From: AMERICAN FREEMASON - December 1909
TO the questioning of this title the rubric provideth an answer, and the average "bright Mason" quotes glibly, with never a thought how he has improved himself in Masonry.
The query is pertinent and important, brother mine, beyond any usage of the ritual. For unless there has been improvement - gain of some tangible sort - Masonry has been for you a thing useless; nay, worse than useless, for you have expended money, and perhaps time, more or less, upon something which has returned no shadow of benefit.
Where gain of any kind is promised, and is not received, the fault must lie with one or other party to the transaction. In the present case, supposing you can not count the gain, the alternative may be thus stated: Either you have been deceived; have been wrought upon by false pretenses or preconceived opinions into joining an organization that fails to fulfil the promises made for it: or else you have been so negligent, so indifferent, so lacking in opportunity' or so obtuse, that your initiation was a failure, your membership an absurdity, and the emblem you wear a palpable and continuing lie. Which?
As for the gain, what have you sought? If the improvement desired and expected from Masonry, was in material things, then you have indeed misunderstood the whole purpose and spirit of the institution. Unless. in such case you can begin over again, seeking the right preparation of heart and mind, you are not, and never can be a Mason; and this none the less though you be adorned with insignia like an eastern potentate on dress parade. If you have imagined that membership in a Masonic Lodge, or in the Concordant Orders, or even in the execrescent associations that have attached themselves to Masonry, would increase your business, improve your social status, or give you added facilities wherewith to overreach your fellows in the affairs of life, you have failed in improvement, utterly and miserably. And not only have you deserved such failure, but also the condemnation and contempt of all right-minded men and Masons.
Or have you counted only on the gain that comes from association with good men and true, in Lodge and out? Are you content thus to remain in the Court of the Gentiles, nor desire to pass with the real Initiates into the penetralia of the Temple? Yet, if you will no more, you have in some measure improved yourself in Masonry. It is something to listen at times to a recital of the elementary moralities, lest they be altogether forgotten, It is well, as occasion offers, to join at the banquet table with pleasant fellows and to trade stories with them over the post-prandial cigars. It is heartwarming and benefiting to have part in some quiet deed of loving charity; to assist some unfortunate brother, or to make the roughened pathway easier for the widow and orphans of one who has forever dropped the working tools of life. It may even be that you have gained in the virtues of patience and forbearance by sitting through the tedious windiness of orators, who presume to discourse upon the beauties and significances of an institution of which they are profoundly ignorant.
But if, my brother, you have honestly sought for real light in Masonry, and still remain in darkness; if you have essayed to understand the mysteries, and have found no clue to guide you through the labyrinth; if the working tools once placed in your hands as things of use, has since been to you no more than ornaments or idle toys. then must blame attach to those who pose so pompously as Masters of Craft, and are utterly unfit to "set the brethren at work and give them proper instruction." To the discredit and detriment of Freemasonry it is too often the case that self-assertive ignorance gains preferment, and volubility is esteemed of higher worth than Masonic skill and knowledge. Is it to be wondered at, while Masters and Wardens are rotated into office, or are pushed into place by cliques, without thought of fitness, that the Apprentices and Fellows remain ignorant, become indifferent, and are finally lost for any usefulness to the Fraternity. It is surely time that more be required of Lodge officers than ability to mouth their portions of the ritual; a phonogragh would do that as well, or better. Shame upon him who takes the place and title of Master, and is unable to instruct his brethren in the things that are truly Masonic! If because of the laxity or indifference or ignorance of those who are placed as overseers of the work you have not improved yourself in Masonry, then have you been wounded in the house of your friends, and are to be sympathized with rather than blamed.
Again, you may have made progress, and can show gain in Masonic knowledge to your own benefit and that of the brethren. You have entered the Temple, and have joined with those who look upon the solemnities and mystic rites with understanding eyes. These things are known only to the real Initiate, yet they are no more than the Lesser Mysteries. But, my brother, have you as yet approached the Holy of Holies, and dared to lift the veil of symbolism with which the adytum is shrouded, and looked for yourself upon the secret things which Masonry conceals from all but the elect? Here, again, must one come in humility and receptive mind, acknowledging blindness, yet seeking the light. And here, as before to the neophyte who is duly and truly prepared, there are revealed significances that can not be made matter of speech; mysteries the meaning of which can not be conveyed to outward sense, be the hierophant never so wise, nor the aspirant however receptive and sincere.
You have, my brother, improved in Masonry, if you have lived up to the full measure of opportunity; if you have sought and gained knowledge for its own sake; if you have fulfilled the manifold duties of the Craft with increasing kindliness of heart, and growing love for the brethren - then can you answer to the question, "What came you here to do," with a truth and meaning undreamed of by the glib reciters of catechetical replies.
POTS
George Helmer FPS
PM Norwood #90
H Norwood Chapter #18 RAM