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          LOOKING FOR THE FUTURE
          by
          Richard H. Curtis, FPS
          
          The world has not lacked for want of a soothsayer. It is not
          hard to find a fortune teller who can read palms or tea
          leaves, or use a crystal ball or ouija board. These are not
          things from the past. They are still with us today.
          Look at the media. Everyone wants to be a columnist or
          commentator. Everyone wants to predict the future. We don't
          need to wait to hear the results from the election booth. Each
          television network tries to outdo another to project the winner
          long before the polls close.
          Predicting the future has intrigued writers and philosphers for
          years. They have attempted to draw a picture of their view of
          Utopia   an imaginary world where everything is supposed
          to be perfect. Interestingly enough, the word  Utopia" comes
          from two Greek words that translate into   no place." We
          tend to use the word  utopian" today to imply an idea that is
          far out and impractical, a  pie in the sky" philosophy.
          Plato's Republic, written around 375 B.C., was an early
          attempt by the Greek philosopher to project his views of
          perfection.
          In 1516, Sir Thomas More was the first to use the word
           Utopia" for the title of his work, in which he spelled out his
          thoughts on an ideal world.
          Samuel Butler wrote Erewhon in 1832 using a traveler's view
          in a strange land.  Erewhon," by the way, was Butler's way
          of loosely saying  Nowhere" in reverse.
          In the 1888 novel, Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy tells
          the story of a young man who falls asleep in 1887 and
          wakes up in the year 2000.
          H. G. Wells wrote a number of fictional futuristic tales: The
          Time Machine, 1895; War of the Worlds, 1898; The Shape of
          Things to Come, 1933. Some of you may recall Orson
          Welles' 1938 radio broadcast of  War of the Worlds." His
          account of a fictional invasion of New Jersey by creatures
          from Mars turned the Eastern seaboard into a state of
          pandemonium.
          And what about Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Written
          in 1932, Huxley's novel describes a totalitarian society
          enthralled with science and machines with no regard for the
          individual.
          American psychologist B.F. Skinner wrote Walden Two in
          1948, giving his thoughts on the ideal society.
          A 20th-century author whose works are still widely read
          today is George Orwell. His Animal Farm, written in1945,
          uses barnyard animals as his characters to satarize
          Communism. In 1949, Orwell looked ahead to 1984 and
          drew a rather uncomfortable portrait of a society in which
          love and privacy were crimes and  Big Brother" watched
          over everyone.
          Now you may not agree with the philosophy of many of
          these authors and you may feel uncomfortable with the
          images they present, but you must admit they have provided
          some fascinating reading and have evoked provocative
          discussion.
          I ask you now to step into a time machine for the next few
          minutes and join me on a visit into the future of
          Freemasonry.
          The year is 2017. It was exactly 300 years ago that Masons
          from four lodges in London joined together to form what was
          then called a Grand Lodge. It must have been a
          convenience at the time to have a Grand Lodge, because
          other Grand Lodges sprang up around the world. They don't
          exist now. They became merely ceremonial and eventually
          faded out of sight without a whimper. Some of the stronger
          individual lodges survived, but indifference and apathy
          forced most of the 20th-century lodges to close. You see,
          when a lodge found it had no one to lead the members, it
          went out of exstence.
          The fancy buildings that once dotted the landscape in most
          communities are no longer necessary. They served their
          purpose in their day when members would use them to hold
          meetings. The Philadelphia Masonic Castle is now a
          museum. The Indianapolis Palace is a theatrical center.
          Oh, yes. Masons still meet on a regular basis, but they meet
          in cyberspace. Face to face contact is rare these days, yet
          there is a certain closeness among the members. Actually
          the membership is on the increase in 2017. The worldwide
          fraternity just passed the one million mark a year ago. And
          there seems to be a growing interest in wanting to be a part
          of it.
          Lodges are organized by various interests. Any member can
          power up and tune in to any lodge whenever he wishes to
          visit. Some lodges concentrate on the history of the
          fraternity. Some analyze the ancient philosophy. Others
          bring together members who are involved in a particular
          occupation or profession. Very few are limited to a particular
          region. Most of the lodges draw membership from anywhere
          in the world. You see, attendance merely requires tuning in,
          so it makes no difference where the members are located.
          Some lodges limit the size of the membership, while others
          have no restriction.
          Freemasonry has evolved in the course of its 300 years. For
          a long time, ritualistic ceremonies played a major role in the
          fraternity. In fact, there were periods when it appeared it was
          the only role. It wasn't always that way, and it isn't that way
          today. When the 21st century rolled in, there seemed to be
          less attention paid to the ancient ceremonies. It still is a topic
          of conversation within a few lodges that spend time exploring
          the evolution of the fraternity, but there is no formal
          ceremony in vogue today.
          There are very strict requirements for admission to
          membership. The applicant must still believe in a Supreme
          Being. He must make a serious financial commitment. He
          must pledge to provide assistance on request with the
          understanding that he will receive assistance when
          necessary. And he must agree to serve in certain capacities
          such as systems manager, aid director and Master. Here in
          the 21st century there are no  sponges" in the fraternity.
          The Master moderates the meetings. The aid director
          coordinates the list of services that can be provided by the
          lodge members and handles the incoming requests from
          other lodges. The systems manager controls the records to
          see that new members are signed on. Resignations are
          allowed, but the member is then required to sign off and can
          no longer receive the signal.
          Brother John in Des Moines, Iowa, looks at his wrist. A
          secret tingle from a tiny cell on his wrist has told him it is
          time to meet. He stops what he is doing and tunes in. He
          touches the cell to expand the screen so he can see the
          action. He knows that when a lodge is in session he must
          place an audio cell in his ear instead of relying on the
          amplification from the wrist cell. As each member speaks,
          his image automatically appears on the screen. 
          Master Wilhelm in Stuttgart, Germany, moderates the
          discussion. He asks the aid director, living in St. Alban's,
          Newfoundland, to report on the list of requests he has
          received from members of other lodges. The systems
          manager from Boca Raton, Florida, reviews with the lodge
          brothers the new requests for membership. The life history of
          the applicants have been examined by the systems
          manager, who has computerized access to every known fact
          about any individual. The manager summarizes on the
          screen the important points. There is no need for a face-to-face interview. The members vote on the applicants by a
          touch of the screen. The votes are tallied immediately. The
          new member is then sworn in and the members chat for a
          while to get to know the brother better.
          Brother Ron of San Jose, California, needs a part for his Flit,
          a battery-powered transporter he can strap to his back to
          airlift him to nearby Santa Clara. He can't seem to find the
          part anywhere. He turns in a request to the aid director for
          his lodge. The aid director powers up his directory and
          locates a brother in Corning, New York, who can help.
          Brother Andrew of Memphis, Tennessee, has lost his job
          after 30 years. His family expenses are increasing as two of
          his children need medical attention. He had donated his
          services on many previous occasions to brothers who
          needed aid. Now he finds himself in need. The aid director
          for his lodge puts out a request. A brother in Grand Rapids,
          Michigan, is a physician and comes to the rescue. A brother
          in San Antonio, Texas, offers the necessary medication.
          Brother Phillip from Coudersport, Pennsylvania, is arranging
          a business trip to Mexico and wants to break bread with a
          fellow Mason while he is there. His aid director powers up
          and puts him in contact with Brother Pedro of Guadalajara,
          who is willing to airlift to Mexico City to dine with his brother.
          Brother Frank from Anchorage receives word of a major
          disaster in Calcutta and makes cellular contact with his
          friend and brother Mason in India. The Alaskan Mason finds
          out that the disaster has wiped out the drinking water in
          Calcutta, so he works with the brothers of his lodge to see
          that water reaches the Indian brother.
          There is a definite feeling of commitment on the part of the
          membership, but there is one aspect of the fraternity that
          seems to be creating the renewed interest. It is something
          that transcends all lodges regardless of the reason for
          existence. It is something that is vitally important in the
          impersonal world of 2017. It is something that makes this
          fraternity so warm in a society that is not accustomed to
          meeting on the level. It can be summed up in a single word
            Trust. It was there in 1717, and it is here with even
          greater importance 300 years later.