Is it true what they say about freemasonry?-essay

Is it true what they say about freemasonry?

Depending on who “they” are the answer is most of the time a big NO.
Freemasonry is not a great repository of esoteric knowledge, not some secret cabal of elite men in the community, not some cabal of the politically connected men, and sadly like all human beings not even up to the ethical standards we set for ourselves. I will try to communicate a bit from my own journey what Freemasonry is from my perspective in the organization. I will also poke back at the Pro and Anti comments that are just plain wrong.

No Virginia, there are no worshiping of Goat heads. No rejections of Jesus Christ are present in any of the ritual, in fact the ritual quotes from the Old Testament and the Christian nature of the authors of the blue lodge ritual is apparent to any who have studied Christian symbolism much. We don’t have our own g-d, because there is but one g-d. No brother in the lodge presumes to say anything else in a formal lodge setting, even if they may want to.

And sorry we don’t purposefully ever draw blood or injure others (the incident in New York being a problematic exception). *YES* elements in the ritual can accidentally cause harm, but not if the Brothers doing them are well experienced and just don’t have a bad night. Now, some times the candidate can do things that cause injuries to happen as well but that can’t really be planned for. Other mishaps, well they happen to but also on the rare occasion that they become the source of Jokes after the meeting is over and for many years to come.

In some Jurisdictions you have to take pretty nasty oaths, things even if I could go into them from an obligatory aspect I wouldn’t –because they are nasty- but it is made clear at several points in the ritual everything you see is symbolic. Later on in your Masonic career if you join the Shiners they even have a ritual that explains that very thing about the penalties. I have been told by some brothers that some Labor unions have similar oaths. And that even Jesus made such oaths in the bible (I would have to look up the reference). But the “bloody oaths” of Masonry are of the Kin to those unions and old guilds who had such things. It is a trapping of the past used to punctuate the obligation process.

These oaths protect secrets that were already violated in England before they came to the states (and violated here again with the Morgan affair). In the modern age with the “evangelical” anti-masonry much of the information so many brothers would consider secret is out on the Internet. The Mormon Church has elements of Masonic ritual in their services (not every Masonic or Mormon source will agree to this fact, but based on what I have read I am reminded of the old Orthodox Jewish saying “Coincidence isn’t a kosher word)

I have seen Masonic Rituals online that I only have one possible source for doubt of their validity –I have not sat in lodge there-. I even used one such source to help me on some rough spots in my Masonic memory work.

Politically Lodges fit their demographics. From my experience in Florida most have served our country in time of war (Vietnam, Korea, World War II… I’d even swear some brothers were in WWI) most of them are middle class or small business owners, a very small number –I would say statistically equivalent to their community- are holding of any wealth. In my part of Florida, I’d be surprised if many of my Brothers voted Democrat (again because of the local community values). If I drove to Boston I am sure the opposite would be true.

The great “esoteric” elements of Freemasonry while they may be there have as much to do with the Freemasonry of today as the buildings of Londinum have to do with the city of London of today. While it is possible this esotericism pre-dated the Freemasonry of today it is also likely that the ritual of Freemasonry inspired the esotericism that many masons in the past (and today) find such meaning in. We don’t know a lot about the Period before the Grand Lodges were first formed, the further back you go the sketchier it gets. So while some great cabal of druids in the woods may have sat down in the lodge rooms of Scotland, its just whimsy and faith that you can base such an idea upon.

Our Grand Honorees aren’t picked by a secret process at all. The Honorary 33rd Degree of Ancient and Accepted Scottish rite is based on a formula of the membership of the valley in question. A slot is replaced when some one dies, and when a new “slot” is created it is done by appointment of those prominent masons who make such a call. And who gets appointed? People who donate a lot of money to the Scottish rite? You be they do. How about people who are prominent in Masonic body x, y, and/or Z? And how brother. People who are famous? Yep they get bumped to the head of the line. Hardly the “high priesthood” of Satan it is made out to be.

In York rite, the highest honorees have to be a Trinitarian Christian, and swear an oath to defend the Christian faith. Again, hardly a source of the great satanic evil we are made out to be.

If you find yourself in a Masonic lodge chances are you will find yourself in a room of men 60-70 years old. A decent bunch of 50 and 40 year old scrappers and a few “babies” in their twenty and thirty year old demographics. Depending on the lodge community you join a lot of Blue collar folks will be in your lodge, some exceptions apply based on the nature of your community.

Many states try to make it easier to join the lodge, and see less people returning. Many years have the lodges become a mill for people who wanted to join “the shrine” and they have had a real problem placing value in their own organization.

These men all try to live up to the high ideals of freemasonry, and do so to the best of their human ability but often slip (as humans are want to do.) the Brothers and the lodge will donate to the human family through charity as much as they are able. Out in the lobby or elsewhere off color jokes will be told, tales of Masonic ritual gone wrong, the occasional philosophical discussion, and a decent helping of Brotherhood.

In other words, not much different then the world outside, but we try our best to be.