The Age Old Question: Is Freemasonry A Religion?

Is Freemasonry a Religion?

Yes, Freemasonry Is Religion, And Is Incompatible With Some Christian Beliefs. Here’s Why.

I’ve been a Freemason for only about four years, but I’ve already done a lot of changing in my views. One view I used to have, which I think most first years have is that Freemasonry and Christianity are totally compatible.

Oh the many internet arguments we enter, arguing “no, we don’t have a problem with Catholics, but the Catholic Church has a problem with us,” and “Evangelical Christianity is perfectly compatible with Freemasonry.” These kind of skirmishes happen all the time. And then there’s the biggest trope in all of Masondom: Freemasonry is not a religion.

This is all, of course, entirely from our point of view. We are an open, welcoming, tolerant fraternity, and we search for the connections that bind each other together, and not the dividers that keep us apart. Tolerance is a cornerstone of freemasonry, so it’s naturally abhorrent to us to be dragged into any argument that certain sects should be excluded. And I think this is entirely true, but that is from my point of view; the point of view of a guy who thinks he’s totally right.

In all fairness, though, whether freemasonry is compatible with certain religions isn’t only up to us. Many practitioners of those religions make great points. I’ve even got some favorites.

Freemasonry distracts you from God, taking time away from your family, and your worship, and that is Satan’s work.

There are certainly men who have utterly lost themselves in Freemasonry, and it hurts their families. One only knows what it does to the man’s personal relationship with his creator. But then the same thing is easily said about any activity. People lose themselves in hobbies when they seek distractions. I’ve even seen people lose themselves in their church; so focused on the inner workings, the politics, jazzing up the service, being on the lighting committee, etc, and they eventually wonder where God went in all is this. This is not a problem with freemasonry. It’s a problem with people, and one freemasonry actually attempts to remedy in its earliest instruction to new brethren. We come right out and say: divide your time correctly, keeping time for God, family, work, etc. And that freemasonry never comes first. Ever.

Read: Freemasonry, The Religion of Not Being a Religion

The things you do in lodge are things you should be doing in church.

Well, woulda, coulda, shoulda. And feel free to, if you like. Nothing says you can’t flip hotcakes for your lodge on Saturday and waffles for your church on Sunday. And nothing says you can’t focus on being a better man in lodge and in church. A little double coverage never hurt anyone.

The teachings don’t contradict, and should you find a contradiction, masonry insists you side with the obligations to God, family, and to yourself before you ever consider your lodge.

Masons seek light, but the Bible tells us that Jesus is the light and the way.

Right, but in freemasonry, spoiler alert, the light is the Volume of Sacred Law, which, if you’re a Christian, is the Bible. It will be sitting there, open, on the altar. And I’m personally not a Christian, but I’m pretty sure Jesus is in there. Somewhere in the back, I believe.

Now, that’s all well and good, but these are not things I can dictate. If you, as a Christian, or are of some other faith, and you don’t find these explanations convincing, that just fine. I would say that you are in the minority of your faith, but that you have a point of view, and you have legitimate practical concerns about freemasonry. Compatibility is, I suppose, a matter of educated opinion. I would not say your faith is incompatible with freemasonry.

Unless…

There are some views that are completely incompatible with freemasonry. I will let the Christians argue among themselves whether these views are legitimately Christian, but there is some grist we just won’t grind.

If you have a problem with the tolerance off freemasonry, then there’s a legitimate problem here. I got into a discussion recently with a Christian whose argument against freemasonry was that his religion taught him he was not to pray with those who practice idolatry, but run from them. In a nutshell, because masons come from all different faiths, but will pray together in lodge, a good Christian can’t be a part of that.

This never happens.

Now I’ve heard probably the most common Christian argument against Freemasonry, mainly given by Catholics; there is one true way to Heaven and that is by accepting Jesus; Masonry essentially teaches that your goodness can get you to Heaven; ergo Masonry is incompatible with Christianity. I could answer that by saying that Masonry doesn’t propose any particular way to get anywhere, and that even if that were the case, one needn’t accept such a premise to join or participate in a lodge. But this prayer thing is something that I’ve never, ever run into before.

I asked this gentleman if he would apply the same standard to a non-denominational public prayer, like at a graduation commencement or some kind of national moment of prayer after a disaster. He would. And…my brain just broke a bit. I realized, not for the first time in my life, that some people–perfectly nice people–are just completely different. And not just in a “same goals but different paths” way. Just. Completely. Different.

Read: The Christianization of Freemasonry

Obviously there are only a relative minority of Christians with this notion. But I do, basically, get the idea. I see how the thought can be derived from scripture. It’s a Christian belief, though not a widely held one. And it’s not a belief I’d assign only to Christians. Many faiths have an extremely orthodox element that is utterly intolerant of certain ideas. For instance, the idea that regardless of what gets you into Heaven, and your religion may have very specific requirements, God still wants you to be a good, peaceful, generous person. That’s the kind of wild idea that some religious practitioners reject out of hand.

I really don’t think you can be a freemason and not think that.

If you believe you should run from people practicing different faiths, rather than stand with them as you each pray to Deity for peace and harmony, then no, I really don’t think that is compatible with freemasonry.

Worse yet, I don’t think that’s compatible with the American Way, because much like the masons, America is founded on the idea of tolerance, and from many–one. If this is a closely-held belief you espouse, then you have to admit to yourself that America, in its very founding principles, is doing it wrong.

Religion is a lot of things to a lot of people, and I’m not going to define it for you, but it’s certainly easy to see why so many non-freemasons see it as a religion. There is an awful lot of crossover, here. Masonry doesn’t tell you what god to pray to, it doesn’t teach you how to get to Heaven, but it does teach you that being a good, honest, just person is morally and spiritually valuable, and it does teach you how to be that. And that altar in the middle of the lodge room floor is the Altar of God. And I’m hardly the only mason who has said this. There’s a beautiful passage in a Masonic play, A Rose Upon the Altar.

Freemasonry, my brother, is, truly, not religion. But it is religion–religion in its truest, purest sense. We don’t worship a God here–we worship the Great Architect. We have His word for it–inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it to me. At this Altar…good men and true worship their Creator. At this Altar the sore distressed find comfort. Around this Altar glows the Shekinah, the heavenly light from Him to whom it is erected, for those who have eyes to see. The Divine Presence is here! This Altar is as much a holy of holies as a church. If you want comfort, kneel here and ask for it. If you want aid, here you shall find it. Here is the Book in which the promise is made…come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…This Altar is God’s.

Multi Faith Prayer Room

And there it is. I mean, argue if you want. You don’t have to agree. You may even be right. I’m sure I’ll get flack from masons and Christians alike. A Masonic lodge is no substitute for your church or house of worship, and I’d never claim it is. But neither is in, nor any of these, an adequate substitute for the world God has made, or the people he put in it, and religion exists everywhere among us. And it can be practiced everywhere.

And yes, some religious practices just don’t mix.

Attribution:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multifaith_space

___

I wish more young Masons would put their thoughts on paper. It is vital to us all, especially Freemasons, to know the thoughts and contemplations of those who will follow us.

In today’s article Brother Gallagher seems a bit torn between Masonry as a religion and Masonry as not a religion. That is totally understandable given the history of the Craft and the practice of Freemasonry since the formation of this great nation.

Freemasonry’s biggest problem is that it is so tolerant that it will allow Brothers to remake and transform the Fraternity into the mores and customs of their particular region. That’s how you end up with the Grand Master of Florida expelling two Brothers for not being Christians.

Dr. Fels in the video is equally confused as he tries to walk a tightrope whereby everybody is right and nobody is wrong.

So let us start by looking back at the formation of modern speculative Freemasonry.

Anderson wrote in his Book of Constitutions in 1723:

A Mason is obliged by his Tenure, to obey the Moral Law, and if he rightly understand the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist nor an irreligious Libertine. But though in ancient times Masons were charged in every country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet ‘tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves, that is, to be good Men and true, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatsoever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguished.

The key phrase here is “that religion in which all men agree.” What Anderson is saying here is that Freemasonry agrees with and accepts the tenets that all religions have in common. So it is the tenets that all religions have in common that Freemasonry adopts but not the specific paths of practicing them. This is what Dr. Fels misses.

Freemasonry has:

  • No specific Holy Book
  • No sacraments
  • No ordained clergy
  • No definition of Deity
  • No dogma, no creed – that is no ideological doctrine
  • No means to salvation

The problem enters as to the question of Freemasonry as a religion because there are many religious people in Freemasonry. The Lodge offers prayers but so does my book club, my household at mealtime and Congress before it convenes. Prayer does not make a group a church. Neither does scriptural lessons.

And because Freemasonry accepts the basic tenets of all religions that does not make us some sort of new super amalgamated religion.

If we look at the most widely accepted definition of Freemasonry we can see where we are going wrong.

Masonry is said to be,

a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.

The key words here are, SYSTEM OF MORALITY. Freemasonry is a system of morality and when it says that it borrows the religion in which all men agree it is saying that it accepts the same morality that is found over and over again in most religions.

Your religion deals with your relationship with God. Freemasonry deals with your relationship with your fellow human beings.

It is more than coincidental that those who declare that Freemasonry is a religion are those who are not Freemasons. They say they know more about the Craft than those of us who practice Freemasonry.

Once you remove the argument that Freemasonry is a religion and convince those that are criticizing it from a religious viewpoint that it is merely a society then you remove all possibility of a religious objection to it. If Freemasonry is not a religion than it cannot be criticized as one. And that stops the bitter resentment and ridiculous attacks on the Craft. Well not quite. You still have to prove that Freemasonry does not want to take over the world.

Truth be known, Freemasonry makes no ruling about religion. FREEMASONRY MAKES NO RULING ABOUT RELIGION. It’s not for any sectarian religions and it is not against any sectarian religions. FREEMASONRY IS NEUTRAL. It makes no religious rulings nor declares any means to salvation. FREEMASONRY IS NEUTRAL. It is a society of friends devoted to the Brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God.

As one site put it:

Freemasonry is kindness in the home; honesty in business; courtesy toward others; dependability in one’s work; compassion for the unfortunate; resistance to evil; help for the weak; concern for good government; support for public education; and above all, a life-practicing reverence for God and love of fellow man.

Does that sound like a religion?


From: Matt Gallagher, July 21, 2014

Fred Milliken,Freemason Information,The Beehive

The Last Degree

the last and final masonic degree

As I entered the Lodge room sightless I heard the most beautiful music I had ever heard. It was not a music I was familiar with nor was whatever produced the music, instruments that I could identify. But it was oh so peaceful, piercing my soul and creating a sense of harmony and accord throughout. I was energy dragged or conducted in thought around the Lodge to this music in what seemed like a haphazard pattern but after eight repetitions I was able to discern that there were four repeats of two separate maneuvers, one being a circle and the other being a triangle.  The repetition of maneuvers was necessary, as it was later explained to me, to create the image of a three dimensional symbol for this degree. And this symbol was one of the Innermost Chamber where I received this degree.  The Square and Compasses still adorned the outside building of the Lodge but within this building was an inner building where the Pyramid and Globes were the symbols used.

I was later to see what this symbol looked like.  It was a Pyramid within which were three Globes aligned vertically from the peak to the base.  Within the top Globe was a small Pyramid pointing down.  The bottom Globe had a Pyramid pointing up and the middle Globe had a three dimensional six pointed star. The meaning of this symbol was that the spirit of the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer was infused into the circle of life, that never ending cycle of birth, death, rebirth, death again, rebirth again and on and on into affinity. It also carried the meaning of unity as we are all together as one, united as beings who all possessed a piece of the Creator. The symbol was not attached anywhere but would always appear before your discernment wherever you were in the Innermost Chamber in the form of a hologram

There was neither reception on any points of an instrument nor an obligation to this degree.  It was explained to me that in my present state of neither time nor place but just all, that penalties, oaths and promises were superfluous.

I was conducted to the South, West and then the North of the Lodge where still powered down and only able to hear I would have, however, the insight to view a totally private movie hologram only visible to me.  In the South I received a review of my entire life.  This was shown to me in a hologram depicting people, places, events, happenings and occurrences in a fast moving continuous movie at last stopping at the moment of my passing over. It seemed as if it was over before I had begun but those who surrounded me assured me later that it took quite awhile.

In the West I viewed as before in a continuous moving hologram all the times I had inspired others and when I was kind, compassionate, loving and humble. Many times I was overcome with emotion as what was presented to me was so life like that I felt that what had occurred in the past was happening again right before me.  There is real meaning to the word reliving.

And then in the North I relived the dark side of myself,  all the times I had acted with an overbearing bloated ego to lash out and hurt others, all my failings, my sins and the times I had let others down. Again I was moved to tears to think that I had acted in such a manner. And that is why these holograms were totally private to me as those assembled around me were not there to judge but to support.  And I felt the warmth of their brotherly love and affection.

Like my earthly degrees I was conducted, but by mind, out of the Innermost Chamber to the Ante Room to be prepared to re-enter for the second section of the degree, the lecture.

My conductor, Hiram Abiff, powered me back up to full energy and then spoke to me.  “Your earthly degrees have taught you the merits of the application of toleration and non judgmentalism,” he said. “They have shown you how to enjoy peace, harmony & accord among people of different races, religions, cultures, political persuasions, and economic circumstances.  Now we will take you even further into that concept in the lecture of the Last Degree.”

I was readmitted into the Innermost Chamber and brought to the East.  The image of the Pyramid and Globes were ever present before me in a hologram.  Welcoming me into the East was a black woman of perhaps middle age.  Her feeling of brotherly love and affection was glowing warmth that infused my spirit.  She commenced the lecture slowly and deliberately.

“The lesson of the Last Degree is that the separation that plagues many in their earthly pilgrimage, that division where you see others as different, less worthy or unentitled and which sets you apart from them, is really a separation from God. Yes, in reality there are real differences on Earth.  A man and a woman on Earth are actually made slightly differently and respond in different ways.  There are different races, cultures, creeds and concepts of the Creator.  But to attribute something sinister to those differences is to use then to divide rather than bring together and then to ostracize thus making a separation. Carried to extreme, this separation progresses  from distrust to suspicion leading to contempt to hate and ultimately to extermination or ethnic cleansing. This disunity is a construction of humankind possessing free will and does not reflect the intentions that your Creator has for you. This division, disunity and separation are what really the Adam & Eve story and the fall of man are all about. For in human disunity and separation exists the separation from the Almighty.”

“You have reviewed in your initiation into the Celestial Lodge all that you have done in your human life on Earth.  You have relived the times when you allowed your fears of others and those differences to put you into separation.  And you have relived the times when paying no attention to these differences has put you in oneness.”

“It has been said that humankind was created in the image of God.  But I say to you that each human is a piece of God and possess a small portion of the Almighty within them.  Whether that piece grows and becomes a bigger and bigger part of a human being depends on the choices each human has made in their life journey.  The purpose of your journey is to feed and nurture your soul in an Earthly mission that God has given you the tools to accomplish.  In so doing you enable the Almighty Creator, the Master of Heaven and Earth to experience itself. Living ‘the Godly life’ is the ability to rise above that which seeks to divide and create chaos.”

“It is now time, my Brother, for you to commit yourself to the belief that WE ARE ALL ONE.  There are no OTHERS. When you pull away or disassociate from what you perceive to be another, you are only separating yourself from yourself and from whence you came and to whom someday you will return. When you harm or hurt what you perceive to be another you only harm or hurt yourself.”

“The Pyramid and Globes are the symbol of this degree, my Brother. It teaches that all of life, its peaks and valleys, its joys and sorrows, its loves and fears, is a holy and sacred experience. It visualizes for you the concept that life is never ending but continues to move, starting where it finished and finishing where it started.  It goes around and around and on and on forever in “the unity of the Holy Spirit.”  WE ARE ALL ONE. There is no part of us that is separate or outside the Pyramid and Globes.  We are all pieces of the same pie.  God is in us and we are in God. WE ARE ALL ONE!  Now go in peace and harmony and accord and rejoice in that knowledge.”

This is KROC your classic rock station for Dallas on this Monday morning.  The time is 5:30 AM and the big yellow ball is rising over the Metroplex on what is going to be a beautiful day. How about a little Pink Floyd – “Dark Side of the Moon” for all you classic rockers who don’t want to get up this morning!

Read from the beginning – I Had a Dream.

I Had a Dream

at the pearly gates

I had a dream not long ago.  And in that dream I passed to the Celestial Lodge above where I found myself just outside the Pearly Gates.  There was no St. Peter there to greet me but rather a Wayfaring man with shillelagh and lantern dressed in a cowled robe or tunic with the hood pulled up over his head.  So hunched over was he that I could barely see his eyes nor his lips move.

“You are a traveling man,” he said with a raspy voice.

“Yes I am and I guess I have traveled a long way,” I retorted.

“Can you prove it?” rasped the Wayfaring man.

I am sure that I can demonstrate to anyone’s satisfaction that I am a Master Mason,” I replied.

“Good follow me.”

“Where are we going?”

“To The Celestial Lodge.”

“The Celestial Lodge above, how nice.”

“No just the Celestial Lodge, you’re already above.”

As we left I tried to step off but I remained stuck to my place.  The Wayfaring man said, “You think your way along here.  Just visualize yourself following me.”

Sure enough I moved along effortlessly as if on one of those conveyor belts at the airport.

We arrived at our destination in a flash.  Before us was what looked like colored clouds of red, blue and purple hue, imprinted on which in navy blue iridescent almost glowing specks was the Square & Compasses. Is this what neon signs look like in heaven, I thought to myself?

That’s beautiful,” I said, “but where is the letter G?”

“We don’t use the letter G up here,” replied the Wayfaring man. “What the letter G symbolizes is present in the East.  God does not need a symbol when God is.  The I Am Who I Am Is Who He Is.”

Wow, wouldn’t Bill Clinton have a field day with that line, I thought to myself.

As we got closer a booming voice queried, “Who comes here?”

A traveling man who has passed through the Pearly Gates,” replied the Wayfaring man.

Does he have the pass?” asked the booming voice.

“He has it not.  I have it for him.”

“He shall wait until the Almighty is informed of your presence and His answer returned.”

Within a short period a woman in a lavender robe with white sparkling star sequins broke through the cloud mass and said, “You shall enter through the outer door to the anteroom.”

I shot a quizzical look at the Wayfaring man.

Reading my thoughts, he quickly answered, “We have fully implemented the lesson of the Level here.”

The clouds parted and I wondered if Moses was on the other side.  We entered the anteroom and the parted clouds shut again. A man was there to greet me and before I could speak he said, “No I am not Moses, I am Hiram Abiff and I am the Master of Ceremonies here to guide you through your next degree.”

“I have another degree to take,” I timidly asked.

“Yes my Brother, but first we must dispense with a few preliminaries, convey some information and then get you prepared.”

Brother Abiff asked for and received all the steps, signs, grips and words of the earthly degrees by thought.  Then he said, “I must ask you if you will proceed of your own free will and accord?”

“I have a choice? “ I asked.

“Oh yes, we can send you back.”

“SEND ME BACK, WHERE?”

“From whence you came, but there will be one stipulation.”

“And what might that be?”

“You will not go back who you were there.  You will start over anew as someone else.”

“Then who will I be?”

“It is not predetermined but as you say back on earth, it is a roll of the dice.  You could go back a new person to China or Germany or India or Cuba or Uganda or anywhere.”

“And what would I do there?”

“Whatever you choose to do.  You see with free will you always have a choice.  Bad choices, however, usually yield bad results.”

“I think I would like to proceed right here.”

“Very well, so it shall be.”

“I have made a good choice?”

“It is not for me to say.  One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure, as the saying goes. As you have probably noticed your body as well as ours is but an illusion.  The best description of what you are right now is pure energy.  As such instead of being unclothed or hoodwinked you will be powered down so that you can hear but not see.”

“Is this then the 34th degree?”

“No,” Brother Abiff replied.  “This is The LAST DEGREE.  Now follow your conductor and fear no danger.”

Next installment:  The Last Degree.

The Life Lessons Of Right Eminent Grand Commander Sir Ronald D. Gerac

Sir Ronald D. Gerac, M.Ed. Right Eminent Grand Commander Lone Star Grand Commandery Order of the Knights Templar

Sir Ronald D. Gerac, M.Ed.
Right Eminent Grand Commander
Lone Star Grand Commandery
Order of the Knights Templar

Sir Ronald D. Gerac, M.Ed. Right Eminent Grand Commander Lone Star Grand Commandery Order of the Knights Templar, Prince Hall Texas is a Freemason of preeminence. You perhaps have heard the saying used in advertisement, “When E. F. Hutton talks, people listen.” Well when EGC Gerac talks, Freemasons listen – intently.

Gerac is that kind of individual who can enter a room and immediately takeover. He gives you the sense that he is in command all the while being able graciously to poke fun at others and himself.

Gerac is an optimist and he never hesitates to attempt to lift all in his presence up to the next level. He is our chief cheerleader.

Gerac understands fully and completely that Freemasonry is a way of life. Therefore, you will often hear him talking about life and how the virtues of Freemasonry are applicable to our daily lives, right here, right now.

His 2014 Allocution to his Commandery illustrates this approach, always in a colorful way.

A year ago, I charged you to not live your 2013 as 2012: The Sequel. Well, did you, or did you not? Are you experiencing new levels of life that are 180 degrees away from where you were, or are you still continuing to do the same things you were doing and expecting a different result? Have you surrounded yourself with likeminded people for your spiritual growth, or are you still hanging around negative people? It’s okay if you are. Believe me, because negativity has its own share of benefits.

Negativity serves a purpose. It helps you to see the positive in the world, just as the darkness allows you to see the stars. If you didn’t have negative experiences, you would never be able to appreciate the positive ones. If you were never sad, you wouldn’t know what it felt like to be happy. If you never felt fear, you wouldn’t know what faith felt like. If you were positive ALL the time, then you wouldn’t even know you were being positive because there would be no contrast. You would feel the same all the time.

Negativity forces the BELIEVER to feel those painful emotions so that he or she can recognize and appreciate the positive emotions. Negativity builds character and strength when we persevere and overcome it. It causes the BELIEVER to build mental and emotional muscle. Here’s some advice for you who have had your fair share of negativity: increase your positive to negative ratio up to 3 to 1; that is, three positive emotions for every one negative emotion. Research shows that teams, couples, or individuals that experienced interactions at a ratio greater than 3 positives to one negative emotion were more productive and higher performing than those with a lower ratio. You have already had your first positive for the day. God woke you up. Did you thank Him for doing that? Do it before it’s too late. Here’s your second positive: Each and every one of you in this room today has had a part, albeit small or large, in helping me become who I am today. Because of your thoughts, prayers, conversation, advice, support, a smile, or maybe even something as small as a status like on Facebook, I am, and Marvin Sapp said it best, I’m stronger; I’m wiser, I feel better. So much better. The God I serve has blessed me with so many friends like you-some closer than others-but a blessing from God has no rank and only one value: priceless. Now you all are on your own for your third positive and don’t hold me responsible for your one negative.

Sir Ronald D. Gerac, M.Ed. Right Eminent Grand Commander Lone Star Grand Commandery Order of the Knights Templar with Grand Master Wilbert M. Curtis

Sir Ronald D. Gerac, M.Ed.
Right Eminent Grand Commander
Lone Star Grand Commandery
Order of the Knights Templar
with Grand Master Wilbert M. Curtis

In this last Templar year, I have come to notice an emergence of one particular type of behavior from people within our own circles that has brought itself to a level of profound disturbance within my spirit. People who we used to confide in are now, as they say, “all into their feelings” and don’t want as much to do with us as they used to. Bonds are breaking down. Friendships are being destroyed. The group dynamic in our Commanderies and Palaces is being threatened. In some cases, marriage relationships are cracking down the middle. That hand to your back for comfort has a knife in it. “We used to be cool, but now, I don’t know WHAT happened.” You have people that barely know you making opinions about you from other folks. They smile in your face. You know the rest of the lyrics. So what happened to these almost impenetrable friendships and relationships?

Allow me to talk to you about gardening for a few minutes. If you have ever done any type of gardening, you know that, for one, it does take work to yield a desired result. It also takes an investment of time and patience to do that work. You must have the right working tools to work with in order to keep your garden thriving. Other than drought, a gardener’s worst enemy is the weed. A weed masquerades itself like a plant. It needs water and sunlight to survive, just like a plant. Many times, an unsuspecting gardener is providing care for weeds and doesn’t realize this fact until it’s too late. What do we know about these weeds?

  1. Generally, weeds have absolutely no redeeming value as far as food, nutrition, or medicine are concerned. They multiply rapidly, are often poisonous if eaten, they taste bad, and they have thorns or other physical features that make them difficult to remove.
  2. Weeds compete with beautiful flowers, grasses, and other beneficial plants for water, sunlight, and nutrients, and making them starve to death. They cause a growth imbalance in beneficial plants because they quickly absorb more of one nutrient than another.
  3. Weeds compete for space. They appear as if they must be seen.
  4. Weeds are parasitic. In some cases, they can attach themselves to neighboring plants and steal their nutrients.

If you haven’t caught on yet, let me help you out just a little bit. SOME OF YOUR SO-CALLED FRIENDS ARE WEEDS.

  1. They have absolutely no redeeming value to your life. The more gullible people they talk to, the more rapidly they multiply. The more minds they poison. Their attitudes and dispositions become the thorns that make them difficult to be around.
  2. When they are around, it seems as if they starve you of the essentials of positive living that you are more used to experiencing daily. Do you ever get that feeling of being choked when these so-called friends come around? Does the tenor of your conversation change around them?
  3. When they are around, they absolutely must be seen and heard.
  4. Some of them siphon from the necessities of life that you originally allocate to close family members…money, food, transportation, advice, time, and love.

When some of us read the first part of John 10:10, we take it for the face-value literal translation that we receive when we read it.

The thief does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy.

We take that to mean the stealing of worldly goods and possessions. We think of the physical killing of people. We think of the destruction of actual edifices and physical buildings. We don’t look deeper into it to see that the writer also meant that for those that steal, they rob us and others of the truth. While they are not speaking the truth, or the whole truth, they kill synergetic and kindred spirits among friends and brothers. They purposely destroy relationships…friend to friend, husband to wife, Master or Matron to the membership. Sir Knights and Princesses, the ENEMY himself is the source, but we are too blind, or as they say, “all into our feelings” to see it clearly.

Get out of your feelings. Wake up and see the destruction that you had a hand in, but caused by that so called friend of yours who you thought was giving you good, sound advice, but actually was just spreading mess and gossip, much like a weed spreads its seeds and multiplies at a rapid rate. Kill your weeds. Yes, KILL YOUR WEEDS. Not by standard weapons of defense and harm, such as a firearm, knife, or some blunt object like a baseball bat or a frying pan. Once you recognize who the weeds are in your life, the best way to kill that weed is like this: ***pick up cell phone, slide ringer over to IGNORE*** Ignore the phone call from the weed. Block the number if you have to. Don’t nurture it by giving it the time or attention it needs to survive. We say “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine?” Don’t let YOUR light shine on the weed to help it grow. Let the weed find someone else to poison. If you must converse with the weed, combat it with truth. Don’t allow the weed to come to you and say, “I heard this from somebody…I won’t say who, but this is what I heard.” That is POISON attempting to spread POISON. Anyway, if what that “somebody” said was true, then they need to be MAN or WOMAN enough to say it to your face. Don’t lower your standards to hear it from someone else. Kill your weeds. Prune them out of your life. If they are not helping you to become a better person, why are you still listening to them? Why do you take their word over someone more credible? Why don’t you ask the direct questions yourselves? And better yet, why haven’t you told that weed of a friend that you are not having that from them anymore? You complain about what you allow when you have the power to stop it altogether.

Friends, let’s nurture each other. Let’s help each other rise to the next level. Let’s strengthen each other through prayer, advice, random acts of kindness, and love.

I conclude with this thought: Life is like a camera. FOCUS on what’s important. CAPTURE the good times. DEVELOP from the negatives. And if things don’t work out, TAKE ANOTHER SHOT.

May God bless our active and retired Armed Forces personnel, first responders, local law enforcement, and firemen. God bless America. God bless the Lone Star Family. God bless Prince Hall Masonry in Texas and abroad. And may God have mercy on us and bless us all.

Humbly submitted,

RDG

Sir Ronald D. Gerac, M.Ed.
Right Eminent Grand Commander
Lone Star Grand Commandery of Texas
Order of the Knights Templar

And in another address to his Commandery, again always in a colorful way:

Templar standard flagTo All Sir Knights and Princesses beholding to the Lone Star Grand Commandery, Order of the Knights Templar, and the Lone Star Grand Guild, Heroines of the Templars Crusade, State of Texas and its Jurisdiction, Prince Hall Affiliated:

Some time ago, you all heard me speak of this thing called a “Masonic Turd.” For those of you reading this and thinking, “What the…?!” In short, it is my own colorful way of describing a Masonic error that has gone uncorrected for a period of time. I know it is not the most prudent term that can be used to label such a situation, but one must admit that it does grab the attention of the listener.

I remember a long time ago, a famous comedian was telling a joke about a neglectful family. I am in no way channeling the joke right now, as I cannot remember the whole thing. Besides, the joke is not the focal point here. The comedian said the family had a dog who would just defecate at will and on cue anywhere in the house. When the dog “dropped one” in the living room, no one in the family bothered to clean it up. The turd just sat there. In fact, it sat there so long that the next generation treated it as a drink coaster. They just started setting their drink on it like it was just a part of the furniture. The sad part is this: to the new generation, it was furniture. This was an error that had gone uncorrected for quite some time.

Anyway…

I reintroduce this topic because it seems like since I first brought this term to light a little over a year ago, I have personally encountered more situations where a Masonic error has gone uncorrected. One case involved a principal officer in an organization whose duty was to give a monthly report on all the sick and shut-in members on the roll and an annual report on all members reported for the calendar year. Not only did this principal officer not perform the prescribed duty, but no other member or officer charged him to do so. Eventually, others did not regard the proper practice of this ever so significant duty. Another case involved a Lodge in one situation and a grand body in another separate situation where neither entity knew how to handle and process a demit certificate. In both cases, they just allowed their respective situations to just “sit” there. The problem is simple, either the teachers are NOT teaching, or the learners are NOT listening.

How will we ever get bigger and better if we don’t improve ourselves in Masonry? I again ask each of you, Sir Knights and Princesses all, to look deeply within your Asylums and Palaces. Examine your processes and methods. Do they fall in concert with your constitution? Are officers well versed in their primary and ancillary duties? Are officers and members asking questions? Are officers “just winging it?”

I challenge all constituent Commanderies and Guilds to identify the top three processes and methods that are in dire need of improvement. Make this new Templar Year the year where those identified areas of need will no longer be a concern for you. Let’s start now and not later with improving the way we operate internally. Let’s improve our systems and processes. Let’s ask questions when we don’t understand. If you do not, you will die on the vine and it will take Miracle Grow to rejuvenate your organization. Don’t be like the “turd” that no one ever wants to clean up. Put on your gloves, grab your cleaning supplies, and let’s get to cleaning up our Masonic errors.

Sir Ronald D. Gerac, M.Ed.
Right Eminent Grand Commander
Lone Star Grand Commandery of Texas
Order of the Knights Templar

Here endeth the Life Lessons of EGC Roanald D. Gerac. Take due notice and govern yourselves accordingly.

A Fraternity Who Helped Found This Nation

BedfordBattleFlagHAPPY JULY 4th – INDEPENDENCE DAY

THE BEDFORD FLAG

From the Bedford Massachusetts website:

A colonial militia flag preserved in the Bedford Free Public Library,
Bedford, Massachusetts

THE BEDFORD FLAG

The Bedford Flag is the oldest complete flag known to exist in the United States.  It is celebrated as the flag carried by the Bedford Minuteman, Nathaniel Page, to the Concord Bridge on April 19, 1775, the beginning of the American Revolution, but it was already an antique on that day.  It was made for a cavalry troop of the Massachusetts Bay militia early in the colonial struggle for the continent that we call “the French and Indian Wars.”

The flag is a piece of crimson silk damask measuring about 27” long by 29” wide.  This small square shape indicates that it was a cavalry flag.  Into the rich red damask is woven a pattern of pomegranates, grapes, and leaves.  The design is painted on both sides of the flag, mainly in silver and gold.  The emblem consists of a mailed arm emerging from clouds and grasping a sword.  Three cannonballs hang in the air.  Encircling the arm is a gold ribbon on which the Latin words “VINCE AUT MORIRE” (Conquer or Die) are painted. On the reverse of the flag, the design is slightly different: the sword extends in front of the ribbon instead of behind; it is held left-handed; and the motto is read from bottom to top instead of top to bottom.

A narrow area would have been folded and stitched to make a sleeve for the pole to go into.  Some of the holes the needle made are still faintly visible.  All but a single thread from the silver fringe that once edged the flag has been lost to history. That one strand was discovered microscopically during the flag’s 1999-2000 conservation at the Textile Conservation Center in Lowell, Mass. Evidence was also found that there may once have been a tassel attached at the hoist side of the flag.

THE ORIGIN OF THE FLAG

Exactly who made the flag and when it was made are not known. Physical and historical evidence point to an origin early in the eighteenth century. The distinctive floral pattern woven into the damask has been dated by textile experts as appropriate to the early 1700s.

When did the Page family first receive the flag? Displayed in the Flag Room in the Bedford Free Public Library is an original commission dating 1737.  It names Minuteman Nathaniel Page’s father John “Cornett of the Troop of horse.”  A cornet was the cavalry officer just below lieutenant whose duty it was to bear the flag.  In fact, Nathaniel’s father, uncle and grandfather are all mentioned within the Bedford and Billerica Town Records as “Cornet Page,” indicating that a Page had been carrying the flag for the local militia troop as early as 1720. It was the custom in the English militia for the colonel of the regiment or the new captain of a unit, not the cornet, to arrange for the flag.  Thus it was not a member of the Page family but an officer of higher rank who designed and procured the flag.

Similarity to sketches of a flag made soon after 1660 for another Massachusetts cavalry, the Three County Troop, has made historians wonder if perhaps the Bedford Flag is indeed that early flag.  However, the emblem, an arm holding aloft a sword, is a common one in European heraldry during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and is certainly not unique to the Bedford Flag. Most tellingly, a spectroscopic analysis of the paint used on the emblem revealed a pigment called “Prussian blue” that did not exist before 1704, so the flag cannot date from before that year.

THE FLAG’S ROLE
DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

The flag was still in the custody of the Page family at the time of the American Revolution, and it is believed in Bedford that Minuteman Nathaniel Page took it with him to the battle at Concord.  Nathaniel told the story to his grandson, Cyrus, and it was written down after his death by the nineteenth century historian, Abram English Brown.  This account says:

“Our people were not surprised when the messenger reached this house…  We had agreed at the last drilling to meet, in case of alarm, at the tavern in the center of the town, kept by Jeremiah Fitch, sergeant of the militia company.  The horseman banged on the house and cried out, ‘Up, Mr. Page, the regulars are out.’  We were not long at our preparations, and were soon at the tavern.”

A. E. Brown continues, “On the arrival of the [Bedford] Company at Concord, they assisted in removing the stores to places of greater safety.  Tradition says that Cornet Nathaniel Page laid down his flag and went to work, and when returning to look for it ‘found the boys had got it and were playing soldiers.’”  He took it up and went to face the British regulars at the North Bridge.

While there is no contemporary account to corroborate this story, Nathaniel Page is listed in the official military rolls of the men who were paid for service in the American forces on April 19th.  The flag is more than old enough to have been there with him on that day. His father, uncle and grandfather had served as cornets in the militia.  Did Nathaniel bear the flag to Concord as he said he did? That is clearly quite possible.

Grand Historian Walter H. Hunt Commemorates The Battle Of Bunker Hill June 17, 1775

Battle of Bunker HillOn June 17, 1775 some 2000+ British troops commanded by General Thomas Gage stormed Breed’s Hill where the rebels were encamped.

Among subsequent charges up the hill that day Dr. Joseph Warren, Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and a Major General was slain.  This was a great loss for the Grand Lodge, for Massachusetts and for the Patriots who sought separation from British rule.

Today, Tuesday, June 17, 2014 a commemorative gathering took place at the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown, Massachusetts and the keynote speaker was RW Walter H. Hunt, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts AF & AM.

You might remember an article on the Beehive not too long ago about Brother Hunt:

Walter Hunt, Freemason’s Information Age Pioneer

Today we have his speech in its entirety on video. May it become a historical landmark that future generations may look back upon.

Bunker_hill_2009

Arkansas Prince Hall Grand Master Cleveland Wilson Takes The High Road

We don’t get harmony when everybody sings the same note. Only notes that are different can harmonize. The same is true with people.
Steve Goodier

Life’s like the piano and the violin, it’s about how smart you could play the melodies to make a good harmony.
Lucy ‘Aisy

Grand Master Cleveland Wilson

Grand Master Cleveland Wilson

The lessons of life often come hard. It takes years and a lot of hurt sometimes to “get it.” And it takes a giant of a human being to “let go.”

Such a man is Arkansas Prince Hall Grand Master Cleveland Wilson.

I know. I have talked with him face to face many times.

The easy way out is to wag your finger, to wall yourself up in your own little world, to bunker down and say the hell with everybody else. But that’s not the way of Freemasonry.

Freemasonry is universal and a light unto the world. Even when there is contention where no contention should exist, Freemasonry can heal the darker side of man if you will just listen to its message.

Grand Master Cleveland Wilson is listening. He knows the true meaning of Freemasonry. And so he is going to take the high road and to be out front as a healer and practitioner of peace.

That’s why Grand Master Wilson has issued a proclamation that the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Arkansas will recognize all and every legitimate Bodies of Free and Accepted Masons who recognize Prince Hall wheresoever dispersed across the face of the globe. Whether that Body recognizes the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Arkansas or not, it doesn’t matter.

42 states now recognize Prince Hall. Very few  of them recognize Prince Hall Arkansas. Now Prince Hall Arkansas recognizes them all.

Here is the way I see the thinking of Grand Master Wilson.

We’re going to love you whether or not you love us back. It’s the 21st century. We are moving on. We are not going to be about conflict, contention or competition with anybody. We’re into what Freemasonry is all about – peace and harmony.

Now that’s a man who “gets it,” who has “let go.”  That’s a great Mason who is taking the high road.

The text of note, at the end of the document, saying:

BE IT RESOLVED, that it shall be the policy of the M.W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Arkansas to recognize and offer to enter into fraternal relations with any all Grand Lodges which (1) hold a seat in the Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America, Inc. and (2) have entered into an agreement, treaty, or compact or recognition with the M.W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge who is a member of the Conference of Grand Masters of Prince Hall Masons, Inc. in their respective state, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that policy shall be made effective 22, February 2014.

Arkansas Prince Hall Recognition page 1

 Arkansas Prince Hall Recognition page 2

Arkansas Prince Hall Recognition page 3Arkansas Prince Hall Recognition page 4

 You can view the original Prince Hall of Arkansas Recognition Letter here.

What Makes A Leader

R. Lucille Samuel

R. Lucille Samuel

Some people attain the level of leadership just because they have been around a long time. Some people get to be “head honcho” because they are everybody’s friend and nobody’s enemy. Still others have risen to the top through wheeling and dealing and doing favors expecting favors in return.

Such leaders, after attaining power, rarely ruffle any feathers. They go along to get along. They do things the way they have always been done. They refuse to push people to greater heights or hold anybody accountable for anything. They revel in their honors but do little to further their organization.

None of this describes R. Lucille Samuel, Grand Princess Captain Lone Star Grand Guild of Texas PHA.  Samuel is far from a “Do Nothing” leader.  Rather she is the type that might say, “Let the chips fall where they may but we are moving forward embracing change.”

You will understand where she is coming from and what type of a leader that she is when you read her recent address to the Grand Guild, delivered at her Grand Session and in conjunction with the Grand Sessions of all the York Rite Bodies of The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge Of Texas.

Read the words of a true leader:

 

2013 has been an awesome year for the Grand Guild.  We have had very successful Regional Trainings and our membership continues to excel.

So where do we go from HERE?

Job 5:2

For wrath killeth the foolish man and envy slayeth the silly one.

We need to change our organizational outlook.  We have no peripheral vision.  Most of us can only see straight forward and any type of change is out of the question.  You cannot be afraid of failure.  Your success is not measured by the number of times you fall but upon the way you handle recovery. It is not how high you climb but how you got there.  You must have the courage to take risks.

You cannot lead where you don’t go and you can’t teach what you don’t know.  The key to being a successful leader is earning respect not because of your Title or position.  People who work together will ALWAYS WIN! 

You cannot lead an organization if you are afraid of change or what other people will think.  You have to realize that people will always talk especially those that envy you.  Unfortunately we don’t like to see others succeed.  Instead of giving encouraging words of advice or wisdom we would rather watch others fail.  You do realize that when the Leader fails so does the organization.  A lot of times you will hear the phrase well THEY said.  My interpretation of that is as follows.

The letters in THEY stand for: –  T for Tongue which is a very sharp weapon used against others.  H stands for Hateful things that people will do to see you Fail.  E stands for ENVY of those that feel you are a threat to them.  They aren’t happy so they feel that no one else should be happy.  Y stands for YOU because THEY never said anything YOU did.

We cannot continue to use the same strategies that our Ancestors used.  It may have worked great for them in their time but times have definitely changed, The phrase,  “Well that is how we have always done it,” has to GO!  If we wish to attract members into our organizations that are talented and well educated a Change must come.  You cannot run a well oiled machine on tap water. There is no reason we should not have the largest membership Rolls in the world.  What makes any other organization better than the Prince Hall Masonic Family?

I was told a successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others have thrown at him. Well we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings because they have been in the Order since the Last Supper. Their wisdom is always welcome.  But we cannot continue to tip toe around others feelings.  The ship needs to sail and those who can’t swim need to stay on the shore.

We are also afraid to share knowledge with others in fear of them replacing us.  Knowledge is power and should not be used as a weapon.  A great leader surrounds themselves with people that have talents and ideas which make the organization shine.  It is a very selfish person that allows their personal gain to deter progress.  Remember that not all people in charge are leaders.  Sometimes it is by virtue of them being in the right place at the right time or there was no one else at the time available.

So what do we do to change that?  Stop nominating your friends instead of the qualified person.  Stop trying to run the Organization alone.  We know you want all the credit and glory.  Share your knowledge and information to all.  Tomorrow is promised to no one.  There should never be a time when one person steps out of a position and someone else cannot step in.  When your organization is losing more members than receiving new members that is a sign.  When your Annual Conference Registration continues to decline Houston we have serious problem!

We need to make a change.  This is a volunteer organization and people will not continue to spend money on Registration and travel to attend meetings that continue to hold the same old programs.  When you have Officers that do absolutely nothing during the Year and you continue to keep them in office people will not support you.  It is so petty of you to threaten people or hold grudges against them just because they run for office against you.  You are not doing anything so get out of the way!  There is no motivation.  When your Annual Session minutes state the same business every year and the only thing that changes is the DATE you are in trouble.

If we do not make a change the Prince Hall Family will dissipate into thin air.  All of the hard work our Trail Blazers accomplished will be in vain.

We have to take charge now and work TOGETHER.  Working against each other we will not survive.  We have to have the Wisdom to know that Music means nothing if the audience is DEAF!  We cannot go back and change the past but we can start today by making a new beginning and become the WINNING TEAM!

Holding grudges against someone for something that happened years ago will not solve anything either.  Most of you don’t even remember why you are angry anyway.  We are not here to become a Social Club but to conduct the business of this Great Order.

People may forget what you said to them but they will never forget how you treated them.

Remember the pessimist sees the difficulty in every situation and the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.    Be an Optimist!

Proverbs 14:33
Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding; but that which is in the midst of fools is made known.

We will never have peace if we never let go of wanting to change the past and controlling the future.  You will never be successful if you have to always ask “What’s In It For Me”?

In closing I ask that we all remember “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results and not attributes.   

I will continue to lead BY THE CROSS,

R. Lucille Samuel
Grand Princess Captain
Lone Star Grand Guild of Texas PHA
Heroines of the Templars Crusade
International Grand Senior Shepherdess
International Grand Deputy of Texas
International Grand Court of Cyrene Crusaders
“BRING ONE TEACH TWO”

Fred Milliken,Freemason Information,The Beehive

What is Freemasonry? A Response to Tim Bryce & Greg Stewart

SquareandCompassesEmbroideredGraphic1

As the third writer on Freemason Information I’ll jump in with both feet and take a stab at this question. Both Tim & Greg have attempted to define Freemasonry as an intellectual enterprise of definition devoid of the feelings of individual Freemasons. And it is precisely those feelings that help define the Craft. Sometimes what counts is not reality but perception. One needs to get a sense of what motivates a person to join Freemasonry. Those reasons shed a lot of light on how Freemasonry is perceived, and how it is perceived is really what it is to flesh and bone human beings. The Craft then becomes not what one wants it to be but what it really is to its practitioners.

That is not to take to task my fellow writers for I do not disagree with their conclusions. I come not to bury Caesar but to praise him, which is a little twist on a famous quote. I just don’t think they take their cases far enough. Stewart tells us:

“As a fraternity, Tim’s conclusion is that while not a club, philanthropy, religion or political action committee, Freemasonry is a place where, and I’m paraphrasing here, moral men meet on common ground to act rightly to one another.  He concludes saying that men gathered like this for no more reason than to associate so.”

“While I can’t find a disagreement on that conclusion, one has to ask gather to for what end?”  

That’s a good question I will ask again and answer later. I don’t think Stewart ever really answered it. But first I would point out, as I have done many times before, that Freemasons are on different levels of Masonic development and practice. What one Freemason sees in the Craft another does not. What one man practices in Freemasonry another shuns. Some see Freemasonry as a philosophical society, some as a social organization, some as just a means to networking, some as a claim to prestige, some as a way of life and some as a bonding of like thinking human beings. I think what Stewart was saying is that they are all right.

What we perceive is shaped greatly by our personal experiences, our environment. I have had the pleasure to experience Prince Hall Freemasonry, unlike Bryce and Stewart who have not. And in that experience I have had the joy of some very tight bonding. Brothers in Prince Hall hug or embrace each other, always and often. There is a real concern for a Brother’s well being. We not only pray for a Brother in distress or mourning but we do the same for our sisters in OES and HOJ. We will not hesitate to provide direct aid. We tend to work together on projects outside of Freemasonry. There is one big word to describe this experience – FAMILY. In Prince Hall we are all family.

Now I am by no means putting down Mainstream Freemasonry in this regard. I am sure there is the same concern there. But to me and for me its “stiff upper lip” standoffness is a sharp contrast in demonstration of that concern.

I am at once reminded of the words of H.L. Haywood:

 “Freemasonry does not exist in a world where brotherhood is a mere dream flying along the sky; it exists in a world of which brotherhood is the law of human life. Its function is not to bring brotherhood into existence just as a hot-house gardener may at last coax into bloom a frail flower, though the climate is most unfriendly, but to lead men to understand that brotherhood is already a reality, a law, and that it is not until we come to know it as such, and practice it, that we can ever find happiness, together. Freemasonry does not create something too fine and good for this rough world; it “reveals” something that is as much a part of the world as roughness itself. In other words, it removes the hoodwink of jealousy, hatred, unkindness, and all the other myriad forms of unbrotherliness in order that a man may see and thus come to know how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. The hoodwink of cloth or leather that is bound over a man’s eyes is not the real hoodwink at all, but only the symbol thereof; the real hoodwink, and it is that which Freemasonry undertakes to remove from a man’s eyes, is all that anti-social and unhuman spirit out of which grow the things that make life unkind and unhappy. “Brotherhood is heaven; the lack of brotherhood is hell.”

So Freemasonry is a brotherhood with camaraderie. OK, but what difference does it make what it is, isn’t it really all about what it does, especially for the individual Freemason? So what does Freemasonry provide to its members?

My answer is that it provides Community. Everybody needs Community, from the gangbanger to the single mother with 3 children to the Freemason. It is an inherent need of all humankind, the social animals that we are.  If you have read Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled, Timeless Edition: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth you know what I am talking about. In case you haven’t Peck has a brief explanation of Community for us.

  • Inclusivity, commitment and consensus: Members accept and embrace each other, celebrating their individuality and transcending their differences. They commit themselves to the effort and the people involved. They make decisions and reconcile their differences through consensus.
  • Realism: Members bring together multiple perspectives to better understand the whole context of the situation. Decisions are more well-rounded and humble, rather than one-sided and arrogant.
  • Contemplation: Members examine themselves. They are individually and collectively self-aware of the world outside themselves, the world inside themselves, and the relationship between the two.
  • A safe place: Members allow others to share their vulnerability, heal themselves, and express who they truly are.
  • A laboratory for personal disarmament: Members experientially discover the rules for peacemaking and embrace its virtues. They feel and express compassion and respect for each other as fellow human beings.
  • A group that can fight gracefully: Members resolve conflicts with wisdom and grace. They listen and understand, respect each others’ gifts, accept each others’ limitations, celebrate their differences, bind each others’ wounds, and commit to a struggle together rather than against each other.
  • A group of all leaders: Members harness the “flow of leadership” to make decisions and set a course of action. It is the spirit of community itself that leads and not any single individual.

I think Bryce & Stewart are trying to make the symptoms the disease.

So if Freemasonry is Community we are back to Stewart’s question we promised to answer, for what purpose? First of all to be  Community. That’s enough of an explanation in itself. But to personalize it more to Freemasonry, to be a very special Community of morality and purpose with a message, to practice all of the above – all that has been written in all 3 articles on this subject.


What do you think? Leave your thoughts on what Freemasonry is in the comments below.

Also Read A Response to Tim Bryce’s What is Freemasonry?  and A Response to Tim Bryce & Greg Stewart

Walter Hunt, Freemason’s Information Age Pioneer

Interesting people do interesting things and some of the most interesting to me are Masonic artisans or craftsmen. The cream of the crop are those who are multi talented having expertise across a number of fields. When I wrote about Patrick Craddock I noted:

Successful people are multi- talented and multi-faceted people. If you take a look at Brothers David Naughton-Shires and Ryan Flynn you will notice that they have interests and expertise in a wide range of different areas. What they do in one field is buttressed by what they know in another. When you combine a working knowledge of mathematics, science, history and religion with such sub headings of scholarship perhaps such as numerology, sacred geometry, historical preservation, symbology, ancient mystery schools, Gnosticism, computer science and other such studies, you become a well rounded person able to pull from other areas for your vision.

Here are some of these multi talented Freemason artisans and craftsmen who have graced the pages of Freemason Information and Phoenixmasonry.

Shot From The Cannon – David Naughton-Shires And The Masonic Art Exchange

Patrick Craddock And The Craftsman’s Apron

The Multi Talented Masonic Graphic Artist Brother Ryan J. Flynn

Brother Jim McBeth, Masonic Knife Craftsman

Walter Hunt 1Now it is time to add another multi talented Masonic artisan to the group, Right Worshipful Brother Walter Hunt, Grand Historian for the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts AF & AM.  Hunt is a most remarkable man who has been a writer all his life and a full time professional since 2001. He is the author of four science fiction novels by Tor Books – The Dark Wing series, which has been compared to the works of, Orson Scott Card, Frank Herbert, David Weber, and J.R.R. Tolkien. The series has been published in English and German and The Dark Wing has also appeared in Russian.

 

Since these works he has written “A Song In Stone,” which deals with the mystery of Rosslyn Chapel and the secrets of the Templars.

Hunt writes of his inspiration for A Song In Stone:

Walter Hunt 6“In the summer of 2005, I had the opportunity to visit Rosslyn Chapel, an extraordinary site just seven miles from Edinburgh. The final scenes in the best-selling novel The DaVinci Code take place there; it’s said to be the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the Grail, among other things. It also has Masonic and Knight Templar connections. My tour guide that day was a fellow Mason, who was very knowledgeable about the place – both the traditional lore and the somewhat more esoteric stories. While I was standing with him in the northeast corner of the chapel – highly significant, that, as my fellow Masons will attest – he and I had a conversation similar to the one below.”

 “Look up there,” he said, pointing to the ceilings. I could see the pendant bosses hanging down from the place where four arched supports met; each arch was decorated with hundreds of boxlike projections and an assortment of carvings and decorations – animal and human figures, angels and devils, nature emblems and Green men.

“Extraordinary,” I managed.

“Unlike anything else,” he said. “There are countless numbers of places of worship, holy places, all across Europe and the world. But this is different, Ian. This is not merely a work of art: it’s a text written in stone. More than that – it’s a song.”

“I don’t quite get your meaning. A song?”

“Take a look around the arches. There are seven slightly different shapes for those boxes. There are seven notes in the scale. In fact, if you’ve a good ear, you could strike each of them and hear a slightly different sound.

“Now imagine if all of them – there are more than fourteen hundred – were arranged as music . . . It’s the healing music of Rosslyn,” Madson said softly, looking away from me as if he were trying to remember something.

“I don’t think that was in my briefing.”

“No, it wouldn’t be,” he said. “But if it could be found . . .” “What happens then?”

“It heals the world.”

. . . And, as sometimes happens in my line of work, I had a moment of inspiration. A song, I thought. A whole plot dropped into my head; what if that song was truly the key to healing the world – what if it unlocked something of great importance? People have been trying to unlock the music for centuries; someone claims he’s actually done it, though my guide suggests that this falls short of the true “healing music”. But if the music was more complex, there might be an even more complex reason for it to have been encoded in the stones of the Chapel. From such small things are great things born. By the time I headed for home a week and a half later, I’d sketched out a plot for a new novel; by Labor Day there were five chapters. Within a year, there was an entire book. It was the first book I’ve written that isn’t part of the Dark Wing universe. The quoted portion above is from that book.

He goes on to describe Rosslyn Chapel:

The Apprentice Pillar

The Apprentice Pillar, which is said to be tied to Freemasonic legend. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Even the dimensions have meaning. As I began to plan out the plot of A Song In Stone, I became more and more aware of the strange field of sacred geometry – the way in which medieval builders created remarkable structures without resorting to advanced mathematics, computer-aided design, or any other modern convenience. There is a great confluence between the Gothic architectural style and the mathematics of music. It shows at Rosslyn, at the great cathedrals such as Chartres (explored later in the book, and to be described in a later post) . . . and at Rosslyn as well. Rosslyn is rightly called a “mystery chapel” – and it deserves better than to be an anticlimactic footnote. From the Lady Chapel to the decorated ceiling, from the pillars to the sacristy, Rosslyn is full of little mysteries waiting to be discovered.

Walter Hunt 7Lately Hunt has a few more irons in the fire. He is writing a sequel to A Song In Stone titled A Word In The Air. He is also working on another novel titled King & Country. “It’s an alternate-history timeline” he says, “an America with no United States; the American Revolution never happened. In fact, there is no hint of a revolution: the Atlantic colonies never consider the possibility of separation, because their relationship with the mother country is on a fundamentally different footing.”

Now so as you get the picture that is a very serious author who does not just dash off a bunch of words and slap them into a book, here is his reading list for research for this undertaking:

The Earlier Colonial Period

  • Andrews, Charles MThe Colonial Period of American History. This work is the definitive text on the colonial period. It is in four volumes, though Volume 1 and Volume 2 are the most important, as they provide the most complete descriptions on the origins of the British colonies (including offshore and Caribbean ones).
  • Bourne, RussellGods of War, Gods of Peace. An excellent insight into the religions of native societies as they came into contact with European ones.
  • Cordingly, DavidUnder the Black Flag. A real-life history of piracy, with considerable information on the lives of the most notorious pirates.
  • Fischer, David HackettAlbion’s Seed. An excellent study of the cultural origins of English-speaking colonies in America. While not as historically in-depth as the Andrews book for facts and details, it’s an easier and more fluid read. 0195069056
  • Jones, Daniel PThe Economic and Social Transformation of Rural Rhode Island. A dry discussion of early Rhode Island economics, particularly informative for the period just after King Philip’s War. 1555531210
  • Mandell, Daniel. Behind the Frontier. A study of the role of native peoples in Massachusetts Bay Colony during the eighteenth century. This is a good companion piece to the excellent Taylor book on New York natives (see below). 0803282494
  • McCormick, Richard PNew Jersey From Colony To State. A Rutgers University study of the transformation of the Jersey shore settlements up to the creation of the United States. (New Jersey’s development is less linear and more complex than other colonies, so this is a very useful book.) 081350662X
  • Mason, LauraSugar-Plums and Sherbet. Subtitled “The Prehistory of Sweets”, this book is an insightful discussion of the development of sugar and sugar products. 1903018285
  • Peckham, Howard HThe Colonial Wars: 1689-1762. Detailed discussion of the “forgotten wars” in America (not forgotten here, needless to say!) prior to the French and Indian War. 0226653145
  • Salinger, Sharon VTaverns and Drinking in Early America. A well-researched book about the culture of taverns and the social mores of drunkenness in colonial America. 0801878993
  • Singleton, Esther. Social New York Under the Georges. A wonderful source of information on New York life – furnishings, etc. – with pictures. Great stuff. 1406770493
  • Taylor, AlanAmerican Colonies. One of the best all-around books about colonial development in America. I had a conversation with a reenactor at Jamestown in the summer of 2007 who had some issues with Taylor’s conclusions, but the book is comprehensive and detailed. 0142002100
  • Vaughn, Alden PThe New England Frontier. A detailed discussion of relations with natives in New England during the seventeenth century (before King Philip’s War). 080612718X
  • Warden, G.BBoston 1689-1776. The 19th of April was famous in New England long before the Revolution – it was the day that Bostonians took Sir Edmund Andros prisoner in Fort William. This very informative book begins with that event and takes the reader all the way through the coming of the American Revolution. B000NOYL1M
  • Zemsky, RobertMerchants, Farmers and River Gods. Zemsky’s book is a study of leading citizens in Massachusetts Bay Colony prior to the Revolution. This B000KLXLY6

Eighteenth-Century Britain

  • Buchan. Crowded With Genius.
  • McLynn. Bonnie Prince Charlie.
  • Preble. Glencoe.
  • Preble. The Highland Clearances.
  • Schama, Simon. A History of Britain (3 vols, DVD)
  • Treasure. Who’s Who In Early Hanoverian Britain.
  • Treasure. Who’s Who In Late Hanoverian Britain.

French and Indian War

  • Anderson, Paul Crucible of War
  • Harvey A Few Bloody Noses
  • Jennings. Empire of Fortune
  • Parry Trade and Dominion

American Revolution Era

  • Allgor Parlor Politics
  • Middlekauff. The Glorious Cause
  • Middlekauff. Benjamin Franklin and His Enemies
  • Schecter. The Battle for New York

Early 19th Century

  • Key, Jane Holtz. Lost Boston. A photographic essay on the city of Boston, 1558495274

Middle 19th Century

Land and Sea Warfare

  • Black, Jeremy Warfare in the Eighteenth Century
  • Herman To Rule the Waves
  • Lavery, Ship of the Line (2 vols)

Hunt says this bibliography is a bit out of date as he has added to it. My goodness, that is a lot of reading to do for one book!                     Elements

But before he completes this epic work he is going to publish a 1632 novel with the help of Eric Flint. It is set in 1636, and takes place mostly in the New World.

Hunt has still another work in progress, this one almost complete. The Book is title “Elements of Mind,”  a novel that is set around 1860, and deals with mesmerism – a sort of pseudoscience that swept England in the middle 19th century. The principal characters are almost exclusively real people, though in many cases their histories have been altered or elaborated to fit the story.

Hunt doesn’t just limit himself to writing, however. He is also the designer of a board game called Rails of New England.

Rails of New England

 Rails of New England 3If this is all Hunt did it would be quite an accomplishment. Yet this man is also an active Freemason. Grand Historian,Right Worshipful Walter Hunt is a member of Norumbega Fraternity Lodge, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts AF & AM, which was originally  a merger of  Norumbega and Brookline Lodges, 03/12/1984, where Hunt was Master in 1993-1994 and then that merger merged with Fraternity & Fuller Lodge to form Norumbega Fraternity Lodge,10/05/2001. Hunt is also Past Master of Mount Hollis Lodge of the same jurisdiction where he served as Master in 1999 and 2006.

Hunt writes for the Trowel, the magazine of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts AF & AM. He has an ongoing series right now of in depth looks at Massachusetts Past Grand Masters you have never heard of. When the editorship of the Trowel became available recently Hunt was one of two semi finalists for the position.

Here is a list of articles that he has authored for the Trowel:

  • Summer 2009: “A Grand Historian For Our Grand Lodge.”
  • Winter 2009: “Masonic Team-Building.”
  • Spring 2010: “Our Grand Master Visits Our Brothers in Panama.”
  • Fall 2010: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: John Cutler and Samuel Dunn.”
  • Winter 2010: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Isaiah Thomas, Benjamin Russell – Printers, Patriots, Freemasons.”
  • Spring 2011: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Joseph Jenkins, John Abbot – The Builder of the Temple and the Defender of the Craft.”
  • Summer 2011: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Joshua B. Flint.”
  • Winter 2011: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Paul Dean – Careful Steward.”
  • Spring 2012: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: George Randall – Apostle in the Wilderness.”
  • Summer 2012: “Browsing the Proceedings of Grand Lodge.”
  • Fall 2012: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: John T. Heard.”
  • Winter 2012: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Augustus Peabody – A Profound Thinker and Good Man”
  • Spring 2013: “Grand Marshal to Grand Master.”
  • Summer 2013: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Charles C. Dame – The Fraternity Rebuilds.”
  • Fall 2013: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: William Sewall Gardner – Holding the Scales in Equipoise.”
  • Winter 2013: “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Sereno Dwight Nickerson – ‘Si Monumentum Requiris, Circumspice.’ “
  • Spring 2014: (pending): “Grand Masters of Massachusetts: Claude LeRoy Allen – A Different Time.”

But his crowning Masonic achievement, the pièce de résistance , is his website  Masonic Genealogy.

MasonicGenealogy is intended for use as a research tool for Masonic historians. It is the synthesis of readily-available sources presented in the form of a wiki, a searchable database consisting of pages connected by links. The content is constantly evolving and enlarging, and all material on the site is subject to change as new material becomes available.

Here is how this project came about in Hunt’s own words:

“The primary author was at the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts at one of its Quarterly Communications in the fall of 2009, and met three Brothers from Rufus Putnam Lodge in Rutland, Massachusetts. These Brothers were interested in finding out information about their Lodge’s history.”

“Their initial inquiry ran up against one of the greatest problems with our otherwise-terrific Grand Lodge Library and its extensive records, the Proceedings which chronicle the doings of our Grand Lodge from 1733 to the present: there is no comprehensive index. There are indexes in some of the more than 140 volumes of the Proceedings (though not all), and there is a card catalog (incomplete) composed around 1951 that covers some (but not all) of the topics – people, places, lodges, events – from our long history. But there is no overall, up-to-date index.”

“And so began the quixotic notion of creating an index – by, as another of Masonic Genealogy’s principals says, “turning every page.” Thus, over a series of months, every page of the Proceedings from 1792 to the present has been turned (the work is ongoing). The site now contains pages for every lodge ever chartered, and virtually every lodge for which a dispensation was ever issued, in Massachusetts. Similar data sets exist for other states. There is a page for every year of the Grand Lodge’s history (the work is ongoing), listing all of the events of that year, in some cases illustrated by pictures from the Proceedings and elsewhere. Other topic pages are being developed; see the Current events page to see what exists and what’s new.”

It is real genius placing a cataloging system into a wiki. Hunt explains some of the benefits:

  • By referencing a Year page, the user can readily see the events of that year, including the Grand Master, the dates and events of Quarterly Communications, elections and decisions, and necrology information from that year. Each year also includes a summary of all lodges in existence during that year, both chartered and under dispensation.
  • By referencing a Location page, the user can see a list of all lodges that met in that place, along with the years they met there. It is intended eventually to list the building locations and information about those buildings, but that is not yet in place.
  • By referencing a Lodge page, the user can see information about the lodge of that name, along with a list of years the lodge was active; where the date appears in bold, there is a reference for that lodge in the corresponding year. Each lodge page also includes the charter and dispensation date, the Grand Master issuing the charter, the places it met, and the current disposition of its charter, if known.

From a layman’s point of view the wiki format has obvious advantages. It is on a database not web pages.  It doesn’t exist until you click on it. There is no realistic limit to how much data you can enter. It’s easy to set up and has the ability to rapidly locate things. It is very fast!

And the links, did I mention the links? You can put links on a page which link to another page which has numerous links to other pages which when you link onto them have still more links. And this goes on forever and can bring you back to where you started. It’s like one big circle. Hunt says, “Think of a wiki as a roll top desk with pigeon holes.”

Some of the other advantages are that a wiki has an edit link for every page. It writes the html for you. Most wikis store old copies of pages and often will show you what changes you have made on those pages.

Nathan Matias at Sitepoint – has some further wiki advantages to mention.

  • Creating New Pages Is Simple With Wikis: Wikis let you link to pages that don’t yet exist. Click on a link that points to a nonexistent page, and the wiki will ask you for initial content to put in the page. If you submit some initial content, the wiki will create the page. All links to that page (not just the one you clicked) will now point to the newly-created page.
  • Wikis Simplify Site Organization: As wikis work like hypertext databases, you can organize your page however you want. Many content management systems require you to plan classifications for your content before you actually create it. This can be helpful, but only if what you want to convey fits a rigid mould. With a wiki, you can organize your page into categories if you want, but you can also try other things. Instead of designing the site structure, many wiki site creators just let the structure grow with the content and the links inside their content. But you don’t have to have it either way. I do all three on my own site. Visitors can navigate the site by following a storyline, drilling down through a hierarchy, or they can just browse with the natural flow of the internal links. Without the wiki, such complexity would be a nightmare. Now that I use a wiki, I also find my site structure easier to manage than when I used a template system and a set of categories.
  • Wikis Keep Track of All Your Stuff: Because a wiki stores everything in an internal hypertext database, it knows about all your links and all your pages. So it’s easy for the wiki to show back links, a list of all the pages that linking to the current page. Since the wiki stores your document history, it can also list recent changes. Advanced wikis like the Wikipedia can even show a list of recent changes to pages that link to the current page.

Hunt tells us again, “A wiki grows organically. Take things in any order, in any time. Look at any page and see its history.”

Some come with me now to explore Masonic Genealogy. Under regional sections on the right click on Massachusetts. Click on Lodges and we will look up one of my former Lodges. Go to the P’s and click on Paul Revere.  Now under Anniversaries or Visits by Grand Master, take your pick, click on 2006- 150th anniversary. Now we find ourselves on the Jeffrey Hodgdon Grand Master page for 2006. Scroll down the page to Special Communications and find 10/14 2006 Brockton. Click on Brockton and then Paul Revere and we are back where we started.

Now this is a very simple route that we took. But you might have noticed along the way all the options you had to go elsewhere and make a bigger circle or a longer route. The cross referencing in this wiki presents you with the best cross referencing you have ever seen and you can use it without getting lost.

Lately Hunt is working on expanding and explaining all the annotations in the pages of the Grand Constitution.

The bottom line is that this is a tremendous tool for research and getting to know your Grand Lodge. It is the new Grand Lodge Search Engine!

Walter Hunt, a historian, writer, author, science fiction buff, board game aficionado and Freemason is making his mark on society and Freemasonry. His Masonic Genealogy will be a model for every Lodge in the United States if not the world and will bring Grand Lodges fully into the 21st century Information Age with both feet.