THE BUILDER APRIL 1915


HOW TO STUDY MASONRY
A SYMPOSIUM

(Herewith we present the first installment of a symposium intended
to answer the question, so often asked by young Masons, How should
a man begin the study of Masonry, and where? The contributors to
this symposium are competent Masonic students--some of them
teachers of long experience, who bring to our service their
training and leadership--and it is hoped that many young men will
take advantage of so rare an opportunity. Several issues of The
Builder will be needed to complete the symposium, and we propose to
follow it up, working out its suggestions specifically and in
detail, the better to show that it is practical and worth while. Of
the various plans of study outlined, any one of them may be adapted
to local conditions or individual taste and habit, and the results
obtained will depend of course, upon the industry of the student
and the co-operation f the group engaged. Digests of particular
books will be given --thanks to the Cincinnati Masonic School--in
the form of questions, to provoke interest and inquiry, and at the
close The Builder will sum up the whole matter--and, if time
permits, ye editor hopes to present a syllabus with references and
notes to guide the student and save him a waste of time and energy.
Meantime, elsewhere in this issue, we offer certain suggestions--
speaking from long experience--as to the economy and right use of
time, which is a very important matter to busy men.)

THE FIELD OF STUDY.
By Prof. Roscoe Pound,
Harvard University.

Masonic knowledge seems to me to involve five points: (1) Ritual;
(2) History; (3) Philosophy; (4) Symbolism; (5) Jurisprudence. I
think we cannot insist too strongly that knowledge of the Ritual is
the Foundation of all Masonic knowledge. The first thing which the
student should do is to learn the work of the Craft degrees
thoroughly. He will then be in a position to appreciate what he
reads and to ask questions as he reads. As to History, I should
recommend him to begin with Gould's Concise History. I know of
nothing so good. When he has read this, it will be time enough for
him to begin, if he has time, with the original sources of our
information. If he has more time, Gould's larger History might be
read at the beginning.

As to philosophy it is quite impossible to refer to any
introduction. My suggestion would be that he read one of the
ordinary histories of philosophy, say, for instance, the English
translation of Windelband, and perceive what the problems of
philosophy are with which Masonic philosophers also have been
wrestling. He will then be in a position to read Preston's
Illustrations, to re-read the American Fellow-Craft lecture, to
read Oliver, and ultimately to read Pike's Morals and Dogma
understandingly. As to symbolism, I should recommend him to read
Hutton Webster's Primitive Secret Societies, especially those parts
dealing with primitive initiatory rites and primitive symbolic
instruction; to follow that with some good modern textbook on
psychology, from which he will perceive the psychological problems
involved, and then to take up Oliver's signs and Symbols and Pike's
Morals and Dogma for the purely Masonic side.

As to Masonic Jurisprudence, I take it the first thing the student
has to do is to perceive the distinction between that indefinite,
unwritten Constitution of Masonry which we call the Landmarks--an
institution very like the British Constitution--on the one hand,
and what may be called the Common Law of Masonry-- an institution
very like our Anglo-American common law--and modern legislation in
our several jurisdictions--an institution very like the legislation
of the several States of the Union, on the other hand. If he gets
this notion well in mind, he can safely begin with Mackey's
Jurisprudence, which he should follow with the well-known report of
the New Jersey committee on the subject of Landmarks and the
admirable articles of Brother Moore in the New Age. (Vol. 15, pp
79, 177, 280, 381, 529, 622.)

When our student has gone as far as this, he will need no one to
tell him what more to do. He will have perceived the line in which
he is especially interested, and will be able to determine for
himself what he should do in that line. One bit of advice, however,
may be given him at the outset. He cannot do better than become a
member of the correspondence circle of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge,
and in return he will receive the Ars Quatuor Coronatorum which
will keep him in touch with the best that is doing in Masonic
scholarship.

THE PURPOSE OF STUDY.
By Hon. Louis Block,
Past Grand Master, Iowa.

You are indeed right when you say that the problem before us is
that of the Pedagogy of Masonry. That means the teaching of the
facts about a great historical movement based upon the theory that
man's real happiness can only be secured by his meeting his fellows
upon the great democratic level of human brotherhood--not alone
that each man should be his brother's keeper, but his defender,
aider, helper, encourager, comforter, inspirer and lover as well.
All this taught by means of the imagery and poetry of Masonry, and
its mystic symbolism. We must not get lost in chasing some
abstruse, abstract theory away off into the dim vistas of confusion
and hazy nothingness, but must ever cling close to the human
appreciation of it all. Principles must be made to live in the
active life of persons, else they are but "too much of nothing."
Our study must keep step with a practice, a putting to present use,
else our efforts are in vain.

Nor must we neglect to show that it is ideas that count, that
control the conduct of men; that if their ideas are not right their
conduct cannot be. What we need is to get the right ideas clearly
formulated, taken to heart, and deeply impressed upon the inner
consciousness, so that they will inevitably find expression in our
social life. That is the mission of Masonry, as I see it,--the
building of these great ideas into the minds of men, by constantly
holding them forth and everlastingly insisting that they must
predominate, rule and prevail if men are ever to live together in
peace and harmony, or enjoy real happiness.

How to do this, that is the great question. How to make the Craft
feel that these ideas are no mere empty abstractions, but real,
powerful, living, actual realities, solid facts--that is the hard
thing to do. We need to get together the facts about Masonry--what
it has done in the past that has made it live down to this day on
account of its real worth, the help it has been to man. Then we
need to put them together into a story told in such a way that it
will seize the attention and hold the interest of the student. The
ability to make things interesting, to stir up a hunger for more
light, believe me, that is the whole secret of all education. You
cannot force a student to know, but you can win him to want to know
for himself, and when you have done that the victory is won! Just
see how Lessing piques and whets this appetite in his Ernst and
Falk dialogues. He knew how. And right there is the great drawing
power of all our secrecy and show of mystery--it makes the profane
want to find out. We must show the initiates how little they know,
how much fascinating mystery remains to be explored, investigated,
analyzed.

Ask the Mason why he has kept his membership. Has it helped him? If
so, just how and in what way? Fire a series of Socratic questions
at him; make him think! If he got help in one thing, in one way, no
doubt he can get more. There is more there, if he will look for it-
-"seek and ye shall find." It is hard enough to teach men to see
with the physical eye, let alone teaching them the art of spiritual
insight. But it can be taught, can be developed, can be made to
grow. Too much of our modern pedagogy is nothing more than a dry,
mechanical stuffing and cramming process. Children are made to
memorize, to mimic, to imitate, to follow precedent and rule, and
not to think. Whereas a real education is not pouring water into a 
cistern, but opening up a spring--educing what is in the mind,
teaching it to test, build, originate, think.

THE METHOD OF STUDY.

By Prof. F. W. Shepardson,
University of Chicago.

Thinking the matter over, I believe that what is needed is a
Syllabus or outline modeled after the general style of what is
called a University Extension Syllabus. This would include a
division of the subject matter, say, of "The Builders: A Story and
Study of Masonry," into convenient study portions. For each of
these divisions there should be an outline in Syllabus style. Then
there should be references to books or articles bearing on the
subjects treated in that portion, and then at the end there should
be perhaps a dozen questions or topics for review and discussion.

No doubt you are familiar with the ordinary University Extension
Syllabus. These would not cost much and might be furnished to a
Lodge at a reasonable price, or the Grand Lodge of Iowa might get
them out and have one included in each book sent out-following its
arrangement of presenting a copy of the book to each man made a
Mason--or the Research Society might print the Syllabus and thus
meet the desires of readers at a distance. How does it strike you? 
I think, carrying this suggestion a little further, that it might
be possible to prepare a leaflet called "Suggestions to Leaders,"
designed for the guidance of the Master of a Lodge, or some
individual member selected to lead. If you had these two leaflets,
namely, the Syllabus and the Suggestions, it would save a great
amount of writing and would be quite effective from the educational
point of view. It occurs to me that these two leaflets perhaps
might be called Masonic Study Leaflets No. 1 and No. 2, with the
thought that other leaflets in the same style might be issued
later. If this strikes you and I can co-operate with you in any
way in getting them ready, I shall be delighted to do so.
(To be continued.)

