The 2nd Annual Lecture Series

At my home lodge, they present some amazing lecture series.  In fact, the 2011 lecture series is what drew me to the doors of Ionic Composite Lodge No. 520 F. & A.M.

This year is no different, there are some amazing scheduled lectures to enjoy, below is the schedule for the series.

February 13th, 1st lecture at 7:30 p.m.

Speaker is The Grand Orator, Wor.’.John Heisner

Subject: the “Alchemy of the Third Degree”

followed by a social hour with refreshments and scotch (donated according to CMC.)

Master Masons only.

April 18th 2nd lecture at 7:30 p.m.

Presented by a distinguished panel of scholars from The Southern California Research Lodge.

Subject: “The Influence of Kabbalah on Freemasonry”

followed by a social hour with refreshments and scotch (donated according to CMC.)

Master Masons only.

June 7th 3rd lecture at 7:30 p.m.

Speakeris Thomas Quinn

Subject: “Conspiracy Theories and Freemasonry.”

followed by refreshments and scotch (donated according to CMC.)

All Masons welcome.

4th lecture at 7:30 p.m. — Date & Subject to be determined

Join the Ionic Composite Lodge No. 520 F. & A.M. facebook page to be kept up to date.

If you happen to be in the Los Angeles area, bring your dues card, and come join us in some wonderful fraternal spirit, we always have room for more side-liners and enjoy something that you generally don’t hear much anymore in a degree… Music!

Worshipful.’.Brethren.’.Friends & Family,

I’ve been asked and have accepted to be the Organist (Lyre) for Ionic Composite Lodge No. 520 F. & A.M.

My installation will be on December 18, 2011 at 6:00pm.If you are so inclined in attending, please email: ionicomp@sbcglobal.net or you can call the office at 310-657-2628.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Brotherly, Fraternally and with the warmest of thoughts,

Geoffrey Schumann

A formal, period-inspired dinner with historical and dramatic presentations on the original Grand Lodge of 1717.

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Location: Culver City Masonic Temple, 9635 Venice Blvd.

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- Open to all -
$25.00 pre-paid admission.

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For reservations, call Olaf Folta, 310-866-0256, or

email Curtis Shumaker: curtis_998@hotmail.com

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Also, here is our website with a paypal link to pay for the Johns Feast.

Scrolldown the page:

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Fraternally,
Curtis Shumaker Master, Culver City-Foshay #467

April 13, 2011

Science and the Second Degree of Masonry

John L. Cooper III, Ph.D.

The subject of tonight’s lecture is “Science and the Second Degree of Masonry.”  The Second Degree of Masonry, or the Fellow Craft Degree, is widely considered to thebe the “intellectual degree” of Ancient Craft Masonry.  The Entered Apprentice Degree introduces us to the Craft, and it presents to us the elemental working tools of a Freemason, together with a simple, but profound, promise to keep the secrets of Freemasonry that will be entrusted to us.  The symbols are concrete in nature:  a twenty-four inch gauge, a common gavel, a rough and perfect ashlar, a mosaic pavement, a blazing star, and such primary substances as chalk, charcoal and clay, among others. Some symbols are historic in nature, such as the reference to the Tabernacle in the Wilderness as having been a model for King Solomon’s Temple, and thus for a Masonic lodge.  And some are allegorical in nature, such as the Formof a Lodge extending from east to west and from north to south. But the symbolismis rather straightforward.

When we enter into the symbolism of the Fellow Craft Degree it is obvious that thenature of the symbolism has changed.  It has now become an allegory rather than simply a set of symbols presented to the candidate.  In some Masonic rituals, Freemasonry is referred to as “a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbol.” A common dictionary definition of allegory is “therepresentation of abstract ideas by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.”  As such, the candidate in the Fellow Craft Degree is introduced to the allegory of King Solomon’s Temple in a unique way.  Although theEntered Apprentice Degree uses the symbol of the Mosaic Pavement as a representation of human life, checkered with good and evil, it is essentially a static symbol. In the Second Degree of Masonry we are introduced to a dynamic symbol – actually an allegory – of King Solomon’s Temple, whereby the candidate ascends a Winding Staircase and progresses through outer and inner doors to the Middle Chamber. These are not simple symbols, but rather an allegory which will be explored in this paper.

The title of this paper is “Science and the Second Degree of Masonry.”  Science, today, implies a body of knowledge which is based on observation and experiment.  Again, the common dictionary definition of science is “the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.” All of contemporary science is based upon observation – that which can be physically seen, even though we use instruments to enhance the senses.  Until the invention of the telescope, it was not possible to see the universe in any meaningful way, and until the invention of the microscope, it was not possible to observe the minute forms of nature which lie below the threshold of our ordinary sight. Even the most elementary understanding today of astronomy, biology, and physics, leads us to understand that there is much beyond the ordinary powers of observation which enhancement and augmentation can bring about.  The Hubble telescope has enabled us to gain knowledge of the universe that would have been unimaginable to Copernicus, and the electron microscope has enabled us to “see” a world that none knew existed before its invention.

Science also relies on the organization of what is observed in a systematic fashion.  Hypotheses are made, and then subjected to confirmation.  We are all familiar, perhaps, with the practice of proving the null hypothesis.  The scientific method progresses according to established rules of logic, and scientific inquiry is the process of disproving an idea – a hypothesis – rather than “proving” it.  Truth is thus a temporary and moving target, subject to subsequent examination and confirmation.  A theory is – again, according to the common dictionary definition – “a set of statements of principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be usedto make predictions about natural phenomena.”  That which is not testable by theuse of observation or experiment is therefore, by definition, not scientific.

We also make a distinction between the natural sciences and the social sciences.  Returning again to a dictionary definition, natural sciences are those that collectively “are involved in the study of the physical world and its phenomena, including biology, physics, chemistry, and geology, but excluding social sciences, abstract or theoretical sciences, such as mathematics, and applied sciences.”  The “Staircase Lecture” of the Fellow Craft Degree introduces us to the last named subject, that of an “applied science”, by identifying “Operative Masonry” with “Architecture.”  Listen to the words of the monitorial part of our lecture:

By Operative Masonry we allude to a proper application of the useful rules ofarchitecture, whence a structure will derive figure, strength, and beauty, andfrom which will result a due proportion and just correspondence in all its parts. It furnishes us with dwellings and convenient shelters from the vicissitudes and inclemencies of the seasons; and, while it displays the effects of human wisdom, as well in the choice as in the arrangement of the several materials of which an edifice is composed, it demonstrates that a fund of science and industry is implanted in man for the best, most salutary and most beneficent purposes.

The lecture states that there is an innate quality within a human being which causes us to create structures in our world. In the context quoted, these structuresare actually buildings, for we are told that the exercise of this faculty causes the construction of “dwellings and convenient shelters form the vicissitudes and inclemencies of the seasons…..”  However, the reference is not to a particular physical building, but rather to an abstract concept of a “dwelling” or an “edifice.”

This introduction to the Lecture of the Fellow Craft Degree is actually the beginning of the allegorical instruction regarding King Solomon’s Temple which will follow. It is easy to miss this allegory because our mind tends to concentrate on the supposed purpose of the use of the “applied science” of architecture, or “Operative Masonry,” rather than the concept behind it.  What is really being described is a paradigm. The word “paradigm” comes from the Greek word, parádeigma, meaninga “pattern.” A paradigm is something that enables us to make sense of a series ofphenomena that are observed. In the Lecture of the Fellow Craft Degree, the pattern of the observed phenomena that structures have “figure, strength and beauty,” to quote from the ritual, leads us to understand that the creation of structures which have this must spring from some source – and in this case, thesource is the human mind. We will see, later, how important this idea is to an understanding of the allegory to be explained later in the Lecture of the Fellow Craft Degree.

Before proceeding further, however, it is important to understand another term related to our understanding of a paradigm or a “pattern” which is observed.  In 1962 Thomas Samuel Kuhn, an American physicist, originated the term paradigm shift to describe the way in which a model of scientific explanation evolves.  If a paradigm is a pattern or model, and if it is later discarded and a different pattern or model replaces it, Kuhn calls this process a “paradigm shift.”  An example of this isthe Ptolemaic system of the universe in which the earth is at the center of the solar system, which was replaced by the heliocentric system of Copernicus.  It should be noted in passing that the Entered Apprentice Degree apparently still has a Ptolemaic system in mind because we are shown the symbol of Jacob’s Ladder, “reaching from earth to heaven,” and no comment is made about the impossibility of this having occurred. Of course this is a reference to a story from Genesis concerning the Patriarch, Jacob, but nonetheless, we accept this symbol without much noticing that it belongs to a astronomical paradigm which few, if any, would accept today as a valid scientific statement of fact.

In his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn is trying to understandwhy our patterns or models – our paradigms – change or shift over time.  For example, he says:

“Normal science does not aim at novelties of fact or theory and, when successful, finds none. New and unsuspected phenomena are, however, repeatedly uncovered by scientific research, and radical new theories have again and again been invented by scientists.  History even suggests that the scientific enterprise has developed a uniquely powerful technique for producing surprises of this sort.  If this characteristic of science is to be reconciled with what has already been said, then research under a paradigm must be a particularly effective way of inducing paradigm change.”  (Kuhn, p. 52)

The point of all this is that true scientific paradigms cannot be dogmatic.  Theymust function to describe the internal consistency of the phenomena being studied, and subject it to testable hypotheses.  They must also continue to focus on the anomalies produced by the paradigm because it is these anomalies that future break-throughs may occur – even break-throughs that may eventually destroy the paradigm itself. The Ptolemaic paradigm of the universe was not replaced so much by the fact that it was wrong – it accounted for observations at the time rather perfectly – but by the fact that anomalies observed eventually caused the entire paradigm to shift to a new one.  It is this openness to change that is essential to the use of a paradigm, and it is this unique openness to the possibility of change in an understanding of truth that is the real nature of scientific inquiry.

It is important to keep this in mind when we return to the Fellow Craft Degree.  At the conclusion of the degree, the Master delivers a lecture on a paradigm of the universe, and asks the candidate to join him in  symbolically demonstrating the consequences of the discovery of this paradigm.  I refer here to the following from our monitorial work:

“By Geometry we may curiously trace nature through her various windings toher most concealed recesses.  By it we discover the power, wisdom and goodness of the Great Artificer of the Universe, and view with delight the proportions which connect this vast machine.  By it we discover how theplanets move in their respective orbits, and demonstrate their various revolutions. By it we account for the return of seasons, and the variety of scenes which each season displays to the discerning eye.  Numberless worlds are around us, all framed by the same Divine Artist, which roll through thevast expanse, and are all conducted by the same unerring law of nature.

A survey of nature, and the observation of her beautiful proportions, first determined man to imitate the Divine plan, and to study symmetry and order.  This gave rise to societies and birth to every useful art.  The architect began to design; and the plans which he laid down, being improved by time and experience, have produced works which are the admiration of every age.”

At this point in the ceremony, the candidate has already been introduce to the sevenLiberal Arts and Sciences – grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.  This set, or classification, of knowledge, once comprised the whole of our understanding of the world. It is introduced in the lecture not because Freemasons believe that it still encompasses all knowledge, but as a symbol of the completeness of knowledge which is important to an integrated mind.  The vast quantity of knowledge today has made it the realm of the specialist, and it is perhaps easy to forget that there was a time when the truly educated man was expected to understand something about all fields of knowledge, as well as how they were interrelated. That may be an impossibility today, but there is much to be said for a broad education which gives a man an understanding of the important principles of many fields of knowledge, if not the details now confined to the specialist.

The Master calls the new Fellow Craft’s attention to what Freemasons state to be the most important of these seven branches of knowledge – geometry.  The candidate has already received an explanation of geometry, or at least an abbreviated explanation, by the Senior Deacon.  Now the Master explains whygeometry is considered by Freemasons to be the most important of the sciences, .  The observations that the Master makes are two:

• The observable world is the result of the operation of the “unerring law of nature,” and
• The laws of nature are the result of the “power, wisdom, and goodness of the Great Artificer of the Universe.”

The symbolic consequences of this assertion is that all Masons, from the youngest Entered Apprentice in the northeast corner of the lodge to the Worshipful Master inthe East, should acknowledge this in an esoteric fashion revealed to the Fellow Craft at this important juncture.

At this point it is important to realize that this section of the lecture is a paradigm, and not a dogmatic assertion.  By making this portion of the lecture of the Fellow Craft Degree into a statement of fact rather than a paradigm which leads us to further investigation is to miss the point. After all, we have already made our pointabout the existence of God for the candidate.  At the beginning of his Masonicjourney we asked him in whom he put his trust, and then, in the lecture which followed, we told him that “no atheist can ever be made a Mason.”  The purpose ofthe lecture about geometry in the Fellow Craft Degree is not to deliver a dogmatic statement about the nature of the universe to the Fellow Craft, but rather to present him with a paradigm for him to explore.  You will remember that I said earlier that Thomas Kuhn observed that the purpose of a paradigm is to bring order to a set of facts, and to encourage the testing of the paradigm in order todemonstrate the null hypothesis – to discard what does not work for the paradigm, and also to open the door to new discoveries as anomalies which do not fit the paradigm are pursued.  And he told us that this is the genius of the scientific enterprise.  It imposes order on our thought processes and enables us to test what we believe to be true, without suppressing the possibility that the paradigm might eventually be replaced by a better paradigm.  In a like fashion, Freemasonry does not present the candidate with a set of beliefs, or dogmas, which must beuncritically accepted, but instead encourages him to passionately pursue the search for truth.  To make the statement that “numberless worlds are around us, which roll through the vast expanse, and are all conducted by the same unerring law of nature,” is not so much statement of fact as it is a statement of a hypothesis associated with a particular paradigm of how the universe operates.  We are not asking the Fellow Craft to accept a particular concept of astronomy;  we are presenting him with a starting point for his own investigation of the universe.

To illustrate this better, we need to know a bit more about where the Fellow Craft Degree came from, and something about its probable author.  We also need to know something of the towering figure of Eighteenth Century science – Sir Isaac Newton.  Newton was born in 1643, and died in 1727. So far as we know he was not a Freemason, but he had tremendous influence on Freemasonry as it evolved from a simple stonemasons guild into the modern fraternity that we know today.  His Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, published in 1687, is one of the most important scientific books ever written.

Just as the Commonwealth was coming to a close, and Charles II was returning to London to take the throne in 1661, a group of some twelve scientists who had been meeting from time to time in London, and who had called themselves “The Invisible College,” requested and received a charter from the King as “The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge,” known more simply in history as “The Royal Society.” The purpose of the society was to encourage the investigation of knowledge, and more especially the “new science” as promoted by Sir Francis Bacon in his book New Atlantis, first published in 1624. The Royal Society is still in existence today, and acts as a scientific advisor to the British government.  Many ofits early members have been identified as Freemasons, or were closely associated with those that we know to have been Freemasons.  Sir Christopher Wren, the greatarchitect, is one.  Recent research has confirmed that he was a member of the lodge that met at the Goose and Gridiron in St. Paul’s Churchyard – now the Lodge of Antiquity No. 2 on the register of the United Grand Lodge of England.  Sir Isaac Newton was president of the Royal Society from 1703 until his death in 1727.

One of the founders of the first Grand Lodge in 1717 was Dr. John Theophilus Desaguliers, a respected member of the Royal Society, and a close friend of Sir Isaac Newton. A priest of the Church of England, Desaguliers was also a rationalist, and curator of experiments for the Royal Society.  He was born in 1683 in France, the son of Huguenot parents, who fled France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685.  The revocation of the Edict of Nantes imposed harsh penalties on Protestants, such as the Desaguliers family.  Parents could leave the country, but they could not take their children with them, who were to remain in France and be raised as Catholics. John’s father smuggled him out of the country in a barrel – certainly a traumatic experience for a young boy. John apparently neverforgot this episode in his life, and Freemasonry, with its attendant toleration of men of all religious faiths, was particularly attractive to him.  He was the third Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England, having been installed as such in 1719.

We do not know how the Fellow Craft Degree came into existence, but there is a strong belief amongst some Masonic students that it was the creation of Dr. Desaguliers. If so, then its content reflects his interest in science and the pursuit of knowledge. Dr. Margaret Jacob has documented the close association of Freemasonry with the development of the scientific spirit during this time period, and so it is no surprise that Desaguliers should have been able to import the philosophy so closely associated with the Royal Society into the Second Degree of Freemasonry.

Our evidence for the content of the Fellow Craft Degree in the earliest times is, ofcourse, the various Masonic exposures which began to appear around 1696, andbecame more common after the formation of the Grand Lodge in 1717.  From those sources we know that some of the content which eventually ended up in the Second Degree may have been present in the earlier Admission Ceremony.  Material that later found its way into the Fellow Craft Degree, and even the Master Mason Degree, is found, jumbled together, in the earlier exposés.  For example, in A Mason’s Examination, published in April, 1723, we find the following:

A Fellow I was sworn most rare, And know the Astler, Diamond, and Square:I know the Master’s Part full well, As honest Maughbin will you tell.

If a Master-Mason you would be, Observe you well the Rule of Three; And what you want in Masonry, Thy Mark and Maughbin makes thee free.

With the possible exception of the Wilkinson Manuscript, which has been attributed to the late 1720’s, the first mention of the “Letter G” as a part of our ritual is Prichard’s Masonry Dissected, published in 1730. This is the first exposé to havethe three degrees of Masonry, and thus many students are of the opinion that this represents the development of the ritual during the second and third decades of the 18^th century. The “Letter G” is associated here with both “Geometry” and “God”, and while we know that Geometry was considered the most important of the Liberal Arts and Sciences in the old Gothic Constitutions, it is only when we come to the 1730 exposure that we find that “Geometry” and “God” are set forth as essentially meaning the same thing.  I do not believe that this is an accident.  A fertile mind, such as that of Desaguliers, was quite capable of taking the subject of “Geometry” from the old manuscript “constitutions” which had originally been read at the making of a Mason before the advent of the Grand Lodge era, and adding to it the concept of “God” considered as the “Grand Geometrician of the Universe.”  Here is what Masonry Dissected says:

Q. Are you a Fellow-Craft?  A. I am.

Q. Why was you made a Fellow-Craft? A.  For the sake of the Letter G.

Q.  What does that G denote?  A. Geometry, or the fifth Science.

….. …..  …… …..

Q. When you came into the middle [chamber], what did you see?

A. The Resemblance of the Letter G

Q. What doth that G denote? A.  One that’s greater than you.

Q. Who’s greater than I, that am a Free and Accepted Mason,

The Master of a Lodge?A The Grand Architect and Contriver of the Universe, or He that was taken up to the top of the Pinnacle of the Holy Temple.A Can you repeat the Letter G? A. I’ll do my Endeavour.

The Repeating of the Letter G

In the midst of Solomon’s Temple there stands a G,

A Letter fair for all to read and see,

But few there be that understands What means that Letter G.

My Friend, if you pretend to beOf this Fraternity,

You can forthwith and rightly tellWhat means that Letter G.

By Sciences are brought to Light Bodies of various Kinds,

Which do appear to perfect Sight;

But none but Males shall know my Mind.

The Right shall [Response] If Worshipful.

Both Right and Worshipful I am,

To Hail you I have Command,

That you do forthwith let me know,

As I you may understand.

By Letters Four and Science FiveThis G aright doth stand,

In a due Art and Proportion, You have you Answer, Friend.

My Friend, you answer well,

If Right and Free Principles you discover,

I’ll change your Name from Friend,

And henceforth call you Brother.

The Sciences are well compos’d

Of noble Structure’s Verse,

A Point, a Line, and an Outside;

But a Solid is the last.

It must be remembered that what Masonry Dissected is “exposing” is the lecturesthat follow each degree, which, in those days, were in “question and answer” format, or what we call a “catechism”.  It does not purport to give the “working”, i.e., the conferral of the degree.  However, it is entirely possible that this excerpt, which is inthe form of a poem, is actually what was said to the candidate when he was presented with the “Letter G” during the ceremony of being made a Fellow Craft Mason. Note that there are echoes here of an earlier placement in the more simple“Admission Ceremony,” or at least an echo of the early practice of “initiating and passing” on the same night.  The candidate’s name is changed from “friend” to “brother” at this point – something that we would have expected to be in the Entered Apprentice Degree and not in the Fellow Craft Degree.

There is nothing in Prichard to indicate that the Winding Staircase of KingSolomon’s Temple was a part of the ceremony at this stage, although it could have been. The reference to the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences in the excerpt certainly leaves this as an open question. The Lecture of the Fellow Craft Degree represents a transition between the traditional “question and answer” form of the lecture and the later narrative lectures with which we are familiar.  In our present work, theSenior Deacon gives the first part of the lecture, and it is a lecture that is given “in transit.” The candidate is conducted on a symbolic journey through a part of King Solomon’s Temple, up a Winding Staircase, and into the Middle Chamber where he receives further instruction from the Master in a narrative lecture.  The most important part of that lecture is an explanation of the significance of Geometry, and its association with an understanding of God. I have previously quoted part of themonitorial part of the lecture, but here I will quote it in full.  It may be that this“speech” on the part of the Master represents the essentials of what the candidate was told about Geometry and its importance through what was originally an extemporaneous commentary:

By Geometry we may curiously trace nature through her various windings toher most concealed recesses.  By it we discover the power, wisdom and goodness of the Great Artificer of the Universe, and view with delight the proportions which connect this vast machine.  By it we discover how the planets move in their respective orbits, and demonstrate their various revolutions. By it we account for the return of seasons, and the variety of scenes which each season displays to the discerning eye.  Numberless worlds are around us, all framed by the same Divine Artist, which roll through thevast expanse, and are all conducted by the same unerring law of nature.

A survey of nature, and the observation of her beautiful proportions, first determined man to imitate the Divine plan, and to study symmetry and order.  This gave rise to societies and birth to every useful art.  The architect began to design; and the plans which he laid down, being improved by time and experience, have produced works which are the admiration of every age.

The lapse of time, the ruthless hand of ignorance, and the devastations ofwar, have laid waste and destroyed many valuable monuments of antiquity on which the utmost exertions of human genius were employed. Even the Temple of Solomon, so spacious and magnificent, and constructed by so many celebrated artists, escaped not the unsparing ravages of barbarous force. Freemasonry, notwithstanding, has still survived.  The attentive ear receives the sound from the instructive tongue, and the mysteries of Masonry are safely lodged in the repository of faithful breasts.  Tools and implements of architecture most expressive are selected by the Fraternity to imprint upon the memory wise and serious truths; and thus, through the succession ofages, are transmitted unimpaired the most excellent tenets of our Institution.

This excerpt from our California monitorial work is not very different from that which William Preston published in his Illustrations of Masonry in 1772. Here is an excerpt from Preston, for comparison:

By geometry, therefore, we may curiously trace Nature, through her various windings, to her most concealed recesses.  By it, we may discover the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of the grand Artificer of the universe, and view with delight the proportions which connect this vast machine.  By it, we may discover how the planets move in their different orbits, and demonstrate their various revolutions.  By it, we may account for the return of seasons, and the variety of scenes which each season displays to the discerning eye. Numberless worlds are around us, all framed by the same Divine Artist, which roll through the vast expanse, and are all conducted by the same unerring laws of Nature.  A survey of Nature, and the observation of her beautiful proportions, first determined man to imitate the divine plan, and study symmetry and order. This gave rise to societies, and birth to every useful art. The architect began to design, and the plans which he laid down, improved by experience and time, produced works which have been the admiration of every age.

Preston did not invent his material, but rather edited material that he found already in use. The substance of this lecture may well have been that which wasdeveloped in the 1720’s by Desaguliers for the new Fellow Craft Degree.  As pointedout earlier, it represents a Newtonian view of the universe, and is an appropriate expansion of the lecture on the “Letter G.”  We do not know if the material that Preston developed for his Illustrations of Masonry was present in 1720, but there isa likelihood that it was.  Given the conservative nature of Masonic ritual, it seems unlikely that such a major development could have occurred after 1730.  What we know of the history of Grand Lodge after 1730 would indicate that most innovation in the ritual had come to an end by that date, and that the Grand Lodge was increasingly preoccupied with internal quarrels, and with attempts by imposters to break into lodges through the use of the “exposures.”  Sometime in the 1730’s theyswitched the passwords of the first and second degrees to catch out imposters, and this action was one of the causes of the eventual creation of the Ancients’ Grand Lodge. In addition, social distinctions began to become more important in lodges under the premier Grand Lodge, and Irish Masons in London, for example, apparently were excluded.  Again, this was one of the motives for the formation of the Grand Lodge of England According to the Old Institutions (the “Ancients”) in 1751. Finally, it seems as if the “Moderns,” as the original Grand Lodge came to be termed, were more interested in eating and drinking than they were in practicing Masonry. If the lecture on the “Letter G” had come into existence after 1730 it seems likely that this would have been one of the charges of changing the ritual leveled by the Ancients against the Moderns.  That it was not seems to indicate that it happened in the formative period of speculative Freemasonry, the period when Desaguliers was active in Grand Lodge.

In the beginning of this paper I pointed out the importance of the concept of a paradigm to science.  I would suggest that the creation of a separate Fellow Craft Degree in the 1720’s gave our Masonic ancestors an unparalleled opportunity to use the paradigm of Newtonian science to expand our understanding of Freemasonry.  Although the members of the Royal Society would not have understood the term “paradigm,” I think that they would have understood the concept.  The Newtonian system was a model or pattern of thinking that brought observable phenomena into relation to one another so that the implications could be explored.  The whole concept of the Newtonian system is that it is open-ended.  It is not the end of the discussion, but the beginning.  So I believe it is with Freemasonry.

Freemasonry is not a closed system of thinking, nor a body of knowledge which must be accepted by its members as absolute truth, or dogma.  Far from it.  It is an attempt to translate into the social sphere what the Royal Society was attempting to translate into the sphere of natural philosophy – what today we call Science.  Just as the scientific mindset is a process of accommodating the search for truth to rigorous examination and experimentation, so Freemasonry encourages its followers to do that in the social sphere – and even the political sphere.  It is no accident, in my opinion, that some of the most enlightened thinkers have always been attracted to Freemasonry.  The noble experiment that became the United States of America is a case in point.  We know that Freemasons were not only involved in the creation of the American republic, but that the philosophy and teachings of Freemasonry were present at its birth.  The essence of Freemasonry is congruent with scientific thinking, and the Second Degree of Masonry brings this to our attention in a way that makes an indelible imprint on our minds.  We close the Fellow Craft Degree with a statement of that fact, and with that same statement, I will close this paper:

Masonry is a progressive moral science divided into different degrees; and, asits principles and mystic ceremonies are regularly developed and illustrated, it is intended and hoped that they will make a deep and lasting impressionupon your mind.

John L. Cooper III served as grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of California from 1991 through March 2008. He was raised in 1964 and is a past master of the James A. Foshay Lodge No. 641 (now Culver City-Foshay Lodge No. 467), Southern California Research Lodge No. 1005, and the Northern California Research Lodge No. 1003. He has served on several Grand Lodge boards and committees, including the Masonic Homes of California, California Masonic Memorial Temple, Masonic Formation, and Masonic Education.

The photos generally are taken with my HTC-EVO (Sprint) so at times, the photos are crystal clear, other times, might be a touch fuzzy, still learning, however, nothing beats seeing it for yourself.

Just click on each picture to have it advance, incase the auto feature is not working.

]]> http://vjmns.com/the-lodges-of-so-cal/feed/ 0 http://vjmns.com/how-a-freemason-is-made/ http://vjmns.com/how-a-freemason-is-made/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:18:33 +0000 travelin_mason http://vjmns.com/?p=304 HOW A FREEMASON IS MADE

by.’.Bro.’.Geoffrey “Travelin” Schumann

The greatest misconception about Freemasonry, is that we are a secret society, when the actuality is that we’re a society with secrets.  Like every fraternal order, except one, our records are standing in the light, for review for all.  We don’t make it a secret whom the officers of the lodge are, nor special events, as each lodge in this day and age, has a website for the most part, filled with information that the lodge, the Worshipful Master feels that should be made public to all.

At my blue lodge, when I joined, it had two factions, Scottish & Middle Eastern, sure there were other people from different parts of the E.U. on a heritage level, however the main factions were as stated.  Over time, the Scottish members either moved away, transferred to different lodges, or demitted passed on to the great beyond.

As any Master Mason does, they find friends, people whom they know, that they feel should be Masons, but as our laws dictate, we don’t advertise, instead, we leave little cryptic clues to see if they “hear the call”.  From our rings, to Masonic paraphernalia in our homes, on our cars, in our work place, to the mannerism of the way we speak to others.  There is a certain “Masonic Cadence” that if you know what to listen to, you can clearly identify it, to others, its a way of speaking that if not heard before, “sounds slightly different” and to some it goes un-noticed, to others, the seeds are planted, and with enough exposure, the “questions” are asked, and with the right number given, the invitation is given to come for a dinner at the blue lodge.

The dinner is the social that occurs before the Stated Meeting.  This is the place where your guest gets exposed to covered handshakes and warm fraternal greetings from other brethren.  They get exposed to an environment where “belonging”.  Then the shock comes, when they realize that they’re left for a few hours on their own.  Some decide to head out if they met you there, but more times then not, either your guest is given the tour, and you sit out of the meeting, or they meet folks, and get to stay down stairs to talk, find out more, etc.  At some points, if there isn’t a study session going on, they get to hang out in the Masonic Lounge that every lodge has, and from there, they have access to a vast library of unique books, where by they can read, look around, relax, and contemplate the path they unknowingly are currently on, to see if this is a place, a group of men that they want to also have that feeling of belonging.

For those who stayed, and wait for their friend to emerge from this meeting that they are not allowed to join, as its for “members only”, usually has lots of questions about the room that they were in, the books they read, the pictures they observed and wants to know more.  The seeds planted have germinated and started to sprout.  Usually the ride home, is the most interesting one, as your now would-be candidate, is asking questions that by the laws, we can’t answer, till he has received his first degree (1º).  When you drop them off, before you go, you hand them an envelope, contained within, is information that the lodge is required to give, pamphlets, an application, etc. As always, there is a small financial cost, but most of it is a donation with a small processing fee (we’ll get into that later). I like to tell my would-be candidates, that they should really “sleep on it” before they fill out the application, as the journey, if taken, is an amazing one, however, its not for everybody, and a proper reflection before starting out on any new journey, is required I feel, as Freemasonry is a life long adventure and the ever searching for knowledge.

Generally, your would be candidate, gives you a call, or sees you at work, etc, and hands you the envelope back, with the application filled out properly, the proper funds attached, and asks, “what now?”  Each application is required to have two (2) signatures, a Top Line Signer, and a secondary signer.  The Top Line Signer becomes the candidate’s Masonic Godfather (we’ll cover that later in the article).

I like to explain to my would be candidate, it’s not a fast process.  That I have to submit the application to the Worshipful Master (Treat him as the President, or Captain of the lodge, with his officers (the line)) and it is he who will start the process.  From here, in our meetings, the application is submitted.  There is an investigation that is now done on the would be candidate.  This investigation is somewhat of a personal nature, as we check to make sure you don’t have a criminal record, also members of the lodge (Master Masons) then either give telephone interviews, or in person ones.  The in person interviews are done generally at a neutral place, at the candidate’s home and at the home of a Master Mason.  Once the interviews are done and the investigation is complete, all this is reported back to the Worshipful Master.  If everything is a-ok, then the Worshipful Master will present it to the body membership at the next stated meeting (generally one to two months after the application is submitted) for a vote.

As any fraternal order goes, the body of the membership has to vote if the would be candidate is to receive the degrees of Freemasonry at the lodge.  What is a great misconception that I would like to clear up here in this article, is the ENTIRE LODGE votes.  Its not a democratic process, there isn’t a bell curve, “every single Master Mason” votes their will, and the ENTIRE BODY MEMBERSHIP must agree, if not, the candidate has to wait one year and a day, before re-submitting their application either to the same lodge, or a different one, however if the vote is in the positive, the body of the membership as accepted this would-be candidate and their journey now get to begin.

The financial requirement for joining a lodge at first s slightly steep to some, but the misunderstanding I would like to clear up.  Each State of our wonderful United States of America, has what is known as a “Grand Lodge” – this is the main fraternal body, that all the other lodges in your State are obligated to keep the rules and regulations in order.  The Grand Lodge gets a “taste” of that finical offering, it’s a yearly fee that the lodge you are joining has to pay.  Treat it as a license that is required.  Then your lodge has their set dues, this is how the lodge keeps the coffers full from their membership.  Of the lodge dues, part of it, goes to Grand Lodge, the rest goes to the lodge savings (which isn’t a great deal honestly).  The rest gets donated to the “Masonic Home.”  There are also small gifts the lodge gives you when you complete your Masonic training receiving the degrees (three) that you’ve wished to learn. All this costs money, and the application fees, plus the dues, a savings account, etc, this is how the lodge operates.  The lodge also at times will hold a bake sale, rummage sales, etc, to help ease the burden through-out the year.

Once the would be candidate receives their first degree (1º) their journey has started.  Depending on the candidate’s learning ability (this includes study and memorization, as there are tests that they have to pass, to move up to the two other degrees) will determine their progress.  Only at scheduled meetings can a candidate move forward.  This first degree (1º) is called an “Entered Apprentice” (E.A.).  When an E.A. is made, the person who brought them in, is considered their Masonic Godfather.  This is the go-to person whom will help them on their way to get their degrees, answer any questions, etc.  Also there is a candidates coach, that is issued, where by the E.A. is to study with, it’s his determination, when an E.A.is ready to “give back” – this is the test that they have to pass, before they’re scheduled to move up in the degrees.  The Masonic Godfather also has a secondary role, if at any time, his Masonic God-son gets out of line, the members won’t go directly to him, but you, the Masonic Godfather, as its his responsibility to bend his God-son’s ear, and get his compass adjusted back on track.  Rarely this happens, however when it does, this is the process of it.

Once your candidate earns is second degree (2º) called a Fellowcraft, and finally graduates to his third degree (3º) this is an amazing time for him.  This event is life chaining, as he’ll be made into a Master Mason.  This event only happens ONCE IN YOUR LIFETIME, and some treat it as a cumulative point in their life.  When I was to be made a Master Mason, I sent out, I created invitation and mailed them out, for any Master Mason is allowed to witness the creation of another Master Mason.  Invitation used to be commonplace in the Victorian age, but rarely is done in current times or practices.  I know my invitation is still attached to corkboards in offices of Past Masters who attended.  But I am digressing (as I always do).  Once made a Master Mason, there are so many doors that open.  They can stay local to their blue lodge and witness other Masonic raisings, so they can see from a 3rd person, or a witness standpoint of the degrees they just went through themselves.  Others will enter the “Line” early.  Others will choose to travel outward either to continue their Masonic journey in the York Rite, Scottish Rite or choose to join the Shriners.

The “Line” or otherwise known as the Officer’s Line is the path within the lodge that allows a Master Mason, to learn all the stations of the lodge, and depending on the pace, generally takes five (5) to seven (7) years before they can submit an application to become a Worshipful Master of their lodge, where by they now will do unto others, as has been done to themselves, creating more Master Masons.  The top three offices of the “Line” are positions that the entire membership of the lodge must vote on, these are not automatically given, but if voted, then they’re installed and the process repeats the following year.

The degrees that we as Masons learn are part of the York Rite, which is by its namesake English in nature.  After you’ve completed your third degree (3º) there are more degrees after this.  The Scottish Rite, which is a surprise to most, isn’t Scottish, but French!  However outside of the United States of America, who are actual Scottish Rite Masons, some don’t acknowledge our first three degrees, as they’re of the English system, and if you wish to join lodges in other countries, some of them make you re-take your three degrees (1º, 2º, 3º) in the Scottish Rite system.  I honestly don’t know much more then this, as I’ve never seen these degrees myself, but I am told they’re different then the York Rite degrees that we as American Freemasons take.  I have been told however from being part of study groups, that it sounds completely amazing and its something that one day I hope to experience myself.

In conclusion of this article, unless a Mason is wearing the fraternal markings, you’ll never known if they’re a Brother, Worshipful, or any other title, until they identify themselves to you.  Also in the same token, others whom are wearing the fraternal markings, may not actually be Masons, but people whom have something that belonged to a family member that has passed, and do not know what the symbology means.  So one must take the proper precautions but a Master Mason has been taught these.

Remember that Masonic Cadence I spoke of at the top of the article, certain questions are asked, in this cadence, and the response will identify one Master Mason to another.  On a personal note, I was in Santa Barbara, and I was introduced to a family and I found out that their “father-in-law” was a Master Mason.  I walked over to him, and shook his hand to give him a greeting,  as I presented the Masonic Handshake and his dull eyes, opened wide and greeted me as a fellow Brother.  This man was in his late 80′s but the joy in his eyes, to have somebody out the blue whom he was meeting in passing, was somebody that also was a “brother” , a member of a fraternal order that we both belong to, an invisible tie, that binds us, a “chain of union” that we Masons share, and needless to say, we spent a great deal of time chatting and laughing.

On a final note, Freemasonry is one of the greatest equalizers, regardless of who you are, how rich or poor, powerful or every day – once a Freemason, always a Freemason, and its a lifetime journey.

Not dues-cards & sighs

By: Bro∴Geoffrey “Travelin” Schumann

Freemasonry of the 21^st century is not the freemasonry of the 20^th or even the 19^th century of past.  In times of old, you were invited in, by that mysterious tap on the shoulder, and with acceptance, a would be Masonic Godfather to guide you through your journeys.  As you travel within the lodge, experiencing, learning, studying and advancing to the next stage in your newly found Masonic life, you find yourself, like a babe in the woods, re-learning what you thought you knew is true and just, and with an open mind, you re-learn your life in the Masonic ways.

As you successfully transcend the different levels, at your Masonic graduation, when you’re finally a Master Mason you receive your Dues-Card, a little slip of paper, at times with a fancy impressed/depressed seal of your blue lodge and that it shows you’re “all paid up” for the year.  This is the little slip of paper that with the proper examination, will allow you entrance to other blue lodges within your jurisdiction, or others abroad.

When you’re fresh and new, all this seems very strange, foreign and yet exciting, but after a while, as the years pass over, your enthusiasm wanes and fades and the harsh reality starts to set in.  I have found more times then not, that when you approach a forgin Master Mason, foreign being the proper word and term for somebody you do not yet know, and they to you the same.  When you approach them, and give them the proper Dugaurds & Signs, to show that you’re part of their group, their click, a fellow traveler of the U.G.L.E. in the American way, more times then not, I’ve seen them “sigh” when you try to give them the proper signs, they just want to see your dues-card first… then try to find out if anyone knows you, before they have to set you aside, and give you the proper examinations.  This has been more so the case then the way it should be.  I have found, however, when you break away from the U.G.L.E. set lodges.. or chapters/brothers that are not part of the U.G.L.E. that would be considered Ill-regular (a term that I personally detest), when the proper Dugaurds & Signs are given, first and foremost, they acknowledge that “you know, you’ve journeyed & experienced the Masonic path” and with the proper grips, whispers and ritual, you’re accepted.  Even if you just verbally tell them what Blue Lodge you were raised at, more times then not, that’s more then enough.  If you walk the walk, and talk the talk, your actions tell a greater story, then any dues-card will ever show.  Yes at times, for their own bookkeeping, they’ll want to see your card, but that brings up another interesting point.

For all the Freemasons in the greater United States, within the vast jurisdictions, orients, and valleys, you’d be surprised how many Brothers & Worshipful Brothers do not carry their dues-card.  Some treat that as part of the lodge regalia, and only break it out, as a would-be passport that they carry when its time to come to lodge.  Others, like myself, keep it in my wallet, at all times, as a form of identification outside from my normal forms of identification.  I find more often then not, the ideals, lessons and allegoric stories you learn in your blue lodge, often go overlooked.  You should ask yourself, in your day-to-day life, how often do you follow the 24” Gauge lessons, to the letter?  In a perfect world, that is possible, but when you apply that to your normal day-to-day life, you find its not.  Some will argue it’s a lesson to learn from, and others will take it as a zealot’s gospel.

How often in your day-to-day life, do you find yourself using your Dugaurds & Signs?  If a Master Mason is not wearing something on his person from the top of his head, around his neck, on his lapel, on a finger or wrist, as a belt buckle or even on his shoes, you’ll not be able to tell.  He’s a complete stranger as you are to him.  Unless you hear something in passing, those Masonic catechisms that at times gives you a clue that they might be a Brother, for the most part, there is no way of telling.  I have found, however, when you find another Freemason, at times, when you give them a sign, a flash of embarrassment, and a reply that they don’t have their dues-card on hand, or even worse, they have forgotten their Dugaurds & Signs to show you, prove to you, that they too are a Brother.

Then one has to ask themselves outside of the officers of the line, working their way up the ladder for some position within the Grand Lodge of their own State, a position to some, is more glorious then their own first born, first love, a true Masonic Zealot, working towards a better tomorrow of a system that is in horrible need of rebooting, refreshing, and brining into the proper 21^st century, with all the proper humanitarian rights one should be allowed, who is really keeping to the tenants of what is being learned.

Over the last human generation, Freemasonry has taken several winding turns.  After the great 2^nd World War, their numbers spiked to an all time high, but we all have heard the story, read in reports, the numbers are falling.  I remember, when I was first raised, the legal joining age was 21, now years later, they’ve lowered it to 18.  As the old joke goes “Catch them young, teach them early” is never more truer then today, however one should really ask themselves, the lessons we’re teaching our young candidates, for the most part, the degrees themselves, the floor work, that differs from state to state, from the West Coast to the East Coast within the United States, that never fully matches to anything globally around the world, no 100% anyways, are we not stuck in a repeating cycle, passing on knowledge, life’s lessons that may or may not truly be understood, but a willing candidate will agree to anything to continue his journey.  For this, Masonic education is needed more so then ever.  Teaching the reasons & lessons behind the Dugaurds & Signs and reminding them, that these are more so important above all else, then the dues-card that they generally never carry.

“What message are we really sending?”

By: Bro∴Geoffrey “Travelin” Schumann

In my travels in the Masonic path, aside from constantly hearing about how Nobile & true we all are, to my surprise, is the great deal of internal politics that occurs within a lodge and or a Grand Lodge.

From the moment you’re made a Master Mason, you’re asked to serve in the line – before you’ve really had your first taste of Freemasonry.  Now I do understand that a healthy line has new Masons within it, and perhaps a few that have served before, but the danger is to the young Master Mason, they can’t grasp fully the responsibility until they’ve experienced a few Stated Meetings, and or subsequent raisings.

I’ve seen people ask that faithful question why did you join Freemasonry? 
 The response usually went something along these lines:

• A Family Tradition – My Father, Grand Father, Uncle, etc were… a Freemason.
• External work – political advancements
• Spiritual Quest – a thirst for knowledge.
• Physically helping out his community.
• Giving back to his own

Sometimes I find it interesting that a master Mason who became a Worshipful master, some forget the traditional phrases Brother Worshipful or Worshipful Brother depending on what Southern or Eastern branch of Masonry within the United States you’re speaking with.  That said, what kind of Master Masons are we creating?  During the allegoric degrees we’re promised to swear fidelity and loyalty to the order, never to give any secrets away, and yet if you look on the internet, most if not all of our secrets are out there!  Ciphers, that little blue book, some states allow them, some don’t.  The West coast ritual is different from the East coast, and globally, its different from the United States.

What’s even more interesting is that I’ve been told that the Prince Hall Masons ritual is more true to the forms that George Washington did back in his time, so I visited a Prince Hall Lodge and was amazed at the floor work and ritual.  From what I saw, it was definitely more of a religious if not Christian based ritual, but eye opening.  Then years later, I find that there’s another branch of Prince Hall that occurred when Prince Hall had differences with his Secretary if I remember the story correctly, and a division occurred at that time, similar how Jefferson and Hamilton had their falling out – and we now have two political parties, verse the founding one.  What I find curious is the traditional first Prince Hall Lodge when I asked them, is there any other sept’, division, etc of Prince Hall I was informed there was not.  Was this due to a lack of education or some internal loyalty, not to advertise other possible options?

In the past, I had the pleasure of bringing a past Grand Lodge Officer from Romania to my blue lodge one night for a 3º.  Aside from the language barrier, since I didn’t speak Romanian, and he really didn’t speak English, I had to rely on the Masonic Gestures & Ritual to actually communicate with this Brother Worshipful and for the most part, it was going well, until our degree started, then I caught his eye, and he had such a worried look, as the degree that we did, that we considered normal, heck, the degree I went thru, like all other American Masons before, is completely different to what he was used to seeing.  At the end, it was an enlightening experience, as I had one Brother, who spoke 7 different languages, and discovered that he does speak a little French – still no help to me as I don’t speak French!  But what transpired was a conversation translated and it seems the ritual work that he saw was 50% different, and out of sequence from what he’s used to doing – again, why did the universal ritual change – from the time of George Washington.

So who are we?  Whose ritual work is correct?  The modern day guardians of this answer would be the Grand Lodge of your state.  Again, keep in mind a political machine in full operation – so one has to ask who’s watching the watchers? If we’re the keepers of traditional thoughts and ideals, then whose changing what we’re doing?  Again, is this due to a lack of education or worse, the fatal attempt to change our past history, to a political whim to leave ones mark on the fraternal order, even if its necessary or not.  One question that I hear, but never seen action taken is who’s auditing their work?  Is it an internal audit, or an external audit?  Would the findings differ if done internally vs. externally, and what would come of it?

Lets touch on Regular and Ill regular for a brief moment.  There are some different organizations claiming to be Masonic in nature but the Grand Lodge of your state determines if it’s a regular or ill regular lodge.  Again politics.  Also one subject matter, depending on the political temperature, will control the outcome of praise or slander to the very controversial topic of Co-Masonry, but that’s for another paper for another day.

A previous Grand Master of California had a campaign about Masonic Education, however this subject is not new, and the plight of the lacking education stems from the Blue Lodge.  Masonic education must be done in the blue lodge for each degree and done every week!  The concept was to start a program at U.C.L.A.  If Masonic Education is so important, why start it at a college, that the greater part of Los Angeles would never be able to get to or think that they could afford it?  At that point you’re only looking at the upper 3% to 5% of candidates, so are we now an elitist group?  The project should be spread within the local Cal-State systems, where a greater number of students passes thru those doors, a wider net to capture the yearning heart of a would-be Mason, but again, it’s the message that we’re sending – and a major question is, who’s listening?

One form of Masonic Education within the lodge was a pictorial painting called teaching scrolls and have stopped being used in the modern mainstream of Masonry over 100 years ago roughly, some Prince Hall lodges still use them, or refer to them in their Masonic Education, the ones who still do it but sadly, many practices of old gave way for the new century.  One practice the Chain of Union – rarely done these modern days, except either for a special Scottish event or within a Prince Hall Lodge.  The main question is why was this ancient ritual stripped from modern Masonry; a ritual that promotes Brotherly Love, and shows the living chain of the fraternity?  Masonic Education should be taught by study groups, similar to a bible class – a separate day and time if not taught during the lodge meeting for business or degree work.  It should be discussed during the agape or even forming a Masonic Academia Group, like the one you’re at today.  One must create also a symposium of Masonic education for the common man – the Non Mason, educating him with what we do, and why.  I had the pleasure of attending the F.B.I.’s Citizen’s Academy – a multi-week course on who and what the F.B.I. really is, what they do, and what I can do, with tools, education and points of contact – Every local branch of law-enforcement has this, the L.A.P.D., & the local Sheriff.

As Masons, we’re taught not to advertise, yet our numbers are thinning, and the dues keep going up.  Dues, an important part of a lodge which keeps the business aspect and the ability to keep ones building in full operation, and every year, Grand Lodge takes a cut per capital per member.  We’re raising our rates per member – we’re taxing ourselves for the betterment of a fraternal order that is desperate for an infusion of membership.  Since World War II, we’ve not had an influx of membership.  We all hear the numbers from time to time, we all know more of our membership dies every day, then the fresh influx of membership that we get, perhaps its time that we’re allowed to have a more aggressive approach, maybe its time that we’re allowed to solicit vs the current format.  I personally know several good men that Freemasonry would do wonders for, but I have to wait till they come to me.

A Past Master of my Blue Lodge in a recent communication of the Trestle board stated in his From The East article, an excerpt: Has Masonry become a status symbol whose members only flash their gold rings or boast of being Past masters yet rarely attend blue lodge?  I’ve heard many say “after my degrees there is nothing the lodge is offering me.“  The Worshipful Master in his article followed up this statement with: I challenge those men to reevaluate the reasons why you wanted to be a Mason… we join not for what the Lodge can do for us, but what we can do for the community.

And this is where I have to say I differ from this train of thought.  True a Blue Lodge is supposed to be deeply rooted in the community, to help, to give back, to be involved however, when I joined American Freemasonry – it was in the never-ending pursuit of knowledge.  I hit a personal wall, where I’ve read a great deal of books on the esoteric subject matter, and the books that were referenced in the back, and could not find the next level of my personal growth on my quest for enlightenment, and Freemasonry gave me a new breath of my quest for knowledge.  There has to be a balance, and I feel we’ve lost sight along the way in some regards.

While on my Masonic path, early on in the Blue Lodge I found out about taking care of the members of the lodge, as the Stewarts do.  Plus all the hours of cleanup after a stated meeting, and even when I was the Temple Board President, and I wanted a group of Past Masters & Grand Lodge Officers to hold their meetings at our lodge, I took the reigns and gave them a wonderful spread to eat from, unlike the level of service they’re used to.  Later when I was in the Scottish Rite and joined the ranks of The Knights of Saint Andrews – and the KSA helped out within the Valley, during meetings, and even acted as waiters when a 33º took place, within the Blue Lodges and the higher degrees within the York Rite, and Scottish Rite, there is plenty of service one can do for another Brother.

Within the realm of community service, there are many organizations out there, that a non-Mason can join, to give back to the community.  There are citizens, who just do things out of the goodness of their hearts, as my Mother, for many years, during the holidays would go around, with others, dispensing coffee, and one gentleman who happened to be on the streets told my mother “madam, I actually prefer tea over coffee” and since then, My mother made sure that she had both for the following runs since then.  Before I knew the Midnight Mission was a Masonic operated foundation, I’ve worked on the soup lines in the mid 90′s giving back to the community, and also worked them in the mid 2000′s.   Random acts of kindness, really does make a difference, but the act when properly applied, won’t get your names in lights, banners with your pictures, or your name written in the halls of history, just the person whom you’re giving the aid to, will know and remember – is that not enough?

In conclusion, I feel that education is paramount, regardless if its Masonic in nature or not, but we have to keep this in mind, how many times are we asked that faithful question what is Masonry?  A question that most are not properly prepared to answer, also the tonality of the answer, the vigor and confidence that occurs before we even get into what we’re about tells a bigger picture of who we are and what we’re about then the words themselves.  As my grandfather said when I was younger it’s not what you say, but how you say it – that makes the impact on a person and this is never the truer statement.  So again, who are we?  What is the message we’re sending out to our candidates who approach our door, for whatever reason?  What message are we teaching them to broadcast to our community?  What tools are we empowering them with, to further the light of Freemasonry to the world?  Are we really taking good men and making them better, by installing a moral compass and guiding them to a better way of life?  Are we more then an ancient social club with some echo of allegoric education that most of the meanings have been forgotten, or worse ignored?  These are questions we need to think hard about, and we all see the allegoric iceberg on the horizon we’re heading towards, but the question is, what are we really doing about it in a practical sense in today’s modern age.

Commentary by:

Bro.’.Geoffrey “Travelin” Schumann

I had to pass by my blue lodge one Thursday night, to deliver a gift to our Audie Murphy lounge (our fraternal room) a set of Americana Encyclopedias, the 1994 edition.  30 red-leather bound books of wisdom, which I thought my blue lodge could use.  I checked with the Worshipful Master, and he agreed that they would take them.

Now I’ve only attended the Worshipful Master’s installations over the last few years, but due to work, life, charity and Masonic projects, has kept me away.  So it was a home coming when I arrived, they were giving the 1º to three candidates.  The meaning behind the 1º holds so much treasured moments in my life, and also the fact that I was able to talk with two of the three before they received the 1º altogether.

The officers line was in advanced stations, and only the second time they’ve held their posts.  The craft was done properly, and its nice, to witness a degree, especially since its been a few years since I have seen it.  I always find myself re-repeating the oath & vows when the candidate receives it for the first time.  It always strengthens the core of who I am and reminding me of the tenants of Freemasonry, as I received them.

I noticed the floor work slightly different, not as strict as when I came up through the degrees, and to my surprise I was informed that a few Grand Lodges ago, the floor work had changed.  It made me wonder, how the old guard would have felt, when something like this changed and what their comments would have been, but this brings me to the point of this commentary.

I was very lucky to know what I consider my blue lodge grandparents, the Worshipful that would sit in the North.  At my blue lodge, on any given night, you would have about a dozen Past Masters all sitting in the North.  Cleary you could see it was a very old “club” of Past Masters, Old Friends, and the fellowship just oozed from them.  You could watch their lips, as they were reciting the whole of the craft as the floor work was done.  When I looked towards the North, all I had were my memories of what was.

I was truly impressed with the officers line in the advanced stations when the craft was being done.  I found that the tone was flawless, the floor work of the guides were amazing, and that each individual understands how the craft operates in his heart, and how he carries himself in the lodge, really shows “who they are” when the floor work is being done.

I recall from memories past, when Worshipful.’.D. Maltby would sit in the North, as a pillar of the old guard, and how it used to be.  His geometry was flawless, and his secrets of “how it should be done” left a indellable mark in my memory.  I had the pleasure of interviewing him for the December, 2002 Vol.1 No.2 issue of the Three Points of Light(a Masonic newspaper that I wrote from October 2002 – August 2004) and if you were curious about the way it was, and his experience, I would highly recommend you read that article.

I am very pleased to know my blue lodge is alive and well with new brethren commanding the stations, with the vigor, tonality and energy that any lodge could ever want to achieve.  The brethren as always will change, but the immortal journey continues.