Ask a Freemason

Ask A Mason 2008-07-07T11:28:56Z Copyright (c) 2008 ExpressionEngine tag:masonforum.com,2008:07:08 Historic Masons tag:masonforum.com,2008:/viewthread/.269 2008-07-07T11:26:57Z 2008-07-07T11:28:56Z Ronald T. Doucette Share Knowledge of Historic Masons, Past and Present, in Your Community and the World

]]> Secrets tag:masonforum.com,2008:/viewthread/.254 2008-06-24T20:57:23Z AlexA411 I don’t expect anyone to go into detail about this question. I’m just looking for a yes or no answer. Aside from the metaphors and handshakes that must be kept secret, are there any other types of secrets that you guys have?

]]> Is Masonry a secret society?  tag:masonforum.com,2007:/viewthread/.6 2007-07-18T21:20:11Z ASKForumAdmin No. It is sometimes said that Freemasonry is a “Society with secrets, not a secret society.” In point of fact, however, any purported Masonic “secrets” were made public several centuries ago in London newspapers, and today can be found in the Library of Congress, on the Internet, and in many books on the subject. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “The great secret of Freemasonry is that there is no secret at all.”

]]> Masonry and the Philanthropic Secret tag:masonforum.com,2008:/viewthread/.156 2008-02-26T10:40:50Z Ronald T. Doucette Many newly exposed visitors to Masonry learn over time of the large heart of the United States Masons. “Doing Well, while doing Good”, has become an important mission to the many constituent bodies of Masonry. One of the fastest ways to “make good men better” is to assist a man to search deep in his heart and help direct him toward charitable causes. The needs of children, the aged, the technology of medicine, the raising of Blood supplies, protection of our families children, and support of the community in which we live, all provide wonderful opportunities to give. Here, in the U.S.A., $3 million per day are applied to philanthropic causes sponsored by Masonry. When you think of the Shiner’s Burns Institute giving aid to child burn victims, without cost to the family, many lodges and their masonic members pride themselves by consistent donations. Mason also continue to be the largest group of Blood donors in the U.S. When all is considered, our newest members help secure the future of a great Masonic heart.—Ron Doucette

]]> Some Masonic Music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart tag:masonforum.com,2008:/viewthread/.134 2008-02-11T14:40:09Z Setrak Freemasonry has rightly been called a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. But it can also be seen as an approach to God. It is not a religion, yet it is religious in nature. This is because it validates the spiritual nature of Man - the reality underlying all religions. It links ideals of brotherhood and benevolence with the search for wisdom, because it regards ignorance as the source of all divisions and enmities within humankind.

During the late 17th and 18th centuries, this movement was in the vanguard of progressive thought in Europe, and included some of the founders of our tradition of organised science. Newton, Hooke, Boyle, Ashmole and other members of the original Royal Society were Freemasons.

So were many composers of that period - including Beethoven, Haydn and most notably Mozart, who wrote songs and ceremonial music for use in lodges. His opera Die Zauberflöte was a collaboration with the former Mason Emanuel Schikaneder and makes witty (but never mocking) use of Masonic symbolism.

* O Heiliges Band K.148 The hallowed bond of friendship.

* Zerfließet heut’, geliebte Brüder K.483 Augustin von Schittlerberg’s verse for the opening of a lodge

* Ihr unsre neuen Leiter K.484 For the closing of a lodge

* Gesellenreise K.468 Franz Ratschky’s verse on the journey to greater knowledge.

* Maurerische Trauermusik K.477 A funeral march for two of Mozart’s brother Masons.

* Die ihr des unermeßlichen Weltalls Schöpfer ehrt K.619 The text by Franz Zeigenhagen includes some lines for our time:

Reach out the brotherly hand of lasting friendship
Which only delusion - never truth - has so long withheld.
Break the bonds of this delusion
Tear aside the veil of prejudice
Strip away the disguises that divide mankind.
Hammer into ploughshares the iron that erstwhile spilt our brothers’ blood,
And as for the gunpowder that oft fired lethal lead into their hearts -
Just use it to blow up rocks!

From Die Zauberflöte, K.620

o Zum Ziele führt dich diese Bahn In which the hero is admonished to be steadfast, tolerant and discreet.

o Wenn Tugend und Gerechtigkeit “When virtue and justice spread the path of the great with fame..”

Because Freemasonry originated within Christendom, its founders conceived the great architect of the universe in terms of the Christian God and had no need to consider its compatability with other religions. But many Masons of later generations and around the world have found that men of other faiths and cultures ‘met upon the level, and parted on the square’.

]]> What about secret handshakes, ritual, and passwords?  tag:masonforum.com,2007:/viewthread/.7 2007-07-18T21:20:53Z ASKForumAdmin Freemasonry, often called the “Craft” by its members, is founded on metaphors of architecture. Following the practice of the ancient stonemason guilds, Freemasons use special handshakes, words, and symbols to not only to identify each other, but to help, as William Preston said in 1772, “imprint upon the memory wise and serious truths.”

Although every new Freemason takes an oath – and vows to keep secret the metaphors of Masonry – the metaphors are only used to help Masons become better men; and there’s certainly no secret surrounding what it takes to be good and true.

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