We Have an Image to Maintain

Of all of the weird behaviors people exhibit related to the subject of Masonry, the one that has been fascinating me lately is this really weird, sort of upside down negative reaction that some people seem to have when they learn that the Masons are having an open house, or that there's a book called Freemasons for Dummies, or whenever a Mason is interviewed for a newspaper article. What's with the people who make snarky, yet somehow vaguely disappointed comments like, "Pfft! For a secret society they sure make their buildings easy to find!" or "Secret societies aren't as secret as they used to be!"

It's as though they would rather have their sinister, mistaken, pop culture preconceptions about the Masons proven true! Aww, man! You mean the Masons aren't a sinister cabal who control the weather and eat babies? What a ripoff! I was really hoping that they'd send their minions after me to kidnap and brainwash me after stumbling on this sekret knowledge of theirs!

Public perception has been on my mind lately because of the impending state-wide open house we will be having on Saturday in Massachusetts; as a lodge ambassador I'll be one of the Brothers tasked with hanging around the Lodge from 9:00 to 3:00, greet visitors, and attempt to explain what the heck it is that we do. My goal is to formulate a description that contains enough of a concrete explanation that will spark the interest and imagination of the right sort of man, but to be oblique enough about everything else to preserve a sense of mystery and (dare I say it) exclusivity.

But alas, if you storm into our lodge expecting us to confess to keeping the metric system down, or fluoridating the water supply, you may find that your sense of mystery suffers.

Just in time for the Open House

I just finished watching the "Secrets of the Freemasons" tabloid documentary that the National Geographic channel produced a couple of years ago - while actually fairly factual and not as ridiculous as the programs put out by the Discovery and History channels around the same time, they sure lay on a lot of sinister music (I'll have to talk to our lodge organist about that, he doesn't play anything nearly that spooky) and just about every sentence in the narration begins with, "Some people believe," or "Conspiracy theorists believe," or, just to mix it up a little bit, "There is a general consensus among historians that the Masons were not behind the French revolution, but some conspiracy theorists believe that the Freemasons were involved."

Nevertheless, as someone who will be greeting the general public at our open house this coming weekend, it's probably worth watching all of these things, since that's where a lot of people may have gotten their information.

Late to the Party

I finally got around to checking out The Setting Maul podcast (link goes directly to the podcast feed - you can also go to thesettingmaul.com) and so far I'm quite enjoying the Brothers' take on things.

I soured on a lot of internet-based Masonic discourse a while ago because so much of it is polarized and fraught with hyperbole... nothing is ever accomplished because the positions taken are often so fatalistic: either Masonry has been irrevocably ruined, or there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, and that's that.

The Setting Maul, at least the first few episodes I've listened to, is reality-based - that is to say, it acknowledges the frustrations we often encounter in Masonry, but rather than railing on about whose fault they are or how crappy it is that things are in such a state, the Setting Maul folks talk about ways to deal with some of those realities. The refreshing thing is that a lot of them start with ourselves: looking in our hearts and thinking about whether any of the problems and/or solutions lie within, rather than just pointing fingers. And even if there's not always a solution, it's nice to commiserate without quite so much drama.

Hello from DrupalCon DC

Hello from DrupalCon DC! On the off chance that anyone (other than Trevor) who reads this site also happens to be a Drupal developer and here at the conference, send me a tweet @MrAndyChase and let's set up a BoF session.

Otherwise, please enjoy this photo from the House of the Temple, which is surprisingly near my hotel.

One Stone at a Time

Not too long ago I appealed to all the Masters and Past Masters out there for tips on how one might go about memorizing all that ritual.

The answer, as gently provided to me by Bro. Tom Accuosti was (and I paraphrase), "Just work on a little bit at a time, all the time."

I just memorized first large paragraph of the Middle Chamber lecture. I am Junior Deacon this year, but I figure there is no time like the present to start working on one of the longer bits of ritual that will fall to me as Senior Deacon next year. It took me a little more than half an hour and I know I will have to keep repeating it to myself for a while to make it stick, but as the saying goes: well begun is half done.

It is surprisingly exciting to have started down this path; what little ritual I have learned so far has sunk in mostly through osmosis, rather than by my actively having to work at it. I have to stop myself from moving to the next paragraph and give my brain a chance to catch up.

How did I do it? A little bit at a time. Duh. I feel a bit sheepish, like someone who asks a trim and fit friend how they stay healthy and keep their weight down and receive the obvious answer, "Eat less and exercise more."

Back to Basics

After months and months of waiting, rumination, and speculation on the philosophical nature of Freemasonry and the secrets that lay behind the antechamber door, the nature of this weblog shifted rather dramatically after I took the degrees and jumped headfirst into the inner workings of my lodge. Since being raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason, I have been focusing instead on the more mundane, nuts-and-bolts details of what Masons actually do to keep their lodge running. There is nary a mention of Masonic Light on this blog since June. This is not because I have given up on those loftier, esoteric notions about Freemasonry... rather, it is because I have developed a better sense of their context, and I am much less inclined to make proclamations or opine too strongly about any one aspect of the Craft... there are so many different aspects, and I'm still learning how they're interconnected.

It is easy to forget just how mysterious this whole Freemasonry business seems before you join; the symbols, worrying about the investigation, being a bit unsure about the super-secret rituals... in general, just wondering what it's all about... No matter how crazy you know the Masonophobes are, what if there's even a hint of truth about all that New World Order business, or that Baphomet guy? Can you really leave if you want to? (The answer there is yes, by the way - far too many new Brothers do.)

If you take the degrees and stick around, the work that Masons do behind the tyled door loses that initial veneer of mystery very quickly... so quickly that the part of us that had hoped to find a secret society of beard-stroking, enlightened gentlemen might feel a little bit disillusioned and discouraged. It can be hard to think reverently about "The Mysteries of Freemasonry" when you're sitting down to a potluck supper of Swedish meatballs, pizza, and potato chips.

At the same time, though, I have been struck by a deep and moving sense of the transcendent at various unexpected moments over the last six months, at degree rehearsal, at a dinner served on paper plates, during a business meeting, or (less surprisingly) during a particularly elegant passage in the ritual. I think I've written before that Freemasonry is greater than the sum of its parts, which is why it's so hard to describe to non-members... and why it's so hard for non-members to see what all the fuss is about, and unfortunately causes some of them to conjure up bizarre notions of what it is that we do.

A word occurred to me the other night that I think describes our order quite well, despite the fact that Masons are often not the bunch of mystical philosophers some of us imagine them to be before joining:

Monastic.

To me this word bridges the gap between that sense of mystery I remember before joining, and some of the more mundane realities of the lodge; to put it another way, monks and nuns of any faith have to do their laundry sometime... that doesn't diminish the sacredness of their vows in any way, shape, or form, it's just a part of the package.

I think it would be a stretch to say the we as Freemasons are truly monks of some kind, but being an active member of your lodge does require some discipline and dedication to the Craft... joining the Masons in jurisdictions that still require new candidates to memorize the lectures for each degree requires careful study and a certain level of seriousness that goes above and beyond the demands of many other social obligations. This is especially true if you take it upon yourself to learn the ritual and commit to sitting in a chair for at least 10 meetings a year. Whether you make that commitment because you're honoring a family tradition, because you just enjoy the company of other good men, or because you're looking to unlock the secrets of the universe by searching for hidden meanings in the ritual, it's all Freemasonry.

A Question for those who have already traveled to the East

When did you learn the Master's parts of the ritual? That is to say, did you start memorizing the work years ahead of time, or did you wait to cram for each degree until you were installed in the Oriental chair? As I page through my cipher to work on my few parts as Junior Deacon, I get a bit woozy when I look at the Master's lectures which go on for pages at a time.

I suspect that the delegation of the Middle Chamber lecture to the Senior Deacon was a very strategic choice when the ritual was being developed; I imagine that if the SD is able to find a technique that enables him to memorize that work, then the rest will follow more easily... but at the same time, he still has a couple more years to understudy the Master before taking it all on. (Or, he can graciously step out of the line if he decided he's getting in over his head.)

As a confirmed high school nerd who once upon a time took it upon himself to memorize the name of a certain forgotten German composer, I am reasonably confident in my ability to memorize things... and if I get a head start maybe I can do so in a way that's not like trying to drink from a fire hose.