To Bee or Not To Bee

To Bee or Not To Bee

Mikel J Stoops, Grand Master or Masons in Kansas 2021-2022

Saying that the beehive represents industry is an oversimplification. It is true that within the colony of honeybees that lives in the hive, most facets of what we term industry are represented. The bees gather raw materials in the form of nectar and pollen. They manufacture products such as honey, wax, and royal jelly. They provide services by cleaning and protecting the hive and by regulating its temperature. They even distribute their products to the brood and the queen. But, that is not the definition of industry that is implied in our teachings. Masonry teaches being industrious or diligent in our labors to support our fellow man and our society. Even still, there is so much more that we can learn from the honeybees and their community.

When we talk about honeybees, there is a clear distinction between the physical structure in which the organisms exist and the group of organisms. The structure is called a hive, and the group of bees is called a colony. Take the colony out of their hive, and they will build a new one allowing the colony to live on. Maybe that is the first lesson we can learn from the study of bees. The temple is the structure in which Masons meet, and the Lodge is the group of Masons. I know that we have come to use the term lodge interchangeably for the building and the group, but maybe we have done so to the detriment of both.

In a colony, there are three types of honeybees. There is a single queen, a few hundred drones, and tens of thousands of workers. The queen has two prominent roles. She is responsible for producing all the bees in the colony and producing and secreting a pheromone or scent chemical that keeps the colony intact. When a queen dies, the lack of this pheromone signals the worker bees to create a new queen. The workers do this by feeding a larva an exclusive diet of royal jelly. Royal jelly is a high nutrition substance produced by the bees, enabling the queen to grow into a mature insect capable of reproduction. Once the queen begins to reproduce, every new bee in that colony will be her offspring. Like the queen's pheromone production, Masonic leaders and mentors need to provide education, support, charity, and fellowship that keeps our lodges intact and provide for our Craft's survival by producing enlightened and educated Masons. Masons need to ensure that we are giving our members the knowledge and skills required so that they can step up and be our future leaders.

The drones have only one purpose, and that is to mate with the queen. Though theirs is a vital role in the survival of the colony, they are a drain on the group's resources. This is illustrated in two ways. First, the execution of their only purpose causes their death. Yes, the act of mating kills them. Second, winter is a time when bees cannot forage for food. So, the colony must conserve its resources within the hive. When the colony is preparing for winter, the worker bees kick the drones out of the hive and allow them to die. New drones will not be allowed in the hive until the spring hatching when they are needed once again for mating. Drones are only permitted in the colony when they can serve their purpose, and at no time are they allowed to be more than about one percent of the colony population. Have we not already been educated about drones by our Masonic teachings? The drone, being a useless member of society, is unworthy of our protection. I am confident that understanding the lesson of the drone and putting it into practice would benefit Masonry.

Of the worker bees, St. John Chrysostom said, "The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others." The worker bees do everything needed for the survival of their colony except produce offspring. Everything they do is for the good of the colony and, in turn, themselves as part of that colony. They exemplify service to others for the good of one's self. But more interesting than this to me is something peculiar only to honeybees. When a worker bee returns to the hive, having found a rich food source for the colony, she can communicate the location of these resources to the other bees. She does this through dance consisting of circles and shakes. It is speculated that this dance developed early in the honeybee's evolution and was vital in allowing them to form their colony system. Karl von Frisch, who won a Nobel Prize in part for his study of this dance, described it as "the only known form of symbolic communication in the invertebrates." So, worker bees use an ancient form of symbolic communication to pass vital knowledge from one bee to another. No matter what bee in which colony or hive, this form of communication is the same. What a valuable lesson that is for Masons. Freemasonry offers lessons in philosophy, spirituality, and morality. Many of our lessons are communicated through symbols. Symbolic communication is how we pass on our valuable knowledge. It is how we enlighten our initiates. It is, in part, how we become more spiritually aware, charitable, and civically minded. Our symbolic communication should be maintained, unaltered from generation to generation, unaltered from person to person, and unaltered from temple to temple.

In contemplating the condition of the modern honeybees, I see many parallels with modern Freemasonry in the United States. The populations of both are in decline, and many speculate on a possible extinction. For centuries, the honeybees lived and thrived. Their way of life supported their species and supported their greater ecosystem, which benefited greatly from their work. They pollinated plants that are the food supplies for many other species, including humans. They produce sweet honey and fine wax that we use to enhance our lives. So too was it with Freemasonry. The work of our Brothers paid benefits not only for Masons, but those benefits reach into our communities and greater society. Freedom of thought, freedom of religion, charity, civility, equality, and so many more are the fruits of the labors of Freemasonry. But yet, the honeybees are in decline. The outside world has impacted them and disrupted their colonies. Mites, fungus, and other invaders from outside the hive attack the colony and cause death. Pesticides alter the bees' ability to navigate and to perform their dance. When they can not perform their dance, they lose their ancient form of symbolic communication to pass on vital knowledge, and the colony has trouble finding the food sources it needs to sustain its existence. Is that not also the case with Freemasonry? Outside influences have come into the temples and altered the workings of the Lodge. Things that are not Masonry have been applied to our Fraternity, causing a decline in our Lodges. These have impaired our ability to communicate the lessons of philosophy, spirituality, and morality, which are vital to the existence of our Craft.

It is now time for us, as Masons, to emulate our friends, the honeybees. It is time to make sacred our temples so that our Lodges can live on. It is time to engage in education and mentorship, for those are the things that keep our Lodges intact and perpetuate membership for our future success. It is time to set aside drones within our society and waste no more of our resources on them. It is time that we commit to serving the greater good of our Lodges and our communities. It is time that we pledge to stay true to the ancient designs of our Craft, passing its practices, tenets, and principles unaltered from generation to generation. And most importantly, it is time to discard the outside influences that have become detrimental to our Craft. We must stay true to Masonry, and Masonry will survive.

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