Investigating Candidates: The Investigation Process in the 21st Century.

Dear Unknown Friend,

What follows in an a modification of an educational I gave in Lodge on Friday March 3, 2006. The original educational was a dialog, however for purposes of presentation on the web I have restructured this as a lecture. Note: the transcription is still incomplete as of 3/7/2006.

The reasoning prompting this educational is simple - we have too many men in Freemasonry, and not enough Freemasonry in Freemasons.

J.

Brethren,

I would like to thank you all for being here tonight. I know many of you have sat through numerous classes and educations labeled Conducting Investigations, and I know the weariness and frustration with which you approach the educational I am about to give – I can assure you however, you have never seen this educational before, and that it will be unlike anything this Lodge has seen in several decades.

Before we begin I must inform you up front I am about to say a great many things that will offend a great many people. I will call into question the legal definitions adopted by our Grand Lodge. I will call into question our practices. I will call into question the doctrines and traditions we have practiced for the better part of half a century. Please understand I do not do this to lay blame, to offend or insult, or to demean any Brother or Brothers. I do this because I feel it is an essential necessity to question every few decades the attitude of our guiding compasses and to ensure we are still on track.

Now having said that – let us begin.

Brethren my education consists of a series of questions. Those questions are:

• When does an investigation begin?
• What is the most powerful emblem of Freemasonry ever constructed by our Brotherhood?
• Why is Freemasonry the grandfather of American fraternalism?
• How do you tell if the Candidate has Potential and Desire?

So, when do we start

No discussion of investigations is complete without understanding when the investigation begins. Some of you may think the investigation begins when a man approaches you about Freemasonry. Others may think the investigation begins when a committee is assigned. Both of these answers are standard, and traditional, and represent a legalistic approach to Freemasonry. However, both of these answers are incomplete and so is our legalistic approach.

We have become habituated into considering the investigation as beginning when it becomes obvious that we are conducting some sort of Masonic transaction, be it a formal investigation or when we are approached about Freemasonry, or in some way acting as a Freemason. This practice is symptomatic of our compartmentalization of Freemasonry in our lives. We dismiss Freemasonry to only a few hours per month, in Lodge, and closely guard that anything outside of the Temple is not masonic. By doing this we have taught ourselves that Freemasonry is only practiced in a limited context, and behind closed doors. Contrary to this popular belief we are a Freemason more frequently than just one night per month, or when talking about Freemasonry.

Brethren - an investigation begins with you. It always has, and always will. You initiate the investigation the moment you are Raised (I would challege this, once your are an Entered Apprentice, you are a Freemason regardless of the events of Baltimore, 1840 - but I concede the point as I am in, and giving this to, a mostly American audience), and continue it for the rest of your life. You are constantly being investigated by non-masons every hour of every day. The process of an investigation starts with each of us, all of whom must be fully prepared to investigate ourselves, as well as other men. We must train ourselves to properly present Freemasonry. As soon as you are Raised, you are a Freemason at all times, and thusly you are a Freemason in all places. Where you go, what you do, where you are seen, how you speak, what you say, what you eat – everywhere you go, everything you do, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three-hundred-sixty-five days a year you represent Freemasonry. There are no days off, no vacations, and no breaks. From the moment you become a Master Mason you are a Freemason in every country on the face of the world, and you are emblematic of everything we do; and you have knowingly or unknowingly committed to yourself to restructure your life around an intense focus on a new attitude of unmitigated excellence in everything you do.

Prepare and train yourself to be knowledgeable in our ancient art, educate yourself on aspects of this Fraternity for which you care little or disregard – know what it is to be a gentleman: a warrior, a lover, and a scholar and be prepared to adopt any of those roles at a moments notice.

The moment we accept Freemasonry as pervasive throughout our life, is the moment we start investigating ourselves - and Freemasonry. Once we can investigate ourselves, we become better enabled to investigate other men and potential candidates.

But have no doubt, whether you choose to believe me or not, you are being investigated twenty-four hours per day. From that moment of sublime joy, you are to someone you their first impression of our ancient order. To others, you re-affirm their knowledge or suspicions of what we do and what we stand for.

Who Comes here

Next, I ask you my Brothers, what is the most powerful emblem of Freemasonry ever constructed by our Brotherhood? I can tell you now it is not the Square and Compasses; it is not our buildings; it is not your bumper sticker or car medallion; it is not your lapel pin, your ring, your suit, or your turquoise belt buckle. To put it into common parlance, you are not your Masonic ring; you are not Jack’s shiny bolo-tie.

So what is this all-powerful symbol of Freemasonry?

You are.

Brethren, the single most powerful emblem of Freemasonry is the individual Mason armed with a plain white apron. Melt down your rings and pins, remove your bumper stickers, and tear down our buildings and you will find amidst the rubble and rubbish an unbroken line of upright men, clothed in plain white aprons starring back at you from across four centuries.

No website, no MSA booklet, no official dictate from a Grand Master will ever be more powerful, more direct, and more important than you the individual Mason. As an individual Mason you are a living vessel of Masonic Light.

These are powerful words – the individual Freemason is more powerful than a Grand Lodge. Stop for a moment and consider these words. You, the newly Raised Master Mason are possessed of something no Lodge of Grand Lodge can possess – Masonic Light. Sure Lodges provide the place where you receive the Light, and a Grand Lodge may direct when a Lodge can and cannot work, and with whom, but you received the Light from another Brother, not the institution, and you are therefore more powerful than any institution of Freemasonry.

That power is contained within the icon of the individual Freemason armed with his apron. You are that icon. Or, you are challenged to become, to transform into that icon.

Fulfilling this challenge is a matter of potential. We have inherited from out predecessors an unmitigated vision of excellence. Any sign or sense of mediocrity is, or ought to be, anathema to us. Our mark as a Mason is this commitment to excellence in all that we do. We never settle for second best, nor do we accept good-enough. Completing the race will not satisfy us; completing the race, winning it, and winning it in a manner that is at once competitive and gracious is our distinguishing characteristic.

Ours is a grand vision, in grand style. It takes a certain character of man to participate in this vision, and anyone who wants to petition the Lodge needs to be capable of participating and contributing positively to this vision. If he cannot, then he is not qualified to be a Mason.

This is no small matter. And it would be hypocritical to say that I, or anyone here as mastered this skill in anything but a symbolic sense. Yet, it is not hypocritical to say that everyone here tonight is capable of mastering this skill. It is not hypocritical to say that within each of us is the potential for incredible transformation.

It is this capability of incredible transformation that is essential to a man being worthy and well-qualified. If he cannot transform, then he cannot become a symbol of Freemasonry. Our mysteries do not imbue a man with this capability to transform, he must possess that form himself already.

Not every man will have this capability. It is our job as investigators, and as Masons to probe, dig, and at times even provoke to order to determine if a man if somewhere deep within him is a latent potency for incredible things.

This is Your Grandfather’s Freemasonry

My next question for you is this – why is Freemasonry considered the grandfather of American fraternalism. One can look back nearly 100 years and see this appellation applied to our benevolent craft. Some of you may suggest that the age of Freemasonry, pre-existing other fraternal orders is what warrants us as the grandfather; others still because we were the first fraternal order. Verily I, tell you that these are incorrect.

Let me rephrase the question – why is Freemasonry the grandfather, and not the father of American fraternalism?

Let us compare another aphorism – the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The meaning here is anecdotal, the son is not unlike the father, thus implying that fathers and sons have an inherent similarity. Why then is the American fraternal movement the grandson of Freemasonry, and not the direct son of Freemasonry – because while there are similarities between Freemasonry and fraternal orders, the two are fundamentally dissimilar.

The common attributes of a fraternal order are social and charitable and are no more. Men come to fraternal orders to bond convivially with other men, or to accomplish some good work. Freemasonry also contains these attributes, but our attributes extend farther – we possess a true Initiatic tradition. A tradition that is designed to compel the hearts and minds of men to dare to dream and establish a better vision of themselves, to instruct on the profound subjects of initiation, the mysteries of life and death, and the spiritual search of mankind. Brethren, our third attribute which is fundamental, and therefore catapults us above simple fraternalism is that we possess a science that is dedicated to enlightening the mind through reason, and ennobling the spirit through morality and spiritual refinement.

Fraternal orders do not possess this. They possess nothing like.

We are the grandfather because the orders of American fraternalism are so far removed from Freemasonry that we are inherently unique and essentially differ from them.

We are similar to a fraternal order only in so far that as any group of men associate friendships are established, and that as we are taught that it is a duty inherent upon all men to be charitable.

We are an initiatic brotherhood.

When a men petitions the Lodge he must be looking for more than establishing new friendships, and he must already be charitable. He must possess the desire to provoke the aforementioned capability already within himself to undergo transformation. He may not be able to express it so succinctly, but he must have some desire to begin this process and to understanding the mysteries of himself.

This desire has two consequences. First, it compels him to look beyond our established customs and lawful meanings. It compels him to look deeper into our Ritual and to apply it himself. He may never become a great ritualist, but the Ritual and portions there of will be ever present with him. Second, it will bind him to us and us to him. When a man petitions a Lodge, he is saying more than he wants to be a Freemason, he is saying that he wants to join and fellowship with Freemasons in our common pursuit for Masonic Light. His petition is a statement, testifying to his desire that he wants more than just to be a Freemason - that he wants to be with Freemasons. In turn, when we elect a man, we recognize his desire, and reciprocate with our desire that he join with us. It is this mutual desire for fellowship that forms the foundation of our unity – the unity which is so essential to our brotherhood.

If a man simply wants friends, or charity, if he lacks the desire to transform, if he simply wants to be a Freemason, we do him a great disservice to elect him. He will pay us nearly $400.00 to find out we aren’t what he is looking for. We owe it to him, we owe it to ourselves and we owe it to the world to probe profoundly into an investigator’ heart and ensure that he has the desire to ignite his transformation.

Do you have a Secret

This section is incomplete
So, we have established that a man must have the capability to transform, and also the desire to do so. How do we start we weed out men who are not possessed of the capability and the desire for Freemasonry. Let us start by re-rephrasing our goal. We need to identify those men who possess the capability of transform, and are possessed of a genuine desire to transform into the qualities they identify in us.

First, it usually takes more than a few meetings over the course of six months to accomplish this, though there are exceptions to any rule or standard. So get it out of your head that you can just insert this into your existing processes without starting from the beginning. Second, you must start by looking for men with more than just potential – you need to find those who have started to actualize their potential. Nothing says genuine desire and potential like someone who has started the process, and is still thirsting for more.

Our ritual gives us a clue how to do this. We are told prior to the obligation of each Degree that our obligations as a Mason will not conflict with any duty we may owe to our God, our country, our neighbor, our family or ourselves. This is an interesting statement. It presumes that the candidate is already bound with duties to their God, their country, their neighbor, their family, and themselves. It has nothing with any of the duties of Freemasonry whatsoever.

A man who has begun to tap his potential will be able to enumerate or describe these duties with clarity and certainty. He will explain his logic and reasoning for engaging in certain activities, and through a dialog with him, you can come to assess whether or not he engages in these activities because he feels it is important to be of service, or because he expects a reward.

Service is the key here. If a man does not feel it is important to be of service, and cannot explain how he is actively of service then he has not begun to actualize any potential, assuming there is potential to actualize. If he desires a reward, if he desires recognition, if he does it because he is compelled to do so by some means not within himself, he is quite simply not qualified to be a Freemason.

Closing

Brethren, I thank you for being here tonight. I do not expect you to agree with any or all of what I have said. I do expect you to think about it. To consider it. To probe it, and to question it. I expect you to question me.