QSA Members Forum
For Masonic Research
Article Of Interest
What Freemasonry is not?
This question — What is Freemasonry? — has been, I am sure, in every Mason's mind before, — and in yours. Perhaps when you decided to join the fraternity; or when your friend asked you about it; or when, disappointed by the shallow activities of your lodges, you questioned yourself about the utility of sacrificing your precious time to attend lodge; or every time an experienced brother attested with solemnity:
"And this is what Masonry is all about!"
Let me caution you, brethren: every time you hear someone saying, "And this is what Masonry is all about!" be alert! This someone is trying to take something from you: either your money, or your time, or your blood, or your admiration and herd-like applause, or your support in his endeavors to get elected to high office, or he is saying that in complete ignorance and just because it sounds good and smart as a slogan, or often enough because he has nothing better to say. So then — in order not to fall into that trap, I will not tell you "What Masonry is all about," but instead — WHAT MASONRY IS NOT ALL ABOUT. *
Take Swarming, for example: that practice of hopping from lodge to lodge on the coattails of the District Deputy Grand Master on his official visits — of late considered the epitome of Masonry (I am not kidding you) — ask everyone of repute in our jurisdiction today, what Masonry is all about, and the first thing that comes to their mind is VISITATIONS. This idea has been drilled into their heads by uninterrupted years of advertising by those ignorant of a better definition; they talk about it enthusiastically; they write about it in their lodge summons, praising their successes in winning the traveling gavel; and they call it "supporting the lodge" they visit, or "supporting the DDGM."
Now, you must know that the DDGM visits the lodges in his district once a year in order to ascertain that each lodge is working according to the constitution of Grand Lodge, that its finances and record-keeping are according to rule, and to gather information. He then reports his findings to the Grand Lodge for statistical or disciplinary purposes; which findings are then handed over to the G. Lodge Long Range Committee, where, due to the vast amount of (often inscrutable) information received, is put it in a drawer, and all is forgotten. Anyhow, this is his job; he wanted this job, he fought for this job — what "support" does he need to do his job? Does he need a swarm of brethren to inspect the regularity of the lodge he is visiting, or to inspect its books? Let's face it: this myth of equating Visitations with "What Masonry Is All About" has been bred in our Jurisdiction to make the DDGM look good, important, bigger than life, a papal image of the almighty himself — the Grand Master. It is all an exercise in superficiality and appearance, that is: fluff and make-believe, an illusion and, as such, a falsity, which has nothing to do with the fundamental principles and tenets of Freemasonry, among which one can justly list "the Privilege of Visitation." But even this privilege has been corrupted into a "right" and an "entitlement." By buying membership into a lodge in our Jurisdiction today, one thinks he has the Masonic right to the table of all Masonic lodges in the world — free of charge!
This is how it is done: uninvited, a swarm of brethren show up for dinner and — as it is mostly the case — without introducing themselves to the host, or invited by the host to partake in the food and refreshments, take their seats and help themselves to the bounty.
Now: If I want to visit my brother (who is a good cook), and I want to have a good meal, for a change, I call him up a few days in advance expressing my desire, confident he will invite me to share his bread with me. - - - I would say to him: Hi brother! I know you are having aunt Nelly for supper this Monday [by the way: aunt Nelly holds my brother's Charter — I mean, mortgage, and she is there to ascertain that his finances and up-keeping of the property are satisfactory], may I come, I would ask him, at about 7:30, when aunt Nelly goes over your books and inspects the soundness of your household, so I can learn about accountability and up-keeping? I don't know about your brother, brethren, but if he is anything like mine, I know he will say: "certainly, Vince, better still: come at 6:30 and join us for supper — I am making lasagna al forno with rinvoltini e bocconcini di capra — your favorites." …
"… humbly soliciting to be admitted to the mysteries and privileges …"
For a just and upright man — the words just and upright also suggesting "good-mannered" — to wish to become part of an Elite (more about Elites in a moment) is commendable. But let us look closer at the word privilege. In Masonry, a privilege is a special advantage, a preference or courtesy enjoyed by a Mason under certain circumstances where status or affiliations warrant such preference or courtesy. Let's say a Mason finds himself in a foreign land or city and is in need of assistance, or just wishing to spend some time in fellowship, or just wishing to learn the local customs. All he needs to do is to find a local Masonic lodge, contact its Master or Secretary, and express his desire to visit that lodge, or, in more serious cases, expresses his need for assistance. Depending on local customs, circumstances, and on the directives of the local Grand Jurisdiction, that Master may, or may not, grant him his wish to visit although, in cases of distress, the local Masons may overlook the "directives" and gladly jump to his assistance. In our lodge we have had in the past several examples of this procedure, admitting visiting brethren hailing from several countries and a variety of Jurisdictions. But, in all cases, the visitor came furnished with a letter of credentials issued by his own Grand Jurisdiction. And when we visited for the first time the Cuban lodges with which we now hold more formal fraternal relations, that was made possible through the proper correspondence between our respective Grand Lodges. This procedure is more strictly observed when visiting lodges in Rumania or Israel, just to name a few, and based on the experience of one of our own members — who, no matter what, didn't get past the door of the lodge … notwithstanding the well-intending but short in accuracy treatise lately presented in the 29th issue of Protocol & Etiquette Essentials prepared by our Grand Lodge P.&E. Committee. To conclude, swarming a lodge uninvited and unannounced, to support the image and ego of the DDGM, or "to support the visited lodge" (I don't see how this swarming can be equated to "supporting" a lodge, financially at least …) or to win the traveling gavel — IS NOT what Masonry is all about — it is not an Entitlement, it is not a Right — and it is certainly NOT good manners.
Next to VISITATIONS, when you ask the Experts what Masonry is all about, and even if you don't ask, they will tell you, a long list of activities might be given with pride nowadays: Social dexterity and elegance, line-dancing, superficiality and appearance, donating blood, whatever charity one may fancy that day, playing games, aimless wandering, and whatever else the fertile mind of your Experts and the Masonic herd hold for valuable these days.
Let's take Social Dexterity — otherwise known as "Protocol and Etiquette." In our present state of mental aridity — that is to say, our intellect and collective Masonic mind has today the fertility of a desert land — that mental aridity has brought to the fore and to epitome status a continuous flow of instructions on how to do things, how to move in lodge, how to look good and smart — an ad nauseam endless sequel of publications, now in its 29th issue, claiming to be, and I quote: "designed to help you make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge." — as if not doing things according to these instructions the magic is broken, Masonry is not Masonry; as if good taste and sincerity were not good or Masonic enough! Brethren, all this is foolishness; it has nothing to do with advancing in Masonic knowledge; the authors, in the profundity of their ignorance and the (lack of) depth in their thought, do not have the slightest ideas what Masonic knowledge is, or how to advance in it; they confuse the form for the Substance, the envelope for the Message, the chaff for the Wheat — assuming they ever knew what the substance and the message were; and all of this under the stamp of approval of our Grand Lodge! Brethren, all this is superficiality and appearance, fluff and make-believe — this IS NOT what Masonry is all about — by any stretch of the imagination.
Line Dancing — Better known as "Grand Honors". Is it really necessary, my brethren, to do the Macarena when receiving a distinguished brother in lodge? Would a discreet applause following his "Presentation" by the D. of C. not be sufficient expression of enthusiasm and commendation for his presence and rank, but in a less tribal and more civilized and decorous fashion? When will the promoters of protocol & etiquette get down to more serious work, and cleanse us from these silly practices? The Macarena, my brethren, is not what Masonry is all about. And neither is the Standing Ovation the DDGM is given when he gives a knock of the gavel to sit the brethren after his reception. What can be so special or masterful in a rap of the gavel, to prompt a standing ovation? - - - Ha-ha! you will counter, the standing ovation is to express our enthusiasm and commendation for his presence and his rank … but brethren, did we not dance the Macarena to him just before that, and for the very same reason and with the very same intent?
Superficiality and Appearance — There is a standing directive prohibiting the taking of pictures in lodge while the VOTSL is open. Now, there are some very reasonable and rational merits to this directive, and not at all because we have anything to hide or to be ashamed of. Simply put: that picture would be the equivalent to throwing the door of the lodge wide open, while at work, to the cowans … But, our Better Ones (and those aspiring to be such) really like a good picture, especially if it depicts them in their finest plumage, and while officiating. So - - - they have espoused a solution, a FAKE, a re-enactment, after the lights are extinguished. Now the world and the cowans have in full light a full view of the act and the actors, but the picture is kosher, the appearances intact … The Greeks had a word for it: ύπόκρισις (hypocrisy), meaning play-acting, deceit or dissimulation; to give a false or misleading appearance, to conceal the truth or real nature of something; …
Blood Donations — At Official Visits, it is now customary to have the various district committee chairs to report on the activities of their committees. Mind you, Official Visits are not District Meetings, and these reports are not only out of place but also abusive, and consequently in bad taste. But they are an opportunity for those aspiring to Grand Lodge office to make their face known; and for the DDGM to gain admiration, for running a good ship … Take the Blood-Donors chairman for example, a bean-counter:*) he proudly reports on the success of his efforts (bean counting) — and taking the opportunity to look good with the blood of others, he solemnly declares that this is what Masonry is ALL ABOUT! Brethren, to donate blood is admirable,**) is worthy of a Mason, is worthy of the principles Masonry expounds — but it is a personal business, personal to the Mason himself — not to the Order. There are other agencies dedicated to that activity and purpose; the institution of Masonry did not arise to promote blood donations. Our institutionalization of giving blood IS NOT what Masonry is all about, it is a cop-out, a dismal acknowledgment of failure, of exhaustion, of atrophy.
Playing Games — For a while now, — for too long — we have lost our compass and sunk to such depth of mediocrity that we now run around in all directions like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to find a goal, a purpose, a reason to be. The fertile imagination of some of our best and most prominent leaders has given us games: the Masonic football, Masonic Jeopardy, the Tough Mudder races, Protocol & Etiquette, swarming, the traveling gavel, Worse! in antithesis with the sacred principle of equality represented in our lodge by the level, they have given us Cornerstone designation, medals, lapel pins, you name it. All this, my brethren, is fluff and superficiality; all this IS NOT what Masonry is all about, far from it. This frivolity and make-believe is, unfortunately, not new to our era; at other times our forefathers too came to face a distasteful and disgraceful explosion of frivolity, of pretension, of exhibition, of plumage and trappings, of most byzantine grand titles — that would have made that fox of Phaedrus's exclaim, as it did before the actor's mask, "O quanta species …" — and an explosion of higher and higher "degrees" competing with each other for hegemony, for the patronage of Idlers and men of vacuity, of which the same Fox would have said "cerebrum non habet" when discovering that the mask had no brains … no substance. This problem comes and goes with the ages, with the leaders of the time, as Bro. Fichte illustrated in his "Letters to Constant" around 1810:
"… Let us go further and more closely consider these men themselves who adhere to Masonry. Perhaps they are weak-hearted, enthusiasts, hypocrites, intriguers, or ambitious, who have bound themselves together? It is conceivable how the dishonest and crafty can unite with fools in order to manage them for his purposes or at least to make fun of their foolishness. It is conceivable how the ambitious capture the enthusiasts in their quest of secrets, in order to humble their pride and are able to take under their command men who in other respects stand above them in rank and dignity. It is conceivable how the intriguing can unite with the weak-hearted in order to tell them, and allow them to pay for, what shall fall to their lot. … Yet, for I leave no possible objection behind me, the wise and honest man may through some accident or whim of youth have been enticed into an order the inner nature of which was unknown to him. He becomes acquainted with it, finds it nothing of substance but childish play. But he cannot go back. A certain pride hinders him from showing himself a victim of deceit. His inner shame leads him to give himself to the empty thing and he goes back to it quietly, without looking up. …"
I bet you my last red cent (sorry, there are no more cents in circulation) — I'll bet you my last two bits, that George Washington, and all the other famous leaders of the world who spend their lives laboring for the emancipation of humanity, all those famous Masons we proudly parade in front of our prospective candidates as if they were of our own lodge, of our own time, I bet you they did not join Freemasonry in order to play games, to dance the Macarena, or to reach the heights of social dexterity, of superficiality and appearance.
Not too long ago a DDGM, visiting our lodge on the occasion of his Official Visit, gave us a piece which, for its freshness and originality, was like the opening of a window to the morning breeze in the stifling summer. He received a (well-deserved) standing ovation, and we, his permission to publish his lecture on our website (under Articles of Interest). For the sake of brevity, I will take only two small passages from it:
"Freemasonry, contrary to contemporary attitudes, is elitist. It is an organization that gives every man an opportunity to raise his game, so that no matter his situation, may find his place in a society of men who live by higher ideals, so that he raises his own esteem that he may reside among the moral elite of our communities." … "Masonry isn't for everyone. So what? Masonry is elitist. So what? The solution starts the very first moment someone decides to inquire about our choice. Is it he who is interviewing us? Or should it be we who are interviewing him? We aren't for everyone. So what? Why are we selling ourselves short just so we can get him to join? For what purpose?"
Indeed, brethren, we interview our candidates too lightly; and we don't interview our Aspirants to high office at all. Let us look at this "Elite":
Skipping straight past the Bernardos of our recent past, let us consider that PGM of ours vacationing in Florida, who, after his game of golf and a few (too many) beers drove off in his Cadillac and, in his stupor, jumped the curb and killed a man in his wheelchair. What a great opportunity! for such a man of elite to "raise his game" … to show the world his justness and uprightness; his strict morals and his courage. None of it! Without stopping, not even looking back at the damage he had done, he sped away, with the blood of his victim dripping from his front bumper and fender, worrying about appearances and consequences, in the cowardly hope to getting away with murder. And he almost did, if not for a by-stander, who denounced him by his blood-stained car; and he was caught, and brought to justice. I have often wondered how many times while he was in office did this champion of integrity, this man of elite, proclaimed from his pulpit — what Masonry was all about? Or the other man of elite, a DDGM, who, after his official visit and all the trappings and nonsense described above for such occasions, still in his tails and white tie stopped on his way home to solicit the sexual favors of a policewoman posing as a prostitute … (I must confess I have no direct knowledge of this last episode, but my source is unimpeachable.)
No, my brethren, this too is NOT what Masonry is all about.
There is underway an attempt to "Retain, Revitalize, and Renew." — But why can't I bring myself to rejoice about it? Is it my fear that what our luminaries will retain, give new life to, and renew is exactly all that which I have just finished denouncing as superficiality not even skin-deep, pomposity, childish play, failure, exhaustion, and atrophy?
Let us hope those promoting this ambitious project will have the good sense to look deep into the past and draw guidance; to look deep into the times when our (operative) Craft was indeed an Elite with no other class but one, that particular denomination of Monks who trained them, to compete or to compare with; when our (speculative) Craft was formed by an Elite of men of science, of just and upright craftsmen of all arts, of sound judgment, and strict morals, compassionate for the good of all mankind; modest in their measured enthusiasm, profound in their thoughts, bold in their research and attempt and pursuit of all that was hidden in the mysteries of nature and science; the times when the brethren called each other "frate" (brother) and nothing more; reserving the reverential title of worshipful (reverend) for only one person and ONE person alone — their elected leader for the time being, be it in that monastic congregation, or in that lodge. — Only later, and indeed in England (after the formation of the first Grand Lodge in the year 1717), our predecessors succumbed to their vanity and things went wild (and France was not far behind). They buried our Moveable Jewells in the dunghill, and pomp (hence the word "pompous"), superficiality, pretense, make-believe, and distinctions were institutionalized, new degrees concocted, new "higher bodies" formed, bombastic titles coined; when royals were enticed into the Order and made Masons "at sight" (a "landmark") and given the Grand Master's gavel on the spot, in the illusion of attaining luster; when lesser royals joined the Order on the coattails of their greater royals, but rebelled at having to wear the humble apron of the craftsman — definitely beneath their dignity — and were finally pacified by being permitted to enrich theirs (aprons) with gold and trims and frills and pendants and any other form of frivolous distinction they could think of (I am not making this up: it's history) and none of this, brethren, is what Masonry is all about either.
To be fair to the nobility, in older times royals had been admitted into the (speculative) Order, but on their own merit, even if at times also for political expediency or protection.
To conclude, I would feel much more optimistic had this project be named:
"Rediscover, Reclaim, Revitalize, and Renew the Greatness We Once Were.
(Presented by Bro. Vincent Lombardo in Quinte St. Alban's Lodge No. 620 G.R.C., April 14, 2014)
*) Bean-counter. A disparaging term for an accountant or bookkeeper, or anyone excessively concerned with statistical records or accounts.
**) After this article was reproduced in January 2015 in the Hiram's Lighthouse, the Toronto East District Newsletter, W. Bro. Frank MacKay, Tyler, Scarboro Lodge No. 659 G.R.C., commented on it rather harshly, and I admire his frank and passionate reaction. More so because his characterization of "Blood Donations" is profound and eloquent, and I believe it ought to be included in this article. Bro. MacKay said:
" … blood donation is the most important, most selfless act any human being can undertake in this life. Motivated by sheer altruism and concern for one's fellow man, a donor allows a surplus pint of his own blood to be siphoned out of his body and put into the body of another person in dire need of it. As a direct result, that person will not die. Any other possible charitable action in life pales to insignificance by comparison, yet Bro. Lombardo considers blood donation not what Masonry is all about. I'll say this: performing an anonymous act of charity which will literally save the life of another human being, without compensation, without awards, without recognition of any kind other than the personal knowledge that you have done a good thing, is the true mark of nobility. It makes you a samurai. If the altruism of blood donors is not what Masonry is all about, then it sure ought to be. I thought it was."
