21st Century Changes to FreeMasonry

[Torence]

every WM, in IL, upon opening a Lodge is informed that he is in the E
to "set the craft to work and give them proper instruction"... when
was the last time this actually happened in your Lodge?

Hello Brother Jonathan-
When I was tried by the fraternity in 2004, the hearing ended
curiously. A Past Grand Master gave it to me specifically in his
conclusion to use my one year suspension to (his words) “find out how
things are done.” I ran into one of the other judges last year at a
Secretary Association meeting and we had quite a lively chat about
those results. There is quite a distance between what has occurred in
the record, the personal and specific thoughts, feelings and actions
of past generations of Grand Line Officers, what we have been doing;
and what it is that we are apparently about to do in this fraternity.
It does not matter whether I, or W. Bro. Doug Freyburger, or W.
Bro. Alan Schwartz or some other talents formulate a written plan.
There are specific things that will be restored and emplaced when
lodges will “work” in Illinois and other specific things that are
absent when they will not. So, stating how to fix broken lodges should
be relatively easy particularly when we are willing to slaughter a few
sacred cows and identify which things are essential and which are mere
pet projects.
Any suggestions that I make toward those ends are not put forward
in any particular priority or order. Most are just natural and
practical, transitory conclusions. Aside from the financial
considerations under the “Dues” thread, (the simple math), here is
another change that I believe is inevitable for the twenty-first
century American Masonic Lodge jurisdictions.
The ban on doing “the work” in languages other than English, where
such prohibitions exist, will be lifted. When that happens, Spanish or
German or Hindi speaking lodges, etc. can not be given a privilege
that the English speaking lodges do not. Therefore, in Illinois,
Masonic lodges in the twenty-first century will acquire the ability to
adopt those lectures and “work” that they feel adds value, now
missing, to the performance. These alternatives may include old
material previously omitted, foreign lectures, ceremonies, and prayers
etc. and even new material.
The “Standard” therefore, being changed will then shift to merely
ensuring that degree work conforms to the Twelve Original Grand
Points; a determination best made by an itinerant Grand Inspector with
the help of a class of Deputy Grand Inspectors. These Brothers may or
may not be Grand Lecturers, Certified Ritualists or Certified Lodge
Instructors.
Thoughts?

Fraternally,
Torence Evans Ake
Senior Deacon and Secretary Pro Tem – Auburn Park Lodge No. 789 –
Crete, Illinois
PM – Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 – Lansing, Illinois

[Doug Freyburger]

... A Past Grand Master gave it to me specifically in his
conclusion to use my one year suspension to (his words) “find out how
things are done.”

Chortle. Ever since you've been on a quest about how things
should be done. You like to be the nail that sticks out.

I try to take the Taoist approach of not sticking out instead
using gradual effort and leverage to acheive long term goals.

Let's compare notes in another couple of decades and see
how we've done on our relative paths. Revolutionary and
evolutionary that we are. For me much will depend on how
it goes with the specific goals I've selected that have to do
with actively doing charities as a lodge.

   It does not matter whether I, or W. Bro. Doug Freyburger, or W.
Bro. Alan Schwartz or some other talents formulate a written plan.

Exactly. A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step
and the written plan is the first step.

There are specific things that will be restored and emplaced when
lodges will “work” in Illinois and other specific things that are
absent when they will not.

I take a very social darwinist view of that. Each year I go to
annual communication and I network with folks asking what
they have done and how it has effected their activity level. I
report my efforts to be active in charity and to fund trusts that
give charity and also put our lodge's name out to the public
and I report the results of that effort in how it effects our
lodge.

So, stating how to fix broken lodges should
be relatively easy particularly when we are willing to slaughter a few
sacred cows and identify which things are essential and which are mere
pet projects.

Easy in a simple sense - Go to GL. Find out what worked and
what didn't. If our lodges are doing stuff in the didn't work list,
switch to activities in the did work list. Not so easy in actually
doing something different as that involves the sacred cows.

   Any suggestions that I make toward those ends are not put forward
in any particular priority or order. Most are just natural and
practical, transitory conclusions.

I'll also note that from a social darwinist perspective putting
forth random ideas works very well. It's throwing spagetti at
the wall and seeing what sticks. Try everything then repeat
the stuff that worked and don't repeat the stuff that didn't, but
do so on a jurisdictional scale not a single lodge scale.

Aside from the financial
considerations under the “Dues” thread, (the simple math), here is
another change that I believe is inevitable for the twenty-first
century American Masonic Lodge jurisdictions.
  The ban on doing “the work” in languages other than English, where
such prohibitions exist, will be lifted.

The limit to a single language is already limited to certain
jurisdictions. In the time I was in line in California Spanish
was added as an option in degrees but not Stated meetings
(Maya Lodge in my district has been doing Spanish degrees
since). In the time since I've moved a French speaking lodge
Valee' de France (the only one or one of the only two?)
consolidated with my own Pasadena 272 so French has
gone from active use at all meetings to an option in degrees.

When that happens, Spanish or
German or Hindi speaking lodges, etc. can not be given a privilege
that the English speaking lodges do not.

Would anyone in Chicago metro be interested in getting
together a group visit to a German speaking lodge? I've heard
there's one in Wisconsin so it might be close enough to
commute home after the visit.

Therefore, in Illinois,
Masonic lodges in the twenty-first century will acquire the ability to
adopt those lectures and “work” that they feel adds value, now
missing, to the performance. These alternatives may include old
material previously omitted, foreign lectures, ceremonies, and prayers
etc. and even new material.

It's quite a jump from translating language to language to
picking and chosing lectures.

Arlington Heights does a Bible Presentation lecture that is not
a part of the standard ritual. Our most recently raised brother
still has his pending.

When I was a member in Washington state for a couple of years
there was a "third and a half" degree done at refreshment after
a third degree. It's about reponsibilities and cooking so it is a
very artful mix of the profound and the humorous. I would love
a copy of the text to exemplify after a third degree here.

   The “Standard” therefore, being changed will then shift to merely
ensuring that degree work conforms to the Twelve Original Grand
Points; a determination best made by an itinerant Grand Inspector with
the help of a class of Deputy Grand Inspectors. These Brothers may or
may not be Grand Lecturers, Certified Ritualists or Certified Lodge
Instructors.
  Thoughts?

Getting other lectures included as a part of the ritual? You
may not see opposition from me but you'll sure have a tough
row to hoe in Illinois for that even though it's a standard in
jurisdictions in the UK.

[Torence]

Post by Doug Freyburger
You like to be the nail that sticks out.

Unfortunately, as the old adage goes, when you hold a hammer in
your hand, then every problem looks like a nail. Our Lodge Secretary
who recently answered the call of our Supreme Grand Master liked to
call me “Worshipful Bother.”

Post by Doug Freyburger
I try to take the Taoist approach of not sticking out instead
using gradual effort and leverage to acheive long term goals.

I choose not to suffer gradually; but elect to take on full
beatings. (Was the Marquis de Sade a Brother?) These episodes seem to
be more cleansing.

Post by Doug Freyburger
Revolutionary and evolutionary that we are.

Well clarified.

Post by Doug Freyburger
A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step
and the written plan is the first step.

Right, and though underlying everything that I do in this club has
a single tenet, to promote utmost respect for the Local Lodge above
self and grand aspirations, any written plan must be accompanied with
an eraser. Our generation has fairly well put the myth to rest that
nothing changes in Masonry.

Post by Doug Freyburger
I take a very social darwinist view of that.

Take care or I will fling my poop.

Post by Doug Freyburger
Each year I go to
annual communication and I network with folks asking what
they have done and how it has effected their activity level. I
report my efforts to be active in charity and to fund trusts that
give charity and also put our lodge's name out to the public
and I report the results of that effort in how it effects our
lodge.

Please take a gander, if you can, at my comments on Charity in the
Dues thread.

Post by Doug Freyburger
Not so easy in actually
doing something different as that involves the sacred cows.

But our club leaps ahead in mutual self worth, brotherly love and
general satisfaction when we unburden ourselves of conventionalisms,
those things we cling to that are not founded on any landmark. The
lesson of the anchor and the ark points out that salvation often
begins with cutting such cables.

Post by Doug Freyburger
I'll also note that from a social darwinist perspective putting
forth random ideas works very well. It's throwing spagetti at
the wall and seeing what sticks.

All right, if this thread is going to continue, Brother Doug, we
are going to have to do one of two things. Either agree on a
consistent theme to our metaphors or think of as many different
illustrations that are applicable as possible. You can lead a horse to
water; but a stitch in time comes before the chicken and the egg.
Your turn.

Post by Doug Freyburger
Would anyone in Chicago metro be interested in getting
together a group visit to a German speaking lodge? I've heard
there's one in Wisconsin so it might be close enough to
commute home after the visit.

I would along with a half dozen or so of my cohorts. When I lived
in Pennsylvania I participated with Vaux Lodge in Hamburg. We had a
German lodge in Reading (Teutonic) and I went to three of their
meetings. Though non-conversational in the language (I took a year of
Russian, two years of German and a year of Latin in High School) and
my wife is German (she spoke no English until she was five). To see
the work and not know the details is like learning the ritual from
cipher. What a great experience.

Post by Doug Freyburger
It's quite a jump from translating language to language to
picking and chosing lectures.

That is the idea. Generating genuine interest in the work will
require leaps and bounds. Baby steps will never get us up off the
Grand Master’s Carpet.

Post by Doug Freyburger
Arlington Heights does a Bible Presentation lecture that is not
a part of the standard ritual.

Arlington Heights, then, is violating Code 368 last amended in
1979. Do you obtain from each Grand Master the required dispensation?
Or are you revolutionary rather than evolutionary? (Note to our
British readers, do not moor any ship loaded with tea in Lake
Michigan. Was Thomas Lipton a Brother?)

Post by Doug Freyburger
Getting other lectures included as a part of the ritual? You
may not see opposition from me but you'll sure have a tough
row to hoe in Illinois for that even though it's a standard in
jurisdictions in the UK.

I am particularly adept at hoeing.

Seriously Dude,
Torence Evans Ake
Senior Deacon & Secretary Pro Tem – Auburn park Lodge No. 789 – Crete,
Illinois
PM – Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 – Lansing, Illinois

[Alan Schwartz]

Post by Torence

Post by Doug Freyburger
Arlington Heights does a Bible Presentation lecture that is not
a part of the standard ritual.

Arlington Heights, then, is violating Code 368 last amended in
1979. Do you obtain from each Grand Master the required dispensation?

I realize my opinion doesn't really count here, but IL AF&AM code 368
(which was also amended in 2008 but that's not relevant here) only
forbids the use of "unauthorized code, expose, or other work purporting
to set forth the esoteric work of Masonry".

It's entirely possible that the lecture in question (which I've never
heard) does not purport to set forth anything esoteric at all.

- Alan

[Torence]

Post by Alan Schwartz
I realize my opinion doesn't really count here, but IL AF&AM code 368
(which was also amended in 2008 but that's not relevant here) only
forbids the use of "unauthorized code, expose, or other work purporting
to set forth the esoteric work of Masonry".

Being a sitting Master of a Lodge, in my book it is your opinion
that matters most. The rest of us have an interest in the goings on in
the club; but you are actively engaged in directing a chartered Lodge
to work. What concerns you, therefore, concerns all of us. More so,
then say, my humble ranting; and you should be able to demand from us
any answers or assistance you deem worthwhile to better enable you in
your work.
You should have in the Constitution and By-Laws, a convenient
reference to help you. You should also have at your disposal any work
that will garner the interests not only of the candidate; but of the
community of FreeMasons who would actively attend your lodge.
Apparently, too many stay away because T.V. has better re-runs.
However, because we change the Constitution and By-Laws annually;
and I am an unreformed offender in this issue, the desired regularity
suffers.
What has been renumbered as Code 368 is the Emerson Code. Grand
Master Emerson noted that previous Grand Masters made a name for
themselves by finalizing the static ritual and putting forth actions
to make it unchangeable. Before the Overseer’s of the Work and the
Conservator’s Association struggle such a demand for uniform work was
not made on the lodges. It took another forty years of hardship before
the Grand Master Delmar Darrah composition of 1914 (Hence the
copyright date in your monitor) and the affect on the work in the
lodges, well you can evaluate that for yourself.
A decade later, Emerson sought to treat the ceremonial work
identically; but he neglected to grasp all of the contingencies for
which lodges would need ceremonial work. The Bible Presentation could
never be agreed upon in committee because too many different speeches
were in use around the state. The presentation of the colors was also
left out due to mixed sentiments about its incorporation. His new book
also contained an updated funeral service. The work that now begins,
“Brethren we mourn today the loss of a Brother whose spirit has been
summoned to the land that our fathers have gone before us” previously
began, “Brethren, the Supreme Grand Master, whose messenger is not
stayed by the bolted door nor the Tyler’s sword, has called upon us to
mourn the loss of one of our associates, etc.”
Knowing full well that the book was being published incomplete, the
language of his proposed Code none the less passed without alteration.
To date, the whole of what we do is restricted to the Official
Monitor, the Officer’s Manual, (As a sitting Master have you ever read
this publication?), the Standard Work Book, the Book of Ceremonials,
the Floor Work Book and the Codes or Ciphers containing the questions
and answers appertaining to the three degrees. What a hodge podge. In
1928, when this Code first passed, only two Books were listed. (i.e.
The Official Monitor and the Book of Ceremonials) because even then
not all lodges conformed to the direction.
So, IMHO, static work has at no time in our history accurately
described what we do in Illinois. We might as well set aside the
pretenses that we put to the Grand Lodge committeemen, and engage
ourselves more fully in improving ourselves in Masonry. We all know
that variety makes for a more interesting performance, why not embrace
it for our new century?

Fraternally,
Torence Evans Ake
Senior Deacon & Secretary Pro Tem – Auburn Park Lodge No. 789 – Crete,
Illinois
PM – Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 – Lansing, Illinois

[Doug Freyburger]

Post by Torence

Post by Doug Freyburger
I'll also note that from a social darwinist perspective putting
forth random ideas works very well.  It's throwing spagetti at
the wall and seeing what sticks.

All right, if this thread is going to continue, Brother Doug, we
are going to have to do one of two things. Either agree on a
consistent theme to our metaphors or think of as many different
illustrations that are applicable as possible. You can lead a horse to
water; but a stitch in time comes before the chicken and the egg.
  Your turn.

Chortle! The ritual is filled with items that are phrased one
way then repeated using different phrasing that means the
same thing. I learned it as vocabulary enrichment - Masonry
stressed education at a time well before universal tax funded
primary education so the ritual includes items that should be
learned in primary education. Consider the long list of verbs
that all mean "write" in one of the obligations.

So folks who did not previously know what "social darwinism"
means now have a more colloquial translation that does mean
the exact same thing - Throw spaghetti at the wall and see
what sticks. Try lots of random approaches to see which
ones work - Drop the ones that failed and repeat the ones
that succeeded. "Cut and tried" and "trial and error" also has
the same meaning when viewed carefully.

A contrasting approach to change is a planned systematic
one. "Reengineering the Corporation" and planned economies
with five year plans are both examples. Most of the suggestions
for change intend to be of this type.

I tend to view engineering as a systematic discipline and science
as an evolutionary one (evolution as such includes occasional
revolutions so I'm stretching the metaphor. Shrug). Even though
I'm an engineer by trade I tend to value the evolutionary approach.
The reason has to do with data. So few of the proposed planned
changes use data as their basis. Lacking data the result is
trying stuff randomly, so why not encourage diversity to try
everything then retroactively pick what worked best ...

Post by Torence

Post by Doug Freyburger
Arlington Heights does a Bible Presentation lecture that is not
a part of the standard ritual.

   Arlington Heights, then, is violating Code 368 last amended in
1979. Do you obtain from each Grand Master the required dispensation?

The ritaul described what happens at the opening of the lodge.
The ritual describes what happens from the time the candidate
is prepared for the degree through the end of the book lectures.
The ritual describes the of the lodge. That leaves room for
inserts before opening, between opening and the start of the
degree, after the lectures before the closing, and after the
closing. For example a Stated meeting is the opening ritual,
an insert of a business process not stated in the ritual, usually
not a degree, then closing ritual.

Should a lodge wish to conduct Masonic education during one
of those gaps in established ritual, the lodge is free to do so.
Having a locally traditional Bible presentation is just one of
many forms of Masonic education.

Post by Torence
Or are you revolutionary rather than evolutionary?

'Tis a matter of interpretion. On the one hand I have far less
conflict with levels of authoity than you do. On the other hand
I also ignore levels of authority far more than you do.

Post by Torence
(Note to our
British readers, do not moor any ship loaded with tea in Lake
Michigan. Was Thomas Lipton a Brother?)

And the long term American reaction was to drink coffee more
than tea. Very much an evolutionary response.