Twenty Years

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bill Hosler, PM

As a child, my mother used to say. “Time flies once you turn twenty-one.”  At the time it was hard for me to believe considering every minute I spent in my classroom felt like an eternity. But as with most things I have experienced in life she was exactly right. With the age of majority far behind me in my rearview mirror, It seems it was every memory of an event that comes through my mind can be now measured in decades instead of just a couple of months like it feels. 

One thing I can remember my mother talking about all those years ago has led me on a journey of a lifetime I never expected to be on. As a child, I can remember several of my parent’s friends would visit the house and they would all sit at the table drink coffee and pass the time of the day. One thing I saw is several of them wore rings. Some were just wedding bands which I knew the significance of these, but others wore a gold ring with a funny logo on it. 

I asked my mother why they wore those rings and what did they mean. She said “They are Masons. You got to be rich to join that group.”  She then said, “Your Great Uncle Don was a thirty-second degree Mason!” The way she explained Don’s rank in the Masons you could tell it meant something to her. The admiration in her voice and the look in her eyes made it clear being a thirty second degree Mason was quite an achievement in her mind.  I decided if there was any way I could become a Mason I would do it. If for nothing more than to make my mother proud. As things go, time marches on and life keeps moving on. Years after this conversation in 1991 my mother succumbed to cancer unexpectedly. She never had the opportunity to see me join. 

Fast forward eleven years and I was talking with a friend’s father who I knew was a Mason.  The talk brought up the promise to my Mom and my unfinished business. I decided I needed to investigate the process further. The internet was still in its infancy in 2002 and after a Yahoo! (Yeah it was Yahoo back then) search I found only one in my lodge had a website. I visited the website and in the photos section of the site, I saw the photograph of two men I had been friends with and coworkers many years before. That sealed it. I had to join that lodge! (Or at least try to).

I’m not sure if it was pure dumb luck or by the design of the Grand Architect of the Universe but two nights later, I was walking into a restaurant and as I was walking in one of the men was walking out! We greeted each other and before He could leave, or I lost the nerve I blurted “I am asking for a petition to become a Mason” (I did know enough that I had to ask to join.) He followed me back in and we exchanged numbers and agreed to get together. Easter Sunday, I visited his house, and over breakfast, I filled out my petition. After what seemed like an eternity, I received word from my friend my petition had been accepted. I was given a date to show up at the downtown Masonic temple in June 2002. 

That night in June was an unusually warm night. I was greeted as I walked through the unairconditioned temple and shown into a small windowless room. The heat was unbearable. I wasn’t sure at that point the bead of sweat I felt run down my back was from the temperature of my terror and feat of the unknown which was about to come. 

As the Brethren prepared me for the ceremony. It had been a few years since the lodge had had a new candidate so they couldn’t remember the differences in preparing a candidate for the Entered Apprentice degree and one who was being passed to a Fellowcraft. After a few minutes, it was like they flipped a coin. I guess they figured they had a 50-50 chance of getting it right. After the ceremony began as I entered the lodge room and was stopped as I felt a group of hands pulling off my shoe and rearranging the regalia I was wearing. You could hear the muffled swear words as they went about their work. 

The rest of the night is pretty much a blur. All I remember is walking around a quiet room, with only the sounds of overhead fans and the occasional sound of a bang that startled me. At some point, I remember my eyes adjusting to the light and someone giving me my glasses.  Once it was over a was reconducted to that small hot box of a room and told to wait there until I was summoned. Once I was able to renter the lodge room, I was able to admire the room's beauty. As I was placed in a chair on the West side of the altar and the show that was being performed especially for me was to begin. 

I was in awe of the parade of my friends who I now discovered to be Brothers begin to recite things from memory. Watching these Brothers performing the ritual kind of scared me a bit. Self-doubt in my own abilities brought on the fear that I would never have the ability to commit things like this to memory. “I am going to make a terrible Mason”. I thought to myself. (Something a lot of Brethren still would agree with until this very day.)

Once it was all over, I was given a small gray pamphlet having a bunch of symbols. “This is the EA lecture you just saw. Study it. Someday you will be reciting it. The secretary said. The little sarcastic man inside me laughed as I nervously reached out for the book. With that, the lodge went dark, and wouldn’t meet again until September. During that break, I studied that book until I knew both the questions and answers inside and out. 

When the cooler breezes of September rolled around my next degree date was scheduled. I came into the lodge, and I was asked to perform the work I learned to another EA for a friend who was coming in. I was asked whether I wanted to “Pitch or catch”. “Catch,” I said with a tremendous amount of apprehension down in the pit of my stomach. 

After it was over, I was shocked at how well I did.  It wasn’t letter-perfect like I was striving for, but it was pretty close. Everyone cheered and I got a lot of pats on the back that night. My friend leaned over and whispered into my ear. “Now you have gone and done it. Once again your big brain has gotten you into trouble.”  

Once I was raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason on October 15, 2002. I became very active within the lodge. I had never thought about being a lodge officer but somehow on my first meeting as a Master Mason, I sat in the Junior Stewards chair.  I started to protest; I had no clue what to do. “Just stand up when the Senior Steward stands and grab that stick next to you.  You will be fine. Thus started my journey to the East several years later. 

Some of the best times I have had as an adult was spending time with the Brethren of that lodge in the bar of the Mizpah Shrine Center. We would all sit around telling jokes and laughing over dinner. Eventually, the local Scottish Rite Valley would close their meeting and come in and join us. The entire room was filled with laughter and many nights it was so much fun it was hard to say goodnight. Like the toast in English lodges goes “So happy to meet. So sorry to part.” It's hard to believe so many of those Brethren have laid down their working tools and advance to the Grand Lodge above. Sometimes I feel like they are still with me because the memory of those days still lives in my heart. There isn’t a day I don’t think about them and smile. 

One thing that has troubled me through the years is the constant beating of the drum with the mantra “Freemasonry is dying.” On my first visit to my future lodge as a petitioner, I attended a wonderful dinner of Hoosier-style beef and noodles with the lodge celebrating the visit of our sister lodge who made the journey from London Ontario Canada. During that visit, an elderly Past Master who through the years I learned to love came up to me and said “I don’t know why the #$^&^ you are joining Masonry. It is going to be dead in five years.”  Needless to say, I was taken aback by this statement. In my mind, I decided if it was really dying, I would ride it out until the end.  

Since then, I have seen many people trying to write the Craft’s obituary. Each one of them was dead wrong about their prediction. I have come to believe such declarations are akin to some wacky preacher trying to tell us the world will end in three days. In fact, I believe Masonry is much stronger than it was when I joined. 

When I joined there were things many of us said were holding Masonry back, such as lodges only being allowed to meet on the Master Mason degree, lack of Masonic education in lodges, and dues at bargain-basement prices. So many things were holding me back from succeeding. Many of these things were spelled out in a paper written by several of my fellow Knights of the North which became known to the world as “Laudable pursuit”. 

Since then, many of these issues have been rectified and we have more men who are joining, and many progressive lodges are thriving. National and international events such as the various Masoniccons have been great successes. Add to that independent Masonic magazines and podcasts get the Brethren thinking and discussing Masonic topics in their own lodges and virtually over the internet. The best part is these are just the tip of the iceberg. Add to these the various Zoom meetings of Brethren have helped strengthen the bonds of Brotherhood when you can’t physically make it to lodge. Sure, we still have a long way to go but I am totally impressed and very pleased with the advancement that has taken in such a short time. In my mind only one thing can slow or stop advancement. That is us. 

Sadly, over the years I have seen many good, dedicated Brethren who have quit the Craft in disgust and a feeling of hopelessness because we still completely turned around American Freemasonry. I get it. In the age of microwaved Salisbury steak and green dinners some feel we aren’t achieving our goals fast enough, so they quit. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I see this is our major problem. 

Each Brother who throws his hand up in the air and takes his apron and goes home is one less worker in the quarry.  One less mentor for a new Brother, one less vote at the grand lodge we could use to make changes. One less Masonic leader who could someday be able to make Masonry better. If you think about how many Brothers, Each set of lost set hands impedes us from furthering the designs we have on our trestle boards and is depriving us of the talents we need to succeed. I encourage you to help bring these men back to the door of the lodge and make them a part of our future success. 

It has been a great twenty years.  I can’t wait to see how we had grown in the next twenty years. Thank you all for what you do and thank you all for your Brotherhood. 

~BH

WB Bill Hosler was made a Master Mason in 2002 in Three Rivers Lodge #733 in Indiana. He served as Worshipful Master in 2007 and became a member of the internet committee for Indiana's Grand Lodge. Bill is currently a member of Roff Lodge No. 169 in Roff Oklahoma and Lebanon Lodge No. 837 in Frisco, Texas. Bill is also a member of the Valley of Fort Wayne Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in Indiana. A typical active Freemason, Bill also served as the High Priest of Fort Wayne's Chapter of the York Rite No. 19 and was commander of the Fort Wayne Commandery No. 4 of the Knight Templar. During all this, he also served as the webmaster and magazine editor for the Mizpah Shrine in Fort Wayne Indiana.

Whither Are We Traveling? - Part One

by Midnight Freemasons Contributor

WB Darin A. Lahners

On November 28, 2021; I celebrated my Ten Year anniversary of being raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason.  Thinking I was being clever, I posted on Social Media a post with the above picture and the caption: "Celebrating my ten year anniversary today...those who know, know".  I received the congratulatory ego stroke that I was most likely looking for when I posted it. However, out of this came an excellent question.  Fellow Midnight Freemason contributor Randy Sanders wrote: "Awesome. What part of you changed in the decade?"  My response was: "Randy Sanders that is an excellent question.  I will just say that I personally believe that I used the common gavel to smooth some of the rough edges of my ashlar.  However, the work in the quarry never ends until I lay down my working tools." 

Randy's question made me realize that as much as the past ten years have shaped me, I still have so much more work to do.  As it is said that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, I take the lessons that I've learned (oftentimes the hard way) and use those to help with my decisions in the present which will impact my future.  The future is the only thing we have control over.  We exert that control by the decisions we make here and now.  

 

The title of my article is an homage to one of the most powerful but probably unknown Masonic writings of the 20th century.  "Whither Are We Traveling?" was written in 1963 by Dwight L. Smith who was the Past Grand Master and then the current Grand Secretary of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Indiana Free and Accepted Masons. It is his self-examination of North American Freemasonry.  It is just as valid now in 2021 as it was in 1963.  Also, it is saddening as it is almost 60 years old now and many of the problems he addresses have not been solved in that time.  

MWB Smith begins his work with this: "The Wailing Wall is crowded these days. Masonic leaders, great and small, are lined up, each awaiting his turn to lift his voice in lamentation. The figures show a falling off of membership. Attendance at Lodge meetings is not what it used to be. The thing to do is to adopt this project or that gimmick, and then all will be well. As might be expected, the projects and gimmicks are about as impossible as they are ridiculous."  Sounds familiar right?  Remember, this was written in 1963.  

He continues with what he calls a faulty diagnosis of Freemasonry. 

"At the outset, I may as well precipitate an argument by disposing of the old favorites:

One: Whatever attendance troubles our Lodges may be having are not caused by
television, nor the automobile, nor by bowling, nor togetherness, nor any of the other “busyness” in which our restless society is engaged. A multitude of activities may contribute to a decline in Lodge attendance, but they do not constitute the cause. When we complain of lack of attendance, what we really are saying is that interest is at a low ebb, for in any organization, if there is interest, there will be attendance. No amount of television or bowling or endless “busyness” can usurp the position of eminence a Lodge of Freemasons occupies in a man’s loyalty if the Lodge is in a position to command his loyalty.

The ailment isn’t quite that simple. We are looking at the symptoms – not the disease. The real source of the trouble is within ourselves. 

Two: Such problems as we may have will not be solved by forcing men to memorize a set of questions and answers, nor by cramming books and lectures down their throats, nor by any Big Brother Plan, nor by devoting our energies and resources to other organizations or movements, however worthy they may be.
The cure isn’t that simple, either. The patient’s indisposition will not be relieved by
nostrums. The treatment, too, must come from within."

Dwight offers three basic premises for the current woes we face in Freemasonry. 

"First: The history of Freemasonry is one of ups and downs. If this brief period is one of the “downs,” it is nothing compared to some of the crises through which our Fraternity has passed.

Second: In our membership decline, we again see history repeating itself. It simply is a case of our sins catching up with us. We had a decade in which there was a membership influx that was both unhealthy and unhappy. We ran a production line; we counted new members by the hundreds of thousands; but we could count new Masons only by the score. Now comes the payoff.

Third: Whatever is wrong with Lodge attendance in 1962 was wrong 25 years ago when I was Master of my Lodge. I doubt seriously whether Lodge attendance ever has been “what it used to be.” I had to work by head off to sustain interest in 1937."

Once again, the above sounds familiar doesn't it? 

He comes to this conclusion: "We have only to look at ourselves to discover the cause for whatever unhappy days have come upon us. Our troubles are of our own making. Such corrective measures as we take must go beyond the surface; they must go to the roots of the problem or be of no avail."  

After the above conclusion, he begins his self-examination of the conditions that are causing the problem as he sees it.  He gives ten points which I have quoted below:  

"1. Let’s face it! Can we expect Freemasonry to retain its past glory and

prestige unless the level of leadership is raised above its present position? On

many an occasion in the past 14 years, Masters and Secretaries have come into

my office to ask my advice on what to do about lagging interest. Again and again

I have said, “There is nothing wrong with your Lodge, nor with Freemasonry,

that good leadership will not cure.” I believe that.

2. How well are we guarding the West Gate? Again, let’s face it. We are

permitting too many to pass who can pay the fee and little else. On every hand I

hear the same whispered complaint, “We used to be getting petitions for the

degrees from the good, substantial leaders in the community. Now we are

getting. . . .” Just what it is they are getting, you know as well as I.

3. Has Freemasonry become too easy to obtain? Fees for the degrees are

ridiculously low; annual dues are far too low. Everything is geared to speed—

getting through as fast as possible and on to something else. The Lodge demands

little and gets little. It expects loyalty but does almost nothing to put a claim on a

man’s loyalty. When we ourselves place a cheap value on Masonic membership,

how can we expect petitioners and new members to prize it?

4. Are we not worshiping at the altar of bigness? Look it in the face: too few

Lodges, with those Lodges we do have much too large. Instead of devoting our

thoughts and energies to ways whereby a new Master Mason may find a sphere of

activity within his Lodge, we let him get lost in the shuffle. Then we nag and

harangue at him because he does not come to meetings to wander around with

nothing to do. We are hard at work to make each Lodge so large that it becomes

an impersonal aggregation of strangers – a closed corporation.

5. What can we expect when we have permitted Freemasonry to become

subdivided into a score of organizations? Look at it. Each organization

dependent upon the parent body for its existence, yet each jockeying for a

position of supremacy, and each claiming to be the Pinnacle to which any

Master Mason may aspire. We have spread ourselves thin, and Ancient Craft

Masonry is the loser. Downgraded, the Symbolic Lodge is used only as a

springboard. A shortsighted Craft we have been to create in our Fraternity a

condition wherein the tail can, and may wag the dog.

6. Has the American passion for bigness and efficiency dulled the spirit of

Masonic charity? The “Box of Fraternal Assistance” which once occupied the

central position in every Lodge room has been replaced by an annual per capita

tax. That benevolence which for ages was one of the sweetest by-products of the

teaching of our gentle Craft has, I fear, ceased to be a gift from the heart and has

become the writing of a check. And unless the personal element is there, clarity

becomes as sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.

7. Do we pay enough attention to the Festive Board? Should any reader have to

ask what the Festive Board is, that in itself will serve to show how far we have

strayed from the traditional path of Freemasonry. Certainly the Festive Board is

not the wolfing of ham sandwiches, pie and coffee at the conclusion of a degree.

It is the Hour of Refreshment in all its beauty and dignity; an occasion for

inspiration and fellowship; a time when the noble old traditions of the Craft are

preserved.

8. What has become of that “course of moral instruction, veiled in allegory and

illustrated by symbols,” that Freemasonry is supposed to be? If it is a course

of instruction, then there should be teachers, and if ours is a progressive science,

then the teaching of a Master Mason should not end when he is raised. I am not

talking about dry, professorial lectures or sermons – heavens no! That is the kind

of thing that makes Masonic education an anathema. Where are the parables and

allegories? Alas, they have descended into booklets and stunts. No wonder

interest is so hard to sustain.

9. Hasn’t the so-called Century of the Common Man contributed to making

our Fraternity a little too common? We can not expect to retain the prestige

the Craft has enjoyed in the past if we continue without challenge to permit the

standards of the picnic ground, the bowling alley, the private club and the golf

links to be brought into the Lodge hall. Whether we like it or not, a general

lowering of standards has left its mark on every Lodge in Indiana, large and

small.

10. Are there not too many well-meaning Brethren who are working overtime to

make Freemasonry something other than Freemasonry? It was an unhappy

day when some eager beaver conceived the idea that our Craft should adopt the

methods of the service club, or the luncheon group, or the civic league, or the

Playboy outfit. Whoever the eager beaver was, he lost sight of the fact that one of

the reasons our Fraternity is prized so highly is that it does not operate like other

organizations."

Dwight L. Smith then finishes with this: 

"Well, that should be enough for one dose. The following pages elaborate on the ten points enumerated above. Let me give you fair warning. In the following essays I shall call a spade a spade. Some of my readers are not going to like it. But what I have to say I believe our Craft needs to hear, and it is only for the “good of the Order” that it is said.

I shall propose no bright new ideas – not one. All I am going to advocate is that

Freemasonry remain Freemasonry; and if we have strayed from the traditional path, we had better be moving back to the main line while there is yet time to restore the prestige and respect, the interest and loyalty and devotion that once was ours."

It is my goal in the next few articles to highlight these ten points that MWB Smith elaborates on and to offer my own perspectives on his words.  Like him, I do not intend to pull any punches.  You'll either agree or disagree with him, me, or both of us. I don't agree with some of his arguments as you will see, however, I do believe that his work is a blueprint for Ancient Craft Freemasonry to follow which is still applicable today.  For those of you who like what you've read so far, you can read it here:

http://pictoumasons.org/library/Smith,%20Dwight%20L%20~%20WhitherAreWeTraveling%20%5Bpdf%5D.pdf

~DAL

WB Darin A. Lahners is our Co-Managing Editor. He is a host and producer of the "Meet, Act and Part" podcast. He is currently serving the Grand Lodge of Illinois Ancient Free and Accepted Masons as the Area Education Officer for the Eastern Masonic Area. He is a Past Master of St. Joseph Lodge No.970 in St. Joseph. He is also a plural member of Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL), where he is also a Past Master. He’s a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, a charter member of Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter No. 282, and a member of the Salt Fork Shrine Club under the Ansar Shrine. You can reach him by email at darin.lahners@gmail.com.