious -- inevitably ensue.

 Taking Good Men and Making Them Better

Amazingly, there are those who would argue that I am somehow being "elitist" by suggesting that we should, at times, actually blackball certain candidates. To them I respond that I am indeed being elitist, and I am entirely unapologetic about it.

That said, I am being humbly elitist, not pridefully so, and therein lies a world of difference. I do not propose that we restrict our membership to the influential and wealthy upper crust of society. I am simply proposing that we enforce the basic-most minimal standards that we give lip service to all the time, and restrict our membership to:

1. Good men to make them better;
2. Men who can honestly answer the four questions posed to every Entered Apprentice in this Jurisdiction prior to the Preparatory Lecture;
3. Men who can pass a formal background check.

To be blunt, we have not consistently restricted ourselves to good men, and this has become intensely, painfully clear in the past few years. Depositions, expulsions, suspensions and Masonic trials would be unknown among us if we restricted ourselves to good men. If you keep tabs on the goings-on throughout our Jusrisdiction, you certainly know that we have not lacked for any of those things, and this does not even begin to address the many other incidences of extraordinarily negative, completely unmasonic actions that take place in and between Lodges and Brethren with regularity.

I trace this directly to our unhealthy propensity to take any and all comers, every joiner who just wants a group of guys to hang out with, frat style (not Fraternity style).

 For my part, I came to Freemasonry because I believe foursquare in its fundamental tenets and wished to surround myself with men who felt and thought likewise. I did a significant amount of research before deciding whether to petition, and after having done so I was gratified to have been investigated, quite thoroughly, by my investigating committee.

The bottom line, really, is that we need to take good men and make them better. It is not discriminatory to refuse to take in every Tom, Dick and Harry who knocks on the door. On the contrary, it is Prudent to exercise due Diligence in investigating him thoroughly. Been to an EA Conferral lately? Its lecture is full of stuff we've apparently forgotten about entirely.

Who's to Save Freemasonry?

"If we find wisdom in the world within, we shall have the understanding to discern the marvelous possibilities that are latent in this world within, and we shall be given the power to make these possibilities manifest in the world without."

 — Bro. Charles F. Haanel

I've been hearing about a new book in Masonic circles recently, and it's roused me to post some commentary that I've been stewing over for a while. The book is entitled How Freemasonry Saved the World by Bro. Stephen Dafoe, and it's slated for release this summer.

 

 

You can see about it for yourself at this video, but the book's basic message seems to be that Freemasonry has emerged at various times throughout history to save society from its own worst excesses (political and religious fanaticism, bigotry, persecution, etc.), and that it is poised to render a repeat performance in these troubled times.

 

Basically, I'm torn. On the one hand, I think that it's well and proper to be proud of Freemasonry and its many positive contributions to civilization and society. After all, I certainly would never have become a Mason if I didn't think our order's history and achievements were things to be proud of, and that my acceptance in such an esteemed group was likewise something to be proud of. I am proud of Freemasonry.

 

That said, for as good as it is to be proud of Freemasonry, it is undesirable to be prideful of it, and something about the tone of this book's premise smacks of pridefulness to my ears. Some circumspect, candid and, above all, brutally honest self-assessment is in order before we slap ourselves too heartily on the back in proclaiming ourselves the Saviors of Society. (I will submit for your consideration that it is also somewhat dangerous not to engage in some good old-fashioned pious self-assessment, because goodness knows Freemasonry's detractors never lose the opportunity to assess our actions, motives and consistency in practicing what we preach.)

 

So, on the one hand, we as Masons proudly (and it must be said, sometimes loudly) proclaim that we meet upon the Level (are co-equals despite rank or station) and that we spread the Cement of Brotherly Love, particularly among our own ranks. To be sure, these are eminently worthy attributes and society would do well to emulate us in this regard. Surely this is an example of where Freemasonry can Save the World.

 

The rub is that, on the other hand, I'm all too keenly aware of many examples where we fall woefully short of our own mark. For example, there was a recent fiasco at a very old, well known Lodge here that resulted in out-and-out internecine warfare of the generational variety, involving disturbingly unbrotherly instances of character-assassination culminating in actions by Grand Lodge that shocked more than one observer and were deemed by many to be imperious and draconian, to cast it mildly. The end result was the deposition of a sitting Worshipful Master and a contingent of young, bright, motivated up-and-comers departing in disgust, and a good many onlookers wondering what on earth has become of us that things could ever have come to this. Such a scenario would seem to indicate we need to be seeking a savior for ourselves rather than putting ourselves forward to save anybody, much less the world.

 

I wouldn't want it thought that I demand an unreasonable perfection of Freemasonry, so let me state plainly that it's an eminently laudable institution but is inhabited by flawed human beings, and as such it's inevitable that it will fail to live up to its own standards all the time. This is true of any organization; civic, religious, academic, or other. What’s noteworthy is the frequency of our failure to actually practice the Freemasonry we're offering up as society's salvation, and the degree to which we fail when we do. By its very nature, Freemasonry's failures are likely to be spectacular departures from its tenets simply because its tenets are the highest of ideals. For example, by any account the above-mentioned incident is a humiliation to any Mason who takes the philosophy of this order seriously. It made a mockery of Freemasonry and everything it supposedly embodies. If some disinterested outsider were to see us presenting ourselves as would-be saviors of the world, in light of such an episode, there would be little cause for surprise if he smiled in amusement, rolled his eyes... or pinched his nose.

 

It would be pointless to rehash the numerous other examples that have made the news in Masonic circles in the past few years, and in any event I can at least take some measure of satisfaction that the majority of them have not taken place in my Jurisdiction. I simply ask the Mason reading this to pause for a moment in reflection and seriously consider whether Freemasonry is just a civic or fraternal group with a bunch of highfalutin, flowery platitudes that are just so much hot air... or is a true order offering a philosophy of life which, if employed and practiced in our day-to-day interactions, would lead to a greater society?

 

In any event, there is little doubting that Freemasonry has much to offer the world. Salvation?

Perhaps so.

I simply submit that any salvation we offer the world will lie in improving the ethical and moral fiber of our members, one at a time, who individually and collectively bring truly masonic principles to the profane world in their day-to-day interactions in the workplace, place of worship, civic institutions and so forth. By focusing internally instead of externally, we can change the world all right, but we change it by changing ourselves. This has two advantages. First, it’s achievable. Second, and far more importantly, it keeps our critical eye focused where it needs to be – on ourselves – and fosters an attitude of judicious self-assessment and appropriate correction whereby we can avoid the kind of dreadful shortcomings and unmasonic behaviors alluded to above. 

Disclaimer

This is the personal blog of an individual Freemason in the State of Washington and does not represent any Lodge, Grand Lodge, or other Masonic organization or group.