Sunday, September 23, 2007
Masonic Hall, New York City
As promised, here are my other photos from the Grand Lodge of New York at 71 W 23rd Street in New York City. (pseudo-anonymity be damned!)
Thursday, September 20, 2007
If you can't join them, tour them
As previously mentioned, I wasn't able to take the first degree this past Monday, because I was in New York City. I was meeting one of my best friends for a couple of days of unabashed tourism. The trip was planned and scheduled long before I was given the date for the first degree, and there was just no way I could have backed out on such short notice - nor would I have wanted to! I hadn't seen J. (one of the references for my petition) in more than 5 years.
He had never been to New York, and although I have been there a number of times it's always been on business... I haven't done a lot of sightseeing there.
We had a blast. One of our first destinations on Monday was the Grand Masonic Lodge of New York at 71 W. 23rd Street. Many thanks to R.W. Anton J. Kurz for a thorough, intimate, and very enjoyable tour. I haven't gone through all of my photos yet, but this shot of the Renaissance Room is an indicator of the splendor of the place, recently restored and renovated:
I'll post more when I sort through my best photos.
In the meantime, if you're in New York I highly recommend stopping by for a tour whether you're a Mason or not! As of this writing, I believe the hours are Monday-Saturday, 11:00 AM - 2:30 PM. (Best to call ahead and make sure, though.) There's no formal "wait here for tours" sign, so when you get to the building just inquire at the front desk. You may need to wait a while if a tour is already in progress, but it's well worth it.
He had never been to New York, and although I have been there a number of times it's always been on business... I haven't done a lot of sightseeing there.
We had a blast. One of our first destinations on Monday was the Grand Masonic Lodge of New York at 71 W. 23rd Street. Many thanks to R.W. Anton J. Kurz for a thorough, intimate, and very enjoyable tour. I haven't gone through all of my photos yet, but this shot of the Renaissance Room is an indicator of the splendor of the place, recently restored and renovated:
I'll post more when I sort through my best photos.
In the meantime, if you're in New York I highly recommend stopping by for a tour whether you're a Mason or not! As of this writing, I believe the hours are Monday-Saturday, 11:00 AM - 2:30 PM. (Best to call ahead and make sure, though.) There's no formal "wait here for tours" sign, so when you get to the building just inquire at the front desk. You may need to wait a while if a tour is already in progress, but it's well worth it.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Fiat Lux
My most recent Masonic milestone, the voting of my petition by the lodge two nights ago, was predictably anticlimactic. I'm not sure what I may receive in the way of formal notification, but given that my first degree was scheduled before the vote I am going to assume I have been accepted.
(I will be very chagrined and humbled indeed if that turns out not to be the case, but the Secretary's e-mail last week removed most of the few doubts I had on the subject.)
I spent the evening of my vote visiting with my 95 year-old grandfather, and I had what I would call my first "adult" conversation with him. It's been years since I actually had a one-on-one conversation with him... the last time was probably some 16 or 17 years ago when I was in high school, over a cup of coffee at Dunkin Donuts. More often, though, there are other family members present when I'm visiting, and conversation doesn't run as deep or personal.
It wasn't long before we got onto the subject of metaphysics, and it was in that context that I told him I had decided to join the Freemasons. For the first time, I got a reaction other than the mild, bemused puzzlement the rest of my family and friends have expressed... grampa was as surprised as everyone else, but he was downright excited and told me several times how pleased and proud he was. For a moment I thought he was going to reveal that he himself was a Mason, but that was not the case.
He told me that as a younger man he had been extremely interested in becoming a Mason, but that he had never been able to get any of the Masons he knew to answer any of his questions. Being the methodical, pragmatic man he has always been, he wasn't going to join without knowing more about what he was getting into. Because he couldn't find any answers, he never wound up joining, much to the detriment of the Freemasons! I described how easy it is to find information now, and I was tempted to remind him there's nothing stopping him from petitioning himself. With with his increasingly limited mobility and failing eyesight, though, I think such an undertaking would be too overwhelming for him. It's my hope that within the bounds set by the oaths, I can at least answer most or all of the questions he has had all these years!
As a young man of 19 he did briefly join the Knights of Pythias at a friend's urging, but did not find what he was looking for. This would have been in the early 1930s, but the comment he made about the repetitive rituals sounded rather a lot like complaints about the state of Freemasonry in 2007.
What was it about the Freemasons that has always intrigued my grandfather, and made him so happy to learn that I'm joining?
The search for light.
As I learned the other night, it's a quest he has made more or less on his own in all the years since his childhood. He rejected the fire-and-brimstone preaching he was subjected to as a youth, but not his belief in God. He has spent much of his life searching for a framework with which to examine and understand his beliefs, and to become a better person for it.
He was also impressed by the fraternal and charitable aspects of the order, but the quest for light was clearly the thing that impresses him most about the Freemasons, and makes them "the best" (his words) of all the fraternal organizations out there.
He has not been exposed to the countless blog posts and essays bemoaning the current state of Freemasonry, nor of the conspiratorial claptrap that now passes for documentary on the Discovery or History channels, and through him I got to see firsthand the high, noble reputation the Freemasons once held in this country. It rekindled some of my passion for the loftier ideals I had in mind when I first petitioned a lodge. I have been exposed to a lot of those blog posts and essays in the months since I decided to join. They have been instructive in their own way, but they have also been a bit of a distraction from my original inspiration for joining the Freemasons.
When I take the degrees, it will now be as much for grampa as for myself. If I am frustrated or discouraged by the state of Freemasonry as I find it, I will endeavor to remind myself of how proud and vicariously excited my grandfather is, and of the opportunity he never got.
(I will be very chagrined and humbled indeed if that turns out not to be the case, but the Secretary's e-mail last week removed most of the few doubts I had on the subject.)
I spent the evening of my vote visiting with my 95 year-old grandfather, and I had what I would call my first "adult" conversation with him. It's been years since I actually had a one-on-one conversation with him... the last time was probably some 16 or 17 years ago when I was in high school, over a cup of coffee at Dunkin Donuts. More often, though, there are other family members present when I'm visiting, and conversation doesn't run as deep or personal.
It wasn't long before we got onto the subject of metaphysics, and it was in that context that I told him I had decided to join the Freemasons. For the first time, I got a reaction other than the mild, bemused puzzlement the rest of my family and friends have expressed... grampa was as surprised as everyone else, but he was downright excited and told me several times how pleased and proud he was. For a moment I thought he was going to reveal that he himself was a Mason, but that was not the case.
He told me that as a younger man he had been extremely interested in becoming a Mason, but that he had never been able to get any of the Masons he knew to answer any of his questions. Being the methodical, pragmatic man he has always been, he wasn't going to join without knowing more about what he was getting into. Because he couldn't find any answers, he never wound up joining, much to the detriment of the Freemasons! I described how easy it is to find information now, and I was tempted to remind him there's nothing stopping him from petitioning himself. With with his increasingly limited mobility and failing eyesight, though, I think such an undertaking would be too overwhelming for him. It's my hope that within the bounds set by the oaths, I can at least answer most or all of the questions he has had all these years!
As a young man of 19 he did briefly join the Knights of Pythias at a friend's urging, but did not find what he was looking for. This would have been in the early 1930s, but the comment he made about the repetitive rituals sounded rather a lot like complaints about the state of Freemasonry in 2007.
What was it about the Freemasons that has always intrigued my grandfather, and made him so happy to learn that I'm joining?
The search for light.
As I learned the other night, it's a quest he has made more or less on his own in all the years since his childhood. He rejected the fire-and-brimstone preaching he was subjected to as a youth, but not his belief in God. He has spent much of his life searching for a framework with which to examine and understand his beliefs, and to become a better person for it.
He was also impressed by the fraternal and charitable aspects of the order, but the quest for light was clearly the thing that impresses him most about the Freemasons, and makes them "the best" (his words) of all the fraternal organizations out there.
He has not been exposed to the countless blog posts and essays bemoaning the current state of Freemasonry, nor of the conspiratorial claptrap that now passes for documentary on the Discovery or History channels, and through him I got to see firsthand the high, noble reputation the Freemasons once held in this country. It rekindled some of my passion for the loftier ideals I had in mind when I first petitioned a lodge. I have been exposed to a lot of those blog posts and essays in the months since I decided to join. They have been instructive in their own way, but they have also been a bit of a distraction from my original inspiration for joining the Freemasons.
When I take the degrees, it will now be as much for grampa as for myself. If I am frustrated or discouraged by the state of Freemasonry as I find it, I will endeavor to remind myself of how proud and vicariously excited my grandfather is, and of the opportunity he never got.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
No Spoilers
Last night I again talked myself out of picking up Wilmshurst's Meaning of Masonry at Barnes & Noble. The price is right and it definitely promises to be an interesting and informative read, but I am still trying to avoid details about (and interpretations of) the degree rituals until I experience them myself.
So far I've done pretty well. I can't say that I don't know anything about what's in store, but I think that what details I have learned won't lessen my experience too much.
No word yet from the Secretary as to when my first degree may be rescheduled.
So far I've done pretty well. I can't say that I don't know anything about what's in store, but I think that what details I have learned won't lessen my experience too much.
No word yet from the Secretary as to when my first degree may be rescheduled.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Endurance Contest
Tune in to "Secret History of the Freemasons" on Discovery Channel this evening, and see how long you can stand it.
I've already turned it off and back on twice, and I don't think I'm going to make it all the way through. The selective editing is masterful. I imagine the shoot went something like this:
Producer: "So are the Freemasons a sinister cult bent on taking over the world?"
Knowledgeable, level-headed person who actually knows what they're talking about: "Any time you have a group of people meeting in secret, people get suspicious. As a result, many people think the Freemasons are plotting something sinister. However, if you spend any time at all looking into the history of the Masons, you'll realize this is an unrealistic assumption because X, Y and Z..."
What makes it into the show? Only part of the answer, with the interviewee shot in a slow, low crane shot, with ominous music in the background: "Many people think the Freemasons are plotting something sinister."
Another nice device they employ is having the various journalists they're interviewing declare "I am NOT a Freemason" at the beginning of their segments, thereby implying that any measured defense of Freemasonry as a generally benign and currently misunderstood organization can be safely dismissed as Masonic propganda.
So far, we have been presented with the story of the P2 lodge as proof that the Freemasons are all plotting to take over government.
...
OK, I'm turning it off for good, about 30 minutes in: They have moved on to the senseless hazing death in 2004 at the Patchogue, NY "Fellowcraft Club", conveniently leaving out the fact that although the "ritual" in question was being performed by a bunch of Masons (Masons with decidedly poor judgement) it was not in any way, shape, or form related to the regular blue lodge degrees, nor sanctioned or approved by any regular Masonic body.
And, of course, they've alluded to noted historian Dan Brown's inclusion of the Freemasons in his next book, therefore... whatever.
I give up!
I've already turned it off and back on twice, and I don't think I'm going to make it all the way through. The selective editing is masterful. I imagine the shoot went something like this:
Producer: "So are the Freemasons a sinister cult bent on taking over the world?"
Knowledgeable, level-headed person who actually knows what they're talking about: "Any time you have a group of people meeting in secret, people get suspicious. As a result, many people think the Freemasons are plotting something sinister. However, if you spend any time at all looking into the history of the Masons, you'll realize this is an unrealistic assumption because X, Y and Z..."
What makes it into the show? Only part of the answer, with the interviewee shot in a slow, low crane shot, with ominous music in the background: "Many people think the Freemasons are plotting something sinister."
Another nice device they employ is having the various journalists they're interviewing declare "I am NOT a Freemason" at the beginning of their segments, thereby implying that any measured defense of Freemasonry as a generally benign and currently misunderstood organization can be safely dismissed as Masonic propganda.
So far, we have been presented with the story of the P2 lodge as proof that the Freemasons are all plotting to take over government.
...
OK, I'm turning it off for good, about 30 minutes in: They have moved on to the senseless hazing death in 2004 at the Patchogue, NY "Fellowcraft Club", conveniently leaving out the fact that although the "ritual" in question was being performed by a bunch of Masons (Masons with decidedly poor judgement) it was not in any way, shape, or form related to the regular blue lodge degrees, nor sanctioned or approved by any regular Masonic body.
And, of course, they've alluded to noted historian Dan Brown's inclusion of the Freemasons in his next book, therefore... whatever.
I give up!
Argh!
I received an e-mail from the lodge Secretary this morning, telling me that my petition will be voted on Thursday and, without so much as a qualifying "if you're accepted," that my first degree will be the following Monday.
The only problem is that I'm going to be in New York City that night! I called the Secretary back to let him know, and he reassured me that it's no problem... however, I may wind up taking my first degree at another lodge in the district rather than at my mother lodge. That's a bummer, especially since there are several other new members being inducted that night! I would have preferred to meet and share the experience with them, in the presence of the half dozen brothers I've already met from the lodge.
The waiting I can stand, though... I hadn't expected to take the first degree until October anyway! I don't know what the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts' constitution says about the minimum time that must elapse between degrees - I hope that I am able to get back on schedule with the other new members for the second and third.
The only problem is that I'm going to be in New York City that night! I called the Secretary back to let him know, and he reassured me that it's no problem... however, I may wind up taking my first degree at another lodge in the district rather than at my mother lodge. That's a bummer, especially since there are several other new members being inducted that night! I would have preferred to meet and share the experience with them, in the presence of the half dozen brothers I've already met from the lodge.
The waiting I can stand, though... I hadn't expected to take the first degree until October anyway! I don't know what the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts' constitution says about the minimum time that must elapse between degrees - I hope that I am able to get back on schedule with the other new members for the second and third.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Waiting
Less than a week now until my petition is voted upon, and I find myself rather distracted, in much the same way I am in the time between a job interview and receiving (or not receiving) an offer. Not that I really have many doubts as to whether I will be accepted, but it will be nice to move the process along.
Of course, in the three months since I submitted my petition, I haven't devoted any serious thought to what I'll do if I'm not accepted, for some reason... but now is not the time to dwell on such an eventuality.
Of course, in the three months since I submitted my petition, I haven't devoted any serious thought to what I'll do if I'm not accepted, for some reason... but now is not the time to dwell on such an eventuality.
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