Clothes Make the Mason or "How a Suit Changes Your Mind"

A ritual is an established or prescribed set of behaviors. Most often we think of them for religious purposes but people use rituals every day in ordinary ways. Many people have a morning and/or bedtime ritual. The morning ritual – get up, go the bathroom, let the dog out, start the coffee, take a shower, get dressed, have breakfast or whatever your ritual is – we use to organize our thoughts and get mentally focused for the day ahead. It might differ depending on whether it is a workday or not, but many people find that if their morning ritual is disrupted then their whole day is thrown off. At bedtime, the ritual helps to unwind and quiet the mind for sleep. In all of those cases, the purpose of ritual is to alter the mental state of the ritualist so that some kind of transition can happen.

In religious ceremonies, the same process applies. The established ritual is designed to focus the minds of the participants on God , create an altered state, and open the possibility of spiritual growth. Ritual causes mental change and that is its purpose.

How ritual accomplishes that change is by bracketing the time spent as “special” and unlike our ordinary, mundane lives. By doing a special set of behaviors unlike those in the rest of your day or life, we mark that time as unique. Weddings and holidays are “special” because they involve special established behaviors - we wear special clothes, have special ceremonies, eat special food, sing special songs, do special dances, and so forth.

Masonic ritual is not an exception. Our opening and closing rituals mark the time in lodge as different from our daily lives. Just being in a special time and place begins to alter the way our minds work. Then because the purpose of the fraternity is to ultimately make its votaries wiser and more spiritually developed – enLIGHTened – our members are exposed through lectures and initiations to special symbols and concepts to allow for a connection to the Divine – the Great Architect of the Universe. The opening ritual is critical. It makes the actual transmission and integration of the lessons of Masonry possible. Otherwise Masonry would be no different than a philosophical book club.

As with all other special events in our lives, an important part of the ritual is the preparation that takes place before a brother even leaves for lodge. Before a wedding, a funeral, church or even going out for a party on New Year’s Eve, the participants usually put on special clothes. Before going to work, many folks put on their “work clothes” – some kind of specialized uniform for their task ahead. Putting on the special clothes puts you into a different frame of mind. It changes your consciousness. It delineates the special from the ordinary; the sacred from the profane.

When a martial artist puts on his white gi, a basketball player puts on his uniform and laces his shoes, or a boxer wraps his hands, he is changing his mental state. He begins to gear up for the match ahead. His mind focuses, his concentration intensifies, and he becomes more serious about the work ahead. The process of preparing for the ritual IS a ritual in itself.

Preparing for lodge is no different. We are preparing for spiritual work. It is a special activity; a sacred activity. We open in the name of God and seek his blessings and guidance in all of our undertakings. It is serious work. It doesn’t have to always solemn, but it should always be serious.

Thus, our preparations for lodge should be serious. If we wear to lodge what we would wear around the house, we fail in our preparations. We are not taking it seriously. We are not making it special. We are not preparing our minds for further Light and thus, we shouldn’t be surprised that so many of our brethren never actually get any. They get fellowship and a good time, but not so much of the spiritual growth and maturity. Special dress is a way of actually doing the work of Masonry, of smoothing our own rough ashlars.

Further, special dress for lodge is an act of respect – to our God, our brothers, and to ourselves. To our God in that we usually wear special clothes for other times when we invoke Him, in churches and other religious ceremonies such as weddings and funerals. Why do we not do so at lodge? To our brothers in showing them that our brotherly love and friendship is real and it is special. We would wear a suit out of respect to a brother’s funeral, yet we can’t wear one while he’s alive? Or more importantly, when we raise him to brotherhood? And to ourselves, in respecting ourselves to be duly and truly prepared - physically and mentally - to actually engage in the lodge ritual work in the way in which it was intended; solemnly and sincerely. For only in such a prepared state where we have consciously “tended to every particular” can the work of the lodge actually “render all men” and the Fraternity remain of value and good repute before the world.

Good Counsel and Reformation

One of the challenges that many organizations and institutions face at one point or another is "non-performance". Commonly, this is a board member, officer, or committee chairperson who for various reasons is unable or unwilling to perform in that job. Sometimes it is that they lack the skills and resources to perform the job. Sometimes it is that they lack the motivation to perform it. But nonetheless, the job isn't being done properly if at all.

Sadly, our Institution is no different. We see this on a regular basis in Freemasonry. Whether it is a lodge secretary that fails to get their records to Grand Lodge in a timely fashion, a Senior Warden who doesn't come to practice and thus doesn't even come close to getting his lines right, a Grand Line Officer who really isn't qualified to serve, or a busy committee chair who fails to give people the time they need to do what he asks of them - nonperformance or subperformance are major problems in our Fraternity.

The individuals involved, however, should not be blamed for this problem. Every instance of nonperformance has its very good reason for happening. Due to our declining (and aging) membership people are often being put into Offices that they aren't qualified for. Just someone had to do it and they didn't run away fast enough. Or they didn't really understand what they were getting into and found themselves in over their heads with no ready mentors available. Or if they were qualified, they got stuck with the job for 10-20 years and became burned out. There are a million individual reasons but they don't really matter. The problem is systemic, not individual.

Clearly, one part of the solution - which I have addressed in an earlier blog post - is to attract new, younger, more energetic members, give them complete understanding of what is expected of them in a job, and then provide the training/ mentoring and support needed for them to succeed. But there is another part. A Freemasonic cultural part that I think does us a great disservice.

In the Third degree ritual, the new Master Mason is enjoined to "in the most friendly manner" give another brother good counsel, remind him of his faults and help him in his "reformation" whenever possible. That is, when someone is messing up to gently let them know and help them remedy the situation. In theory anyway.

In practice, I have noticed that - in the name of maintaining brotherly goodwill - we tend to NOT be open and upfront about nonperformance and instead we keep it a secret and then mutter and gossip about it with our close associates. And thus, no chance for reformation ever happens.

If we HAD been friendly but direct with those individuals mentioned above, perhaps they would have sought guidance and training to do the job right or have gotten out of the Office before they reached a point where serious damage to the Institution's reputation and dignity could occur. The kind of damage that keeps new members away, unmotivates qualified leaders from volunteering (because who wants the frustration of trying to get something done with a bunch of nonperformers), and restricts the progress trying to made by brothers who have the drive and energy to make a positive difference.

As I said in my previous post, we need to think of our Fraternity just like any other organization. So in addition to questions of product, service and marketing, there needs to be responsibility and accountability. If someone isn't doing their job or not doing it properly they need to be told so "in the most friendly manner", assisted in learning how to do it so as to have every opportunity to succeed, and then expected to do so. If they are unable or unwilling to meet expectations, then they need to be replaced.

Our culture of secrecy - even about poor job performance by our Officers and chairpersons - does us a great disservice sometimes. In recent weeks I've begun to stand up and say out loud what everyone else was whispering. When people fail to do their jobs I tell them and try to help them succeed. This blog is just one way in which I am doing that.

To be honest..... I don't think it is making me very popular in certain circles. Change and accountability are two things most people try to have as little as possible of in their lives. But I feel that they are critical to the survival and revival of our beloved Fraternity.

Tending Hiram's Store

Hiram’s Widgets have been in business for many, many years. The business used to be exceedingly successful. At one point he had a store in almost every town in the state and each was thriving. But over the last decade business has been steadily dropping. Overall, his total number of new customers is down and many of his customers come a few times and then stop. A number of his stores haven’t been profitable for years and even his best stores are marginal. He has closed a number of his stores over the last couple of years to cut losses. Hiram is at a loss for what to do other than keep closing stores as they become insolvent and hope that the customers from these stores will travel the extra 20 miles to one of his remaining stores instead of going to a competitor’s widget store or buy their widgets online. So far, that has not proven to be the case.

I’m certain that this scenario seems familiar to most of us in Masonry in general, and in the appendant bodies in particular. Our membership has been in decline for decades. In response, we have tried consolidation of lodges, chapters, councils and commanderies in hopes that if we take two dysfunctional groups whose members don’t attend that somehow they will be motivated to travel the extra distance and become one functional group. This delusional thinking has almost uniformly resulted in failure. What we need, instead, is to think of our problem like any other organization or business would. What would a business consultant tell Hiram?

Any time there is a situation where a formerly successful business starts to fail it is due to a problem in one or more of the following:

- product

- service

- marketing

Product

Problems with product usually revolve around two areas; either the product is outdated and no longer in demand, or the product being sold is somehow inferior. In the case of Masonry as a whole, we know that people will always seek venues for community/ brotherhood, personal enhancement and doing good in the world. There are other fraternal groups that provide versions of these things so we know that there are people out there and that demand remains high. Many of them are just choosing one of our “competitors”.

Is our product high quality? The answer is probably mixed. As Robert G. Davis noted in his address to the 2010 General Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons International, “studies engaged in researching the needs of men in today’s society are indicating that an organization that is centered on education, spiritual development and fraternal bonding may be the most powerfully compelling organization to join for men who fall within the 19 – 40 age range”. At its highest potential, Masonry IS that organization. However, many of our lodges and chapters have become little more than a bunch of aged and aging men who meet once a month to eat, read the secretary’s and treasurer’s reports, tell a joke, and generally take up an hour or two without much to show for it. Those lucky ones doing degree work only focus on the letter of the ritual (not the meanings underneath) and once a candidate has received them, he is left without further instruction. However, this generation wants more. They are intellectually and spiritually curious, desirous of deeper thought and understanding, crave active participation, AND they are knowledgeable about alternatives and motivated enough to leave if they don’t get it.

To improve our “product” we need have higher expectations for ourselves and our candidates. If you have zero expectations, you get what you expect – zero. Like our 18^th and 19^th century predecessors, we need to require something of our members. As per their oaths, they should be required to attend all meetings unless they have good reason not to. If they cannot, they should be expected to call the secretary and explain why not. They made a commitment, why do we not make them stick to it? Our new members see that going to meetings isn’t valued by the rest of the lodge/ chapter, so why should they value it? We have to expect them to be active in our groups, learning new things (and sharing them in open lodge/ chapter), participating in ritual, and serving on committees that actually DO something. Committees such as: Mentoring committee (to help integrate new members), Education committee (to organize and lead Masonic education for each meeting), Social committee (to organize monthly fraternal gatherings), and Community committees (to get the members involved as members in public events and good works). Any new members should be immediately given a piece of ritual or lecture to learn and a committee to serve on.

But of course, that means more work for those of us already members. WE would also have to do more. We’d have to serve on committees, engage in education, and go to meetings. And we always hear, I’m too busy to add another night per month. Frankly, I consider it a lame excuse. We are required to meet one night a month per Masonic body. That isn’t very much. Rotary requires weekly meetings and any missed meetings are expected to be made up at another group’s meeting. The people who say they are too busy find time for other things that are important to them. Masonry should be important too and if it is not, then it is ourselves we have to blame.

Service

If two companies have the same product and one company is successful while the other struggles, often it is a matter of customer service. This is especially true when the company is having trouble retaining customers. Customer service is one of the most important things that draws new customers and creates customer loyalty. People will even pay extra for good customer service. We have dozens of new members who join, go to meetings for a few months, and then never come back. They may or may not continue to pay their dues, but they are absentee members. Clearly, we have failed them in our customer service – they aren’t feeling welcomed, included, invested or that they aren’t wasting their time.

The “wasting their time” problem would be fixed by improving our product. To feel welcome, we need to be better at our brotherly love. Even after all of these years of being a Mason, when I attend a different lodge or chapter I often feel like I’m at someone else’s family reunion. The officers are busy getting things ready and the members are catching up with one another. All the while, I stand alone off to the side waiting for the opening. I can stand there a whole half hour and not have someone talk to me and if they do, it is only to say “hello”, shake my hand and move on. For extroverts, this isn’t a problem. They approach others and leap into a conversation. But for introverts, it can feel very isolating and unfriendly. And let’s be aware, the kinds of brothers who join looking for education and deep spiritual development are often introverts.

The solution is for each lodge and chapter to have at least one person designated as their greeter. Traditionally this job fell to the Senior Warden as he vetted members but it doesn’t have to be him. But someone should meet every new member or visitor, introduce them around before the opening, and stay with them until they find someone to converse and hang out with. If they don’t find anyone, then the greeter must be that person.

To get people invested and connected, they should be mentored not just through their degrees but for the first year of their membership. The mentor committee should provide instruction about what is expected of members, the workings of the whole Masonic family, who’s who, how to get involved, make sure they are personally welcomed at each meeting and personally invited to each social event, and generally taken care of like a friend and brother. Lastly, as stated earlier, each member should be immediately put on a committee, asked to learn a piece of ritual so that they feel necessary and involved.

Marketing

The business consultant would tell Hiram that the LAST thing a company should do is close stores. All closing stores does – especially if you haven’t fixed your product and customer service problems – is reduce your visibility and accessibility in the market. It also makes it clear that the ship is sinking and no one wants to book a ride on a sinking ship. It is bad public relations.

If the product is good and the customer service is acceptable, then the organization isn’t marketing itself well. Its message isn’t getting in front of the people who are interested and motivated to buy its product. It needs more advertising and better targeted marketing.

So let’s ask ourselves, who are Masonry’s potential customers? Men join the fraternity for a host of different reasons. Some join simply because it is a family tradition. Dad, Granddad and Great Granddad were all Masons. Some join for the fraternal bonding and social aspects. It is a chance to meet and hang out with other men in the community. Others join because they love ritual or are interested in studying and being part of the history of Masonry. Still others are seeking “more Light” – education and spiritual development. Others are drawn to the large stores of esotericism hidden underneath our symbols and rituals. And many of these “Light Seekers” and Esotericists are looking for connections with other more serious, like-minded men.

To list them:

1) familial ties

2) fraternal and community bonding

3) ritual

4) history

5) Light / education and spiritual growth

6) Esotericism

7) connection with serious students of Light and esoteric

Many men will actually be a blend of these, each valuing some over others. And for that reason, each of these groups needs to be marketed to slightly differently.

Symbolic Masonry can market to all of them, more especially 1 – 5. To contact group 1, host Masonic “bring your son to Work” nights or other events. To contact group 2, host a Masonic horseshoe, golf or (for the younger men) volleyball tournament, a bowling league or such. Have a “I’m a Mason” week each year where every lodge member wears a tee-shirt and/or puts a sign up in their business, does community improvements (such as spring street sweeping), and maybe hosts one of those tournaments. Show that Masons are here, good wholesome productive community members, and have loads of fun. You might also want to have an “open house” where there is a representative (but not actual) ritual with officers in full regalia (for group 3), a short historical lecture (for group 4), and a talk about Masonry’s mission to “make good men better” (for group 5).

Chapter, Council and Commandery can only draw members from the Symbolic Lodges. So they will by nature have less draw for groups 1 and 2, but their true strengths are in groups 3 – 7 anyway. They can certainly participate in the Symbolic Lodge events mentioned – this time in their Appendant Body regalia – but more importantly, they need to get out to the lodges and get their word out. Davis points out that the younger men who join are more likely to be interested in 5 – 7 than previous generations. These are the men who continue to seek Further Light in the York and Scottish Rite once they know about it. But we have to catch them before they become disillusioned by a Blue Lodge that focuses primarily on familial and fraternal bonds and does ritual without knowing the spiritual and esoteric “why” behind the ritual.

York and Scottish Rite need to be better about their visibility and accessibility to the lodge memberships. That means they have to be more visible by regular visitations in regalia to lodges, presentations, articles in Masonic publications, targeted mailings/ solicitations to new Blue Lodge members. They also need to be more accessible by having active chapters, councils and commanderies nearby. This means that rather than closing these meetings, they actually need to start looking at seeding new meetings. And of course, in the meantime, getting the existing meetings to fix their “product” and “customer service” as well. That process in itself would help to make those bodies vital again. It would be a lot of work, but the best people to get involved are….. our new members who want something valuable to do. What is more valuable than revitalizing our Masonic bodies?

Football coach Lou Holtz wrote: “In this world you're either growing or you're dying so get in motion and grow.” We have a choice before us. We can allow the slow decay of our institution, waiting until another part becomes nonfunctioning and then amputate it. Or we can become proactive, do some hard work for a while, and make the core strong and healthy again. People say “but we don’t have enough people to do all of that work” to which I reply; there are numerous examples throughout time of one person changing the course of history. Jesus, Ghandi, Abraham Lincoln, our Founding Fathers. It also happens on the regional, local and corporate scale. One person who decides to stop naysaying and just does the job. All it takes is motivation and vision.

Will Hiram save his store?