A Way of Life

The other organizations you pay your money and you become a member of the Moose, Elks, Lions, PTA, and The Joe Mauer Fan club. You get a dues card in the mail. Maybe you go to a meeting or a sponsored event maybe you don’t….but you’re a dues paying member.

Freemasonry is very different. Right up front we as an organization proclaim;

“Making Good Men Better”

In Freemasonry our Ritualistic teaching provides the tools, the teachings, the support, the incentives to make Masonry “A way of Life” Pure and Simple.

It is the roll of the Lodge and its members to make full fledged active Masons, not just a member.

Other organizations are not interested in you or your conduct when you’re not attending one of their meetings. But as a Mason you are a Mason 24/7, 365 days a year, always! Everything you say, everything you do, every life you touch reveals how successfully you have made Masonry a Way of Life.

As a Candidate you immerse yourself into the Masonic Society and Culture. You learn and are Mentored the teachings and the Masonic Ways. You grow into your new role, your new role grows in you. These new teachings and customs become you. You practice it and the more you practice it the better you get at it. Your goal is Progress not Perfection. For Freemasonry is a journey, not a destination. Now Think about it. Your life is a journey because your ultimate destination in life is the grave.

In Freemasonry we take an obligation that is our life guiding principils knelling at an Alter in front of witnesses’ .These are real promises to do things and not to do to others. THEY ARE NOT SYMBOLIC!

We promise we WILL always help, aid, and assist. Not if we feel like it or sometimes….maybe but always.

We promise we will NOT cheat, wrong or defraud. Not a Mason, not a lodge brother, not a friend, not a relative not a stranger…..no one!

Now I don’t think my daughter did this when she joined Green Peace, and I know my Uncle didn’t even do this when he joined the NRA.

Freemasonry is a place where good men accept our tools, ways, and customs and joins our Society. The new Brother is active in the lodge’s activities. We find the new Brother taking Ritual and Leadership positions in the lodge. That is how we can tell when the Lodge is effectively working.

I think it is the Lodges ultimate goal is the day they raise a new brother and keep him active and improving so he can receive his 50 year pin. The lodge is a place where we live and grow old together.

Freemasonry is a not for everyone it’s a way of life.

I wrote this several years ago and used it in Speeches, and thought its time for others to read this....