Freemasonry, Men
and Masculinity
By
James Bohne
Before
words there were images. Before we spoke or made
sense of what we heard there was the symbolic
language of dreams. Before written language there
were stories. Over time these stories  grew into myths and epics
rich in hidden subliminal meaning. Mythic stories
are allegories for essential human principles.
The power of mythic symbolism is that it informs
us of these principles at a fundamentally deep
subconscious level.
Waller
Newell, professor of political science and
philosophy at Carlton University, has made a
career of studying masculinity in western stories.
Of course such stories vary widely in theme and
style. Nevertheless Newell describes consistency
in certain underlying messages dating back some 3,000
years to Plato. In Plato’s "The
Republic" Socrates argues that passion must
be governed by a well-ordered soul. Plato taught
it was the quality of soul, mind and will that
determine manliness, and not brute strength nor
martial prowess.
According
to Newell, the western tradition of masculinity
builds on such common themes including: honor
tempered by prudence, ambition tempered by
compassion for the suffering and the oppressed,
and love restrained by delicacy and honor toward
the beloved.
Entering
into the tradition at some unknown time is the
world’s oldest fraternity.
Freemasonry
describes itself as a beautiful system of morals
veiled  in allegory and
illustrated in symbols. That would make
Freemasonry a mythic system. It must be a
particularly effective system as it has survived
at least since it went public in 1717, and an
unknown period of time before.
Freemasonry’s
proclaimed purpose is to make good men better.
Its method of doing so is a series of
participatory morality plays – the renowned
Masonic rituals. According to mythologist Joseph
Campbell, a rite is the enactment of myth, and
myths are the mental supports of rites. Rituals
instill in the participant mythic themes that
hopefully lead to Plato’s "well-ordered
soul." The Masonic Information Center
describes this process as the true secret of
Masonry. It is a profound internal transformation
that can’t adequately be put into words.
"They are the changes that happen to a man
when he really accepts responsibility for his own
life and, at the same time, truly decides that
his real happiness is in helping others."
It is
difficult to measure the full extent to which
Masons engage in helping others. Much of that
work is done quietly at an individual level. Even
at an institutional level Masonic charities don’t
advertise their works, so it is very possible
that you haven’t heard much of Masonry’s
contributions to your community. Most
institutional Masonic charity work is done
through their appendant organizations: the York
Rite, Scottish Rite, and the Shriners.
The York
Rite is associated with the Knights Templar Eye
Foundation, which provides research, surgical
treatment and hospitalization to those who suffer
from diseases or injury to the eyes. They assist
those who are unable to pay or receive adequate
assistance from insurance or government agencies
provided they are within the financial guidelines
of the Foundation. A letter of denial from a
social or government agency is necessary for
assistance.
Probably
the best known of the Masonic philanthropies is
the Shriner’s Hospitals. The Intermountain
Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City specializes
in childhood bone disease and injury. The
hospital accepts and treats children with routine
and complex orthopedic problems. Any child may be
eligible for care at Shriners Hospitals if the
child is under 18 years of age, and there is a
reasonable possibility the child's condition can
be helped.
Closer to
home, the Scottish Rite Foundation of Utah
operates a Children’s Learning Center at
1140 36th Street, suite 160 in
downtown Ogden.
When
young Logan Sunderland was just under 2 years of
age his mother, Barbara, became concerned that he
had not yet started speaking. His pediatrician
diagnosed him as autistic. Barbara’s
insurance didn’t cover therapy for Logan,
and consequently she couldn’t find anyplace
for her son’s therapy. In her determination
to help her son, Barbara discovered the Scottish
Rite Learning Center.
The
Center empowers children with language-learning
difficulties to reach their full educational
potential. It is one of 136 such centers in the
United States. The Ogden center has been in
operation since 1994. It has five therapy rooms,
four Master Degree Speech-Language Pathologists,
and two fully credentialed Reading Specialists.
In 2003 they served 179 children. They have an
enrollment capacity of 350 children.
After a
single year of therapy at the Center, Logan made
about two years of speech development progress.
At the end of two years Logan was reading and
speaking at an age-appropriate level.
Part of
the reason for their success lies in their
requirement for the child to have a parent, or
other attending adult, participate in the child’s
therapy. When the adult learns along with the
child the lessons are reinforced in the home and
the child is much more likely to make significant
progress.
Even
though Barbara completely participated in Logan’s
therapy, she gives full credit to the center’s
staff, which she describes as talented and
dedicated. Barbara declares, "It’s
truly heroic what they do for the community."
All you
need do to enroll your child into the Center’s
program is make a call to (801) 627-8601. To
qualify the child must have at least one
concerned adult who is prepared to carry out a
dedicated, consistent program; be between 2 and
12 years of an age, and must be classified as
language/learning disabled through a recognized
diagnostic center or school district.
The Mason’s
work isn’t limited to merely helping the
blind to see, mute to speak, and lame to walk.
There are many Masonic charities, like the VA
Hospital visitation program, which don’t
have the same visibility and a multitude of other
local programs over the world. On a global scale
they spend an estimated $2 million per day on
charity and relief.
The
Masonic inclination toward quiet action and low
visibility has been a source of misunderstanding
and outright fabrication. There are numerous
accusations made about Freemasons that simply don’t
withstand scrutiny, mostly centering on the
secrecy of their oaths and rites.
Regarding
the ritual oaths, Michael S. Thomas explains in
Freemasonry and Mormonism:
"The
Masons had received a lot of attention and
criticism for what the public called "blood
oaths". By way of explanation, the oaths
which are administered during the initiation
rituals describe certain penalties for
violation of a Masons promises not to make
public the Fraternities modes of recognition,
ritual, etc. These penalties, however are
only symbolic and date back to situations
that existed in the middle ages when the
violation of these promises could have put
many lives in jeopardy. The most severe
punishment which could be inflicted by a
lodge in the 1800's, and today, would be
expulsion from membership."
Edward
King writes in his Freemasonry Primer web page
that the acclaimed Masonic secrets were first
publicly exposed in 1696, and that there have
been tens of thousands of books published about
Freemasonry, some including their secret rites
and recognitions. Why then do Masons continue to
jealously guard such poorly kept secrets? Most
Masons I know will answer that it is simply a
matter of tradition, and that they took a vow to
do so. They keep their vows out of love and
respect for the Masonic tradition. It is
certainly appropriate for an organization
dedicated to building character to expect its
members to be able to hold a confidence and keep
a promise.
I would
like to suggest an underlying reason that Masons
should do  so. Given that the
basic reason for the Fraternity’s continued
existence to make good men better, they use the
time-tested method if ritual to affect change.
Such rites are meant to be experiential –
impressing the participant at a deep emotional
and subconscious level. For this reason it is
best that the participant enter into the rite
without prior knowledge of the ritual. It works
against the participant’s interest for him
to consciously analyze the ritual during or
before the experience. That mental processing is
best done afterwards. Having their rituals become
common knowledge would undermine the rite and
thereby Freemasonry’s core mission to help
men improve themselves.
Another
issue that also comes up is that of fraternity.
Since Freemasonry is a system of morals, why
exclude women? After all, basic moral principles
are universal and apply equally to either sex. In
fact, Freemasonry does have several appendant
organizations by and for women. Job’s
Daughters, for example, empowers young women by
teaching leadership skills along with feminine
virtues.
Why
should the sexes do their work separately? The
answer lies in the differences between men and
women. Aside from obvious physical differences,
men and women are generally of different
temperament. As a result, we tend to learn and
internalize differently. It stands to reason that
a system of mythic rites honed to impress the
male psyche will not resonate as well with women
and vice versa.
Professor
Newell contends his work on masculinity is a
result of watching each year bring in a new class
of young men increasingly confused, baffled and
unsure of themselves. He believes this trend and
the dramatic rise in broken homes are
interrelated. Boys and young men are increasingly
less influenced by the masculine tradition.
Meanwhile, our culture has been growing critical
of masculinity in a way that fails to distinguish
between mature masculinity and puerile
masculinity. In essence, we are throwing out the
baby with the bath water.
Newell
asserts that our current attempts to redefine
masculinity are misdirected and that we need
instead to reclaim the masculine tradition. If he’s
right, the Freemasons are in a unique position to
fill a valuable and needed social role that might
someday return them to the social prominence they
once enjoyed.
Bibliography
and Resources:
Newell,
Waller R. (ed.), "What is a Man?: 3,000
Years of Wisdom on the Art of Manly Virtue"
© 2000, ReganBooks
Campbell,
Joseph "Myths to Live By: How We Re-create
Ancient Legends in our Daily Lives to Release
Human Potential" © 1972, Penguin Books USA
Inc.
Jung, C.G.,
"Aspects of the Masculine" © 1989 by
Princeton University Press
Masonic
Information Center, "What’s a Mason?"
booklet
8120 Fenton Street, Silver Spring MD 20910
Freemasonry
Primer
http://masonicinfo.com/primer.htm
Freemasonry
and Mormonism
http://www.freedomdomain.com/freemasons/mormons01.html
Golden
Spike Lodge
http://www.goldenspikelodge.org
Freemasons
of Utah
http://www.utahgrandlodge.org
Eastern
Star
http://www.utahoes.org/
Job’s
Daughters
http://www.iojd.org/
Scottish
Rite Learning Center
http://www.utahscottishrite.org/learning/
Knights
Templar Eye Foundatin
http://www.knightstemplar.org/ktef/index.htm
Intermountain
Shriners Hospital
http://www.shrinershq.org/shc/intermountain/index.html
James
E. Bohne, Jr., REALTOR®
Mobile: (801) 791-9579
Office: (801) 476-9500
Fax: (801) 476-9581
E-mail: j.e.bohne@att.net |
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