What do we Seek? The following continues from a 1960s paper by flashy about the erection of a moral edifice within Bro. Dwight Smith Past Grand Master of Indiana: the heart of a man. It is so simple that many Masons miss the point entirely. Neither is there anyWhat does a candidate really seek? Wy leave the thing easy about it. E….in search of ML. He seeks to improve himself, he says. Not a word about improving anyone else; Why are we so fearful? Because there is a taperno mention whatever of improving the communiing off of the membership curve and a dearth of ty, or the government of the United States, or that interest. Illgotten gains of the nineteen-forties are of any other nation in the world, or of the world not holding up. Once we rushed men through the itself. Note in particular that his expressed motive degrees with reckless abandon; now they are not is not to improve Freemasonry, but rather to imlining up to be loaded onto the conveyor belt. prove as a Mason—and not some other Mason, Temples that were humming with activity in the but himself. 'forties are quiet as a tomb in the 'sixties. Then [Editor—we enter as rough ashlars and work toour Lodge rooms and banquet halls were filled to wards becoming a perfect ashlar which we will overflowing with Master Masons on just about never attain, but it’s important for masons to make every occasion; now we have to bring in the lathat journey.] dies and children to get a crowd large enough to justify the expense of opening the building. [ED: As he progresses through the ceremonies of the 242 used to have queues in the car park waiting to three degrees, he hears a great deal about selfget into a dance—now we don’t have enough interimprovement and in the MMD we are taught to est to hold any.] Our sins are catching up with us. know thyself. BUT ONCE RAISED to the sublime We have found that there is such a thing as Madegree and invested with its emblems, he finds sonic inflation as well as inflation of the currency; that his desire to "improve myself" has been given that the penalty of Masonic inflation is Masonic an entirely different interpretation. No longer is it devaluation —and that the penalty must be paid. the slow, patient process of chipping off the corners and ugly excesses of his own nature to make The reason, I believe, is that we have become vica rough ashlar perfect. Now he is assured that he tims of a kind of brainwashing which protests can improve himself in Masonry by choosing one that our ways are too slow, too quiet, too difficult, or more of several formulae. "Memorize this lectoo old-fashioned. "This is the Twentieth Centuture," one Brother will demand. "Read this bookry," says the New Ideology. "Unless we are inlet," admonishes another. "Come to Lodge," a creasing in numbers and material wealth we are third will plead. "Sign this petition," insists a on the decline; we must have the last word in fourth. Improving oneself in Masonry suddenly temples and institutions; we must make a big has become as simple and as easy as that! noise to call attention to ourselves and get people to talking about us; we must devise means whereHow seldom do we hear the calm voice of dear by we can do things the quick way, the easy way, old Mr. Mason (there is at least one in every and get on to something else." [Ed: still applicable Lodge), and how desperately do we need to hear to the 21st C]. his words of gentle suasion: "My Brother, you have come here to improve yourself, you say. You And unless we want our Craft to pass into that will have countless opportunities for selflimbo where things of no further use or necessity improvement in Freemasonry, yet you may fail to are relegated, we had better learn to shift from recognize most of them. For there is nothing
Cross Keys April 2021
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