What’s the Big Secret?
Jim Russell
Most of you know that our lodge sponsors a couple of little league teams, and thanks to WBro. Ken Lane and other Dads, the boys have done exceedingly well. I’m reminded of a story that goes something like this:
A man is walking through the recreation ground of his local park when he notices a battle in full flurry on one of the baseball diamonds he is passing. “What’s going on?” he asks a spectator watching from the sidelines as the men of all sizes and shapes are jumping up and down while another is huffing and puffing and racing around the base paths. The spectator replies, “It’s a match between the Masons of St. John’s and the Masons of Daylight Lodge.”
“What’s the score?” asks the man.
“I don’t know,” says the stranger, “it’s a secret.”
THERE IS NOTHING THAT evokes so much fascination as a whiff of secrecy. We like to say that Freemasonry is not a secret society; rather it is a society with secrets. A better way of putting it is that what goes on in a lodge room during its ceremonies is private.
For a lot of years, fathers, grandfathers, and neighbors mystified the young man who was interested in joining the fraternity by refusing to discuss anything about it, out of a fundamental misunderstanding about Masonic “secrecy.” They figured they weren’t allowed to tell anything about it. “JOIN and you’ll see,” was their standard answer. Fortunately, that perception is changing, and Freemasons are less squeamish these days about talking about Freemasonry.
The secrets that a Mason may NOT discuss are the grips (handshakes), passwords, and signs (gestures) that are modes of recognition, and perhaps some details of the ritual ceremonies. Masons do have secret handshakes, grips and other signs that were developed so two Masons who had never met could be assured they were dealing with a real Mason rather than an impostor. Having that level of certainty is important because Masons really do view their relationship as a brotherhood. But even these can be readily found on many expos websites if you really want to go searching for them. Our very words found in our ritual are open to the public through these sites.
(The surest way to make a lot of easy money in the publishing business in the mid 18th Century was to print a book that exposed the secrets of what was becoming the Worlds most popular "secret society." These esposs may not have been entirely factual in telling all of the ceremonies going on in the lodges, but they had another interesting side effect. Most of the men who bought them were Freemasons who were trying to learn their ritual and were frustrated by having to learn "mouth to ear." So whether the exposures were accurate or not, they had the effect of helping to standardize the very rituals they were exposing. By "outinmg" the Masons, these publishers helped to spread Freemasonry around the world with freshly printed handbooks).
But, the real secrets of Freemasonry have to be experienced, not explained. The real secrets of Freemasonry are more personal.
We are taught a symbolic system of morality. But we are also a good bunch of guys that get together, have fun and try to make a difference in the world.
Freemasons believe that every man is equal, regardless of race, national origin, or religion. To that end, no records of ethnic or financial breakdowns exist - it would simply violate our basic tenets. We are taught that the whole human race is one family.
One thing you should know about Masons is that we take care of each other. That is a part of the fraternity. If there is ever a brother in need, we are right there to help.
In the event a brother becomes ill, we want to know. We are a brotherhood which wants to assist him and his wife or his mother whenever in need. As the song is sung “We are family.” So to the wives here this evening, I say: if you or your husband need assistance, call on a member of his lodge.
Masons believe there is one God. However, we do believe in religious freedom, so often use the name “Great Architect of the Universe” and other non-sectarian titles so as not to offend members of different faiths. Or you may say, to include men of all faiths. Masonry requires of its members that a belief in God is part of the obligation of every responsible adult.
Masons stress personal responsibility, a personal relationship with God, a commitment to community and country, and a willingness to give charitably. The tenets of Masonry are friendship, morality and brotherly love.
Our fraternity is for self-improvement, mainly. We are not a community-service group like the Lions or Kiwanis, or Rotarians; we are committed to improving our community by inspiring men to improve themselves. We remind ourselves as Entered Apprentices that we have come to subdue our passions and improve ourselves in Masonry. As Fellowcrafts, we not only subdue those passions, but are reminded to act upon the square and keep a tongue of good report. As Master Masons, we learn that it is better to lay down one’s life than to forfeit our integrity.
Our basic purpose is to make "Good Men Better” men; better fathers, better husbands, better brothers, and better sons. We try to place emphasis on the individual man by strengthening his character, improving his moral and spiritual outlook and broadening his mental horizons.
No man is a true Mason who merely thinks the Fraternity has no function beyond pleasant association in the Lodge and community charity. There are thousands of Masons who seldom see the inside of a Lodge and, therefore, miss the fellowship. There are thousands who never need or support her charity and so never come in contact with one of its many features. Yet, these may take freely and largely from the treasure house which is Masonry.
Masonry is an opportunity. It gives a man a chance to do and to be, among the world of men, something he otherwise could not attain. No man kneels at the altar of Masonry and rises again the same man. At the altar something is removed from him never to return – his feelings of living for himself alone. Be he ever so selfish, ever so self-centered, ever so much an individualist when he first knocks at the door of a lodge, at the altar he leaves behind him some of the impurities of his purely profane make-up.
No man kneels at the altar of Masonry and rises the same man because, in the place where the dregs and selfish were, is lit a little of the most Divine spark which men may see. Where the self-interest was – is sparked an interest in others. Where the egotism was – is ignited love for one's fellow man. You say that the “Fraternity has no function?” My dear friends, the Fraternity performs the greatest function of any institution at work among men, in that it provides a common meeting ground where all of us – our creed, our social position, our wealth, our ideas, our station in life – be what they may, may meet and understand one another.
“Masonry has no function?” Why, the function of charity, great as it is, is the least of the things Masonry does. The fellowship in the Lodge, beautiful as it is, is at best not much more than one can get in any good club, association, or organization. These ARE among the beauties of Masonry, but they are also beauties of other organizations. The great fundamental beauty of Masonry is all her own. She, and only she, stretches a kindly and loving hand across the lodge room and around the world, uniting millions in a bond too strong for breaking. Time has demonstrated that Masonry is too strong for war, too strong for hate, too strong for jealousy and fear. The worst of men have used the strongest of measures and have but pushed Masonry to one side for the moment; not all their efforts have broken her, or ever will!
Masonry gives us all a chance to do and to be; to do a little – however humble the part – in making the world better; to be a little larger, a little fuller in our lives, a little nearer to the G.A.O.T.U. And unless a man understands this, believes it, takes it to his heart, and lives it in his daily life, and strives to show it forth to others in his every act – unless he live and love and labor in his Masonry I say he is no Master Mason though he belong to all Rites and carries all cards, though he be hung as a Christmas tree with jewels and pins, though he be an officer in all Concordant or Appendant Bodies. But the man who has it in his heart and sees in Masonry the chance to be in reality what he has sworn he would be, true to himself, a brother to his fellow Masons, and supportive to a brother in HIS efforts to improve himself, is truly a Mason though he be initiated (or passed or raised) but this very evening, belongs to no body but his Blue Lodge, and be too poor to purchase and wear a single pin.
When is a man a Mason? Let me read what Bro. Joseph Fort Newton has written:
When Is A Man A Mason?
Bro. Joseph Fort Newton
When he can look out over the rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a profound sense of his own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope, and courage which is the root of every virtue.
When he knows that down in his heart every man is as noble, as vile, as divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive, and to love his fellow man.
When he knows how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yea, even in their sins knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds.
When he has learned how to make friends and to keep them, and above all how to keep friends with himself.
When he loves flowers, can hunt birds without a gun, and feels the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he hears the laugh of a little child.
When he can be happy and high-minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life.
When star-crowned trees and the glint of sunlight on flowing waters, subdue him like the thought of one much loved and long dead.
When no voice of distress reaches his ears in vain, and no hand seeks his aid without response.
When he finds good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of divine things and sees majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of that faith may be.
When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and into the face of the most forlorn fellow mortal and see something beyond sin.
When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope.
When he has kept faith with himself, with his fellow man, and with his God; in his hand a sword for evil, in his heart a bit of a song -- glad to live, but not afraid to die!
Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which it is trying to give to all the world.
Finally, my friends, how important it is that we should be exemplary in our character, demonstrate unfeigned piety to God, and ever maintain inflexible fidelity to our trust; “that we may be prepared to welcome death, not as a grim tyrant, but as a kind messenger sent to translate us from this imperfect to that all-perfect, glorious and celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Grand Master of the Universe forever presides.”
These, my friends, are the secrets of Freemasonry.