                    MASONIC SPRING WORKSHOP 1982
                         THE SELF MADE MASON
                          THEME SPEECH #2

                        Bro. C. Gordon-Craig


               "May Freedom, Harmony, and Love,
                    Unite you in the grand Design,
                Beneath th' Omniscient Eye above,
                    The glorious Architect Divine!
                That you may keep th' unerring line,
                    Still rising by the plummet's law,
                Till Order bright completely shine,
                    Shall be my Pray'r when far awa."

In these half dozen lines Robert Burns seems to me to have captured
with all the genius of his poet's insight the essence of
Freemasonry when he prays that the Brethren, inspired by the Great
Architect of the Universe, may combine in unity through Freedom
Harmony and Love; and through imitation of the Diving plan aspire
toward symmetry and order.  Nor should we ignore here the
importance of prayer, without which little may be achieved. 
Certainly these precepts might well be a guide for the Self Made
Mason on his path to usefulness to the Craft.

Last night, I endeavoured to ask several questions and to make
several assertations.  You will recall I quoted from part of the
Treasurer's examination of the prospective candidate:

"Do you seriously declare on your honour, that you are prompted to
solicit the privileges of Masonry by a preconceived favourable
opinion of the Institution, a desire for knowledge, and a sincere
wish to be serviceable to your fellow creatures?"

I suggested that directly linked with these aims of charity and
brotherly love is the obligation to continue in Masonic knowledge,
an ever-present Masonic awareness that grows from the constant
practice of Masonry.

Although a candidate may be in theory a Mason following his first
obligation, it seems clear that at that point he is at only the
threshold of Masonry, and I asked if it is any more realistic to
assume that he has become a Mason by the end of the Third Degree,
if there is any guarantee of producing a real Mason by the end of
his instruction.

At the outset of this discussion I said that we have a highly
refined and beautiful system of Craft work that does not transform
a man into a Mason; that a man can be superficially a member of the
system without ever being a Mason; and, finally that no man can
become a Mason without making himself into one on his won.  The
only person ultimately who can make a Mason is one's own individual
self.  The self made Mason is the only one who can realize his full
and unique potential of usefulness to the Craft.  It is time now to
consider ways one can assist a Brother or oneself to become a self
made Mason.

First, let us look at the programme of basic formation from the
prospective candidate's first interest in the Craft through to his
completion of the Master Mason's Degree.  Here is a man who is, as
it were, ready wax to be moulded.  He has, presumably, demonstrated
a practising belief in a Supreme Being and expressed an interest in
the work of the Craft.  This latter specification is not to be
underestimated, because it is based on the examples, actions and
deeds of Brethren such as yourselves in the community and everyday
world at large, surely a manifest instance where your own success
as a self made Mason will in turn prove its worth in usefulness to
the Craft.  If the prospective candidate does not meet the desired
criteria then it is the bound duty of his sponsors and the
investigating committee not to encourage his application further. 
Sometimes this may not be an enviable task but it is one that must
be faced and not shirked off in the blind hope that someone else
will assume that responsibility at some misty point in future time. 
Assuming the candidate's petition is favourably received, this is
the point at which the Senior Warden, acting as Director of
Instruction, enters the scene, and the time to begin implementing
the Mentor Plan.

I have referred previously to the Grand Lodge of Alberta's "Lodge
Plan for Masonic Education" which I myself went through and which
I strongly recommend, my only criticism being that I hate being
read to, a comment I offered very hesitantly at the time.  The
preamble to the plan is a very wise piece of work and should be
read by every Mason, of no matter how much seniority.  One piece of
advice contained therein I endorse most heartily with regard to the
Committees for Instruction that are to work with the candidate:

"The committees should be composed of Masons who feel a genuine
interest in their work and who desire to take an active part in the
lodge.  This is an ideal opportunity to involve newly-made Master
Masons..."

This rubric brings up two criteria that I consider essential to any
Mason who will make himself:  Involvement and Example.  I will
return to these matters in a little while but I do want to make the
point here that by "Example" in this instance I mean not only that
the candidate sees Masons showing an interest in both himself and
what they are doing, but also doing it well.

               "But in proverbe I have herd seye
                That who that wel his werk begynneth
                The rather a good ende he wynneth...."

So says an old poet and the maxim can be applied also to the work
contained in the Ritual.  Not every candidate is fortunate enough
to hear perfect work all through his progress to the conclusion of
the Third Degree.  I do not need to dwell on work that is done
sloppily but let me put in a plea for an intelligent understanding
of the relation of the sense of the meaning to the words
themselves.  Such an effort can make the greatest impression on a
candidate who is straining to follow what is happening.

There is one last aspect of the Ritual that I want to mention, and
that is concerned with discipline.  In this sense I see discipline
as synonymous with obedience, and with order.  Obedience is
stressed through all branches of Masonry, form obedience to the
Creator, to obedience to Senior officers in the Craft, and as such
it is clear that without obedience there will be no hope of
achieving order, whether it be within the Lodge or within any part
of the Divine plan.  It was when I was working on the importance of
Masonry to Rudyard Kipling's philosophy that I realized the
connection between order and the Ritual.  In Kipling's personal
code, order, discipline and obedience are important concepts for an
individual to follow and they recur again and again. At one point,
to take a simple example, the beast of burden in the military camp
proclaim together:

               "Children of the Camp are we,
                Serving each in his degree...."

I am convinced that for Kipling, the Masonic Ritual represented
order and discipline.  The Ritual must be worked precisely and this
takes self-discipline.  Yet discipline makes discipline:  to do
work in the Lodge well is of personal benefit to the doer, and at
the same time, if the candidate sees and hears the work done
properly then he in turn will be impressed by the need to do things
Masonic in a proper way.

Having brought our Candidate to Light, raised him to the Sublime
Degree of a Master Mason and bound him "to enforce, by precept and
example, obedience to the tenets of our Institution," what can we
offer him by way of advice to assist him to become a self made
Mason who will be useful to the Craft?  I suggest respectfully five
areas to which I have given the following abstract labels: 
Commitment; Involvement; Education; Example; and Duty.  Of course
these are not exclusive, there are doubtless hundreds of other
possibilities with their own claims to merit; moreover, these five
areas I have selected do tend to overlap and flow into each other,
so that not only does one element reinforce the whole, but
reflexively, the total supports each unit just as a Lodge is made
up of individuals and derives its strength from its members, and,
in turn offers its vitality to each Brother.

By Commitment I mean attention, vitality, robustness of purpose. 
If you set your mind to do something Masonically then do it well. 
Just as the labour and intention of the Work is lost on a candidate
who does not give it his attention, in a similar fashion so is the
work wasted if those performing it do not put their whole selves
into it and impart their own vitality to it.  Why should a
candidate be expected to pay respect to any institution when the
instructor himself seems to think it worth so little of his own
effort?  Quite apart from the Ritual work, this view has
connotations for any Masonic project undertaken and I refer here to
the choice of a task and its performance.  You must be sure in your
own mind that what you have chosen to do is worthwhile:  if not,
then either find a better project or stay away from it.  Then, if
you have decided to carry through with it give yourself to it fully
and enthusiastically.  "Let no motive, therefore, make you swerve
from your duty..."

Involvement includes participation, and must take into account the
widest possible sphere, every facet of Masonry.  For me, apart from
its precepts, its principles, excellent rules and useful maxims,
part of the attraction of the Craft is its sheer variety and depth. 
There is something in it for everyone.  One can be a worker as an
ordinary member of the rank and file; one can be a Ritualist;
another a philosopher; one can delve into the History of the Craft;
another into the symbolism; one can take charitable projects as his
interest; others delight in instruction:  there is no end to it. 
Yet there are dimensions within dimensions:  just as one believes
one has mastered the truth and meaning of some aspect of ritual or
symbol, a further design is revealed.  I believe sincerely that no
man can hope to comprehend all the mysteries of Masonry, or even
begin to grasp the dimensions of the immense totality of the whole,
in one lifetime.

Notwithstanding what I said last night regarding the so-called
"Knife and Fork Masons", those who come only for the Festive Board,
let me not ignore the very real value of the social community,
fraternalism, if you will, of the regular Lodge Meeting.  I believe
that the Scottish practice of "a very simple repast accompanied by
songs and good fellowship" following the Lodge work is referred to
as "Harmony ".  Clearly, involvement includes attendance. 
Basically by Involvement I am implying that a Brother gets out of
Masonry what he puts into it.  Under this particular abstract title
I would place also one's financial dues and obligations, about
which I will say little, save that I feel sad whenever I hear of a
Brother's suspension for non-payment of dues; what went wrong I
wonder; why had he not opened himself fully to the possibilities of
the Craft and all that it had to offer?  My only answer for the
case of one who has taken the time and effort to go through the
whole process to reach the end of the Master Mason's Degree and
then drop out, is that he failed to make himself into a Mason.

Education is, to an extent, self-explanatory though it is more
wide-ranging than it may appear at first, and in terms of the self
made Mason rather more important.  Education is stressed throughout
the Ritual, most particularly in the superb Charge accompanying the
Second Degree.

"The study of the Liberal Arts, that valuable branch of education
which tends to effectually to polish and adorn the mind, is
earnestly recommended to your consideration..."

Education does involve attitude, or, as I have chosen to term it
here, Commitment.  The Brethren of the Lodge not only must need to
have an attitude of receptiveness, of wanting to learn, but also of
being able to create that attitude in themselves and each other. 
The precepts and maxims contained in the Ritual are too many to be
listed here nor do I think it necessary to do so.  They are there,
however, and it behoves every Brother to consider them in their
fullness, not just to mumble past them, nor sleepily recognize
their pattern time after time with the monotony of a Tibetan monk
with a prayer wheel.

Apart from "the most useful knowledge" and "more important truths
of morality" which occur in the Work, the matter of Masonic
Education has always been one of considerable concern.  It is too
vast a subject to go into in this short space, nor do I have that
full a knowledge of it, but some considerations should be noted.

I have said enough about the "Lodge Plan for Masonic Education",
and I have mentioned the usefulness of Claudy's "Introduction to
Freemasonry", as but two instances of aid to the newly initiated
candidate.  But what is available for the more senior Brother? 
Part of the Ancient Charges, that concerning Lodges, says this:

"A Lodge is a place where Freemasons assemble to work and to
instruct and to improve themselves in the mysteries of their
ancient science."

At the simplest level, then, Lodges have the responsibility to
arrange for short papers, or other similar Masonic education to be
given.  Some jurisdictions have Lodges of Instruction. 
Essentially, though, it is for the individual Mason to want to make
himself, whether by conversing "with well-informed Brethren who
always will be as ready to give as... to receive instruction"; by
reading amongst the collections of Masonic literature available
either in the Lodge's own library, if it has one, or in the larger
accumulations such as those at Calgary or Edmonton.

It would be remiss of me in any discussion on Masonic education not
to speak of the outstanding importance of Lodges of Research,
through whose talks, papers, proceedings and publications the
serious student of Masonry can enter a fascinating world of
scholarship on the Craft.  I have no wish to single out one or more
at the expense of others, but two in particular must be mentioned:
the first is Quatuor Coronati No. 2076 in London, England, the
oldest of all Research Lodges.  Any Master Mason in good standing,
or Lodge, is eligible to join the Quatuor Coronati Correspondence
Circle for a very modest subscription and receive the annual volume
of Transactions, a beautifully produced series of essays and notes
on all aspects of Masonic history, custom and ritual.  The second
to which your attention is drawn is our jurisdiction's own Fiat Lux
Lodge of Research No. 1980, a fledgling perhaps by comparison with
those of older standing and experience, but one that is sturdily
flourishing.

I do not need to dwell at length on Example.  "Let the world see
how Masons love one another."  However, as I have suggested
earlier, it is important that Masons are seen in their lives and
actions to be what they claim.  I do not mean simply that we must
avoid the charge of hypocrisy, that we profess "liberal benevolence
and diffusive charity" and that we must display the positive
workings of the ideals we cherish, I am reiterating that Masonry
will attract like-minded candidates only if we are seen to be doing
something and that what we are doing is worthwhile.  Masonic
example, then, is threefold:  our "virtue, honour, and reputation
are concerned in supporting with dignity the character" we "now
bear"; this character should not be one that is kept private, it
must be our public character also; further, let us not forget the
importance of the larger public projects of charity and aid which
are sponsored by Masonry.

I come now to the final aspect in my consideration of the self made
Mason.  In A.A. Milne's "The House at Pooh Corner" we are told that
the opposite of an Introduction is obviously a Contradiction.  Lest
I be accused of being contradictory by keeping this matter to the
end, let me hasten to say that to me it is the most important of
all.  I refer to Duty, by which I mean the obligations we are under
to love God.  The Chaplain's prayer at the Closing of the Lodge
says it all and I am sure I do not need to repeat it.  The
Worshipful Master's Charge at the Opening exhorts us ever to
remember as one of our great objects "the promotion of a correct
knowledge of the duties we owe to God..."  Without our belief "in
the existence of One, Supreme, and Everlasting God, in the Holy
Bible as being a revelation of His Will to Man, and in the
immortality of the soul", our exercises would have no basis.  This
duty to the Supreme Architect and His Divine Plan is, however, not
a passive compliance, but a duty, a task, if you like, that has to
be worked at actively with every strength at our disposal.  Only by
constantly keeping in mind at all times our duty to God will we be
able to fulfil our chosen purpose of usefulness to the Craft.

The Mentor Plan I have quoted from previously has an especially
clear and precise statement to make in its section entitled "What
can Freemasonry mean to you?"

"If Freemasonry stands for anything, it stands for the practice of
true Brotherly Love in all of its various aspects.  If all the
people in the world could be made to understand and practice
genuine Brotherly Love, then and not before could we attain the
desired goal of universal peace.  Toward that end, Freemasonry is
the greatest single human force in the world."

Brave words and brave ideals; and yet, as wholly admirable as they
are they cannot possibly succeed unless Masons first make
themselves.  The self made Mason could make these words come true
and then in fact we could echo Shakespeare's timeless lines:

                                "O wonder!
                How many goodly creatures are there here!
                How beauteous mankind is!  O brave new world
                That has such people in 't."

It is to us to establish firmly "the honour, reputation, and glory
of the Institution" and convince "the world at large... of its good
effects."

Finally, I am well aware of the criticism that I am preaching to
the converted, however, I am not convinced that to achieve the
title of a self made Mason is a finite point.  One does not reach
that goal and stop there, it is a continuing objective.  Perhaps
when one can say "I am a self made Mason" that is the most
dangerous time of all, for that is when one may slide into Masonic
complacency and indolence.  Let me conclude by giving you a passage
that is familiar to us all, but in the form in which I found it in
my late Father's Scottish Constitution Ritual which is slightly
more ample at this point:

"I suppose you now think you are a Master Mason, possessed of all
secrets, and entitled to all the privileges of such; it is my duty
to inform you that you are not, neither do I know that you ever
will be.  A rough and rugged road yet lies before you."
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