Masonic Pet Peeves

I hate being called "square". Why don't you call me plumb or level? Why square? Who taught us that stupid stuff?

I hate seeing brothers talk and garble on some fluff. You see it all the time in forums as well as in person. Brothers practicing for the title of the MOST WORSHIPFUL MASTER OF THE GRAND LODGE OF THEIR MINDS. It's almost as if they shouldn't even bother talking because when you have to write a summary of the 20 minute or 100-word garble they just uttered, it might just end up being..."I don't know what in the hell he was talking about"

I hate seeing brothers think that freemasonry is the "Father of all BGLO's" They need to do their research and stop talking about what they don't know. Seriously, they need to shut up.

I hate being a witness to poor ritual. Even if it's just a mis-step, I shriek, and I grind my teeth, and my OCD kicks in to correct that mis-step immediately. I thought this was a behavior reserved only for Past Masters...

I hate seeing brothers throw the "L". Technically your thumb and your index finger make an L, not a square. Your thumb is not the same length as your finger (or you're just weird). Moreso, it goes back to the "square" reference. Who was the idiot who invented that? Furthermore, are we some sort of gang? Why do younger people (in particular black people) feel the need to always represent everything they are?

I hate gaudy show off of masonic paraphernalia. I just have an old masonic t-shirt, and small items (such as a ring, a lapel pin and a wrist band) which I wear sparingly. Brothers try to "shine" with wearing jackets with 20 or 30 masonic symbols on them. They drive around with their rear view mirrors almost covered in masonic emblems. Is all that really necessary? Our foreign brothers have way more discretion because of their environment. I do wish we followed their lead and not be so showy.

Finally, I hate the politics. Many times I sit in a convention or meeting or program were a man (typically a high officer of some sort) makes a speech and the next 3-3 million speakers right behind him tell us how great his speech was and how great the man is and how honored he is to be a friend of his and yadda yadda. I hate that simple things that could possibly uplift the craft and the fraternity are subject to the egos, envy and eventual sabotage from such politically enabled men. It's just sad to see how some can't put everything all aside and get on a level and avoid the political rubbish and get things done. I understand with any organization or hierarchy of people, politics is a necessary evil, but this is freemasonry, you sort of expect more, but you get less. It's sad and it hurts and gets on my last nerves.

3-letter or 4-letter 5-letters

FAM AFAM FAAYM

All these letters have been used to describe Prince Hall Grand Lodges at one point or the other in the history of Prince Hall Freemasonry. Yet, we still have a lot of ill-informed brothers using the “3-letter, 4-letter” system to determine the Masonic legitimacy of Grand Lodges. Is that correct? The broad answer is no, but there are exceptions which would be discussed later.

Firstly, let us discuss the “3-letter, 4-letter” drama in more detail. The comparison is between the F&AM Grand Lodges and the Grand Lodges tagged as AF&AM, but where do these letters come from?

The story starts about 1717 when the “Premier Grand Lodge of England” was formed (popularly known as the Moderns). The Most Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons was formed in England beginning the realm of speculative freemasonry as we know it today. This Grand Lodge is the same grand lodge that will about 60 years later grant Prince Hall and several other colored masons of Boston a charter to warrant a lodge (African Lodge #459), the lodge effectively beginning the class of Prince Hall Freemasonry that is popular not only within the continental United States but all over the world. I digress.

In 1751, due to a schism (probably caused as a result of cultural differences between English masons and those of Irish and Scottish descent), another Grand Lodge was formed as the Grand Lodge in London of Free and Accepted Masons According to the Old Institution popularly known as the “Antients”. That Grand Lodge went ahead chartering various lodges including some in the United States of America.

They both merged in 1813 to form the United Grand Lodge of England, however the damage of the rift was done. Between 1717 and 1813, many lodges were formed in the United States that were either from modern or antient descent. As a result of the revolutionary war , a lot of these lodges lost contact with their English mother grand lodges and forming their own grand lodges holding their affiliations according to their lineage. So, for example the Grand lodge of Pennsylvania was AF&AM while a Grand Lodge of NY was F&AM.

Now, here’s the twist: Prince Hall Grand Lodges, for some reason,   have a different history with regards to the use of F&AM, AF&AM etc. I have seen more than one grand lodge use it interchangeably over their history. Some chose to use F&AM because the charter to form African Lodge came from the “Moderns” Grand Lodge of England while some other GL’s followed the way of AF&AM due to Prince Hall being raised by the Irish (Antients). Also, one less told story about Prince Hall freemasonry was the formation of the National Grand Lodge of North America (Compact Masons) in 1847 which used the FAAYM tag.  However, this Grand Lodge was officially dissolved in 1877, and all the Prince Hall Grand Lodges around the country all agreed around 1944 to use the tag of F&AM. Therefore, one can conclude that currently ALL regular Prince Hall grand lodges use the tag of F&AM.

However, like I said, there are exceptions. These exceptions are the clandestines e.g IFAAM (internationals) MFAM (Modern free) and the JGJ Grand Lodges (that inappropriately tag themselves as AF&AM).  Bro Antoine Lilly did an awesome presentation on clandestine freemasonry which can be viewed here.

At the end of the day, the legitimacy of a grand lodge should never be determined by the number of letters tagged at the suffix of the grand lodge, rather by their lineage to regular masonic lodges or grand lodges originating from the Grand Lodge of England. We need to completely abandon the “3-Letter, 4-Letter” point as it’s completely incorrect.

My interpretation of the Masonic Structure

For years, many non-masons (and masons alike) have learned to use one or both of the images above as a means to describe masonic advancement per the various degrees that exist within freemasonry. As one may have noticed, there are a lot of organizations and degrees within the masonic body. Some have been described as adoptive, appendant, concordant etc.

In general, these structures somehow give a false impression which a lot of masons have carried on for years. An example of a false perception is this: being a 32 mason is higher than being a 3 mason. That is completely laughable, but it is a common misinformation spread not only among the profanes, but also masons alike.

These images have done a huge disservice in regards to properly educating all about the true structure of freemasonry, which is no secret. Perhaps it was just laziness that prevented anyone from making an accurate graphic depicting the structure of just the concordant bodies (appendants, allied etc are a different story since some are about to do away with masonic requirements anyway). Some have improperly categorized all those degrees and bodies that are above the third degree within the graphic as  "higher degrees". Henry Wilson Coil in his Masonic Encyclopedia supports my conclusion when he said "Some oppose the term high degrees, because they dislike the implication that the Master's degree is not the highest, but the name is simple and convenient and its long usage would seem to preclude any possibility of avoiding it"

Laziness for short. I know people who walk around answering to titles longer than the first and last names of all their family put together.

In response to this problem of a masonic structure graphic, for a long time I have described it as some form of T-shape structure were regardless of where you are on either the scottish rite or the york rite or both: you are never higher than that of the master mason. Of course, I'm sure my brothers in the York Rite would disagree for reasons only known to master masons, but I'll say this: get suspended from your local lodge and see how your masonic portfolio comes crashing down...all the so-called "higher degrees" and all.

Anyway, I finally decided to put the graphic from my brain into a simple digital format all can see and review.

As you can see, there is no degree higher than that of a master mason according to it. What I have done also, according to my T-theory, is to extend the branch for both concordant rites. The more you advance on each side, the more detailed you are and the more knowledge you get a hold of. But in everything, we all meet on the same level. Sometimes that lesson flies above the heads of some of us.

What do you think?

Perception is reality

I always taught at a young age to "never judge a book by its cover". I have found out over the past week that this mantra, like many mantras I was taught in my childhood, is absolute rubbish.

Take a look around you, a credit score (regardless of inquiry into your financial situation)  is used to determine if you're good enough for a car or a loan, a 2-3 page essay is often used to determine if you're good enough to attend a higher institution, a 15-20 minute interview is used to determine if you'll be a good fit for a company...there's a lot of judgment by perception going around in our society.

In our perfect fraternity, we have ways to clear all doubt and ensure we are looking at the reality of a situation not its perception. .The concept is simply termed "due diligence", however this concept is  lost on most of us. Investigation committees don't investigate, a brother is raised and brothers around do not choose to get to know a brother, but instead they judge him by his actions. They don't try to understand his background, his way of thinking, etc. They hear things, they don't try to ascertain for themselves and check facts, instead blindly believing what they hear.

That's just one of the shames of human nature that's brought into our fraternity. It is quite disappointing and I will confess that I am also a guilty party of this offense. But like I said it is human nature, one of my masonic mentors said it best "If every time I meet Gabe he's drunk, naturally I will assume he's an alcoholic. No matter what recommendations are made of him, my recommendation would be that he's a drunk"

My first college roommate taught me a saying about folks who make assumptions, but in the world we live in, that's just the reality of you and me. We just have to make sure we are making a good presentations of ourselves. It's something to strive to but often I imagine it may lead to a loss of self, and that bothers me because I like myself. However, in order to gain some things in life or go a far while,  you have to lose some of yourself.

Freemasonry: a matter of opinion

There are a few facts within freemasonry: mostly historical. The landmarks are subject to opinion. Yes, I know, there are books about Mackey's 25, but let's be honest: landmarks in freemasonry existed before Mackey. Moreso, there are many Grand Lodges all over the world that do not follow all of the 25 landmarks.

Each mason has their opinion on masonic matters: some wronger than others. However, in my opinion, this craft prospers on the variety of its opinions.

We all have varying opinions on everything from the concept of monotheism in our craft to choices in refreshments. What makes us click is our ability to apply the lessons we feel we have learned within our craft to be open and receptive to each other's opinions. We have learned how to use the three tenets of our fraternity to allow our free thoughts flow in harmony:

Brotherly Love: Because at the end of the day, we are brothers. We may have different views, but we have a bind that holds us together like cement that holds ashlars together.

Relief: Because when a worthy brother or person is in distress, we are trained to act first and ask questions later regardless of our opinion on the situation.

Truth: Because we are good men, and each good man holds on and applies his strongest convictions and believes those convictions to the depths of his heart to be true. We can not question another man's truth.

Princes, Priests and Potentates

I have been asked many times from people outside of the fraternity what "degree" of mason am I? "The third" I usually reply. "Oh...you're not even that high. My grandfather was a 32nd" they usually reply. Typically less-informed and dressup masons usually say or think the same way i.e "I'm a 32nd(or 33rd) degree mason ergo I am higher than you"

That is a popular misconception that anyone who has been properly initiated into freemasonry will note how wrong it is. The title (and the attached picture) aptly come to mind and also brings memories of the apron charge every mason has heard before.

There is no degree, no honor in freemasonry  higher than being a master mason. At that degree you have earned the full rights and benefits of a mason, you have shown proficiency in all previous degrees, you have show that you properly understand the foundation and essence of our craft and our fraternity.

By staying as an active master mason, you are entitled to certain unalienable rights that are extended to you till (and even after) death. These rights I would not bother dissecting, but they are the basis and reason why one no longer works as an apprentice and attains that sublime degree of master mason.

Now, back to where I was, the misconception. You see, brothers tend to get lost in their years sojourning as travellers. I have seen too many who feel they can pull rank not only because of the positions they attain as master masons, but the fact that they are in these different "higher houses" and have positions in them give them some impetus of authority or superiority over the craft lodge brothers.

Let them get suspended by their Worshipful or Grand Masters and watch how their masonic edifices crash and tumble to the ground. Whereas a 33rd degree mason who is expelled from the Scottish rite has nothing to heal through except a bruised ego.

This misconception about high degrees is further popularized and spread by some wrong charts/images of the structure of freemasonry. It shows a large square and compass followed by the representation of the Entered Appentice at the bottom of the square and ends with Shriners (or 33rds & KT's) at the top of the compass i.e the screw.

I think that's a very wrong representation. If I had to represent the structure of freemasonry, it'd be a T-structure. You truly do go higher from 1st to 2nd to 3rd, but everything else is on a level along with that 3rd level. Whether you move left or right through each rite (Scottish Rite or York Rite) you get further into albeit deeper and more detailed into each rite...but at the end of it all, you're still on the level as a master mason.

Freethinkers Anonymous

Our fraternity is composed of free-thinkers...allegedly.

Why I say allegedly is because it has hard to make out if a group of people are free-thinkers if they think and act the same way. For example, you see a few so-called freemasons from a lodge/jurisdiction that think and act a certain way. When they are asked certain questions, they respond in a similar fashion almost saying the same words verbatim. It gets funnier with bogus/clandestine masons who would always want to throw out "what of if we were on the side of the road" as their defense when challenged about their organizations bogusness.

On further observation, you see that these brothers were trained and taught the same way. During meetings and conventions, they are trained to be quiet as their leaders stand up and make moves on their behalf without them saying a word. Some are convinced that their voices don't matter until they reach a certain unattainable and immeasurable status within the craft. Also you have the bigger fools: the ones who are told by the grand fools to teach the smaller fools. They do everything and anything it takes to do to earn a title or a position. They are trained to suppress whatever free-mind is left within the so-called lower members of the order.

The ability to have free-thinkers within our craft is what makes our fraternity different. The concept of people from different backgrounds and cultures existing within a space were disagreements were possible, but a sense of respect and tolerance in the name of progressing humanity and improving ourselves is the slogan of our fraternity's cause. However, we are not exactly in an age of enlightenment anymore and the concept of one thinking his own thoughts based on facts, research and humanistic morals is out the window since we have so many instruments of control not only by mass media, but our governments. Freemasonry used to be a threat to most governments because of just the very idea of men thinking on their own, but now, governments welcome freemasonry as harmless fancy dressers.

I wish I could say there was a solution to the problem. This would involve already existing free-thinkers to take action, but typically such free-thinkers are silenced. It would involve men to teach their candidates what they should think about now how they should think about it. It would involve candidates with an advanced state of intellectual capacity to deduce, rationalize, analyse, interpret and then apply. That seems to be asking too much of this current generation we live in.

Are there real free-thinkers out there?