Answering the Question

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Ken JP Stuczynski

How many times have you been asked, "What is Freemasonry?" What do you tell them? We spend a lot of time telling them what it's not — it's not a religion (though religious), not a charity (though we are extremely philanthropic), and not a social club (though we are copiously social). We use the term Brotherhood, but even that is vague or highly subjective. For one person, it means sitting around a campfire with other men. For others, it means dropping everything to come to the aid of another. But when people start to peek behind the veil and see our rituals and traditions and etiquette, the question is fine-tuned into not so much "what" as "why."

What is the point of Freemasonry? What is it supposed to do for people and the world? As much as it is dear to many of us, the honest truth is that we honestly don't know what it's for beyond the platitude of "making good men better." If we ask if we've succeeded in our mission of making the world better because of us, we have to dig farther and farther back to historical Masons of fame and import. In other words, not much these days, beyond impressive charity stats, of course, and perhaps local good works.

If we adhere to the bumper sticker of "making good men better," we immediately come up against the next question, "How?" The intellectuals among us then borrow the much older description of Masonry as a "system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." Well, okay then. Is the mystery solved or just beginning? We may call it "a moral science," but that has more a tone of research and abstraction. We could talk of its alchemical roots in the refinement of matter of spirit, but that diatribe falls on deaf ears more concerned with getting ready for the next degree or feeding one's family.

In other words, the answers we tend to give are more smoke than fire, and certainly inadequate in terms of Light. In New York, we have started encouraging the deployment of banners developed by Grand Lodge that read, "A brotherhood of upstanding men continuing a tradition of making a difference," followed by a well-worded call-to-action and link to DiscoverMasonry.Com. I recognize the arduous thought that went into what I would admit is a million-dollar, finely-tuned marketing slogan. If the question is, "how do we get more members?" then we're on the right track. It gives high moral status to those who associate with our Brand. It says we give a damn and are willing to work with integrity to make the world better — an answer I've given many times to the question at hand.

But does that tell us anything about Masonry itself, regarding moral improvement or otherwise? If it can be summed up with a value statement that fits on a banner, then why do we have ritual? Why have countless books been written on Masonic philosophy? But then there are Masons with 50-year aprons and above who haven't cracked a single book on the subject. There must be a simpler answer — one that cuts through book-based esotericism and speaks to the heart.

Well, I found that yesterday.

RW Richard Friedman is a marine, practicing psychologist, the current Grand Lecturer for my jurisdiction, and most importantly to me, a Brother of which I have the highest admiration. He is tough but loving, strict but encouraging, humble yet highly respected. And his response to discovering how common it was that Brothers were reading rather than truly knowing the ritual gave me the best-fitting key to unlock this most important of questions.

"Masonry is a continuous improvement program for our brains, heart, and soul.

Masonry is supposed to be a way of life that teaches us that living within the guidelines of the ritual, we can get the most out of the gifts that the Great Architect has imbued in all of us.

It is supposed to be a daily challenge to get better in your life, a daily reminder that self-improvement never ends, and that life is what you make it.

We all should have been aware that when we took our obligations, we were promising to live a life that is a cut above normal society.

We commit ourselves to a Masonic way of life that includes brotherly love, relief, and truth. Items that are always in short supply in the profane world.

One of the first things any Entered Apprentice learns is the need to subdue his passions and improve himself in Masonry. It does not say let’s pull to the lowest common denominator, let’s be average, let’s not ever be a cut above in society. In fact, it urges us to bid men come to our level but refuse to descend a single step to them.

If our goal is to become average, then do we really need Freemasonry or the ritual at all? Why be selective in membership when anyone can be average? We would have to change the ritual dramatically if average is the goal!

As we no longer build in the operative sense as a Craft, the “work” of freemasonry in modern times is the effort to live our lives by incorporating the ritual into everything we do. That is how we make good men better and improve ourselves in Masonry. You cannot align with the great rank and title of Freemason if you do not know the work."

I truly feel nothing I will say or write will be but clanging cymbals or philosophical babbling bordering on pedantry compared to these words. They come from a place of Love and action, not cold rationalizations and a haphazard journey of life while incidentally wearing an Apron. Of course, even these words aren't the answer itself, as no such thing can be truly laid out in words. But they take us by the hand, ask us to rise, and fear no danger. We are all conducting each other toward the East, generation after generation, with or without expounding on metaphysics, with or without raising money for charity. The ritual is the path laid out for our ambulations of the world, and with the aid of a Brother, these questions give up their own answers freely.

~JP

Bro. Ken JP Stuczynski is a member of West Seneca Lodge No.1111 and recently served as Master of Ken-Ton Lodge No.1186. As webmaster for NYMasons.Org he is on the Communications and Technology Committees for the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. He is also a Royal Arch Mason and 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, serving his second term as Sovereign Prince of Palmoni Council in the Valley of Buffalo, NMJ. He also coordinates a Downtown Square Club monthly lunch in Buffalo, NY. He and his wife served as Patron and Matron of Pond Chapter No.853 Order of the Eastern Star and considered himself a “Masonic Feminist.”

Three Questions From Non-Masons

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Steven L. Harrison 33˚, FMLR

A few months ago I traveled to St. Louis to take part – social distancing protocol observed – in making a video of the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction degrees. While there, I received a phone call from someone back home. She wanted to discuss a project we were working on together. Then, just to make conversation, she asked what I was up to that day. I told her I was out of town with a group filming the degrees. She let out a gasp so loud it almost sucked the phone out of my hand, "ISN'T THAT SECRET?"

I've been a Freemason for twenty-two years now and her question brought to mind the things I have been most often asked by non-Masons.  In my experience – yours, of course, may differ – there are three main areas of… uh… concern.

The Secrets

We've all heard it a thousand times: "We are not a secret organization, we're an organization with secrets." Try convincing someone outside the fraternity we're not all about secrets. It was the first thing that caller thought to ask and she isn't alone. Our closed doors conjure up all kinds of speculation about our activities and motives. I have even known Brothers who joined just for the purpose of learning those secrets. Not too long ago my own Lodge had one such Brother.  I'll give him credit: he went through the line and became Master, all the time wondering, "When do the really juicy secrets kick in?" For him, they never did. He came to the installation of the Master who succeeded him and left, apparently disappointed, never to be seen again. The secrets… they want to know about those mysterious secrets.

The Meetings

The second question I get is, "Just WHAT do you do in those meetings?" It just follows, if we have all those secrets, we must be up to something strange and mysterious, even dark and evil, in our meetings. I can reach into my own experience for this. When I went with my dad to present his 50-year jewel I was not yet a Freemason. His Lodge conducted its entire meeting before letting me in to make the presentation. Even having been a DeMolay I couldn't help but wonder just what was going on in there. It's sometimes hard to convince people we're not making sacrifices, levitating the altar to reveal a picture of Satan, or having orgies. No, guys, we're not doing any of that, but we can sure plan a good bean dinner.

THAT Degree

The other thing I am most often asked, "Are you a 33°?" That seems to be the only level of "rank" people outside the fraternity know or care about. I have never once been asked if I am a Worshipful, Right Worshipful, Most Worshipful, Master, Knight, Commander, 32°, Grand Master, or anything else. Well, there is "Poo-Bah." I've been asked about that. We really should think about making that an official title. Apparently to outsiders it would rank right up there with the 33°. 

That pretty much covers the Big-3 of the questions I'm most often asked. I suppose I should give an "honorable mention" to some of the hats we wear. My wife Carolyn calls my Commandery Chapeau a "pirate hat," and when I'm headed for a Scottish Rite meeting she always asks if I have remembered my "bellhop cap." And let's not forget the Shrine Fez – the "poster child" of all funky Masonic caps.

I actually kind of like getting questions like these and I suppose my favorite is the question about the 33°. Now that I am one, my standard response is, "Yes I am a 33° which means I know ALL the secrets, MWAHAHAHAHA!"

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°  is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is also a Fellow and Past Master of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Among his other Masonic memberships is the St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite bodies, and Moila Shrine. He is also a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. Brother Steve was Editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine for a decade and is a regular contributor to the Whence Came You podcast. Born in Indiana, he has a Master's Degree from Indiana University and is retired from a 35-year career in information technology. Steve and his wife Carolyn reside in northwest Missouri. He is the author of dozens of magazine articles and three books: Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, Freemasons — Tales From the Craft and Freemasons at Oak Island.

What would you say you do here?

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Darin A. Lahners 

Office Space is a 1999 American black comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes the work-life of a typical mid-to-late-1990s software company, focusing on a handful of individuals weary of their jobs. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Space). One of the scenes in Office Space has a pair of consultants, Bob Slydell and Bob Porter (known in the movie as the Bobs) who are brought in to interview the employees in order to help the company downsize.  Bob Slydell, played by John C. McGinley, famously asks one of the employees, Tom Smykowski who is played by Richard Riehle, "What would you say you do here?"

Imagine if you will that Freemasonry was the corporation in Office Space instead of the fictional Initech.  Imagine that you were called before the "Bobs", and Bob Slydell posed that now-famous question at you, "What would you say you do here?"   What would your response be?  I believe that each individual Freemason would answer that question differently.  Some of you might give the old tried and true answer: "We take good men and we make them better."  Others might answer: "We make new Freemasons".  Others might not even know how to answer the question.  Others might have a completely different answer.    

Still, others might be more forthright answering, like the character of Peter in Office Space.  Peter, who is played by Ron Livingston, when interviewed by the "Bobs", confesses that he lacks the motivation to do a good job.

PETER

The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy. It's just that I just don't care. 

BOB PORTER 

Don't, don't care? 

PETER 

It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now, if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime. So where's the motivation? And here's another thing, Bob. I have eight different bosses right now! 

BOB SLYDELL 

I beg your pardon? 

PETER 

Eight bosses. 

BOB SLYDELL 

Eight? 

PETER 

Eight, bob. So that means when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my real motivation - is not to be hassled. That and the fear of losing my job, but y'know, Bob, it will only make someone work hard enough to not get fired. 

What would Peter say to the Bobs about Freemasonry?   I'd imagine the conversation going something like this:

PETER
The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy. It's just that I just don't care.

BOB PORTER
Don't, don't care?

PETER
It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now, if I show up to a meeting, there's a good chance that I'm going to spend all of the stated meeting listening to the other guys complain. I'm getting absolutely nothing from the Stated Meeting. There's no education, no festive board, nothing to entice me. So where's the motivation to attend? And here's another thing, Bob. We have eight different Past Masters right now!

BOB SLYDELL
I beg your pardon?

PETER
Eight Past Masters.

BOB SLYDELL
Eight?

PETER
Eight, bob. So that means when I make a mistake with my ritual or floor work, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it after the meeting. That's my real motivation - is not to be hassled. That and the fear of being publically embarrassed, but y'know, Bob, it will only make someone not want to come back to a meeting.

I'm being facetious, but unfortunately, the answer I gave above is based on personal experience. To the attentive ear, the question that Bob Slydell asks Tom sounds similar to one that is asked while opening on the First Degree.  "What came you here to do?"  The answer given is: "To learn to subdue my passions and improve myself in Masonry."   That answer is very telling.  How does someone learn something?  You either learn by trial and error, by observation, or you are taught; meaning you are educated.

Freemasonry further reinforces the idea of education being important in the Fellowcraft degree when the candidate is taught about the winding staircase consisting of three, five, and seven steps.  The Three steps alluding to the three degrees that each lodge confers, along with the three principal officers of the lodge, the Five Steps alluding to the Five orders of architecture along with the five human sense, and the Seven steps alluding to the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences, one of which, Geometry, Masonry is founded on.  I dare say that Education takes a major place in the Three Degrees.  In each degree, the candidate is taught about the working tools, the meanings behind our symbols, how to wear their apron, the due guard and signs, even the tokens and pass by which they can identify themselves as a Freemason.

It makes me wonder why education takes a backseat in our Stated Meetings?  Why is education not prioritized more by our Lodges?  If we are supposed to be improving ourselves in Masonry, then doesn't that allude to an ongoing process of educating ourselves? When we are told to make use of the common gavel for the more glorious purpose of divesting our hearts and consciences of the vices and superfluidities of life, thereby fitting our minds as living stones, for that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; are we not being told to undergo a process of self - improvement?  While divesting your heart and conscience of the vices and superfluidities of life sounds a lot like subduing one's passions, doesn't it also go hand in hand with improving yourself in Masonry?  Is it not part of one's self-improvement to learn new skills?  How does one fit their mind to be a living stone without educating it? 

How would you answer Bob Slydell?  One of the beautiful things about Freemasonry is that it holds a different meaning for each of us.  Therefore, we each will give a different answer to Bob Slydell. It's also somewhat worrisome. As Freemasonry finds itself competing for its member's attention with numerous outside distractions like Social Media, Streaming services, Sports, and other community organizations, shouldn't we want to prioritize one of the main things that Freemasonry should be doing for the majority of its members?  If we are to improve ourselves in Masonry, then Masonry needs to be educating its membership on how to do so.   Otherwise, we're not improving ourselves, we're settling for stagnation.  I'd suggest that the next time that you hear someone grip, groan, or moan about you daring to suggest that Education be a part of our meetings, you remind them of that line from the First degree, and then ask them like Bob Slydell would: "What would you say you do here?"

~DAL

WB Darin A. Lahners is our co-managing Editor.  He is a Past Master of and Worshipful 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 is the current Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign – Urbana (IL). You can reach him by email at darin.lahners@gmail.com   

Freemasonry Didn’t Give Me The Answers

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Adam Thayer

I, like many of you, came to Freemasonry in the hopes of finding answers to some of life’s biggest questions: why am I here, how can I be a better man, who am I really? In retrospect, that was rather unfair of me, to hang the most difficult questions around the neck of any organization, however from the outside it appeared that Freemasonry had all of the answers I was looking for.

In case you didn’t read the title (and you really should, we spend a LOT of work on those titles), Freemasonry didn’t give me the answers I was looking for.

Now, put away your pitchforks and torches; I can already hear the grumpy Past Master chorus of “You get out of it what you put into it.” and believe me, I know every verse to that song. Hear me out to the end of the article, and then you can lynch me if you still feel so inclined (authors are notoriously easy to catch).

Freemasonry gave me more questions than it has ever answered, but more importantly it has given me better questions to ask.

Freemasonry didn’t tell me why I was put on this earth, but it did make me ask what I can do with the time that I was given to make the largest impact on the world. What a fantastic question to ask! Instead of focusing on a selfish question, it redirected me to see how I could make the world a better place.

Freemasonry still hasn’t told me how to be a better man, and I highly doubt it ever will. Instead, it has put me in the close vicinity of better men, and made me ask what they are doing differently, what aspects of that can I copy, and what does it really mean to be a better man. It has shown me examples to strive to emulate, and more importantly it has helped me refined my question to the point that I could answer it for myself.

Freemasonry definitely hasn’t told me who I am; in fact, one of the very first questions it asked me is “Who are you that comes to my door?” Instead of answering that question, it has made me ask a much more important question: Who do I want to be?

What I’ve learned is that I, like many of you, came to Freemasonry with a false assumption: that any institution can answer the questions that we have. If you’re really lucky, maybe Freemasonry can help you to learn to ask the right questions too.

~AT

WB. Bro. Adam Thayer is the Senior Warden of Lancaster Lodge No. 54 in Lincoln (NE) and a past master of Oliver Lodge No. 38 in Seward (NE). He’s an active member in the Knights of Saint Andrew, and on occasion remembers to visit the Scottish and York Rites as well. He continues to be reappointed to the Grand Lodge of Nebraska Education Committee, and serves with fervency and zeal. He is a sub-host on The Whence Came You podcast, and may be reached at adam@wcypodcast.com. He will not help you get your whites whiter or your brights brighter, but he does enjoy conversing with brothers from around the world!

Why Is Masonry Still Important?

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Adam Thayer

Why is Masonry still important in modern society? It’s a very personal question, of course, and the answers I’ll provide are not necessarily the same as the ones you would give. Still, I believe we can provide the most common answers, bearing in mind that they are not necessarily the “right” answers for everyone.

First, Masonry provides a structured framework for personal growth. After all, our lectures can be divided into two categories: those that teach history, and those that teach methods of self-improvement. It’s so integral to our society that it is one of the first things a candidate hears during the questions and answers; to paraphrase, we ask “Where did you come from?” immediately followed by “Why are you here?”. For those who spend the time to study the ritual, we are provided with a metaphorical toolbox that we can use to improve every aspect of our lives. All it takes is for us, as the master workman, to apply those tools. They don’t do any good if they’re left sitting in the box!

Second, Masonry brings us fellowship with men from all strata of society, which frequently turns into lifelong friendships. We come together, the young and the old, the rich and the poor, with a common goal, and a common starting point: the initiatic experience that we have each undergone. No matter what experiences we have had outside the lodge, within its walls we all had the same common starting point: blinded, half dressed, and destitute, knocking on the door for admission.

Masonry provides a chance to learn leadership skills. Now, this may not apply to everyone, but it’s been my experience that if you are looking to hone your leadership skills, there is a position available for you. Masonry won’t make a bad leader into a good one, any more than it will turn a bad man into a good man, however for those who have an interest in improving their leadership abilities, the lodge is one of the best places to do so. Where else will you find a large group of other leaders who are willing to share their experience and advice with you?

Masonry gives you an avenue to give back to the world you live in. Masons in the United States donate an estimated $1.4 million daily, or approximately $1 billion every 2 years. That is money that we could have kept in our pockets, or within our lodges, but instead have decided to wisely invest in making our world a better place.

Again, you surely have more reasons than these four, they represent just enough to (hopefully) get you talking more amongst yourselves about what Masonry has done for you. If you cannot answer the question for yourself, how will you ever answer for a potential candidate? As for me, Masonry has made me a better husband, a better father, a better employee, a better friend, a better citizen, and most importantly a better man.

QUESTIONS:

1. Other than those listed what have you gotten out of Masonry?
2. It is often said that you get out of Masonry what you put into it. Have you found this to be accurate?