The Blue Lounge Social Club Comes to America

by Midnight Freemason Managing Editor

Robert H. Johnson

So first of all, you may be asking, "What the hell is the Blue Lounge Social Club"? To answer that, let me just paste the verbiage which appears on their website:

"The Blue Lounge Social Club is an initiative that allows young freemasons to come together with friends and family in a social setting where they can enjoy each other’s company.

Originating from Victoria Australia, the Blue Lounge Social Club was created to achieve the mission of the recruitment, retention, education and support of young freemasons. Whilst our club hosts regular social events, where young freemasons can gather together outside the lodge in a non-formal environment, we are much more than a social club.

The Blue Lounge’s main purpose is to be an association of young freemasons that is focussed on supporting and fostering a younger and brighter future for the craft.

There has never been a more exciting time to be a freemason and the Blue Lounge Social Club is here to support you as a young freemason through your journey in our wonderful craft."

Now that you know what it is, I'm really proud to say that the first one in the USA is right here in my district! Our membership chairman for the district had thought about creating a club right here for some time, and he struck when the iron was hot. Some of the great things about this club is that there is no membership, so non-masons (profane), wives, girlfriends, family etc. can attend. It serves as a driver for membership as well as a great tool for the fulfillment for masons between the ages of 18-45. 

Feel free to read more about the Blue Lounge Social Club on their website www.blueloungesc.com or contact the Blue Lounge Illinois president at illinoispresident@blueloungesc.com . 

Now, this came up several times when I initially announced it, so to stave off questions, let me say that since there is no membership, Grand Lodge is not involved and has no jurisdiction (I only say this because it is inevitable for someone to ask if we obtained Grand Lodge permission. And it's not needed.) Secondly, a brother showed concern that with all the other options for men to join, this had the potential to take men away from the Craft Lodge, York, Scottish Rite or even the Shriners. To this, all I can say is that the BLSC seeks to advance Masonry by empowering, teaching and fulfilling the young masons in their Masonic journey. 

Tonight is the official launch and we are gathering for pizza and beer. It's sure to be a blast, and I just want to say thank you to Bros. Aqulina and Mitchell for your hard work and dedication to making this fantastic idea come to life.

~RHJ

RWB, Robert Johnson is the Managing Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. He currently serves as the Secretary of Waukegan Lodge No. 78 where he is a Past Master. He also serves as the District Deputy for the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts weekly Podcasts (internet radio programs) Whence Came You? & Masonic Radio Theatre which focus on topics relating to Freemasonry. He is also a co-host of The Masonic Roundtable, a Masonic talk show. He is a husband and father of four, works full time in the executive medical industry and is also an avid home brewer. He is currently working on a book of Masonic essays and one on Occult Anatomy to be released soon.

Freemasonry, Filling the Gap of Spirituality for the Modern Man

by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor

Bro. Jack Aquilina

One of the greatest myths conveyed about Freemasonry is its apparent propensity to resemble that of a religious organization.

In fact, amongst the many myths and dispersions cast against our fraternity, the most difficult to coherently dispel has been those rumors that seek to depict the craft as a religious body. Many a Grand Lodge have sought to dispel this myth by outright denial of this accusation, pointing towards the crafts intolerance for religious discussion and the niche discrepancies between our practices and the dictionary definition of organized religion. Whilst it is true that every freemason must trust his faith in a belief of a supreme being, the instant ambiguity of that requirement in conjunction with its lack of prescriptive dogma, should indicate to an attentive reader, that freemasonry is inherently outside the scope and purpose of organized religion.

In his work The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, Manly P. Hall eloquently contended that “The true mason realizes… it is life which he considers when measuring the worth of a brother, It is to this life that he appeals for a recognition of spiritual unity”. This contention is even more plainly put in Mark E. Koltko-Rivera’s work entitled Freemasonry: An Introduction, where he argues that “whilst freemasonry focuses on moral behavior and spirituality, it itself is not a religion. Freemasonry uses many spiritual symbols, however Freemasonry offers no savior or plan for salvation, there is no priesthood or ministry, although it is not opposed to such things, but it does not have any of its own to offer”.

The distinction between spirituality and religion is understandably a difficult concept to differentiate and in many cases can become conflated in discussion. For what is spiritual to one person, may be insignificant to another and is very much embroiled in the individual character and perspective of the prospective participant.

Nonetheless it is the contention of this author, that the subjective spirituality of Freemasonry and its capacity to engage the moral and intrinsic questions about a mans individual character, is its greatest asset in a period where cultural skepticism is imbedded in the minds of our modern society. It is not unreasonable to observe, that a majority of modern men are less religious, more skeptical and far less tolerant of dogmatic interventions, that some have justly become to perceive as contrary to a modern instinct to question the status quo and to approach questions of life and existence from the perspective of individual reason. Individual morality, for many young men, is found more at home in a class of ethics rather than faith and less certainty is had about the role of ones spiritual dispositions in fostering a meaningful understanding of the world around us.

The late Christopher Hitchens literary work God is Not Great is arguably one of the 21st centuries most compelling personifications of this growing cultural skepticism. Hitchens, unafraid to tackle the biggest questions of faith and reason, ironically provides a fascinating insight about the ethos of modern society with his view of there being a “Need of a New Enlightenment”. This enlightenment he contends “will base itself on the proposition that the proper study of mankind is man and woman”. Hitchens continues that enlightenment “is within the compass of the average person… [through the] study of literature and poetry… the unfettered pursuit of scientific inquiry… [with the aim] to ‘know yourself’ as the Greeks, gently suggested in the consolations of philosophy”.

Whilst Hitchens himself was a profound antagonist of religion and a self professed servant to his own sense of infallible reason and logic, one cant help but to observe that perhaps the “enlightenment” he professes is in fact more at home with spirituality than one would first think to perceive. In fact, as many a Freemason may have identified, the Hitchens “enlightenment” resembles a great deal to that of the allegorical contemplations of the three degrees in craft Masonry. In the first degree of Freemasonry a brother is invited to consider the useful lessons of natural equality and mutual dependence. The allegory that as mortal beings we are but brought into this world in darkness for which we may only avail ourselves through an understanding of and respect of our fellow man, bears great similarity to Hitchens enlightenment. Further, the concept that true enlightenment is achieved through a strong pursuit in an education of nature, the liberal arts and science is a key lesson of the second degree. This degree gives encouragement for man to avail himself of the secrets of nature and science is presented as an important path to attaining intellectual truth. However, it is the third degree in freemasonry, with its focus on our inevitable mortality and a contemplation of our finite time on earth, that truly rounds off our capacity to truly “know yourself”.

However, unlike Hitchens, Freemasonry through its avid contemplation of these lessons, imbeds itself in its ultimate understanding, that whilst these lessons are founded in rationality, that it is through the spiritual contemplation of their greater meaning that they bear true attachment to our lives and characters. As eloquently put by Brother Owen Shieh in his publication Journey on the Level, “Regardless of the names assigned to truth (emblematical of the supreme being) the key point is that the candidate must believe that there is something more, something unknown and something beyond our limited understanding of the material world – something that relates to the underlying order or the universe and to the true nature of our consciousness”.

Freemasonry, unequivocally, has the capacity to provide for the modern man an opportunity to expand their understanding of their own intellectual, philosophical and ultimately spiritual perception of the world and their humanity. As has been demonstrated when deconstructing Hitchens “Enlightenment”, the quest for a rational understanding of the world has been grounded in the traditions of the craft for hundreds of years and underpinned in its significance by spirituality. Modern societies propensity towards cultural skepticism has been a true challenge to religion and its role in the lives of younger generations. However, as already indicated, Freemasonry is not a religion. Through freemasonry a modern man has the opportunity to confront and contemplate life’s most important questions and through the spirituality of allegorical contemplation can bridge the divides of diversity to better develop their subjective intellect and morality.

For the modern man, Freemasonry is free of dogmatic instruction, subject to individual reason and veiled in spirituality.

Freemasonry is truly most capable of filling the gap of spirituality felt and longed for by the modern man, who may find himself accustomed to a society of cultural skepticism.

~JA

Brother Jack Aquilina, is a Master Mason under the United Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Victoria where he serves as Junior Deacon of Brunswick United Lodge No 924 and he is also Chaplain for Western Street United Lodge No 94. He is very active in the Blue Lounge Social Club which you can "like on Facebook by clicking over this text!