The Regeneration of Freemasonry:  We Have Great Opportunities Today

By:  Richard G. McNeill, October 4, 2009

            In a world of Political Polarity and a similar continuum of Religious Extremism on one hand and Strident Secularism on the other, it seems that everyone is screaming unreasoned and unsubstantiated opinions– and, yet, no one is listening .  Where is the Middle Ground of Balance?  Masonry has always taught BALANCE AND MEETING ON THE LEVEL.  Yet, our earlier influence in society has moved off the radar screen.  But, trends indicate that THE TIME MAY, AGAIN, BE RIPE FOR REGENERATION:

1.      The country seems to be wanting more balance in their political choices and are increasingly moving away from either Democratic or Republican party affiliation and increasingly registering as Independents.

2.      Masonry’s future - the young Gen Y or Millennial Generation that is knocking on our door – are, in their everyday lives,  accepting of  Diversity among people and they  expect the ideals of Masonry (that they read about on the Internet) to reflect this openness and a true practice of its On-the-Level philosophy.

3.      The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights actually protects and encourages Diversity of opinions and beliefs among people.* And, in the United States Diversity of opinions are expanding.  Diversity will never go away – so we need to find a way to harmoniously negotiate our differences.  And, shouting at each other from the extremes of often uninformed opinions on either the right or left is not an answer to the ills of our current culture wars. 

* The First Amendment to the US Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that expressly prohibits the Congress from making laws “respecting an establishment of religion," of prohibiting the free exercise of religion, of infringing upon the freedom of speech, of infringing upon the freedom of the press, of limiting the right to peaceably assemble, or limiting the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

What is the opportunity?  I suggest that Freemasonry’s timeless tenets and ideals offers hope for an improved society – by modeling a Middle-Way on the continuum of our present world of polarized extremes. We need to Walk-the-Talk of our principles and partner and ally with other like-minded organizations seeking the same Middle-Way.

This Middle-Way is a return to Civility.  Civilitarianism needs to become our guiding battle cry for an improved society.

Civility is not a call for simple and polite manners.  It is more robust in that it calls for people to discipline themselves to respect differing opinions found in their fellow creatures; and, we all know that this is not easy.  This robust form of Civility asks people to support their own opinions and beliefs with substantiated reason and require the other person to do the same.  There is no requirement to change one’s views – only to listen with respect to the other’s diversity of perspective and views.  The concept of Religious Liberty (guaranteed by the First Amendment – see above) by definition drives diversity of views and this is a protected inalienable right.

Diversity, in a democratic society, drives a demand for increased Religious Liberty.  And, Religious Liberty means more than matters pertaining to church – it’s the freedom to believe whatever one wants to, according to one’s private conscience.  This is a First Principle of Freedom because what is in someone’s head leads to action.  Thus, individual beliefs may lead to Second and Third Principles:  freedom of speech , which may lead to freedom of assembly of like minds, etc.  One’s individual thoughts are the motivating force of action.

Thus, Diversity is part and parcel of the founding principles of the United States – and it will only increase both domestically and internationally as formerly homogeneous European and other nations experience rapid immigration from varying ethnic groups. 

Can Masonry truly practice the ideals that it inculcates as its own central tenets?  Can we discipline and fortify ourselves with reason - to resist the common temptation to join with unthinking partisans in ignorant assaults on people who may just happen to agree with us on goals but differ as to how to reach those goals?  A Mason is idealized as someone who can practice this Middle and Reasoned Way.

            I believe that the Regeneration of Freemasonry will be found in reasserting our inherent core principles of dealing with our fellow human beings in a balanced Middle-Way – between the unreasoned extremes that seem to dominate society today.  We can be a catalyst in partnering and allying with other organizations which have similar concerns for the health of our society.  It calls for a robust form of Civility where the realities of diverse viewpoints must be harmoniously reconciled and accepted – but, not suppressed. 

We must advocate and lead into existence, a Civilitarian Society.  This can begin by forming small Civilitarian Society discussion groups in our communities – perhaps using our Lodges as initial meeting sites where Masons, non-Masons, men & women, and other interested people can gather to grapple with this important issue.  This is a small beginning, but like all fundamentally essential and timely concerns, in a democratic nation, these small beginnings can spread to encompass increasing numbers of receptive people.

            Working together, we all can make a difference.  We can,  “Make better men and – by extension – make a better society in the 21^st Century?”

The following was extracted from a Natioinal Georaphic commentary:

Since long before The Lost Symbol, Freemasons have been accused of everything from conspiring with extraterrestrials to practicing sexual deviancy to engaging in occult rituals to running the world—or trying to end it. Detractors include global conspiracy theorists and religious organizations, including the Catholic Church.

Released today, The Lost Symbol isn't likely to squelch any rumors, beginning as it does with a wine-filled skull, bejeweled power brokers, and a dark Masonic temple steps away from the White House.

But what if Freemasons—the world's largest international secret society—are just a bunch of guys into socializing, non-satanic rituals, self-improvement, and community service?

To separate Freemason fact from Lost Symbol-style myth, National Geographic News went inside the centuries-old order with two Masons and a historian of the ancient Christian order from which some claim the Masons sprang in the 17th or 18th century.

FREEMASON MYTH 1
Masonic Symbols Are Everywhere

It's true that Masonic symbols are anything but lost, said Freemason and historian Jay Kinney, author of the newly released Masonic Myth.

(See "LOST SYMBOL PICTURES: Masonic Symbols Decoded.")

Freemasonry is rich in symbols, and many are ubiquitious—think of the pentagram, or five-pointed star, or the "all-seeing eye" in the Great Seal of the United States.

But most Masonic symbols aren't unique to Freemasonry, Kinney said.

"I view the Masonic use of symbols as a grab bag taken from here, there, and everywhere," he said. "Masonry employs them in its own fashion."

The pentagram, for example, is much older than Freemasonry and acquired its occult overtones only in the 19th and 20th centuries, hundreds of years after the Masons had adopted the symbol.

Likewise, the all-seeing eye saw its way to the Great Seal—and the U.S. dollar bill—by way of artist Pierre Du Simitiere, a non-Mason.

The eye represents divine guidance of the U.S. ship of state, or as Secretary of the U.S. Congress Charles Thompson put it in 1782, it alludes "to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause."

There was one known Mason on the committee to design the seal, Benjamin Franklin. His proposed design was eyeless, and rejected.

FREEMASON MYTH 2
Masons Descend From the Knights Templar

Much has been made of the Freemasons purported lineage to the Knights Templar. The powerful military and religious order was established to protect medieval pilgrims to the Holy Land and dissolved by Pope Clement V, under pressure of King Phillip IV of France, in 1312.

After modern Masonry appeared in the 17th- or 18th-century Britain, some Freemasons claimed to have acquired the secrets of the Templars and adopted Templar symbols and terminology—naming certain levels of Masonic hierarchy after Templar "degrees," for example.

"But those [Knights Templar] degrees and Masonic orders had no historic connection with the original Knights Templar," Kinney explained.

"These are myths or symbolic figures that were used by the Masons. But because the association had been made with these degrees, and the degrees had perpetuated themselves, after a time it began to look like there had been a connection."

Helen Nicholson, author of The Knights Templar: A New History, agrees that there is no possibility that Freemasons are somehow descended from the Knights Templar.

By the time of the first Masons, the Cardiff University historian said, "there were no more Templars."

FREEMASON MYTH 3
Masons Are Hiding Templar Treasure

One of the Templar-Mason theory's many veins suggests that some Templars survived the order's 14th-century destruction by taking refuge in Scotland, where they hid a fabulous treasure beneath Rosslyn Chapel (as seen in The Da Vinci Code).

The treasure, and the Templar tradition, were eventually passed down to the founders of Freemasonry, the story goes.

In fact, there was Templar treasure, Nicholson said, but it ended up in other hands long ago.

"The most likely reason [the Templars were dissolved] is that the king wanted their money. The King of France was bankrupt, and the Templars had lots of ready cash."

FREEMASON MYTH 4
Washington, D.C.'s Streets Form Giant Masonic Symbols

It's long been suggested that powerful Freemasons embedded Masonic symbols in the Washington, D.C., street plan designed mainly by Frenchman Pierre L'Enfant in 1791.

The Lost Symbol is expected to prominently feature "Masonic mapping," detecting pentagrams and other symbols by connecting the dots among landmarks. Pre-release clues released by author Dan Brown, for example, include GPS coordinates for Washington landmarks.

"Individually, Masons had a role in building the White House, in building and designing Washington, D.C.," said Mark Tabbert, director of collections at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. "And [small scale] Masonic symbols can be found throughout the city, as they can in most U.S. cities."

But there's no Masonic message in the city's street plan, Tabbert said. For starters, Pierre L'Enfant wasn't a Mason.

And, Tabbert asked, why would Masons go to the trouble of laying out a street grid to match their symbols?

"There has to be a [reason] for doing such a thing," said Tabbert, himself a Mason. "Dan Brown will find one, because he writes fiction. But there isn't one."

FREEMASON MYTH 5
Freemasons Rule the World

Maybe it's the impressive list of prominent Freemasons—from Napoleon to F.D.R. to King Kamehameha (IV and V!)—that's led some to suggest the group is a small cabal running the globe. But Kinney, the Masonic historian, paints a picture of a largely decentralized group that might have trouble running anything with much efficiency.

"I think the ideals that Masonry embodies, which have to do with universal brotherhood, are shared by Masons around the world [regardless of] religious, political, or national differences," he said.

"But having shared ideals is one thing—having some sort of shared hierarchy is something else altogether."

Kinney noted that the U.S. alone has 51 grand lodges, one for each state and the District of Columbia. Each of these largely independent organizations oversees its many local blue (or beginner) lodges and has little real coordination with other grand lodges.

Internationally, Masonic lodges not only don't speak with a single voice but sometimes refuse to even recognize each other's existence.

Also, many Masons are independent minded and tend to resist edicts from above, Kinney said. "There is no way that they could be run by a single hierarchy. There is no such entity."

FREEMASON MYTH 6
Freemasonry Is a Religion—Or a Cult

But Masons stress that their organization is not a religion, that is it has no unique theology and does not represent a path for believers to salvation or other divine rewards.

Even so, to be accepted into Freemasonry, initiates must believe in a god—any god. Christians may be in the majority, but Jews, Muslims, and others are well represented in Masonic circles. At lodge meetings religious discussion is traditionally taboo, Kinney and Tabbert said.

But some religious leaders believe that Masonic rituals and beliefs—with its temples, altars, and oaths—do constitute an opposing faith. And the Masonic refusal to rank one religion above the others hasn't always been popular.

A 1983 Catholic declaration approved by Pope John Paul II, for example, said that "Catholics enrolled in Masonic associations are involved in serious sin and may not approach Holy Communion."

FREEMASON MYTH 7
Freemasons Started the American Revolution

Prominent Freemasons like Ben Franklin and George Washington played essential roles in the American Revolution. And among the ranks of Freemasons are 9 signers of the Declaration of Independence and 13 signers of the Constitution.

But Freemasonry—born in Britain, after all—had adherents on both sides of the conflict. Tabbert, of the George Washington Masonic Memorial, said Masonic groups allowed men on both sides of the revolution to come together as brothers—not to promote a political view, which would be against Masonic tradition.

"For many years [Masons] claimed in their own quasi-scholarship that all of these revolutionaries and Founding Fathers were Freemasons," Tabbert said. "A fair number of them were, but they weren't doing these things because they were Freemasons."

FREEMASON MYTH 8
Membership Requires Shadowy Connections

Contrary to The Lost Symbol, you don't have to drink wine from a skull to become a ranking Freemason. In fact, tradition dictates that Masons don't recruit members but simply accept those who approach them of their own free will.

When Freemasonry hit its peak in the U.S. during the late 1950s, Kinney, the Masonic historian, said, almost one of every ten eligible adult males was a member—a total of some four million and hardly a tiny elite.

Today membership numbers, like those of other fraternal organizations, have declined dramatically, and only about 1.5 million U.S. men are Masons.

Fraternally Br John 

What Is Masonry?
What is modern Freemasonry? Masonry is many things to many people. Many years ago in England it was defined as a system of morally, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols. It is a course of moral instruction using both allegories and symbols to teach its lessons. The legends and myths of the old stone cutters and masons, many of them involved in building the great cathedrals of Europe, have been woven into an interesting and effective way to portray moral truths.

In Masonry, the old tools and ways of the craftsmen are used to help dramatically portray those moral truths. For example, the 24 inch gauge and the common gavel. Just as the ruler is used to measure distance, the modern Mason uses it as a reminder to manage one of his most precious resources: time. And, as the gavel is used to shape stones, so it is also the symbol for the necessity of all of us to work to perfect ourselves.

One modern definition is: Freemasonry is an organized society of men, symbolically applying the principle of Operative Masonry and architecture to the science and art of character building. In other words, Masonry uses ageless methods and lessons to make each of us a better person.