What have you done to strengthen your Masonic knowledge?
In EP 183 of Masonic Muscle, I ask some questions that have been bouncing around in my head lately.
MasonicCon is back at South Pasadena Lodge No. 290, and that got me thinking again about Masonic education, ancient documents, lodge culture, and whether enough Masons are actually studying the Craft they claim to love.
This episode asks:
How can Masons claim to seek further light if they are not reading the documents that shaped Freemasonry?
We discuss:
- MasonicCon returning to South Pasadena Lodge No. 290
- ancient Masonic documents
- whether Masons have actually read them
- what impressions those documents make
- whether they change how we understand Freemasonry
- the question: What is Freemasonry?
- Masonic knowledge and personal responsibility
- whether the numbers tell the truth
- whether the Curmudgeon Supreme is correct with his numbers
- why Masons need to stop outsourcing their education
Here is the hard question:
How many Masons have read the ancient Masonic documents?
Not heard about them.
Not seen a quote.
Not listened to someone summarize them.
Actually read them.
The Regius Manuscript.
The Cooke Manuscript.
The Old Charges.
Anderson’s Constitutions.
The early lectures, charges, exposures, and documents that shaped how Freemasonry explained itself.
If you read these documents carefully, they may change the way you understand the Craft.
They may make you ask harder questions.
What is Freemasonry?
Where did it come from?
What was it trying to preserve?
What was it trying to teach?
What did early Masons believe they were participating in?
And here is the part that stings:
The numbers do not lie.
If the numbers are going down, if participation is weak, if lodges are struggling, if education is shallow, then maybe the problem is not just “the times.”
Maybe the problem is that too many Masons have stopped doing the work.
The Curmudgeon may be right.
Let us contemplate after lifting heavy weights.
Have a Masonic question, old document, origin theory, MasonicCon thought, lodge issue, or want to come on the show?
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