Freemason is to Earth as Vulcan is to the Universe

by Midnight Freemason Contributor
WB. Robert H. Johnson


Well, it's been about a week since Leonard Nimoy passed away. No, he wasn't a Freemason. Mr.
Nimoy's passing made me reminisce about Star Trek The Original Series or TOS as "Trekies" would call it. I used to lay on the carpet in front of the television and watch it with my Grandpa. He got me interested in sci-fi at a young age.

Watching the adventures of Kirk and Spock filled my imagination with great ideas for playtime. As I
grew older however, I started to see the show for what it really was, a showcase for political and social problems that the world was trudging through, disguised by a charismatic crew of space explorers trekking from planet to planet solving the problems of Earth in the 1960's.

One character always had the logical answer, but not wholly. Spock was half human, so although he would give the logical course of action, it was not without emotion.


Spock - "Do not grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many, outweigh..."
Kirk - "The needs of the few."

An exchange from Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan, when he [Spock] sacrificed himself to save the countless lives aboard the Enterprise 1701. I ask you, is this not something a Mason might do and or say?

There is a direct parallel to Masonry here, at least
to me anyway. It would seem like the Vulcan culture manifested in the universe of Star Trek mirrors the logical thought processes we as Masons are taught to use in our everyday lives. To suppress vice, to break away from the superfluities and obey the dictates of logic. And to self sacrifice for the good of humanity.

As humans in the real world however, we have feelings which can cloud logic and this was also the plight of Spock. He sometimes struggled with his human emotions as half human, just as we whole humans struggle with the dictates of logic which Masonry teaches us to use. Perhaps if the universe had a Freemason-like culture, Vulcan would be the best candidate, no pun intended.

Thanks for everything Mr. Nimoy, we have been and always shall be, your friend.

~RHJ

Bro. Robert Johnson, 32°is the Managing Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the First North-East District of Illinois. He is the Master of Waukegan Lodge No. 78 and Education officer for the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. He is also a member of the York Rite bodies Royal Arch, Cryptic Council, Knights Templar, AMD, The Illinois Lodge of Research and a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago as well as a charter member of the Society of King Solomon, a charity organization run by the Grand Lodge of Illinois. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts weekly Podcasts (internet radio programs) Whence Came You? & Masonic Radio Theatre which focus on topics relating to Freemasonry. In addition, he produces video shorts focusing on driving interest in the Fraternity and writes original Masonic papers from time to time. He is also a cohost of The Masonic Roundtable, a Masonic talk show. He is a husband and father of three. He works full time in the safety industry and is also a photographer on the side as well as an avid home brewer. He is currently working on a book of Masonic essays.

The Masonic Academic Bowl

By Midnight Freemason Contributor
WB Gregory J. Knott

St. Joseph-Ogden H.S. Scholastic Bowl Team
“Who wrote the Broadway musical - The Sound of Music?”  The correct answer was quickly given by one of the young team members, “composers Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II.”   This was one of the questions recently asked at a regional contest of the Illinois Masonic Academic Bowl.   

The Illinois Masonic Academic Bowl is a program of the Grand Lodge of Illinois and is an academic knowledge competition between Illinois high school scholastic bowl team.  Local high school teams are sponsored by a local lodge.  The goal is to provide positive recognition for academic excellence.

Eric Buzzard
 Our area lodges are strong supporters of this program and many lodge members were in attendance to watch the tournament.   The students are very bright and eager to demonstrate their knowledge.   The questions are not easy and honestly I didn’t know most of the answers.

This program hits the heart of what Freemasonry should be, education of the mind and self-improvement.  It’s also a wonderful program to put Freemasonry in front of the general public to help understand what we are about.

One of my St. Joseph Lodge No. 970 brothers, Eric Buzzard, has long been an advocate of the scholastic bowl team at our high school.  He and his wife Lyna regularly attend the matches.  They also coordinate a year pizza party that is sponsored by the lodge.  Many people in the community know about the lodge because of Eric’s efforts.   Eric is also a member of the Illinois Grand Lodge academic bowl committee.

Does your Grand Lodge have a program similar to this?  If not I encourage you to inquire and get one started.   Illinois has a wonderful model to look at.




~GJK
WB Gregory J. Knott is the Past Master of St. Joseph Lodge No. 970 in St. Joseph (IL) and a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL) and Naval Lodge No. 4 in Washington, DC.  He’s a member of the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Eastern Star and is the Charter Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign-Urbana.  He is also a member of ANSAR Shrine (IL) and the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees.  Greg serves on the Board of Directors of The Masonic Society and is a member of the Scottish Rite Research Society and The Philathes Society.  Greg is very involved in Boy Scouts—an Eagle Scout himself, he is a member of the National Association of Masonic Scouters. 

Interactive Leadership

by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor
WB. Ken Baril


Identifying and developing successful candidates for line positions within the lodge is one of the greatest challenges confronting our fraternity today. Furthermore, given the breadth of interest in the continuing goal of achieving, more pressure is being placed on Masters to identify capable Brothers, and to accelerate their development to fulfill these positions with greater responsibilities and leadership.

A Masters challenge is to ensure the capable brothers are identified and receive aggressive Masonic training in leadership skills, responsive monitoring in role attainment, and initial guidance for role performance. This is apparent. Masters will need assistance in order to add this challenge to their list of top priorities.

An organization is a relatively permanent interaction system to coordinate the placement and development of the membership from the common good of task accomplishment. To the extent that Masters assume responsibility in getting new officers to thoroughly understand their role and its relationship to organizational goals, the officers will internalize the need for role competency, task accomplishment and personal commitment.

Masters and their officers need not to be in conflict, but rather on a continuing path for growth. Our fraternity has purposes, aspirations and values. These dictate the manner in which individual capacities are developed and used for task accomplishment. Some newly appointed officers will need to develop their strengths, others to learn to use unused talents, yet others will need to acquire new approaches. In contrast to a conflict model, the values associated with changes such as these will dictate that Masters be directed toward using experiential-learning tools in exploring the capacities and expectations of Brothers being considered for line positions.

Whether the emphasis is on the tasks associated with getting things done, or on human relationships associated with interpersonal growth, the process of interactive leadership must reflect task and personal growth as simultaneous attributes of leadership excellence. This is imperative if we are to influence effectively our Brothers opportunity to grow and to develop, and just as important, use the rich resources and talents within our fraternity.

~KB

WB Ken Baril
was born in New Haven, CT. and moved to the Cincinnati area in 1999. He is a three time Master of his lodge, Temple Lodge No. 16. AF & AM, 1982-1983-1995, located in Cheshire, CT. While living in Connecticut and prior to his moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, Ken has been the featured speaker at many public schools and Veterans organizations. Ken is a published author who has written a book focusing on members of the Masonic Fraternity who have been recipients of our nation’s highest award for bravery, the prestigious Medal of Honor called " The Medal of Honor - The Letter G in Valor". Ken has dedicated his time and effort to researching and developing various programs including, “The Medal of Honor Program,” “The Immortal Four Chaplains,” as well as many others. His programs are dedicated to the preservation of an important portion of American history, contributions, and sacrifices, in the defense of the United States, and to the memory of all those who have given their lives in the pursuit of that objective. He also writes articles for various Masonic publications. He served his country during the Korean War in the United States Air Force. He currently resides in Hudson, FL. with his wife, Marion.

Clubs

by Midnight Freemason Contributor
R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley

Athenaeum Club's South Library
Nostalgia is a word we use to color what one borrows 
from half remembered yesterdays and unfulfilled tomorrows. 
--J. Allan Lind

Indianapolis Masonic Temple
I’ve been a student of Victorian British history since I first read Sherlock Holmes when I was twelve, and, while I’ve done serious scholarly work on it, including a doctoral dissertation on mid-Victorian radical journalism, one of my less serious interests is the British Gentleman’s club. They always seemed to me to be like a cross between a library with comfortable chairs, a good tobacconist, and a less seedy faculty lounge furnished with old wood, marble, and servants. There were clubs for every interest: the Reform, the Conservative, and the Carleton Clubs for politicians, the Army and Navy Club for members of the armed forces, The Athenaeum Club for artist, writers, and scientists, the Oxford and Cambridge University Club for members of those universities, and more. They usually offered the amenities that a gentleman might seek when socializing: fine dining, reading rooms, smoking rooms, and a bar. Most of them were in the same neighborhood in London, informally called “Clubland,” which made it easy for a gentleman who belonged to several clubs to choose where to spend time according to his mood. They were such a well-known feature of elite life that P.G. Wodehouse set several scenes in them for his creation Bertie Wooster to make observations about life among the chinless idiots of the upper class, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created the Diogenes Club for the misanthropes of Sherlock Holmes’s world.

Athenaeum Club Library
These were elite institutions for those who could pay the hefty subscription fee and other costs associated with yearly membership. Socialization with others of similar social standing and interests was their reason for being. They existed as a refuge from the world, where men of like minds and congenial dispositions could dine, converse, read, and drink, and generally just be themselves. Andrew Robert Buxton Cavendish, the 11th Duke of Devonshire, said, “You can, to a very considerable extent, judge a man’s tastes, possibly even his character, by the club to which he belongs.” The company a man keeps, it seems, says something about his character, and in that, at least, clubs resembled Masonic lodges in their desire to admit only those men who met internal as well as external qualifications. 

Athenaeum Club
The club buildings themselves, especially the ones built in the 19th century, were usually grand affairs, with glorious interiors. The Athenaeum Club’s South Library in particular is worth the membership fees by itself, and the thought of spending a day in the library, with dinner and cigars to follow, makes me a trifle giddy. Buildings like these are architecture done right, for the right purposes, and follow a tradition of beautifully arranged structures with which Masons ought to be fully in sympathy.

Reform Club Room
Masonic Temples and the Grand Lodge buildings erected at the beginning of the 20th century are very much in that tradition. The Indianapolis Freemasons' Hall, to name just one, is a glorious example of that kind of Masonic architecture, and would look quite at home among London’s clubs. It’s also unusual in being still in use as a thriving Masonic building. If you pay any attention to Masonic news these days, you'll soon discover that many lodges and appendant bodies are divesting themselves of the great buildings they erected in the halcyon days of the fraternity, as being too expensive to maintain. There’s much sadness at these losses, and I’m entirely in sympathy with that feeling. I look at the London Clubs and the Grand Masonic Temples with a nostalgic wistfulness, for they are no longer the norm. But it’s a mistake to view them as being the same kind of thing. A London Club’s building was essentially its reason for being, which was to provide a place of refuge and conviviality. A Masonic Lodge is a different thing entirely. A lodge is not a building, but is a certain number of Masons duly assembled, with a charter empowering them to work. Freemasonry is not found in buildings, no matter how humble or grand or beloved. 

Reform Club
Where there is enough population to make these buildings economically viable, and a board of directors exists with enough vision to move with the times, a grand Masonic Temple can survive, and even thrive, as the Indianapolis Freemasons’ Hall demonstrates. But both of those conditions are necessary; neither is sufficient. That’s not to say that a seemingly hopeless state of affairs can’t be turned around, but Masons work based on real knowledge, rather than nostalgia, and a hard analysis of whether a building can and should be saved can’t be rejected in favor of sentimental inertia. 


The Reform Club Building
If we can save our historic buildings, we should at least try. If a lodge or lodges occupy a beautiful physical building, that is truly wonderful, and they should be good stewards of that heritage. But we need to recognize that buildings are not essential to our Craft. Our Temples are not to be found in Clubland. They are visible in our actions, glorified in our Work, and majestic in our hearts.





~MHS

R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley serves the Grand Lodge of Illinois, A.F. & A.M, as Leadership Development Chairman and Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master of the Eastern Area. A Certified Lodge Instructor, he is a Past Master and Life Member of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and a plural member of Island City Lodge No. 330, F & AM, in Minocqua, Wisconsin. He currently serves the Valley of Danville, AASR, as Most Wise Master of the George E. Burow Chapter of Rose Croix; he is also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the York Rite, Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, Eastern Star, Illini High Twelve, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. The author of several articles on British history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.You can contact him at: m.h.shirley@gmail.com