WHAT IS A MASON?
That's not a surprising question.
Even though Masons (Freemasons) are members of the largest and oldest fraternity
in the world, and even though almost everyone has a father or grandfather or
uncle who was a Mason, many people aren't quite certain just who Masons are.
The answer is simple. A Mason (or Freemason) is a member of a fraternity known
as Masonry (or Freemasonry). A fraternity is a group of men (just as a sorority
is a group of women) who join together because:
· There are things they want to do in the world.
· There are things they want to do "inside their own minds."
· They enjoy being together with men they like and respect. (we'll look at some of these things later)
WHAT IS FREEMASONRY?
Masonry (or Freemasonry) is the
oldest fraternity in the world. No one knows just how old it is because the
actual origins have been lost in time. Probably, it arose from the guilds of
stonemasons who built the castles and cathedrals of the Middle Ages. Possibly,
they were influenced by the Knights Templar, a group of Christian warrior monks
formed in 1118 to help protect pilgrims making trips to the Holy Land.
In 1717, Masonry created a formal organization in England when the first Grand
Lodge was formed. A Grand Lodge is the administrative body in charge of Masonry
in some geographical area. In the United States, there is a Grand Lodge in each
state and the District of Columbia. In Canada, there is a Grand Lodge in each
province. Local organizations of Masons are called lodges. There are lodges in
most towns, and large cities usually have several. There are about 13,200 lodges
in the United States.
FROM BRITAIN TO AMERICA, HOW?
In a time when travel was by horseback and sailing ship, Masonry spread with amazing speed. By 1731, when Benjamin Franklin joined the fraternity, there were already several lodges in the Colonies, and Masonry spread rapidly as America expanded west. In addition to Franklin, many of the Founding Fathers -- men such as George Washington, Paul Revere, Joseph Warren, and John Hancock -- were Masons. Masons and Masonry played an important part in the Revolutionary War and an even more important part in the Constitutional Convention and the debates surrounding the ratification of the Bill of Rights. Many of those debates were held in Masonic lodges.
WHAT IS A LODGE?
The word "lodge" means
both a group of Masons meeting in some place and the room or building in which
they meet. Masonic buildings are also sometimes called "temples"
because much of the symbolism Masonry uses to teach its lessons comes from the
building of King Solomon's Temple in the Holy Land. The term "lodge"
itself comes from the structures which the stonemasons built against the sides
of the cathedrals during construction. In winter, when building had to stop,
they lived in these lodges and worked at carving stone.
If you've ever watched C-SPAN's coverage of the House of Commons in London,
you'll notice that the layout is about the same. Since Masonry came to America
from England, we still use the English floorplan and English titles for the
officers. The Worshipful Master of the Lodge sits in the East.
"Worshipful" is an English term of respect which means the same thing
as "Honorable." He is called the Master of the lodge for the same
reason that the leader of an orchestra is called the "Concert Master."
It's simply an older term for "Leader." In other organizations, he
would be called "President." The Senior and Junior Wardens are the
First and Second Vice-Presidents. The Deacons are messengers, and the Stewards
have charge of refreshments.
Every lodge has an altar holding a "Volume of the Sacred Law." In the
United States and Canada, that is almost always a Bible.
SO IS MASONRY EDUCATION?
Yes. In a very real sense,
education is at the center of Masonry. We have stressed its importance for a
very long time. Back in the Middle Ages, schools were held in the lodges of
stonemasons. You have to know a lot to build a cathedral -- geometry, and
structural engineering, and mathematics, just for a start. And that education
was not very widely available. All the formal schools and colleges trained
people for careers in the church, or in law or medicine. And you had to be a
member of the social upper classes to go to those schools. Stonemasons did not
come from the aristocracy. And so the lodges had to teach the necessary skills
and information. Freemasonry's dedication to education started there.
It has continued. Masons started some of the first public schools in both Europe
and America. We supported legislation to make education universal. In the 1800s
Masons as a group lobbied for the establishment of state-supported education and
federal land-grant colleges. Today we give millions of dollars in scholarships
each year. We encourage our members to give volunteer time to their local
schools, buy classroom supplies for teachers, help with literacy programs, and
do everything they can to help assure that each person, adult or child, has the
best educational opportunities possible.
And Masonry supports continuing education and intellectual growth for its
members, insisting that learning more about many things is important for anyone
who wants to keep mentally alert and young.
Masonry teaches some important principles. There's nothing very surprising in
the list. Masonry teaches that:
Since God is the Creator, all men and women are the children of God. Because of
that, all men and women are brothers and sisters, entitled to dignity, respect
for their opinions, and consideration of their feelings.
Each person must take responsibility for his/her own life and actions. Neither
wealth nor poverty, education nor ignorance, health nor sickness excuses any
person from doing the best he or she can do or being the best person possible
under the circumstances.
No one has the right to tell another person what he or she must think or
believe. Each man and woman has an absolute right to intellectual, spiritual,
economic, and political freedom. This is a right given by God, not by man. All
tyranny, in every form, is illegitimate.
Each person must learn and practice self-control. Each person must make sure his
spiritual nature triumphs over his animal nature. Another way to say the same
thing is that even when we are tempted to anger, we must not be violent. Even
when we are tempted to selfishness, we must be charitable. Even when we want to
"write someone off," we must remember that he or she is a human and
entitled to our respect. Even when we want to give up, we must go on. Even when
we are hated, we must return love, or, at a minimum, we must not hate back. It
isn't easy!
Faith must be in the center of our lives. We find that faith in our houses of
worship, not in Freemasonry, but Masonry constantly teaches that a person's
faith, whatever it may be, is central to a good life.
Each person has a responsibly to be a good citizen, obeying the law. That
doesn't mean we can't try to change things, but change must take place in legal
ways.
It is important to work to make this world better for all who live in it.
Masonry teaches the importance of doing good, not because it assures a person's
entrance into heaven -- that's a question for a religion, not a fraternity --
but because we have a duty to all other men and women to make their lives as
fulfilling as they can be.
Honor and integrity are essential to life. Life without honor and integrity is
without meaning.
WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO JOIN?
The person who wants to join
Masonry must be a man (it's a fraternity), sound in body and mind, who believes
in God, is at least the minimum age required by Masonry in his state, and has a
good reputation. (Incidentally, the "sound in body" requirement --
which comes from the stonemasons of the Middle Ages -- doesn't mean that a
physically challenged man cannot be a Mason; many are).
Those are the only "formal" requirements. But there are others, not so
formal. He should believe in helping others. He should believe there is more to
life than pleasure and money. He should be willing to respect the opinions of
others. And he should want to grow and develop as a human being.
HOW DOES A MAN BECOME A MASON?
Some men are surprised that no
one has ever asked them to become a Mason. They may even feel that the Masons in
their town don't think they are "good enough" to join. But it doesn't
work that way. For hundreds of years, Masons have been forbidden to ask others
to join the fraternity. We can talk to friends about Masonry. We can tell them
about what Masonry does. We can tell them why we enjoy it. But we can't ask,
much less pressure, anyone to join.
There's a good reason for that. It isn't that we're trying to be exclusive. But
becoming a Mason is a very serious thing. Joining Masonry is making a permanent
life commitment to live in certain ways. We've listed most of them above -- to
live with honor and integrity, to be willing to share with and care about
others, to trust each other, and to place ultimate trust in God. No one should
be "talked into" making such a decision.
So, when a man decides he wants to be a Mason, he asks a Mason for a petition or
application. He fills it out and gives it to the Mason, and that Mason takes it
to the local lodge. The Master of the lodge will appoint a committee to visit
with the man and his family, find out a little about him and why he wants to be
a Mason, tell him and his family about Masonry, and answer their questions. The
committee reports to the lodge, and the lodge votes on the petition. If the vote
is affirmative -- and it usually is -- the lodge will contact the man to set the
date for the Entered Apprentice Degree. When the person has completed all three
degrees, he is a Master Mason and a full member of the fraternity.
WHAT IS A MASON?
A Mason is a man who has decided
that he likes to feel good about himself and others. He cares about the future
as well as the past, and does what he can, both alone and with others, to make
the future good for everyone.
Many men over many generations have answered the question, "What is a
Mason?" One of the most eloquent was written by the Reverend Joseph Fort
Newton, an internationally honored minister of the first half of the 20th
Century and Grand Chaplain, Grand Lodge of Iowa, 1911-1913.
WHEN IS A MAN A MASON?
When he can look out over the
rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a profound sense of his own
littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope, and courage
-- which is the root of every virtue.
When he knows that down in his heart every man is as noble, as vile, as divine,
as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive, and to
love his fellowman.
When he knows how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yea, even in their
sins -- knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds.
When he has learned how to make friends and to keep them, and above all how to
keep friends with himself.
When he loves flowers, can hunt birds without a gun, and feels the thrill of an
old forgotten joy when he hears the laugh of a little child.
When he can be happy and high-minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life.
When star-crowned trees and the glint of sunlight on flowing waters subdue him
like the thought of one much loved and long dead.
When no voice of distress reaches his ears in vain, and no hand seeks his aid
without response.
When he finds good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of divine
things and sees majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of that faith may
be.
When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and into
the face of the most forlorn fellow mortal and see something beyond sin.
When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope.
When he has kept faith with himself, with his fellowman, and with his God; in
his hand a sword for evil, in his heart a bit of a song -- glad to live, but not
afraid to die!
Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which it is
trying to give to all the world.
The above information is courtesy of The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Michigan.
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