Of Revolutions and Reforms
I thought I was in on the writings of the major Masonic revolutionaries of the day with Bros. Tim Bryce, Theron Dunn and Widow's Son, yet none of them hold a candle to the cogent thesis of Wor. Bro. Frederic Milliken. His paper "Of Revolutions and Reforms" is wonderfully written and makes a young Freemason want to charge the Grand Lodge Bastille. I recognize myself and my would be reformer Brothers in his descriptions of the stretched-thin, battle weary men trying vainly to reform Freemasonry from within. Yet, at the same time I am watching us change Freemasonry at both low and high levels every day. After ten years of hard work I get to see lodges embrace a true traditional past of good work and solid understanding of the ritual.
As I have said before, Maine is blessed with a good system of Grand Lodge government and, in most cases, genuinely good leadership. We do have our share of men lost in the "members, members, members" struggle who sit idly by while the ritual, learning and fraternalism of their bodies literally collapses in a heap. Yet, I continue to have high hopes and high expectations for Maine Freemasonry. I just hope I can last long enough to see that beautiful world born.
(By the way, to all of the Masonic esotericists out there, I need some assistance with a paper I am writing and would appreciate some assistance. The title is currently "Masonic Gnosis" and is inspired by the writings of Tobias Churton.)
Labels: Freemasonry, GrandLodge, Maine, ritual
posted by Christian Ratliff @ 6:20 AM
3 Comments:
I just read it on Masonic Traveler's blog, and I posted a comment that says, essentially, I'm tired of the "Bash the Grand Lodges" game that so many "reformers" seem to be playing. Maybe it's because Connecticut is so small, but I really don't see the kinds of problems with "old boy networking" that some of the others go on about. We've got Past GMs who step down from office to being regular brothers about the lodge, serving as Secretaries or helping to fill holes in the line at their mother lodges.
Most of the GL officers that I've met put in quite a lot of time at events and functions in their districts (and in other districts), serve on committees, and are out several nights a week. Yes, some of them have ideas about various programs, but since each GM gets only one year, they have to be very careful as to what they can try to put into place.
Brothers at the lodge level need to understand that
1) Grand Lodge is not your enemy, and
2) any problems you have need to be fixed at the lodge level itself. Membership, retention, activities, etc., are not going to be solved by a bunch of guys halfway across the state; it's up to the brothers of your lodge to figure out what's going on and to work at it.
Sorry, but Fred is as wrong as he can be, and his own situation proves how powerless he is to encourage changes in both mainstream and PHA Freemasonry in Texas right now. If you aren't involved in the system, you can't change it. It doesn't get any simpler.
BTW Tom, you are blessed with the GL you have. Talk to them in West Virginia and you'll see just how bad GL officers can get.
I have serious questions about this action and the implications for the Craft and for society raised by this issue. The making and keeping of agreements is central to our lives and relationships. My thoughts and comments are perhaps to long for this comment, so I have posted an article containing my thoughts on my blog. Please take a look at the last couple of posts there. I wouldn't be mad if you read all of it either.
I don't have answers, but hope to raise questions.
http://freemasonfromthefreestate.blogspot.com
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