A Response to Brother Mitchell Palmer

A Response to Brother Palmer,

I am certain all here can recall Brother Palmer’s post a few weeks back. At that time I responded back channel to him and he and I spoke privately that very day. Since that time, I’ve reconsidered my conclusion to speak back channel, and so I am re-posting my comments.

“Can I do things that are of Freemasonry, but not as a Freemason? ” - Brother Mitchell Palmer

No. The things I do within the context of Freemasonry can only be done within the context of Freemasonry.

I’d like to focus on this idea that one cannot do things of Freemasonry outside of Freemasonry. Your examples of doing the right thing and charity I think are excellent places to start. Also understand what follows are merely my ramblings, my vision of how things are. Your mileage will vary – and I seriously doubt any of my ideas would be endorsed, supported (and possibly even condoned) by anyone in any position of power or influence in our Jurisdiction – in short your are warned and disclaimed.

I do not accept the notion that Freemasonry is a charitable practice. I reject, outright, the supposition that Freemasonry is a course in wise living, and teaches me how to be a man. Freemasonry is about Freemasonry, and has little or nothing to do with developing good men.

Truly, as a man, I endeavor to choose to do the right thing, for the right reasons. I need no organization of men to teach me this. This is the instruction for a boy, that one day hopes to be a man. Truly, you can serve your fellow man without Freemasonry. Truly, other organizations do a much better job of charity than Freemasonry - and let us nullify the argument of the Shrine’s hospital here and now. It is disingenuous for Masons to point to the work of the Shrine’s hospital as an example of Masonic charity. The hospital is the example of the charity of the Shrine. Masons often laud our charity, and take the easy road and boast charity to the stars. No one argues with charity – except maybe me.

The truth is Freemasonry has little to do with charity. Our ritual tells us just that; charity, etc… is a duty incumbent on all mankind. The Fellow Craft lecture makes this point very clear. I know what you are thinking right now – what about relief. Relief and charity are two very different things. Charity is about enforcing a class society – the haves and have nots. Charity requires someone to be perpetually poor, and another perpetually rich in material terms. Relief, is about freeing someone from oppression, or easing a burden. Don’t take my word for it though - go look them up in the dictionary.

The truth is that Freemasonry has little to do with teaching you right from wrong – as a man you should already know this.

In your qualifications to become a Freemason, you stated that you were a man. In this statement we, as the Lodge, care little about your genetic disposition to having a phallus. What bathroom you use, matters not. We are only concerned with your character, and if your character meets our definition of man. When the Master tells you that Freemasonry will not conflict with those duties you owe to God, your country, your neighbor (read: community, charity), your family, or yourself, he is assuming that you have all those duties. Therein one finds the Masonic definition of a Man - one who is of service; service to God, to country, to neighbor, to family, and finally to himself. Looking further, one asks why those duties? Serving those duties is doing the right thing for the right reason. “Service� converges those masculine qualities of charity and noble engagement. You are not a man, in Masonic opinion, if you do not serve; if you do not have any duties to others, or a compulsion to serve others. Service means little to us as Masons, but means everything to us as men.

It is our character as a man that qualifies us to be a Mason, not the other way around – Masonry does not make the man. Since the Baltimore Convention of 1843, Masons have slowly forgotten this distinction. This error in definition has lead to much confusion in the Craft as Masons, who fulfilling their duties as Men, find no satisfaction, or reason to Freemasonry. To find satisfaction within Freemasonry, one must be doing Masonic things.

So are all Masons perfect men? No. Certainly no man comes to Freemasonry without error. Therefore interaction between men, as men, doing masculine things is to be expected, and is needed. I benefit as a man, from the instruction of other men. Because we all need help from time to time, it is not inappropriate for Brethren to guide us – even as men – to correct an error. As Masons we are already to be good men, but while we strive for an ideal that tolerates, and even expects, lapses in judgment, Freemasonry does not allow us to wallow in an abyss of mediocrity – a privilege of men. Brethren serve to remind us that Masons strive to rise above mediocrity, and how we may regain the path. I would suspect that for this reason, the emphasis on civility at our Visitation. Pursuit of the calm, smooth, compassionate, reserve of true southern gentlemanliness ought to be the course of any good man.

But, as I said, this is not the heart of Masonic activities; it is part of the package. Perhaps even the wrapping paper on the package, which may be why it receives so much attention.

Freemasonry takes good men, and makes them better. It however does not make them better men. Freemasonry serves to make men better, but something entirely different than a man, something that can only grow from the nurturing soil of a mature manhood.

Many a Brother has written on the subject of what Freemasonry is. Very few of them however seem to have paid any attention to their preparation. The Senior Steward tells you what Freemasonry is, in very clear terms. Combined with the method of instruction, there is no other conclusion other than Freemasonry is a traditional *initiatic order* whose fundamental tenets are brotherly love, relief, and truth.

Brotherly Love, Relief, need little explanation. Truth, is more elusive, needs a great deal of attention. The key to truth is found in the words Initiatic Order. I will borrow from Brother Dennis V. Chornenky of the Masonic Restoration foundation, to narrow in on initiatic order:

“Being part of the initiatic tradition is what distinguishes Freemasonry from purely social or philanthropic organizations. While there are many different organizations that contribute large sums of money to charity, offer fellowship with like-minded men, or provide education, Freemasonry is unique in that it embodies all these things, but is actually focused on offering men a traditional initiation into the mysteries of life and death. The initiatic tradition is the core, defining characteristic of Freemasonry, without which there would be nothing to differentiate Masonry from other social or philanthropic organizations.”

Mysteries of life and death. I can just feel Masons all over Utah rolling their eyes, but there you have it.

Stop for a minute, and look at how many symbols of mortality surround us. Rewind the clock 50 years before we became politically correct, and look and see how many skulls (real or otherwise) were collected in any given Masonic Temple. To this day we speak of immortality and surround ourselves with symbols of immortality - Mysteries of Life and Death. Initiation is the portal through which mankind passes to study mysteries, and there are few things in the human experience more mysterious than life and death.

For centuries mankind has performed ritual Initiation, and for centuries the experience of the Initiation ceremony, and the subsequent journey, have been enriched through efforts of candidates through the study of history, symbolism, and philosophy. There is no way around it. Without study of the history, symbolism, and philosophy of Freemasonry, the Initiation will never progress beyond a series of obtuse gestures and words in ridiculous garb. That’s the way it is meant to be.

To polish and adorn our minds, to improve our Spirits, to draw attention, boldly, to deity, to life, to death, and to explore the fears associated with zeal – to stand before the abyss armed with Faith and Reason to illuminate that which remains hidden within ourselves – these are Masonic activities.

A man can be of good character, and still circumscribed by fear. A man can work to help his neighbor, but still be ignorant of the world. A man can be pious and yet bound by hate and intolerance. A man can be educated in the way of science, and devoid of love and compassion. A man can be free of the fear of death, by having no respect for his own life.

Freemasonry on the other hand instructs us to conquer fear. Freemasonry instructs us to be wise and educated in the arts and sciences (faith and reason). Freemasonry teaches us to temper faith, but not allowing it to extend so far as to oppress another. Freemasonry teaches us to temper reason with compassion and nobility. Freemasonry teaches us to respect life, and to respect death. Freemasonry teaches us to question to very notion of our personal identity, not to undo it, but to strengthen it. Freemasonry lets us walk in the footsteps of greatness, not for our own benefit or satisfaction, but for those who come after us and set clear how much work we need to do.

Moreover, Freemasonry teaches us, that as we advance in Masonry, much of the journey is quiet and lonely. Not because it is desolate; not because it is fraught with failure; not because we are taking the path less traveled; but because only we can advance ourselves in Masonry. No one can advance for you. The Lodge and Brothers can not walk this path for me, they can guide me and help me to know the path – but only I can walk it. It is for this reason that our not-so-ancient Brethren (18th and 19th centuries), did little to formalize a course of study on history, symbolism and philosophy. Formalizing my experience only serves to diminish yours. Your path, while similar, is fundamentally different from mine. The only certainty that can be said from one experience of Masonry to another is “vide, aude, tace�, or “gloria dei est celare verbum�.

In closing, I offer this. Freemasons meet on the level. This level is not some superficial, meager acceptance that no one is better than me, or that I am no better than everyone else. This is an easy assumption, grasped by even a child. The level of Freemasonry is this – Freemasons are leveled by Freemasonry. By Freemasonry it is made plain, without equivocation that we all strive to reach for an unmitigated conception of excellence in ourselves and in the world, supported by the realization that no one of us has ever touched the brass ring. On that great endeavor, we are all equal because we all possess them same yearning character to strive, to reach beyond today and tomorrow, to push into the unknown. We are all equal because the task is so daunting, that the distances that separate each of us in our worldly stations, are made infinitesimal by the greater distance we must all travel to achieve our goal.

On that note I say this in parting, as it applies to all here. It is not important that you think yourself equal to the task, but that we do. If those Brethren who elected you did not think you stand to succeed where they have failed, you would not be here asking this question today. As it is said, we are not elevated above our Brethren, but by them.