The Paradox of Dogmatic Thinking in a Progressive Science

The Ancient Charges of Masonry according to Preston state that a Master-Elect must accept and agree to the following statement:

‘You admit that it is not in the power of any Man or Body of Men to make any Alteration or Innovation in the Body of Masonry’ [1][2].

Mackey likewise stated that:

‘The first great duty, not only of every lodge, but of every Mason, is to see that the landmarks of the Order shall never be impaired’ [3].

This is a very commonly held belief in Masonry; that nothing can be changed. It is a cause for dissent in lodges, and the root of many arguments between masons, both in lodge and the festive board, or increasingly, on the internet.

We all grow up in particular and different masonic environments and are taught that what and how we do our work is traditionally the only right way to do it.

I recall once seeing a visiting Past Master correct a sitting Master on a point of protocol in open lodge, different in each other’s lodges.

That discussion did not do anything for either brother, and more especially cast a very dark cloud over the remainder of the meeting.

Why then do we insist on our own interpretation of the Masonry we have been taught, and demand compliance with it, rather than understand and accept that there are more variations than similarities in a lot of what goes on in a lodge room?

Social media permits us to associate with many brethren from even more jurisdictions than we can conceive, both regular and irregular according to somewhat arbitrary definitions, and therefore we can realise that there is a great variation in ritual and occasional practice within the myriad expressions of Freemasonry.

The variation between obligations and rituals from jurisdiction to jurisdiction are almost infinite. What is held dear within one may not be contemplated within another.

It is interesting to see how rigid some individuals are on the subject, without understanding that all that they know is in fact part of an evolving concept [4].

Innovation in Masonry is strongly discouraged; by Grand Lodges, by our own particular Rituals, and most especially by ourselves, as we naturally wish to preserve the ‘purity’ of what we have inherited for the benefit of our future brethren, such that we can transmit our Masonic heritage as we ourselves received it.

The rigidity of belief in a single ritual and expression of Masonry appears to come from the early Grand Lodges in the United States in the mid-1800s [5].

There is now a strong undercurrent within North American Masonry that we need to return to the original ideals and motives that actuated our forebears, and get away from the assumptions and social conventions that have crept in over the last 3 centuries of Freemasonry [6]; for example, such as not permitting Entered Apprentices to be full voting members of a masonic lodge, a practice never accepted by the United Grand Lodge of England, which was unilaterally accepted at the Baltimore Masonic Convention in 1843 [7].

What many Masons do not realise is that Masonry is an evolving philosophy and society. It is given to us in the strongest terms in the Second Degree that Masonry is a Progressive Science.

Progressive means ‘to move forward or to evolve’ [8]. This concept demands change… without it, there is no progress, only stagnation.

Charles Darwin wrote;

‘It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.’

This is a salutary reflection, as we are faced with a decline in the numbers of new candidates, and we struggle to deal with the loss of interest and participation of our older members.

There is a fundamental difference between supporting and championing the core values of what brought masonry into existence and the concepts that truly actuate it; and defending assumed traditions and regional practices that are not critical to the interpretation of the underlying philosophy [9].

Many Masons are unaware of how recent our concept of Masonry actually is. For example, in 1717 there were only two degrees, that of Entered Apprentice and Fellow of the Craft [10].

The Master Mason degree, and the Hiramic Legend did not enter the body of Masonry until the period 1723-30 [11][12][13].

The first 3rd degree appears to have been conferred in 1724, and the first mention of the Three Ruffians in the Constitutions of 1738 [14].

The rituals of Masonry were progressively built upon and expanded well into the first part of the 19th Century.

The Royal Arch, justly designated the completion of a Master Mason, did not come into existence until approximately 1730 [15].

We are dealing with relatively modern history here. The Shrine did not come into existence until 1872 [16].

Less than 150 years old! Likewise, the Most Excellent Master degree did not appear until the latter part of the 19th Century [17].

What we now call the Scottish Rite is a result of the explosion of philosophical higher degrees that flourished in France in the middle of the 18th Century.

As astutely pointed out by Chris Lirette, whilst we are also enjoined by our Landmarks to be peaceable and law-abiding subjects, from the first development of organised and speculative Freemasonry in the late 1600s, Freemasons have been activists for revolution and political reform [18].

Bolivar, Guerrero, Marti, Rizal, Garibaldi and the Independence of the United States of America are all examples of freemasons following the principles of fraternity, liberty and egality to enact radical political change [19].

The prohibition of the discussion of politics and religion in lodge demonstrates a similar set of parallels. From an Enlightenment philosophy that strongly encouraged revolutionary thinking, freedom, and equality, Freemasonry has evolved into a globally federated organisation which maintains and upholds political and societal stratification and control.

From a libertarian and idealistic origin, we have swung in the opposite direction and developed a highly conservative and reactionary standpoint.

It could be hypothesised that due to the widespread attempts over the last 300 years of many governments and the Vatican to proscribe Freemasonry, that the change in ethos of the principles of obedience and acquiescence to the State developed out of a desire for self-preservation of the movement, in order to reassure it’s detractors.

The 18th Century was a period of great change and innovation in Masonry; many things came into existence that had not heretofore been used; concepts such as the use of the Letter G are prime examples [20].

The letter G is not displayed in the lodge room, nor in the centre of the Square and Compasses in many jurisdictions worldwide.

Original Masonic aprons followed a significantly different format to those which we current wear; originally with a much longer fall and rounded corners. Is this not an innovation in Masonry? [21]

The simple fact that we now admit as Masons men with disabilities is against the original landmarks of Masonry.

Society has evolved and advanced, we have become more enlightened, and have recognised that social standing and physical disability are not valid reasons to exclude a prospective candidate who is otherwise worthy.

The earliest forms of Speculative Masonry were solely Christian; the first Jewish Brother was admitted in 1732 [22], and the first Jewish Lodge consecrated in London in 1793, although there was continued opposition by many that persisted until the mid-19th century [23][24].

Muslims were rarely admitted in the 18th century, and then only because they were deemed ‘valuable’ from a diplomatic or business perspective, and it was not until the 19th century that the tolerance for other religions became more pronounced [25].

There are many arguments regarding the continued exclusion of women from Masonry, and indeed a number of female Masonic obediences have developed over the last 150 years, not to mention co-ed orders [26].

Whilst not formally recognised, more progressive Grand Lodges have at least publicly and openly stated that these bodies are regular in their practices. Interestingly, the first female Freemason documented historically, Elizabeth Aldworth, was regularly initiated in circa 1711, prior to the development of the Master Mason degree, and long before the first Grand Lodge in North America was established in Virginia in 1778 [27].

Under the United Grand Lodge of England, of which I am a member, it is prohibited to publicly display evidence of my membership of Masonry, nor to advertise that fact by framing my certificate, let alone wear a masonic ring or display the Square and Compasses on anything I wear or drive. However, this is a commonplace practice in North America.

In the United Kingdom I can approach someone I believe would make a good Mason, although that is frequently prohibited in many North American Grand Lodges. These are all adopted customs based on our own collective interpretations of what our respective Jurisdictions’ ritual, history or rules teach us.

Yet, as a whole, Freemasons do not focus on these historical facts, because what we see, what we do, and what we believe in currently, and from our past experience, are important to us, due to our own frames of reference.

The strong trend towards increasing romanticism in Masonic pseudo-history as evidenced by the myths of the Knights Templar origin for example suggest that we as a whole are looking for a hidden historical truth to justify our existence, since the original aims of the first speculative masons appear to have been sublimated by more anodyne goals.

To make the claim that what we have received has come down to us unchanged, unadulterated, and free of innovation is patently false.

We should appreciate our diversity, and recognise that this is what makes us stronger and truly descended from a syncretic philosophy with it’s origins in time immemorial.

Every Mason globally has evolved according to a slightly different path and pedigree, and who is any one individual or Jurisdiction to state that they are right and all else is wrong?

We are facing a crisis in Freemasonry worldwide, due to declining numbers. No Grand Lodge is exempt, and many of our other Masonic orders are suffering similarly.

In 1959 Freemasonry in North America had a membership of over 4 million, now we number little over 1 million [28].

A critical analysis of the trends suggests that by 2043 membership will approach zero.

The other crisis that we appear to face is the increasing growth of that particular type of Freemason who seeks out orders, degrees, titles, and offices. Not necessarily due to the content of the varied orders and the teachings of the degrees, but possibly due to a desire to collect such, and perhaps satisfy a personal need for the approbation of others.

Whether you are an Entered Apprentice or a Grand Master, you all and each are my Brother, and that is the only title that truly matters. The white lambskin of each and every apron confirms our bond of fraternity, regardless of other colours and gold braid.

A title generates no inherent respect or value for the individual, only for the office. Respect is earned through our behaviour and what we do for the fraternity, not through the reception of a degree or title.

Many Masonic meetings now revolve around excessive attention to ‘business’, with the occasional degree as and when candidates present themselves.

I have heard Masons declaim with pride that their recent lodge meeting was accomplished in less than 45 minutes. This is a shocking indictment of how little Masonry means to some.

Dogmatic thinking sadly pervades much of modern Masonry, as has been evidenced by what we have just covered.

For a Progressive Science, in which we are exhorted to extend our researches into the hidden Mysteries of Nature and Science, much of current Masonic practice focuses only on regional agreements on the practice of rituals and an ever increasingly complex system of government and promotion.

It has essentially developed into a self-referencing bureaucracy which is missing it’s fundamental original goals, as it has become so concerned with it’s own structure and survival. Modern Masonry has become Kafkaesque.

Thus, should we continue to adhere to what we perceive to be our own form of unchangeable Masonry, or should we rather recognise that Masonry has been continuously evolving over the last 300 years?

Should we not recognise that in order for the movement to continue to be of the greatest benefit to mankind that we recognise that only certain facets are immutable in the philosophy that we hold so dear?

Modern Masonry has become Kafkaesque.

Most present here are Baby Boomers or Generation X; the views, expectations, and personal philosophies of Generation Y and the Millennials are different from ours, and what they collectively seek within Freemasonry is different to that which those from our generations started our own journeys looking for.

Technology has changed society profoundly, and the premise of a rigid and unchanging fraternity has much less appeal to the younger generations, as their values are quite different.

Truth is a much more fundamentally attractive concept to those who have grown up immersed in extreme information overload and manipulated opinion, as it is of inestimable benefit as a guide through a sea of false signposts.

All of the Allied Masonic Degrees brethren here present have received at least seven degrees in Freemasonry, and I would suspect that the average would likely be well over 20 different degrees.

Many of us have been in the chairs of different orders and units multiple times, and a significant proportion have held more senior positions in other Grand Bodies.

The Allied Masonic Degrees of Canada thus consists of a large number of highly experienced and diversified Masons, who love what we do and find it of such value that we commit significant amounts of our personal time to it. Our devotion is evident to those who start to look into the Order.

Moreover, the AMD has a unique double focus; the preservation and conservation of a number of obscure and uncommon degrees that might otherwise be lost, combined with a strong focus on the preparation and delivery of research papers exploring every aspect of Freemasonry and related subjects, and the robust discussion of these.

This is a most valuable combination; we have our roots firmly in our varied history, but are willing to study and explore these roots, our symbolism and goals, and re-evaluate them in modern light.

We have seen in District 4 that by combining strong attention to in depth Masonic research and education, and a clear willingness to work the different degrees that we have inherited from the Allied Masonic Degrees that we are receiving a large amount of interest in our Councils.

The members of Craft Lodges who are most interested in the educational programs are less than satisfied with what they are receiving, and are drawn to the Allied Masonic Degrees. This has led to an increased number of applications to join the Holy Royal Arch in order to petition our Councils.

Most importantly, we have found that providing our new and frequently younger generation of Brethren with not only an almost infinite panoply of material and avenues to study and explore, but also a framework where they are able to discuss these openly and with sufficient time, without prejudice and dogmatic adherence to fixed and often less than accurate beliefs, has generated a stream within our region that is producing a clear set of new Masonic leaders.

These new Masons are passionate and enthusiastic about not only what we are, but empowered by a clear understanding of our past, even more importantly possess a much clearer vision of where we are going in the future.

Critically, we must recognise that what attracted us to Masonry is not what may attract our future Brethren, and so we must not ignore the fact that with the change in generational perspectives, we must evolve and change in order to remain relevant, whilst still exemplifying the core values and teachings that has made us such a strong philosophy, and so ensure our continued survival and pertinence.

Stagnation is a guaranteed way to defeat our fundamental objectives.

I firmly believe that the Allied Masonic Degrees are a beacon of what true Masonry should stand for, and is one of the few hopes for us to preserve the philosophy that we care so deeply about.

For us to reach our true potential however, we must learn to adopt a more balanced view of our origins and the fact that innovation and change in Freemasonry has been a facet that has lead to our growth and survival over the last 300 years, and that to deny ourselves this simple truth is the single way in which we can ensure our final demise.

Allied Masonic Degrees of Canada: https://amdcanada.ca