February 2010
A LODGE FOR TODAY
An Address to Tarragindi Lodge No 438 UGLQ By RW Bro Richard King, PJGW, WM Barron Barnett Lodge 9th February, 2010.
A Lodge for Today Worshipful Master, and brethren, may I first thank you for inviting me to speak to you tonight. I must say it is a great pleasure to be back in a lodge and among brethren of whom I am very fond. You have always been very friendly and warm to me, even when I was that ogre, the lodge AGSW, and I appreciate your welcome very much. When your DC, Wor Bro Grahame phoned me to invite me here tonight, I was delighted to accept. He and I grew up as small boys, adventuring around the then outer suburb of Chelmer. We, as they say, go back a long way. I rather assumed that the invitation was to do with a gap in the lodge programme, and to fill that gap. I think he wanted some Masonic Education or Research erudition. Well, brethren, having been given the choice, I have decided to discuss the interface of Freemasonry and the youth of today, and how we can properly and happily accommodate young men of the 21st Century. Allow me to take you back to Freemasonry.s dim past. In the 1600s, there was no general education. One had to be pretty well-fixed financially to pursue knowledge of the world, humanity, or anything else. Learning was therefore the preserve of the leisured, or upper classes. The level of education among these men and some few women was extraordinary. Most spoke both French and English, nearly all could read original Latin texts, and many knew Greek, Hebrew, and current Continental languages as well. Such ability, of itself, demonstrated considerable scholarship. To them, though, these abilities were but the skeleton upon which knowledge was appended. It is said, and is probably true, that The Royal Society was founded by the men who became our Masonic forebears. In short, the original Freemasons were the intelligentsia of their times. Just, for the sake of interest look at the first few Grand Masters of The Grand Lodge of England, founded in 1717. Over the intervening centuries, for a variety of reasons, the "intelligentsia quotient" of Masonic members steadily declined. This probably resulted from the burgeoning numbers, and the necessity to have more and more members so as to pay the cost of purpose built temples in which to meet. What a spiral! It has brought us to the 21st Century with a vast majority of members who are NOT the intelligentsia of the day. We seem to have become a sort of super social club, and while there used to be some status attached to membership, I suggest that that is no longer the case. Sadly, we have become a rather marginal association, perceived by the world as gatherings of rather dotty old men. Whether this is true or not is immaterial, as it is the perception that matters if we wish to attract new men. Moving forward to the 21st Century, we have arrived at a renewed age of enlightenment. Certainly the information super highway has provided modern man with a hitherto unknown access to knowledge of infinite kinds. All this is based, of course, on the universality of basic education. Nearly everyone can read and write, and nearly everyone has had at least seven or eight years of school. Certainly this is so in 1st World countries like Australia. But, for all our basic education, just how cultured and refined are we? When a new man comes to Freemasonry, we undertake to make him .better. by virtue of the association. I don't suppose many of us have thought in depth about this undertaking. Most of us, I think, believe that what we are saying is something like "We'll help you to be better, in a moral sense.. And that's perfectly understandable, since we only investigate character and reputation when considering a new man when he joins, and that in each degree, there is a long list of moral precepts. But I lean to a more global appreciation of what the undertaking to make good men better really means. I think we are making it a goal to help each member be as good as he can be in moral, intellectual, and spiritual terms. This, you will see immediately, is very ambitious. In the recent past, our brotherhood has had a reputation as being a socially advantageous and enjoyable sort of up-market party club. It has never, at least in my 40 odd years in it, been seen as a finishing school for gentlemen. But, that is what I say it should be. We cannot teach all that would be desirable ourselves, so what we must provide is an encouraging environment which glories in the advancement of our members. I would like to think that, at the end of long term membership, every brother would be able to say: "I am a better, more cultured, more refined, more learned, and more spiritually aware man after my years in Freemasonry than I would ever have been had I not been a member". It is perhaps time to consider what we can teach a new man. This, brethren, is a strange, olde-worlde type of order. It is ritual based, and therefore contains many behaviours which are unknown outside these walls. When a candidate is initiated, indeed, at each step through his degrees, he will be expected to learn and adhere to certain behavioural models. He will be expected to know quite a lot of words and word formulas which will be by way of avouchment of his status among Freemasons everywhere. Much of what he encounters is pretty confusing and mysterious, often for quite a while after he joins. He deserves from us sufficient tuition so that he never feels any discomfort or embarrassment due to insufficient knowledge at his level. He also should be taught what our emblems and symbols mean in allegorical terms, for if he doesn't, then he'll never learn the magic of our moral tenets. He should be taught about his own lodge, its customs, history and origins. He should also be taught about lodge officers and their several progressive duties. He should be taught about Grand Lodges, and their place in the structure. And he should be taught about the international facets of the Craft, and the differences in practices between jurisdictions. All of these things are to make him comfortable among us. For, if he is not comfortable in the lodge environment, then there is little chance of his obtaining enduring pleasure from his involvement in Lodge life. Friendly and even loving as we may be, if he does not know enough about our practices for easy comfort, then he will probably never settle in, and will eventually leave. We must make his Masonic journey enjoyable, as, without continuing enjoyment, he will merely drift away. But teaching him properly all those "comfort" items is not all that is required. Be assured brethren, that it is also essential to cultivate a loving family feeling within your lodge. Further, I think you should encourage him, from the very beginning, to be involved in lodge activities. Not, initially, in ritual (he must come to that in his own time), but he must feel valuable and valued. So, whenever he participates in lodge doings, always say "thank you" in acknowledgement of his effort. Permit me to take you back to what I said before - that your lodge should be a sort of finishing school for gentlemen. Indeed, in the past, no-one who didn't fit the English definition of a "gentleman" would have been admitted. That is not so now; in fact, we quite rightly admit men of any life status. The standard is good character, and a belief in God. Examining the idea of a "gentleman" is, however, instructive. What, you may ask, are his characteristics? Well, in England, it has a lot to do with the accident of birth. We don't (one might be thankful) have that caste system here. So let's take accident of birth out of the evaluation. Our definition of a gentleman would require him to be of excellent character and reputation, and he would be regular in his habits, amiable in his relations with the world, kindly and mannerly to all, loyal to family, friends and country, possess refined speech, tastes and deportment, and be discrete and honourable in all his dealings. But, I suggest, his most attractive feature would be cultured worldliness deriving from a sound education. For education, especially today, and in the meritocracy in which we live, defines the man more than it ever has before. Today's education differs markedly from standards of yester-year. Now, when one pursues "education", it is almost always directed towards obtaining a degree, diploma, or certificate of competency for the practice of some profession or trade for the earning of a livelihood. The idea of a liberal arts education has very little place in modern universities, although something approximating the old curricula is still available. It is interesting to note the "definition" of "education". which was written by BF Skinner in New Scientist in 1964: "Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten". This is, perhaps a key to what we should, in my view, be looking for when seeking an "education". Its end product should be culture and refinement; a way of looking at and appreciating what we encounter in life. If you like, achieving a trained mind. It is always a joy to converse with educated men. They can help to both broaden and refine your own ideas, they are frequently witty and amusing, and one rarely leaves their company without learning something. Education about the wider world is what intellectuality is all about. Generalist knowledge is a perpetual joy, and everexpanding interest leads to quiet pleasure in life. In Roman times, The Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences were considered essential to shaping a trained intellect. But it was not for about 900 years after the fall of Rome that they were received into the then fledgling universities of western Europe. There they formed the basis and foundation of all learning. I believe that they still do today. And every Freemason is strongly exhorted to pursue as much knowledge of them as may be within the compass of his attainments. Can we as lodges teach these disciplines? Is it a realistic goal to say to new men that we will instruct in them? I rather think not. First, we don't have the learned men, or the materials; and second, we never set out to be like some academy or teaching institution. So, while we may highly recommend study of these seven core disciplines, our pupils will have to look elsewhere for tuition in them. But the mere fact of our valuing and recommending these studies will go down the path of producing men of more polished intellect than would have been reached without our direction and support. I now come to the young men of today. Such is our present status (or lack of it) that they are not knocking our doors down in a frenzy of zeal to join. Indeed, most would never look at us as an organisation if it wasn't for books like The Lost Symbol, or the sensational alleged exposés which attract promotion on television from time to time. Nevertheless, some, for a wide variety of reasons, do come to us. When they inquire, we of course tell them that we are the world's oldest and largest fraternal society, and that it's cheap in both time and money to be a member, and that there's hardly anything they could do which would be wiser socially than to join. As every young man making his way in the world, married, wife, kids, mortgage (the full catastrophe) already has a full "life pie chart" of time allocation, we do well to emphasise that it doesn't intrude much on his time. Never mind that that is quite untrue. If, as we hope and encourage, he adopts the Masonic life with joy and vigour, it will require a reorganisation of his time. This is nothing that can't be accommodated by careful time planning; but it will be necessary. Do we ever tell him that it is a life requiring much study? That we provide direction and support for his personal growth? Probably not! But never mind, he does join. People who've studied these things have discovered that most young men coming newly to Freemasonry are not concerned about changing our language or our ceremonies, don't want the dress codes relaxed, don't want us to change our lessons, don't mind paying proper fees and subscriptions, and so on. What they do want is enjoyable company, first class ritual, good suppers, and good education in Masonic matters. They want to be guided in living life as Freemasons in a kindly and loving way. They want to be useful and valued. They want to give and receive brotherly love. They want lodge business to be properly and efficiently run. And they want their lodges to be a calm refuge from the turmoil of the outside world. If they receive my "finishing school" guidance, all the better. Brethren, I really think you are all more or less aware of the matters to which I have referred. The young men of today will inevitably join and stay if you provide, more or less, the environment I have described. Comments or questions?
August 2009:
The Purpose of a Lodge by R.Wor.Bro.Richard King
The Purpose of a Lodge
A paper delivered to Toowoomba Lodge of Instructionon 6th August, 2009
by RW Bro Richard King, PJGW
Brethren, thank you for inviting me to address you tonight. I apologise for talking about the mundane, but I should inform you that I have no pretensions to being a Masonic scholar. I am in office in Barron Barnett Lodge, and have to concede that it is hard for me to get my head around the concepts inherent in and the aims and purposes of Masonic Research. I often wonder where it leads. Anyway, my background is at the practical level, and hence this paper.Historically:The traditional view as to the origins of Freemasonry is that we are the successors to mediaeval stone masons’ guilds. Somehow, it has long and constantly been asserted that the ‘gentlemen dabblers’ of the English period of enlightenment (c.1650 – 1850), being attracted by the knowledge of engineering, physics, mechanics and aesthetics possessed by the building trades, joined operative masonic lodges in order to access that knowledge. Those ‘gentleman dabblers’ were in fact the highest intellects of their day, the progenitors of the greatest flowering of the enquiring mind seen in modern history. Their efforts and their curiosity not only about man’s capabilities, but also about the natural world and its sciences, resulted in the gradually refined scientific method of cause and effect, a protocol which, even today, underpins all experiments and intellectual examination.The secret or arcane knowledge developed and refined in the building trades could have been discovered by these men of sublime intellectuality in a twinkling, quite independent of involvement with operative masons. Why would they have sought to enter the rather sweaty world of operative building trades, when reflection and experimentation could so readily have discovered all the allegedly ‘secret’ builders’ arts?This paper is not, however, an examination of our origins. Most Masonic authorities concede that our early history is shrouded in mystery, and the ‘tradesmen’s guilds’ school of thought lacks any compelling logic or rationality.What can be said, though, is that in the early times of what we would now recognise as Masonic lodge activities, most of those involved were the elite of their time. When I say ‘elite’, I am not referring to the rigid social stratification of 17th century England. The ‘elite’ label describes those involved being intellectually and culturally the leaders of the day. From what I have been able to read on those times (mostly snippets mixed up in other specific purpose books), I have formed the view that meetings were predominantly for the purpose of discourse on scientific matters and other intellectual pursuits. People dined, drank, and smoked throughout meetings, and, one gets the impression from engravings and paintings, probably more than one discussion occurred simultaneously. There seems to be no doubt that convivial interaction was, then as now, an important component of these gatherings. Further, one cannot escape the impression that the ritual side of things was not a high priority. Groups were small numbers of men with similar interests, and one suspects they didn’t much care whether they introduced new men or not. Only those of similar intellectuality would have been admitted. They had no private Masonic buildings – meeting mostly in rooms in inns and taverns – and therefore did not need large groups to pay for buildings or accoutrements.As is the way in human group activities, there are always those who feel compelled to organise and control. So, in 1717, four lodges met at the Goose and Gridiron Inn, in St Paul’s Churchyard, London and formed a Grand Lodge. One Anthony Sayer was elected as Grand Master, and Freemasonry as we know it came into being.The next 96 years were by no means plain sailing. About 1720, one Dr Jean Theophilus Desaguilier (a cleric from the low countries) became Grand Master and, perhaps in consultation with Dr James Anderson (a clergyman from Scotland), devised an apparently wholly new third degree. Previously, the lodges over which he presided had worked a two degree system, but thenceforward the three degree system we know in Craft Masonry was established.There shortly followed the publication of Anderson’s Constitutions, and the establishment of both Irish and Scottish Grand Lodges. Many existing lodges outside London were incensed about the self-aggrandising actions of the London Grand Lodge. This was particularly so among Masons based in the north of England, specifically in the city of York. These brethren banded together to form a Grand Lodge of their own, which they called The Grand Lodge of All England. According to information on the World Wide Web, that organisation still exists, although it is not part of ‘regular’ Masonry. Other Grand Lodges soon sprang up, foremast among which was one which called itself ‘the Ancients’, and which disparagingly described the 1717 Grand Lodge ‘the Moderns’. In 1717, the Moderns worked a two degree system, to which was soon added the new third degree devised by Dr Desaguiliers. The Ancients had traditionally worked a five degree system, including a fourth, or Mark degree, and fifth, or Royal Arch degree. It is not known whether their Third degree was the basis of the new Modern’s Third degree. Union of the Ancients and Moderns (with others) to form The United Grand Lodge of England, occurred in 1813.The move to formal meeting places:After the coming out in 1717 of previously hidden (or at least very private) Freemasonry, the organisation became de rigeur for the well connected, and large numbers joined all around England. There was a serious burgeoning of numbers, and the practice of small groups meeting in taverns became unworkable. Throughout the next 200 years, the Masonic Temple became a ‘must have’ fixture in English towns, in much the same way the local School of Arts hall became ubiquitous in Australian towns.As is readily observed, to build purpose specific buildings in every town would have cost a great deal of money, and to raise the necessary capital, numbers became essential. As time passed, and ambitions as to temples and equipment grew, the Craft became fixated on numbers. It strayed from its intellectual and moral roots. It is very uncommon now for true intellectual discourse to occur. What happens, if it happens at all, is a sort of talk-fest in which the uninformed teach the uninformed. No longer are Masonic meetings graced with members who are in any way the intellectual elite of their time. No longer are we an organisation able to lay claim to any intellectual primacy.And, very sadly, it is probably true to say that we have dubious claims to moral supremacy either. By and large, Freemasons are probably no more morally upright than any other segment of society.This state of affairs intellectually and morally has led to a decline in our uniqueness. Our quality as a front runner in society has been severely eroded, and as a result, the best of the best are no longer among us. Indeed, our prospecting of new men to make up our numbers is directed at everybody. The bar is set pretty low – if you believe in God, and have no criminal record, in you come. This reflects the past where numbers had to be kept high so as to spread the running costs of the organisation. Unfortunately, it also leads to a decline in quality, which in turn, makes us less attractive, especially to those top men who characterised our beginnings.Thinking about the purpose of Freemasonry has been a long-standing process for me. However, it was brought into sharp focus quite recently. About 6 months ago, after more than 10 years or so of fairly intense reflection of the way forward and Masonic education, I was talking to a new Master Mason over coffee. His questions to me were along the lines of “What is the purpose of a lodge?” and “Why do members stay away in droves when the lodge is ‘just’ having a lecture?” And so my attention was concentrated on this most central issue. For, if we don’t have a pretty well-defined raison d’être, how can we succeed into the future? Will the Craft we all love just wither away and gradually just die? Certainly in Queensland its numbers have continued to decline yearly over the past 40 odd years.Freemasonry at present:Freemasonry has been described as a world wide brotherhood. As a whole it is by far the oldest and biggest fraternal organisation, ever! While it is true that a proven Freemason can expect a warm and immediate welcome among regular Freemasons wherever he may visit around the world, the institution is not an ‘organisation’ at all. It is composed of a whole lot of separate sovereign bodies which recognise each other and each others members, and extend fraternal affection to any member of a recognised jurisdiction who presents himself. So it is at once an organisation and not an organisation. In this fraternal sense it is a single organisation, but in every other sense it is not.While there are quite wide variations in the practise of Freemasonry in different countries, and even between intra-country jurisdictions, they have much in common:We all believe in a Supreme BeingWe all insist on good character in our membersWe all adopt similar codes of morality and behaviourThere is a striking similarity, across the board, in how a night’s proceedings progress.One might say that all these separate autonomous bodies appear to have common goals. It is that commonality which effects some sort of union between jurisdictions, notwithstanding their separateness.It is the custom in recent times for most organisations to adopt some sort of Mission Statement. This is that of the United Grand Lodge of Queensland:“To Practise Freemasonry as a progressive philosophy of life which encourages tolerance, integrity and self-development in its members while promoting service to the community”Let us examine this a little:“Practise Freemasonry” – I wonder what this means? Does it mean that we should all be regular attenders at lodge? Does it mean that we should all participate in lodge ceremonial? Does it mean that we should all learn all the ritual? Does it mean that we should all wash up after suppers? Does it impliedly import all our moral and other admonitions (including the Book of Constitutions, the Ancient Charges, and the Rulings and decisions of the Board) into our lives? Who knows?“A progressive philosophy of life” – Does this mean that the lessons of our three degrees are progressive? Or does it mean that the whole as a unit constitutes personal progressiveness? If the latter, how will this be achieved?Nowhere in Craft ritual does the word ‘tolerance’ appear. Is tolerance, of itself, a virtue? Should we show tolerance to liars or to child molesters? Surely it is what we are tolerant of which makes it a virtue. Here, I think it means acceptance of differences.Sure we tell candidates at every level to be virtuous. Sure we have a peerless system of integrity within our lessons. But what do we do to explain or expand what our lessons really mean or require of us? Do Freemasons exhibit any more or less integrity than the general community? I think we are about average – neither much better nor much worse than community norms.What does self development actually mean. Do we actually teach each brother speech making? Do we coach any brother in diction and poetic rendition of our charges? Do we instruct in ‘the beauties of persuasive eloquence?’ Do we grapple with the metaphysical mysteries of spirituality? Do we instruct in the seven liberal arts and sciences? None of the above, in my experience.Is Freemasonry seen as some sort of community service club like Rotary, Lions or Apex? Just how do we promote ‘service to the community?’Brethren, I think this mission statement is just a PR exercise………a sort of feel-good, motherhood statement. And further, I think the mission statement is a Grand Lodge thing. I don’t think it has much relevance at the coal-face of an ordinary lodge at all. When was the last time you heard any lodge discuss or examine the matters mentioned in the statement? Never, I’ll bet.Our Tenets:What is the same, almost everywhere around the Masonic world, is the foundation on which Freemasonry rests – the brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God. The three great principles stressed in the 1º catechism, are ‘Brotherly love, Relief and Truth’ and these are found throughout the Masonic world.I don’t think these great tenets receive sufficient attention, firstly as to what they mean, and secondly, as to how we should personally and individually pursue them.Considering first, ‘Brotherly love’. While it is a bit low-brow, the truth is that the good fellowship and camaraderie we all enjoy at lodge, in festive boards, and at lodge social functions , is the most obvious expression of brotherly love found in Freemasonry. In this invocation of the concept, we love our brethren for their virtues, and forgive them their vices. But I think the concept goes much further. This is very much explained in the five points of fellowship – the very personification of the bonds of true affection between men. So towards our brother Freemasons, whether they are our bosom pals or not, we are obliged to extend the spirit of mutual support, loyalty, and charity in all its aspects. This obligation stems from the oath that all Master Masons take at the altar during their raising. How many of us have ever thought this through? How many of us can truly, in our hearts, say that we live our lives according to those five points?Moving now to ‘Relief’, we should make reference to the North East Charge – the so-called Charity Charge. This charge is specifically to do with ‘relief’; if you like, helping a brother over the hump of adversity. It is reinforced in the 3º Obligation where all Master Masons say:“The posture of my daily supplications shall remind me of his wants and dispose my heart to succour his weakness and relieve his necessities so far as may fairly be done without detriment to myself or connections.”But I like to think that our obligation to charity goes much further. I think that every brother, whatever his thoughts or actions may be, deserves us to observe and assess his words and behaviour in a truly charitable way. We should be inspired by kindly understanding of human frailty and failings, and never be harsh in our judgement of others, especially our brother Freemasons. As is said in the Charge after Passing,“…judge with candour, admonish with friendship, and reprehend with mercy”.And“You are to encourage industry and reward merit; supply the wants and relieve the necessities of brethren and fellows to the utmost of your power and ability, and on no account to wrong them or see them wronged, but timely to apprise them of approaching danger, and to view their interests as inseparable from your own”.And , in the Charge after Raising, we should all remember the admonition to“recommend to inferiors, obedience and submission, to equals, courtesy and affability, and to superiors, kindness and condescension”.From what I’ve said about the extended definition of charity beyond mere relief, it is my contention that both Brotherly Love and Relief are well served by charity of spirit, the well-spring of which is an underlying sense of kindliness to others.Let us now pass to Truth. In this context, truth does not allude to telling the truth (as we might instruct a child) although we should, of course, always do so. Here it refers to serious philosophical study so as to learn the truth about the universe and the place of humanity, and especially of ourselves, within it. We are encouraged to study the hidden mysteries of Nature and Science.In an advanced degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the following appears:“The noble object of Freemasonry is to cultivate and improve the mind”.Every Entered Apprentice is told in the Charge after Initiation to“…devote a portion of your leisure time to the study of such of the liberal arts and sciences as may be within the compass of your attainments”.And again, in the Charge after Passing“The study of the liberal arts, which tend so effectually to polish and adorn the mind, is earnestly recommended to your consideration, especially the science of Geometry, which is established as the basis of our art”.There can be little doubt that we have a Masonic duty to pursue a liberal arts education.What I have said about Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth is directed towards personal growth. This is directly aligned with the Mission Statement as to self-development. But what mechanisms have we developed, other than the words of our ritual themselves, for the propagation of these tenets? More than a year ago, a then Fellow Craft, Bro Andy Fowle, at a Camp Hill workshop, solved the problem of the ages for Freemasons – how to briefly and sensibly describe Freemasonry to a lay person without being pretentious, boring or obscure. He devised a succinct definition of what Freemasonry really is. It is both brief and comprehensive. This is his definition:“A benevolent and social organisation which promotes the moral, intellectual and spiritual growth of its members”.You can say this to a layman without him looking at you strangely. And its truth gets to the nub of why one might become and remain a Freemason.You will note that this definition talks of self-improvement by way of personal growth, as does the Grand Lodge Mission Statement.Now, what is inherent in these rather lofty goals is that there is a good deal of work ahead for the man who makes the Masonic life his own.It is therefore appropriate to consider whether we prepare a new man for this continuing process of personal growth through study of what Freemasonry recommends to him. In fact, we should examine whether any of this was contemplated by him when he was being prospected for membership. Did we explain to him the vast potential for personal enrichment which the Masonic life offers? Did it get a mention at all? In point of fact, does your lodge offer any of this as part of its normal operations?The overwhelming likelihood is that he was prospected for membership on a set of entirely different parameters:Lodge is great funYou’ll meet lots of great guysThere’s great team spirit among our membersYou’ll be part of the world’s largest and oldest fraternal societyOur lodge has a great social programmeWe do lots of charitable workWhile all these are worthy purposes or characteristics, they hardly contemplate Bro Andy’s personal growth, or the self-development of the mission statement. Nor do they establish or preserve any uniqueness for the Craft. With only these aims/goals, we become indistinguishable from myriad other community groups or organisations.So why would one be a Freemason if his lodge is just a supper/social club with a bit of ritual in the mix? There are much cheaper and more convenient ways to get social contact and convivially meet new friends.Well, there are some reasons:Recently, research has revealed that there is a profoundly satisfying physiological aspect to involvement in established rituals. This is akin to an enlightening cosmic consciousness experience, much the same as those generated in deep meditation as practised in the oriental mystery religions and cults. It is described in great detail in the Robert Lomas book Turning the Hiram Key. I suspect that much loved church liturgies have a similar effect.Second, lodges by their nature, are, or should be, a refuge from the strife and cynicism of the outside world - a safe haven for refreshment of the spirit, and for recharging the moral batteries.And third, Freemasonry is a perfect environment for the modern psychological (and very important) concept of male bonding. This phenomenon was probably responsible for our great burgeoning of popularity after the World Wars.But withal, they fall far short of our potential. We should be making sure that personal growth – morally, intellectually and spiritually – is available in our lodges for those who want to pursue those enrichments.So, just what is the purpose of a lodge?First, and foremost, it must provide three things:A loving, welcoming, loyal and supportive environment – a refuge from the rough and tumble struggles of the outside world.A happy and comfortable experience where competency in things Masonic is the norm, and where everyone can join in Masonic operations with appropriate knowledge and skill, and where each member’s contribution is both useful to the lodge and appreciatedAn enjoyable and harmonious meeting of men.Second we come to the real work of Masonry.Here we must provide an environment of moral, intellectual, and spiritual excellence. A place where all strive for personal growth so that our families and communities (indeed, all our contacts) are the beneficiaries of our personal striving to be better men in every way. For it is only in the striving that true and enduring happiness and contentment can be achieved. Permit me to quote a poem by the Greek poet, Kavafis:ITHACAWhen you set out on the voyage to Ithaca, Pray that the way may be long, full of adventures and full of learning. The Lastrygones and the Cyclopses, raging Poseidon, ... fear none of them; such things you will never find on your journey if your thoughts are higher than they are, and, pure in body and mind, you go forth.The Lastrygones and the Cyclopses, raging Poseidon - these you will never encounter, if you do not take them with you in your own mind, if your own mind does not send them out ahead of you.Wish that the way may be long, that many may be the summer mornings when, with what delight, with how much joy, you will enter harbours for the first time. That you may loiter in palm fronded market places, and get you lovely wares, nacres and coral, ambers and ebonies and intoxicating perfumes of every sort and spices to your heart’s delight, more intoxicating still. That you may sojourn in many Egyptian cities to teach and to get knowledge from the wise.Always may you have your heart in Ithaca. Your attainment of it is what you have before you. But do not, for whatever reason, make haste upon your journey. Better it is that it lasts for many years and that, old, at length, you bring up at the island rich with things you have won on the journey there, not looking to Ithaca to give you richness.Ithaca gave you the journey, the magnificent journey; Without Ithaca, you would never have set out. And though you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, and full with so much experience, you will have come to understand what things Ithacas signify.Your lodge should be looking for ways and means of encouraging and instructing every member, however humble or superior his background and talents may be, to strive to be better in all three personal growth areas – morality, intellectuality, and spirituality.Brethren, thank you all for your attention. I shall be happy to entertain comment or discussion, and to answer questions – if I can!
