William Wirt: the (anti-)Mason

William Wirt was a lawyer from VA and one-time Attorney General of the USA. After he resigned as AG, he was approached in 1831 by the Anti-Masonic party to run for the seat of President.

However, on his nomination, he told the convention that he would "very sincerely retire from it (nomination) with far more pleasure" than he would accept it.

He was initiated and passed to the degree of Fellowcraft but never became a Master Mason because his curiosity never led him so far (his own words). This was over 30 years before his nomination and on stating that, he also declared his slightly demeaning purview of the craft as "nothing more than a social and charitable club designed for the good feeling among its members , and for the pecuniary relief of their indigent brethren".

On being nominated, he was advised to declare his hate and dissent with the masonic organization, but he declined stating that "I did not believe that there could be anything in the institution at war with their duties as patriots men, and Christians"

He had a clear win of the nomination of Anti-Masonic party with 12 out of the 18 votes due to his charisma and his proficiency as a lawyer, reputation as an outstanding citizen and man. He went on to face Andrew Jackson (a Democrat and Mason out of TN) and Henry Clay (a Republican and Mason out of KY).

William Wirt lost the election winning only 7 electoral votes. His loss and his odds with the facade of the Anti-Masonic party effectively signaled the beginning of the ending of the party which effectively merged with the Whig Party around 1838.

Emotional Hazing

“Some people won't be happy until they've pushed you to the ground. What you have to do is have the courage to stand your ground and not give them the time of day. Hold on to your power and never give it away.”

Most Grand Lodges and indeed fraternal organizations usually have policies and make statements that state they are anti-hazing. A lot of them are particular about stomping down and restricting the scourge of physical hazing, but they usually do not bother or crack down as hard on the issue of emotional hazing.

Just like physical hazing, emotional hazing is just as distressing. I won't deny that i have not been a victim of such a treatment as a candidate. Been shouted on, constantly teased and ridiculed, humiliated to the furthest extent were just as hurtful on my experience as someone swinging a paddle on me.

What is the reason for this one asks? The two reasons that the proponents are quick to point out: Humility and Manliness.

I will tell you from my personal experience that a process of 3 months is never going to turn a proud man humble or teach anything about humility except it's a lesson the man is willing to learn himself. I've had experiences with candidates who are so meek and zen during their degree-work and when they are raised, turn into complete pompous and proud pigs. There's absolutely no humility that can be taught to a man by humiliating him.

That being said, we expect every candidate who comes into the temple to be first and foremost a man. If so, why test such manliness? If his manhood is in question, why recommend him? Why pass him through the investigation committee just to torment him during the degreework or in the ante-room? Why do we go through the lengths of such abusive methods to "prove" such manhood? Is there a way to prove such in the first place? How are we certain that the people proving the so-called manhood are truly men themselves if they are not prepared to take the same steps when the candidate/petitioner is not in a subversive state as he is in the lodge?

We have no excuse for maltreatment of our candidates in our lodges either physically, mentally or emotionally. Grand Lodges should be much stiffer on the education and enforcement of these forms of hazing.

Some members will then complain that the new masons are soft or not as tough as the "old-school", but it's been my experience that when the foolishness and foul play is put aside and freemasonry itself is being practiced in our lodges, those who talk the loudest sort of disappear. Reminds me of three guys I met during my third degree...they were pretty rough and I'm sure masons everywhere remember their fate.

Suitability

In most jurisdictions, a candidate of freemasonry has to prove suitable proficiency to be moved on to the next degree. The definition of suitable in the English dictionary is:  "right or appropriate for a particular person, purpose, or situation". That applies very much to the instance of proving proficiency in lodges as conditions may vary per candidate or per jurisdiction on how to assess proficiency at that time.

That being said, as a candidate moves from degree to degree, his horizon on what freemasonry is should increase so should his perspective on the craft. It should behoove the candidate after reaching the sublime degree to go back and reflect on the teachings of previous degrees being that he no longer needs to prove any kind of proficiency to anyone anymore and he's ascended the stairs of the craft and now has the complete picture of what was going on step by step.

In most instances, this doesn't happen.

What you might find rather is a mason who abandons all he has learned in the previous degrees and just enjoys the benefit of his full membership without realising at the time that the standard by which he was tested was much lower than what is expected of him as a master mason. He is expected at this stage, to be the master of his craft, so why wouldn't it behoove him to be master what he learned as an apprentice and so on?

I recall looking at the rituals of the 1st degree as a newly initiated apprentice, then as a newly raised master mason. Year after year with each new degree class, I have looked at the degree work of the entered apprentice and have learned something that might have a new meaning to me and how I should apply it to my life.

This should be reminded to all our candidates who make it through the degrees and decide to run off or seek the other degrees freemasonry is so full of. It is important to understand the elastic of our masonic knowledge expands as much as we travel and as much as we are willing to stretch it and only remains the same size or even shrinking if we choose to do otherwise.

Lux E Tenebris (Light Out Of Darkness)

When I created this image for my now defunct lodge facebook page, I thought the quote itself was profound. However the more you think about a few wise words, the more they sink to you and deeper the meaning becomes.

It was a quote by this Grand Master in 1893 at a congress of masons in Chicago. In order to understand the real meaning of the quote, one has to understand the context by which a man who considered being a Prince Hall mason in Alabama in 1893 faced when it came to being educated.

He was determined to seek such enlightenment he had no idea of. Usually having parents and people around him who never understood the real value of education, he sought far and wide for a means and a way to educate himself so he could eventually improve himself, his family and his community as a whole.

Juxtaposed with today's society, the term educated may not necessarily mean such a man who is formally educated. Although he has the basic means to read and write, in today's society, it means a man who is willing to go above and beyond to explore and broaden his mind and his intellectual periscope. It may not neccessarily have to come from a formal education institution, it may be just be by self-study, travelling and being under the guidance and fellowship of well-read mentors.

Freemasonry offers this to all its members who seek it. It gives an opportunity for members to study the rituals and associated literature, it allows its members to "foreign lands" to explore different cultures with the knowledge that wherever that brother travels, he is safe with a fellow who wears an apron with the Square & Compass. It allows brothers sit alongside men who have gone in the same path and can teach them some things not only about freemasonry but about life as well.

 However, the issue is if our lodges and grand lodges are offering it to its members. Education in lodges and grand lodges is mostly ritualistic, if dare some be esoteric. But what how do these teachings positively improve our members who don't understand or can even apply these teachings? Where have we gone wrong in this respect?

First of all, we have to recognize and accept that in most cases, our lodges are open to all those who seek entrance to it who for the most part have clean records. We don't inquire onto their ability to be open minded and willing to educate themselves on what they are being taught and take in the lessons to be learned and have the capacity to apply it. Just come with your petition and your money and spend 3 months indulging us and you'll be a member. Whatever happens after that? What happens with the person who indeed has a capacity to learn after he goes through the degrees? Nothing.

Our lodges mostly don't have room for continuous education. While we see it set in some grand lodges as part of their operations, some members don't impart the real lessons of freemasonry during the degree process. As one proceeds through the degrees, is the candidate really understanding this enlightenment he seeks more and more of? Or is he in the dark throughout the processes and has no idea what he's seeking and even worse, goes ahead to seek more degrees that end up being fluff because of his lack of a firm foundation?

We owe it to our craft and fraternity to open the door of enlightenment to only those who have the capacity and desire not only to learn, but understand and apply whatever information we give them in the hopes of becoming better men. We owe it to them to begin the process and give them the best education we can while they are going through the degrees and understanding that proficiency is not a matter of just spitting back words, but more than that it's evidence that the brother is prepared to apply the lessons to his person and we can see such lessons making his rough ashlar a little smoother. Finally, we owe ourselves to keep being educated, to read more, to explore more than ritual and bring whatever education we can back to our fraternity to better enable our brethren (both candidates and master masons) to be worthy and support to themselves, their families and society as a whole.

Lux E Tenebris.

External, not internal.

George Washington, Harry Truman, Thurgood Marshall, Booker T Washington, etc.

These were famous men who also happened to be masons.

None of these men influenced my decision to become a mason.

However, in these latter days, we find a lot of masons almost digging very deep to find out if any of their favorite personalities were freemasons; some even resorting to lies and deception i.e the case of Martin Luther King Jr (he was not a mason but several people have tied a dedication service by the Grand Lodge of Georgia a few years back to a "posthumous making on sight" which the Grand Master has flatly denied)

That being said, there has also been a case where famous men have been made masons at sight by Grand Masters in recent times. Nelson Mandela, Lionel Richie, Isiah Thomas, Shaquille O'Neal are some of the celebrities made masons instantly by virtue of their celebrity status. The argument of some in support of these things is that it brings attention to our craft and I wonder: is that really what we want? To bring attention of the bright stars to our craft that allegedly espouses its membership qualifications determined by the internal qualities of a man, not vice versa. What do these men really bring into the craft apart from a fat check?

With regards to the constant search and bother to identify some famous men as masons, one could directly relate it to the dearth of characters worth following within the current membership. There is a wide generational gap within the fraternity and within that is a problem with an older generation focused on the financial and political facets of the fraternity leaving the younger ones to finagle through or just sit in desolation as they observe the constant hankering over collars and titles by what are supposed to be their mentors. This results in an ignorant and otherwise uneducated brotherhood whose new members are therefore trying to find role models in the characters of famous men they most identify with, rather than the men in their very own lodge who may or may not possess the same characteristics.

The problem with the quality of membership is not a new one. It has always existed as long as our fraternity. However, the problem now is there is almost a negligence with the concern about not only bringing in quality members but also developing the ones already in it. There should be a concern about bringing in members who a younger generation will look up to and allowing the older generation of masons to develop the characters of said new members. But this seems to be all lost in the constant bickering and in-fighting by those members who have in ego what they lack in character ergo causing members to look elsewhere or look for rejuvenation in shooting stars within our fraternity they can not reach to.

I personally found a few people within my life who I am thankful for their inspiration. Coincidentally they were masons and made me even more interested. Do we still have such influential characters in our fraternity? Are you one of them?

Race and the level

"The common gavel in its use is to divest our hearts, minds and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of this world; and that includes bigotry and prejudice." Bro Sidney Kase, PGM, Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Washington F&AM

The above quote was made in 1991 during the memorial of one of my masonic heroes: William H Upton. William H Upton, a past grand master in 1897, was the chairman of the committee that not only recognized that Prince Hall masons were legitimate, but also recommended that the grand lodge recognize the Prince Hall grand lodge of that state. The recommendation was voted on and between 1897-9, there was recognition and visitation between both grand lodges. As you can expect considering that time in America, it caused hell. Many grand lodges threatened to and some actually unrecognized that grand lodge forcing it to change its decision in 1899 and Bro Upton stating he would not want to be given masonic rites unless masons regardless of color dwelled as brothers.

The issue of race is still pertinent in America as it was then as it is now. Race is an intrinsic strand on American life and it even has some of its strains in freemasonry. It was not until almost 100 years after Upton pushed forward his recommendation that Prince Hall Grand Lodges and Non Prince Hall Grand Lodges started to recognize each other and actually stick with it. But even as this is done, many Grand Lodges still refuse to recognize each other and the consensus among most Prince Hall masons is that the antagonism is usually from the other grand lodge, which is not completely correct.

Prince Hall freemasonry has expanded especially in the past 20 years thanks to the proliferation of military lodges in military bases outside the US. Those lodges usually see more diversity within their lodges than back home. However, in these lodges back in the US, there is a very strong and tense antagonism against Prince Hall brothers who are not black american by some of the black american brethren. I have known at least one brother who had the hardest time in being brought in to the fraternity. I have heard of many so-called masters who have declared that as long as they live, no caucasian shall ever enter or be a member of their lodge. I have also seen how at least one caucasian brother was not allowed to pursue his masonic career in one particular body because the older brethren refused to let him in. So, why this hate? Let's explore it a little further.

Like I said in an earlier post, the goals of Prince Hall grand lodges, lodges and indeed masons got lost somewhere down the road as a result of a lack of proper guidance or understanding of the goal of freemasonry. One of such manufactured goals that may have been slightly askew from the goal of character development was one of black nationalism by the predominantly black organization. Particularly during the abolitionist and civil rights era, Prince Hall grand lodges were somewhat activist in their support of both movements. A lot of Prince Hall lodges were venues for abolitionist and civil rights seminars and talks, this was not too bad as the era was filled with the strong strife of slavery and segregation. However with the end of slavery and segregation, some grand lodges have not necessarily moved on from that mode of thinking.

Some grand lodges still contribute to the NAACP legal fund, some still celebrate abolitionist landmarks such as the Emancipation Proclamation. The truth is: while this was ok in the past, it has no place in our modern freemasonry. With the thinking and practice these grand lodges and lodges continue to have, they have encouraged the older (and infact a younger breed as well) brethren to continue their anti-white "pro-black" attitude regarding Prince Hall freemasonry as an exclusively christian black american organization. Some of those racist brothers refuse to accomodate or be open towards men of different races and backgrounds who choose to be Prince Hall masons. Some give the excuse of the actions of the other grand lodge, but when did their actions have anything to do with ours? Aren't we sovereign? Just because there are some that act unmasonic, shall we follow in their steps as well?

The argument of those who say that Prince Hall freemasonry should stay black is as archaic and outdated as colored water fountains. Prince Hall Freemasonry has diversified and allowed for men of different creeds and backgrounds to become one of us.  Prince Hall Freemasonry would never have existed if caucasian men didn't see Prince Hall and the 14 others fit enough to be masons based on their race. Certainly would not have existed if the white grand master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England issued Prince Hall the charter for African Lodge #459.

There are many caucasians, muslims, and immigrants who have become Prince Hall masons. It is time to change our mentality and adapt to this diverse and open world we live in and allow our fraternity flourish and grow by becoming more accommodating and inviting to all good men who knock on our doors.

Now...let's talk about the gays...ok, maybe later.

Roots

Lately I've been doing a little bit of reading and I just wanted to bring this up:

I have listened to a whole lot of babble by some so-called enlightened men claiming to be masons (they are, but they have any sense). Most of these men mostly babble about how freemasonry descended directly from the Egyptians.

These usually are black Americans who try to hold on strongly to some sort of history that binds them to Africa. As a result of laziness to research and truly study their own histories, they easily absorb the teachings of ignorant pedagogues who sell them the snake oil of "Moorish sciences" often as a result of sheer ignorance mixing up with the still enigmatic Kemetic sciences. Then they through their ignorance and lack of true knowledge want to tie it to freemasonry.

Here is the truth: granted the Egyptians had their mythology and their rites of passage into manhood and enlightenment that are almost similar to what is practiced in freemasonry; however, so did so many other cultures all over the world. For example, the Incas, the Celts, and of course the Persians. These three cultures had little or no interaction with each other in ancient times but they all had within their culture the linked enlightenment processes.

A study of most male initiation rites will show the same themes of transition from one state (darkness, childishness/youth, ignorance) into another state (light, maturity/manhood, enlightenment) usually through the overcoming of pain, fear by (mostly in more traditional or ancient cultures) by a near-fatal experience. This is the theme across the board across all cultures including freemasonry.

So let's the story as what it is and not for what it's not. Speculative freemasonry was organized in the British Isles, deal with it. If you choose to practice it and want to give it a twist of your culture, you are welcome to. Don't chop it up and skew it and remove the true root of speculative freemasonry to make it distorted to all those who truly seek enlightenment. If you have to, don't call it freemasonry and don't affiliate yourself with craft. More importantly, be honest about it. Do not ascribe to it a historic, ancient or mystical root it has nothing to do with.

At the core of every mason is a heart that leads others...

I was a distant witness to two very bad accidents last year.

Both of them I was late to the scene and was observing from a distance.

Both times I saw masons at the center of the accidents comforting the victims and leading the effort to keep the scene sane while emergency services were on the way to the scene. When they arrived, the masons were completely helpful to the emergency crew.

They were not in any masonic outfit, I recognized them. I watched from a distance as they were examples of what freemasonry is all about. They were not looking for attention, they were just fulfilling their roles as men in the community: taking charge.

Those are the kind of men that make other men and boys to become masons, not the community service pictures or the bling and shine of collars and chains. It is by acts like this one wants to emulate what they see: whatever made this man who he is is what I want to become.

That is what makes a mason, at his core, he is a leader and he has a heart to help others. At his core, he is a good man.

We need more of those.

False advertising and community service

My dad always told me that charity is doing something and not letting others know about it. I believe there's a verse that said the same thing. I can not remember the verse, so sorry Sunday school teacher.

Anyway, some of our lodges engage in community service activities as a sham. It is almost like a political campaigner I heard of who walked into the soup kitchen, wore gloves an apron, served a couple of guests, took pictures,  and then just left. Imagine if this was a lodge doing this?

I know of a lodge that jumped into a community service event hosted by another organization, wore their masonic shirts, took pictures, and then just left. Then they posted pictures as if they too were partners or part of the initiative that that one organization completely organized. That is a huge fraud by so-called upright men.

So it begs the question: why do we do it in the first place? Why do we have to go through all that means just to appear in some cases like our goal is to serve the community?

Maybe in some part, it is due to the almost dictatorial mandates of our GL's (how ironic though, considering the whole "all lodges/grand lodges are sovereign" talk) to make sure their lodges are performing some sort of community service. This forces a lot of members who ordinarily wouldn't be caught in a volunteer position faking it to make the pass grade.  I've already mentioned how I think community service is a faux goal of our organization due to complete loss of direction of our internal mandate to help each other by self-improvement through masonic education and character development.

But there''s also an unspoken reason that many lodges not only use community service for and often are very hesitant to get the pictures out there to the world: marketing.

The idea is: if we do community service, people will see us and want to be us. If we put it out there, we can even get a larder audience. This is the biggest crock of bull we can tell ourselves seriously. Public awareness, I can understand on the basis that some lodges primarily gain their funds from the community itself (I've already raised my disapproval of that in an earlier post), but now we have these lodges attempting to almost recruit people in by falsely deceiving them that our organization is some kind of community service organization. Then what happens when that man steps in and finds out that it is more of political bickering and grandstanding than it is about community service?

Charity extends beyond the lines of freemasonry and enters into the finer bounds of humanity: do things out of the graciousness of your own heart. Not all of us are volunteers, and there is no mandate within freemasonry to be such. We are to be kind to our neighbors and charitable, but that should be an individual effort more than anything else. We should not be scared to volunteer our time, if we want to, without having any ulterior motive or ego boosting or whatever. I'd expect all our members to be charitable by nature, but they aren't. That's another story that has more to do with the weakness of our selection and intake process than it does about the selfishness of the human race. Or maybe it's really a good mix of both?

Hmm.

Money

In an earlier post, I stated that the primary goals of our organization are character development and leadership training: the former usually leading to the latter. In the pursuit of these goals: bills have to be paid and necessary expenses have to be covered.

The challenge of the 21st century freemason is how do you keep up? In the earlier part of the 20th century, membership was up so was the money. More importantly, for some of our organizations, they were functioning as endowment companies (some still do it now to a smaller scale) so there was an abundance of members in it for the mercenary purpose of life insurance and post-funeral care of their families. The buildings were grand and grotesque and the flashiness was out of this world with public parades and church visitations almost constantly been an ever mentioned activity.

But it's 2014, lodges are selling their old buildings, some toning down on the jewelry because the old ones are "antique" and rusty and the new ones are just too expensive. Some grand lodges can't even afford to pay out all the members on its roster who are currently in endowment plans. There's an urgent need for money and our lodges are using rustic methods to solve modern problems.

You will always hear about the car wash, the pancake breakfast, the fish fry etc. Often you will hear about lodges hosting parties or some kind of events to pay their bills. I think this is a shame. Why are we members of an organization that we can't pay our own bills? Why do we resort to asking a community or a group of people who often times are confused as to who we are or what we do? The financial problems we are facing are new and we need to adapt. So how do we adapt?

1) Streamline expenses and bills. My mother always taught me to sew my coat according to my size, sometimes make it a little smaller. Some of us have lodges that are huge, but only have about 30 people on our roster. Some of our lodges have activities every other month coming out of our pockets.

We need to do an audit and assessment of where our money is going to and how to manage it effectively. What is the most cost-effective way to allow for masonic education and encourage the spirit of our fraternity without having to resort to desperate tactics as begging the community for alms?

 2) Increase membership fees. Yes, I said it. We can not be paying the same amount that our fathers paid and expect the rate of inflation not to catch up with us. The bills need to be paid and it is already a hassle for worshipful masters and secretaries to chase around people to pay the flimsy dues our lodges ask for. So is it the amount that is the problem or the people? Often it's the latter, they can afford to throw money on other wasteful things. This is a great way of separating the chaff from the grain. After all, outside the western world, freemasonry still remains the association of the economic middle-class and above. However, my addendum to this is to make it reasonable. The fees can't be too high or too timely that good brothers don't feel a huge weight on their wallets. I can not see why masons shouldn't pay $300/year or less on dues.

However, I truly do believe that this should be done on a lodge by lodge basis after streamlining expenses and bills. This will also mean that our lodges, as a service, have to be worth what we are paying for. Why bother paying such an amount of money to an organization we are not getting anything from?

What came you here to do?

I am of the opinion that during our years of speculative freemasonry, we have lost interest on what are goals are and what we are supposed to be doing as a masonic entity.

I once asked a group of masons what they defined as  "work" in the masonic context, many yelled out community service and degree-work. I fail to see how that be defined as masonic since I can join any community organization and serve. Moreover, it makes no sense that we call degree-work actual work when some of our lodges are so sloppy with it and even more importantly, most of the men we initiate are leaving with no goodbye notes, but that's another story.

So what do I think the goals of our organization are? Well frankly they are in the answer to the question stated above, if you are familiar with the Preston-Webb version of the ritual of course.

The question of subduing comes into play when within our organization we have a lash of egocentric, greedy and malicious members who turn our great organization into their political playground or pet project for their own means. Some want to turn the organization into an opportunity to "network" with the females in the auxilliary bodies, some want to turn their lodges and masonic bodies into cliques and mini - biker clubs. Some just want to use it as an excuse to leech away money from their organizations into their own bank accounts, some just want it to exercise a lack of power they suffer in the real world and they desperately need a boost of ego. Our goal in freemasonry is to first start with the individual coming in: what are your vices? what are your goals? how do you exercise temperance and prevent yourself delving into the excesses of what your vices afford? Those are the key questions one has to ask to the candidate on entering the temple, because once he has entered, that's another ball game. I have seen so many men change personalities (or rather reveal themselves and their true intentions) as soon as they become masons. Right off the petition, these men need to be properly examined so we can ensure that their passions are within control of themselves and they don't drag our organization down because of their excesses.

Now what can this organization do to the good man with controllable vices who wishes to become better? Why...with the lessons our craft teaches, any good man  can become better. That is the truth. The questions are: are these lessons being taught to the man not only as he tries to enter the temple but while he is in it? is he able to understand and interpret what is being taught to him through the metaphors and allegories of freemasonry? Most importantly, does he have the ability, willingness and desire to apply these lessons he has learned into his own life? Is he a shining example of an imperfect man sieving away his impurities in order to become a more perfect person under the sight of God to his family and his community?

At the end of the day, the goal of our fraternity is far from just being a community service organization ( there are many organizations that do that ). Our goals within this organization are primarily character development and leadership training using the allegories the craft provides and the structure it allows so that its members can be more responsible members of the community.