Freemasonry as a regular institution has been operating under a set of protocols that has sustained it as a speculative craft for almost 300 years. By accepting and maintaining those protocols our institution has become, perhaps, the most significant factor in the evolution of civil society outside of organized religion. Today historians are acknowledging the impact that Freemasonry's philosophy has had on individuals, and in turn, those individuals have had on the development of the standards by which society is judged. Our Craft has been a major player for several hundred years in creating the stimulus for men to learn and to develop and has served as a catalyst to bring together great men and to contribute to making men great. We have taken good men and have made them better men while instilling in them a dedication to the rights, freedom and equality of all men.
World Freemasonry today, however, is in a greater state of instability that it has been for probably the greater part of its existence, and for a number of reasons.
First Freemasonry is expanding more rapidly than it has probably for well over 100 years, and maybe 200 years. With the reemergence of Freemasonry in the Eastern bloc countries in Europe and the development of new Grand Lodges on the continent of Africa, Freemasonry is experiencing a surge of growth unseen for many decades. It is significant that irregular forms of Freemasonry are also expanding probably more rapidly than they have in their entire history, not only into these areas, but also into areas where regular Freemasonry already exists. This is a major concern for the stability of Regular Freemasonry. It has become almost competitive to see which style of the Craft can be established first.
Second, ignorance of the Craft and its purpose has become a way of life to many Freemasons. This is certainly true in North America and North American Freemasons represents the majority of Freemasons in the world. This presents a tragic commentary for an organization that changed the world.
Third, the Internet has become a valuable tool to spread misinformation and the ignorance of others to our brothers and to anyone else who reads it and who lack the knowledge to reject it, and this is the vast majority who read it.
My brothers, the subject of regularity in Freemasonry is not a recent phenomenon, although there are some of our members today who think they have discovered something new in the Masonic world. It was probably one of the first major considerations to confront early speculative Freemasonry. As a result, specific criteria have been established to which any Masonic Grand lodge must conform and adhere to, to be regarded as regular.
Today, we acknowledge that a Grand Lodgers regularity is contingent upon it having been created by another regular Grand Lodge, or by the action of three or more regular subordinate lodges. Regularity is also dependent upon adherence by a Grand Lodge to established practice and compliance to specific requirements.
These include, the belief in a Supreme Being, the presence of the volume of the sacred law upon the altar, the limitation of males only in membership, the avoidance of discussion of religion and politics within a lodge, a restriction of fraternal intercourse Freemasonry, and the respect of jurisdictional of other Grand Lodges, amongst others.
The Craft established the system of granting warrants to Grand Lodges and lodges around 1731 and thus created a method early in Speculative Freemasonry that was adhered to as a worldwide standard. Regularity of Freemasonry is the structural base upon which we have erected our edifice to project a constancy of purpose to the world outside of our Craft. Those Grand Lodges not operating within these standards, have not adopted or have eliminated some of the basic landmarks upon which we exist, i.e. the required belief in a Supreme Being, the volume of the Sacred Law upon the alter, the avoidance of involvement in politics and religion as an organization and the restriction to male only membership.
Regularity in Freemasonry has been accompanied by irregularity since close to its inception. There have been, and are Regular Grand Lodges in origin that became irregular in practice. There have been, and are Grand Lodges that comply with some of the requirements for regularity, but not all, and there exists Grand Lodges that have never been regular in either origin and or in practice. Masonic leaders have dealt with these issues effectively for almost 300 years. Now, there are some of our members who have developed an attitude that regularity is not significant to the Craft.
I met a young PhD Journalism professor in Romania several weeks ago who wanted to give me a copy of a book he had written on Freemasonry. He had studied the Craft for many years before he became a member and understood much of its philosophical foundation. He related this story to me. The first lodge created in that country following the fall of communism was operating under the Grand Orient of France, an irregular Grand Lodge that did not require a belief in God. He was approached to join and was told that belief in God was not a requirement because they felt that men should be free to not believe in a Supreme Being if they chose, and still become a Freemason. Knowing what this requirement had meant to Freemasonry for centuries, he declined to join, even though he had waited for years until he had the freedom to become a member. Here was a man willing to give up his dream to become a Mason rather than become part of a group not requiring this fundamental of the Craft for regularity.
But now, my Brothers, there is a pervasive attitude beginning to permeate our Craft regarding regularity and fraternalism that none out of us can choose to ignore. There are those within the Fraternity today, predominantly in North America, who have developed the attitude that anyone calling themselves Freemasons should be regarded as Freemasons. There are those, even including a small segment of our leadership who feel that almost 300 years of history, practice and tradition is no longer applicable in today's world. These brothers probably have no idea how many Grand Lodges exist in the world. The last I heard there were 91 Grand Lodges in Italy alone. There are 17 known Grand Lodges in New York City. Twice while I was Grand Secretary, members of another Grand Lodge came to me seeking support in breaking away from their Grand Lodge and forming another.
Unquestionably, this results from the ignorance of the vast majority of Freemasons concerning Masonic history, its contributions to the world and even its purpose for existence. Couple this ignorance with ego and we have a blueprint for disaster. Our leaders should be informed enough to know better, and it is difficult to comprehend the motives, that inspire these men to conclude that our Brothers of the past were so wrong when they accomplished so much.
Lack of knowledge is certainly a major factor, but ego and arrogance is another, and present-day liberalism is probably a third. Whatever the motives, we cannot afford to ignore their actions. If permitted to continue, it will destroy Freemasonry as it has been known for almost three centuries. We simply cannot permit these attitudes against our protocols to exist in our membership. Our members, who choose to violate their obligation as a Freemason, should be removed before their destructive thinking is spread farther.
For many years our Craft has been a relatively quiescent Fraternity in regard to increasing numbers of Regular Grand Lodges in the world. During this period of time, irregular and unrecognized Freemasonry has also been relatively quiet. This period of quiescence has been replaced in recent years with a flurry of activity by both categories. The result is that present- day leadership is being confronted with the need to make decisions that will impact our Fraternity far into the future, and many are ill equipped to deal with these decisions due to a lack of knowledge, not only in procedures, required for recognition, but also concerning the Grand Lodges in question. Grand Lodges outside of North America have been dealing with these issues for centuries, but leadership in North America has rarely faced it, and now it is in their hands.
My Brothers, Freemasonry is the most successful fraternal organization that has ever existed and if there was a way of determining it, it could very well be the most successful organization of any kind that ever existed. It has impacted the world well beyond any other institution created by the mind of man. It has existed longer and has grown larger. It has caused change in the direction of the development of civilization. It has promoted civility, in civil society. And now, there are those in our fraternity today with the impression that they have a wisdom superior to our past brethren who have created and sustained it for 300 years.
Several years ago, I saw on a Web site an evaluation by one of our members, of the Commission on Information for Recognition of the Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America. The member making the evaluation determined that after his thorough study he had determined that the Commission had outlived its purpose in today's world. Upon checking with this member's Grand Lodge, I found that he had been a of the Craft for all of three years. Consider that, a three-year member with the brilliance and knowledge outshining brothers of the caliber of the men who made us« What arrogance. What ignorance. The problem is that there are those who read it and believed it.
There has also been a marked increase in schisms in regularly concentrated Grand Lodges resulting in two Grand Lodges in the same jurisdiction, both claiming to be the legitimate Regular Grand Lodge, The result has been that some Grand Lodges recognizes one, while other mainstream Grand Lodges recognizes the other. This is an untenable situation, which weakens our fraternity and presents to the world an unstable organization worth little note.
To further compound this problem, Masonically affiliated appendant bodies have become instrumental in causing some of the schisms to occur. There are also appendant bodies promoting recognition of irregular forms of Freemasonry including those not requiring a belief in a Supreme Being, not requiring the Volume of the Sacred Law upon the alter and or who admit female members into the Craft. Those bodies must be stopped before the harm they cause becomes irreversible.
Craft Masonry created the appendant organizations and they are subject to Grand Lodge control. Any organization that requires Masonic membership as a prerequisite for membership is subject to Grand Lodge rule in the jurisdiction in which they operate. My Brothers, Craft Masonry is what impacted this world, and these actions should be intolerable to us as members. Historians are writing about Freemasonry today and its impact on civil society, but not about any appendant body.
Grand Lodge officers must not continue to permit interference in Regular Freemasonry by organizations subjective to Grand Lodges. Violations of our accepted operating protocols must be recognized and confronted. If we fail to face and resolve these issues, we have absolutely no hope that Freemasonry will ever achieve the full potential for its existence nor come close to emulating its past.
I have heard recently that an attempt will be made to create a form of irregular Freemasonry that will preside over all of North America. We cannot ignore, nor accept, our members supporting this or any form of irregular Freemasonry or any appendant body that supports it.
Interestingly, the use of the Internet is now creating problems that just may be for us, of a magnitude perhaps unseen in our past. It is not only a tool for our enemies to attack us, but it also has become the major mechanism by which erroneous information is dissipated throughout the membership by our own members. Those members who have read it and assumed it was factual spread much of the information in error.
Not all of it is spread in error, however. It is being used today by those within the Craft who feel they have a vision for the future of Freemasonry that lies beyond the parameters of what made and sustained our greatness. It is within this small cadre of our own membership that lies perhaps the greatest threat to our survival as a viable institution, and again we cannot choose to ignore it.
Personally, my Brothers, I would like nothing more than to see all Freemasonry in the world united as a like-minded brotherhood of men dedicated to a common goal. Such an entity could only contribute to the strengthening of our noble institution. It would increase our potential to be an influence for the ongoing evolution of civil society and world peace. This cannot happen, however, so long this we remain ignorant of, or ignore the protocols of fraternal relations. Nor can it, nor will it happen, so long as conformity to the protocols which has sustained us for almost 300 years are not complied with by those seeking recognition. We, my Brothers, cannot be seduced into accepting anything less.
For the sake of Freemasonry it is therefore imperative that we become capable of divesting ourselves of our own limiting egos, and goals of creating self-perpetuating images and become more aware of the foundations upon which we have thrived for hundreds of years. We must become more concerned about the future of Freemasonry, and less about our own images.
My Brothers, the subject upon which I speak may be the greatest singular threat to our survival as a viable institution capable of impacting society in this millennium. Yet, the problem confronting us is one that we ourselves are causing, by creating or permitting disunity within the Craft, by supporting irregular instead of regular Freemasonry, by reacting instead of acting, and by failing to recognize our own ignorance on specific issues. We are not only, not helping the perpetuation of our Masonic craft; we are aiding and abetting in its demise. Our Grand Lodges should not accept it, and Freemasonry should not tolerate it.
If our Craft is to have a stable and contributory future, we must support our requirements of regularity, and requirements for fraternal recognition. We must also be unwilling to accept deviations from these requirements We must be prepared to remove from our brotherhood, those who choose not to conform to its protocols. Fraternal relations must be limited to Regular Freemasonry. Those Grand Lodges seeking recognition know what is required. If they cannot, or will not accept these parameters, then they fail to gain recognition, and if a Regular Grand Lodge chooses a divergent pathway, then they must risk losing recognition.
We must remember that fraternal relations between Grand Lodges is not a right, it is a privilege. Every member has a right to accept what he chooses, but he must also accept that this choice will determine his right to membership. Each Grand Lodge is also free to choose, but if that choice contributes to disunity, then Regular Freemasonry has the responsibility to reunification. Only through unity, can there be unity.
Freemasonry has been facing a loss of image in present day society for decades and my brothers, we are the cause. The philosophy has not changed. We are the variable. We have not only permitted but stimulated a decline in the quality of the membership. We have required too little to be a member and far to little to remain a member. We have caused ignorance to become the norm in an organization that has always encouraged an acquisition of knowledge. We have cheapened our organization by being cheap ourselves, and now we are permitting egos rather than brains to drive us.
We must now decide whether we wish to survive as an institution that will impact future society, or if we choose to continue to slide into history as a once great society of men who changed this world, but which no longer exists. What do you want my Brothers? It will be you who will decide.
Source: Thomas Jackson, World Conference of Masons, Executive Secretary
World Freemasonry today, however, is in a greater state of instability that it has been for probably the greater part of its existence, and for a number of reasons.
First Freemasonry is expanding more rapidly than it has probably for well over 100 years, and maybe 200 years. With the reemergence of Freemasonry in the Eastern bloc countries in Europe and the development of new Grand Lodges on the continent of Africa, Freemasonry is experiencing a surge of growth unseen for many decades. It is significant that irregular forms of Freemasonry are also expanding probably more rapidly than they have in their entire history, not only into these areas, but also into areas where regular Freemasonry already exists. This is a major concern for the stability of Regular Freemasonry. It has become almost competitive to see which style of the Craft can be established first.
Second, ignorance of the Craft and its purpose has become a way of life to many Freemasons. This is certainly true in North America and North American Freemasons represents the majority of Freemasons in the world. This presents a tragic commentary for an organization that changed the world.
Third, the Internet has become a valuable tool to spread misinformation and the ignorance of others to our brothers and to anyone else who reads it and who lack the knowledge to reject it, and this is the vast majority who read it.
My brothers, the subject of regularity in Freemasonry is not a recent phenomenon, although there are some of our members today who think they have discovered something new in the Masonic world. It was probably one of the first major considerations to confront early speculative Freemasonry. As a result, specific criteria have been established to which any Masonic Grand lodge must conform and adhere to, to be regarded as regular.
Today, we acknowledge that a Grand Lodgers regularity is contingent upon it having been created by another regular Grand Lodge, or by the action of three or more regular subordinate lodges. Regularity is also dependent upon adherence by a Grand Lodge to established practice and compliance to specific requirements.
These include, the belief in a Supreme Being, the presence of the volume of the sacred law upon the altar, the limitation of males only in membership, the avoidance of discussion of religion and politics within a lodge, a restriction of fraternal intercourse Freemasonry, and the respect of jurisdictional of other Grand Lodges, amongst others.
The Craft established the system of granting warrants to Grand Lodges and lodges around 1731 and thus created a method early in Speculative Freemasonry that was adhered to as a worldwide standard. Regularity of Freemasonry is the structural base upon which we have erected our edifice to project a constancy of purpose to the world outside of our Craft. Those Grand Lodges not operating within these standards, have not adopted or have eliminated some of the basic landmarks upon which we exist, i.e. the required belief in a Supreme Being, the volume of the Sacred Law upon the alter, the avoidance of involvement in politics and religion as an organization and the restriction to male only membership.
Regularity in Freemasonry has been accompanied by irregularity since close to its inception. There have been, and are Regular Grand Lodges in origin that became irregular in practice. There have been, and are Grand Lodges that comply with some of the requirements for regularity, but not all, and there exists Grand Lodges that have never been regular in either origin and or in practice. Masonic leaders have dealt with these issues effectively for almost 300 years. Now, there are some of our members who have developed an attitude that regularity is not significant to the Craft.
I met a young PhD Journalism professor in Romania several weeks ago who wanted to give me a copy of a book he had written on Freemasonry. He had studied the Craft for many years before he became a member and understood much of its philosophical foundation. He related this story to me. The first lodge created in that country following the fall of communism was operating under the Grand Orient of France, an irregular Grand Lodge that did not require a belief in God. He was approached to join and was told that belief in God was not a requirement because they felt that men should be free to not believe in a Supreme Being if they chose, and still become a Freemason. Knowing what this requirement had meant to Freemasonry for centuries, he declined to join, even though he had waited for years until he had the freedom to become a member. Here was a man willing to give up his dream to become a Mason rather than become part of a group not requiring this fundamental of the Craft for regularity.
But now, my Brothers, there is a pervasive attitude beginning to permeate our Craft regarding regularity and fraternalism that none out of us can choose to ignore. There are those within the Fraternity today, predominantly in North America, who have developed the attitude that anyone calling themselves Freemasons should be regarded as Freemasons. There are those, even including a small segment of our leadership who feel that almost 300 years of history, practice and tradition is no longer applicable in today's world. These brothers probably have no idea how many Grand Lodges exist in the world. The last I heard there were 91 Grand Lodges in Italy alone. There are 17 known Grand Lodges in New York City. Twice while I was Grand Secretary, members of another Grand Lodge came to me seeking support in breaking away from their Grand Lodge and forming another.
Unquestionably, this results from the ignorance of the vast majority of Freemasons concerning Masonic history, its contributions to the world and even its purpose for existence. Couple this ignorance with ego and we have a blueprint for disaster. Our leaders should be informed enough to know better, and it is difficult to comprehend the motives, that inspire these men to conclude that our Brothers of the past were so wrong when they accomplished so much.
Lack of knowledge is certainly a major factor, but ego and arrogance is another, and present-day liberalism is probably a third. Whatever the motives, we cannot afford to ignore their actions. If permitted to continue, it will destroy Freemasonry as it has been known for almost three centuries. We simply cannot permit these attitudes against our protocols to exist in our membership. Our members, who choose to violate their obligation as a Freemason, should be removed before their destructive thinking is spread farther.
For many years our Craft has been a relatively quiescent Fraternity in regard to increasing numbers of Regular Grand Lodges in the world. During this period of time, irregular and unrecognized Freemasonry has also been relatively quiet. This period of quiescence has been replaced in recent years with a flurry of activity by both categories. The result is that present- day leadership is being confronted with the need to make decisions that will impact our Fraternity far into the future, and many are ill equipped to deal with these decisions due to a lack of knowledge, not only in procedures, required for recognition, but also concerning the Grand Lodges in question. Grand Lodges outside of North America have been dealing with these issues for centuries, but leadership in North America has rarely faced it, and now it is in their hands.
My Brothers, Freemasonry is the most successful fraternal organization that has ever existed and if there was a way of determining it, it could very well be the most successful organization of any kind that ever existed. It has impacted the world well beyond any other institution created by the mind of man. It has existed longer and has grown larger. It has caused change in the direction of the development of civilization. It has promoted civility, in civil society. And now, there are those in our fraternity today with the impression that they have a wisdom superior to our past brethren who have created and sustained it for 300 years.
Several years ago, I saw on a Web site an evaluation by one of our members, of the Commission on Information for Recognition of the Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America. The member making the evaluation determined that after his thorough study he had determined that the Commission had outlived its purpose in today's world. Upon checking with this member's Grand Lodge, I found that he had been a of the Craft for all of three years. Consider that, a three-year member with the brilliance and knowledge outshining brothers of the caliber of the men who made us« What arrogance. What ignorance. The problem is that there are those who read it and believed it.
There has also been a marked increase in schisms in regularly concentrated Grand Lodges resulting in two Grand Lodges in the same jurisdiction, both claiming to be the legitimate Regular Grand Lodge, The result has been that some Grand Lodges recognizes one, while other mainstream Grand Lodges recognizes the other. This is an untenable situation, which weakens our fraternity and presents to the world an unstable organization worth little note.
To further compound this problem, Masonically affiliated appendant bodies have become instrumental in causing some of the schisms to occur. There are also appendant bodies promoting recognition of irregular forms of Freemasonry including those not requiring a belief in a Supreme Being, not requiring the Volume of the Sacred Law upon the alter and or who admit female members into the Craft. Those bodies must be stopped before the harm they cause becomes irreversible.
Craft Masonry created the appendant organizations and they are subject to Grand Lodge control. Any organization that requires Masonic membership as a prerequisite for membership is subject to Grand Lodge rule in the jurisdiction in which they operate. My Brothers, Craft Masonry is what impacted this world, and these actions should be intolerable to us as members. Historians are writing about Freemasonry today and its impact on civil society, but not about any appendant body.
Grand Lodge officers must not continue to permit interference in Regular Freemasonry by organizations subjective to Grand Lodges. Violations of our accepted operating protocols must be recognized and confronted. If we fail to face and resolve these issues, we have absolutely no hope that Freemasonry will ever achieve the full potential for its existence nor come close to emulating its past.
I have heard recently that an attempt will be made to create a form of irregular Freemasonry that will preside over all of North America. We cannot ignore, nor accept, our members supporting this or any form of irregular Freemasonry or any appendant body that supports it.
Interestingly, the use of the Internet is now creating problems that just may be for us, of a magnitude perhaps unseen in our past. It is not only a tool for our enemies to attack us, but it also has become the major mechanism by which erroneous information is dissipated throughout the membership by our own members. Those members who have read it and assumed it was factual spread much of the information in error.
Not all of it is spread in error, however. It is being used today by those within the Craft who feel they have a vision for the future of Freemasonry that lies beyond the parameters of what made and sustained our greatness. It is within this small cadre of our own membership that lies perhaps the greatest threat to our survival as a viable institution, and again we cannot choose to ignore it.
Personally, my Brothers, I would like nothing more than to see all Freemasonry in the world united as a like-minded brotherhood of men dedicated to a common goal. Such an entity could only contribute to the strengthening of our noble institution. It would increase our potential to be an influence for the ongoing evolution of civil society and world peace. This cannot happen, however, so long this we remain ignorant of, or ignore the protocols of fraternal relations. Nor can it, nor will it happen, so long as conformity to the protocols which has sustained us for almost 300 years are not complied with by those seeking recognition. We, my Brothers, cannot be seduced into accepting anything less.
For the sake of Freemasonry it is therefore imperative that we become capable of divesting ourselves of our own limiting egos, and goals of creating self-perpetuating images and become more aware of the foundations upon which we have thrived for hundreds of years. We must become more concerned about the future of Freemasonry, and less about our own images.
My Brothers, the subject upon which I speak may be the greatest singular threat to our survival as a viable institution capable of impacting society in this millennium. Yet, the problem confronting us is one that we ourselves are causing, by creating or permitting disunity within the Craft, by supporting irregular instead of regular Freemasonry, by reacting instead of acting, and by failing to recognize our own ignorance on specific issues. We are not only, not helping the perpetuation of our Masonic craft; we are aiding and abetting in its demise. Our Grand Lodges should not accept it, and Freemasonry should not tolerate it.
If our Craft is to have a stable and contributory future, we must support our requirements of regularity, and requirements for fraternal recognition. We must also be unwilling to accept deviations from these requirements We must be prepared to remove from our brotherhood, those who choose not to conform to its protocols. Fraternal relations must be limited to Regular Freemasonry. Those Grand Lodges seeking recognition know what is required. If they cannot, or will not accept these parameters, then they fail to gain recognition, and if a Regular Grand Lodge chooses a divergent pathway, then they must risk losing recognition.
We must remember that fraternal relations between Grand Lodges is not a right, it is a privilege. Every member has a right to accept what he chooses, but he must also accept that this choice will determine his right to membership. Each Grand Lodge is also free to choose, but if that choice contributes to disunity, then Regular Freemasonry has the responsibility to reunification. Only through unity, can there be unity.
Freemasonry has been facing a loss of image in present day society for decades and my brothers, we are the cause. The philosophy has not changed. We are the variable. We have not only permitted but stimulated a decline in the quality of the membership. We have required too little to be a member and far to little to remain a member. We have caused ignorance to become the norm in an organization that has always encouraged an acquisition of knowledge. We have cheapened our organization by being cheap ourselves, and now we are permitting egos rather than brains to drive us.
We must now decide whether we wish to survive as an institution that will impact future society, or if we choose to continue to slide into history as a once great society of men who changed this world, but which no longer exists. What do you want my Brothers? It will be you who will decide.
Source: Thomas Jackson, World Conference of Masons, Executive Secretary