I Hope We Never Go Back to Normal

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

RWB Spencer Hamann

Humans are social creatures, and members of Fraternities tend to be especially so. One of the passive side effects of meeting in person is that it continually hones our social skills and our senses of morality and mores. We see this in family and co-worker development as well. If a person continuously meets and works with an intimate group of people who they will rely on and who will rely on them, they observe certain rules of the group to continue to be a positive inclusion within it. Journalist Sebastian Junger explores this theme in wonderful detail in his book Tribe, which I cannot recommend highly enough for anyone who is a member of, well, anything. If a person does something against the “code” of his group, he knows he is going to have to face the others, and the consequences (punishment, shame, ostracization, etc.) are often reason enough to cause him to consider his actions deeply.

What happens then, when the group is separated or not meeting together? In theory, an individual finds belonging through his support of the greater aims and functions of his group. Even when the group is not physically together, its aims, morals, and mores are still HIS aims, morals, and mores, and will govern his actions accordingly. This is core not only to tribes, families, and military units, but Freemasonry as well. We are not only Freemasons when we strap on an apron and sit in a lodge hall; we are Freemasons everywhere. However, it can become all too easy for the aims of our “tribe” to dilute when we are separated and feel less accountable. There is certainly something to be said for “strength in numbers.”

Similarly, Freemasonry is not the “user agreement” that we ought just scroll through, just to click “I agree” so we can get on with installing rings on our fingers and pins on our lapels. When we advance through our Degrees, the beautiful and timeless lessons of morality and philosophy that we find in our Craft IS that “user agreement.” One should not deign to advance in his Degrees unless he has actually read and understood (or more accurately, begun to work and understand) the lessons and principles contained within, which permeate our lives and actions.

Recently, our social needs and professed values had been challenged more than they ever have in living memory. We find ourselves separated physically, our routines disrupted, our finances uncertain, and many of us now have lots of extra time to ponder these things. When it feels like the world has gone mad, it is natural to ask questions and seek some stability and control through understanding. Daily there are new reports presenting statistics and speculations about the COVID-19 pandemic, which come at us from all directions and all kinds of sources and lead us to different conclusions. All of this news brings into sharp relief the old maxim: extraordinary circumstances bring out the best in some and the worst in others.

Nowhere perhaps has this been more apparent recently than on social media platforms. The great thing about social media is that it allows a person to instantly connect with thousands of other people and share ideas, thoughts, and information. The terrible thing about social media is also that it allows a person to instantly connect with thousands of other people and share ideas, thoughts, and information. As people the world over struggle to understand and make sense of what is happening, fear and ignorance are pitted continuously against understanding and truth. When we take to the keyboard, how do we choose what we are going to say?

Many cite their freedom of speech when it comes to what they post online. Indeed, within the rules of whatever platform you are using, you can pretty much say whatever it is you want. But consider for a minute what you actually want to say, and how you are saying it. Venting your frustration by flailing around attempting to attack political parties, studies you don’t agree with, people who are simply doing their best to get through a difficult situation, and generally creating emotional dissonance does not make you a hero, a revolutionary, or somehow “enlightened”. Those with the most Light to share are, traditionally, the most quiet about it. Similarly, making jokes about being sick or dying from COVID-19 is a hard sell for levity considering chances are someone in your audience personally knows someone affected by the virus. It doesn’t matter how “sarcastic,” you say you are, or that everyone needs to “lighten up”; these do not excuse inappropriate behavior. You are entitled to your opinions, but so is everyone else. Using fear and panic as a way to spread opinions or aims is deplorable, and unfortunately, for many it is a practice being harbored and becoming “normal”.

All of these issues stem from how we choose to appropriate and discover the truth. The deafening roar of information coming at us from all sides and all sources is a truly terrifying torrent. So often, we reach out for something familiar to grab onto to keep our heads above water. When we choose to cling to these splinters instead of swim towards rescue or land, our perceived life preservers only become anchors and pull us toward a watery grave. A particular media outlet, personality, or source may be telling us what we want to hear based on our existing beliefs or biases, but we owe it to ourselves (and everyone we interact with) to seek the truth even if it is not easy, or has no immediate personal gain. The desire to be “liked” and accepted is universal, but we cannot allow it to cloud our judgment.

Some of the problems with discovering truth stem from our societal views and mores themselves. The consequence of putting a taboo on discussing religion and politics is that before long, no one actually knows how to discuss religion and politics anymore. When the arts of logic and rhetoric are cast aside, and the impetus to craft a reasoned, researched, and evolving opinion gives way to the temptation of merely yelling one’s opinion more loudly, zealously, and repeatedly. How do you have discourse on anything with someone like this? Sharing reasoning and “whispering good council” (as we are Masonically charged) has little effect on someone who’s heart is so hardened and is staunchly determined not to have their mind changed.

Masonically we endeavor “to learn, to subdue our passions, and improve ourselves.” This is an ideal method for making sense of information and separating truth from fiction. To learn, we gather and compare information from multiple sources. This includes considering sources we may not agree with or who may give information contrary to what we expect or feel we already know. In doing comparative research, we gain a broader perspective on the topic, which will help us better extract the truth. Masonically, we are chipping away at superfluities; alchemically, we are distilling the Prima Materia.

To subdue our passions, we look at our information objectively; that is, seeing things for what they are without attaching our emotions to them. Objective reasoning is much easier said than done. Ask yourself: What is being said? Who is saying it, and are they credible and knowledgeable on the subject? What kinds of biases may be present? Is the information coming from someplace designed to create “shock value” and get people excited? Do I like some information just because it squares with what I already believe, or do facts and reason back it? Could I not only present this information but logically and reasonably defend it? If you find your only defense for a point is an emotional “because I like it/don’t like it” or “because that’s what my tribe says” or “because I said so,” then your passion is overshadowing your desire for truth.

This also holds true if someone asking a question about your position, asking where you got your information from, or disagreeing with you causes you to go on the offensive. As soon as you start name-calling and generalizing (for example: “all of you [expletive of choice] [political alignment of choice] are the same, and a bunch of [insult of choice]”), you’ve tipped your hand as to your motivation: ignorance and fear. Name-calling and verbal bullying have never been Masonic, and Godwin’s Law applies: when someone compares another person to Hitler or the Nazis, they’ve lost any high ground their argument may have had.

Additionally, subduing our passions requires the separation of facts from opinions. Not all articles (this one included) include a bibliography, footnotes, and cited works to help guide the reader. Neither does there exist in the punctuation arsenal an “opinion mark”: a glyph that, when placed at the end of a sentence, designates it as the author’s opinion rather than a statement of fact. Maybe there should be (insert opinion mark here). In any case, careful review with questions like those above, cross reference verification, and looking for biases can help determine what statements are unbiased, and which ones are opinions with particular agendas.

To improve ourselves, we choose the truth that comes out of reasoned and thoughtful research and examination rather than that which comes out of emotion alone. But choosing this truth is not enough: we must apply it to our lives and actions as well. The truth is not always convenient, but it is far better to admit an error in the present than to continue to reinforce it and ultimately suffer for it more in the future.

Speaking from personal experience, I can unequivocally say that one of the most liberating experiences is being proved wrong. To have the realization that you have been building upon an unstable foundation or with flawed materials and to make the choice to do better is indescribably freeing. No one wants to put their time and effort into making something flawed; we are all seeking to do good work and build towards perfection. It is when we can take a step back, acknowledge a mistake, and then most importantly, work to correct it that our most meaningful progress is made. It may feel like it’s embarrassing to admit a wrong, but the freedom that comes from shedding unhealthy habits and viewpoints more than eclipses it. Furthermore, if you are surrounded by people who truly care for you, they will never make you feel small or incompetent for learning and growing.

As we move forward and progress through our current unusual circumstances, some things will stay with us, and some will fall away. It is my earnest hope that we will emerge with a greater appreciation of little things we took for granted: the power of a warm handshake, having a meal with a friend, exchanging smiles. What I hope we leave behind, and what we need to leave behind, is derisiveness. No matter how Freemasonry moves in the future, it is imperative that we move together.

In these current days of separation, where we rely on virtual platforms to stay connected, we cannot consider it the same as a face-to-face conversation. What is posted is posted for all to read, and lingers on a long time after we post it. It is imperative for us as Freemasons to be especially conscious of what we choose to share, whether that is fair or not: many look to us to be an example of truth and a beacon, and Brothers look to each other for good council and Light.

So consider what you build and how your work takes shape. Build thoughtfully and carefully, understanding that your edifice is visible to many by your actions, but especially during times of separation, it is visible by the physical marks you leave with the words you choose. Choose wisely what you sow, as those seeds will grow up around you, and eventually you will be held accountable for your crop, on either this plane or the next.

“Getting back to normal” is chorused by many seeking relief from our current situation. But if we wish to survive and thrive, we can’t let normal become acceptable. Let’s never go back to normal; normal has never suited us, and we have more potential than that. Let us, instead, plant a foot firmly on the path to Light, and press forward to better.

~SAH

RWB Spencer Hamann is a luthier and musicologist working in northern Illinois. He is an avid woodworker and artificer, and enjoys antique restorations and custom commissions.Curatorship and adding value are core to his personal philosophies. Spencer was Raised in 2013, and served Libertyville Lodge No. 492 as Worshipful Master from 2017-2018. He is the Senior Warden of Spes Novum Lodge No. 1183, and serves the Grand Lodge of Illinois as their Grand Representative to Wisconsin, District Education officer for the 1st NE District, and is a Certified Lodge Instructor (CLI). He can be contacted at spencer@sahamann.com

A Similar Crisis

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

It's not at all uncommon to hear someone on a news broadcast say, "I've never seen anything like this before," even when, in many cases, the event is not quite as unique as the news makes it out to be.

So along comes Coronavirus, and I've heard it said about a thousand times on news reports… say it with me... "I've never seen anything like this before." Maybe with a single exception… the AIDS epidemic… most of us actually never have seen something like this. There remain, however, a few centenarians who have experienced a similar crisis: the great Influenza epidemic of 1918, 102 years ago. In fact, I even saw a report of a 103-year-old woman in Italy who has now survived being stricken with both the 1918 flu and today's COVID-19 virus. I'm not sure if that makes her the luckiest person ever or the unluckiest.

The similarities between the two pandemics made me wonder how Masons reacted to the 1918 event. The documentation is spotty, but there are enough examples to indicate Freemasonry played a role in the relief effort.

In 1918, very few people had a telephone, and even fewer towns had access to a radio station. Mass media and social media were from a single source: newspapers. As the virus spread, the reaction from the press was surprisingly similar to the things we see in our current crisis. The United States Health Service issued guidelines that would be good advice even today. Newspapers printed that advice and issued calls for help to mitigate the fact public health facilities were being taxed to the limit. Sound familiar?

In similar fashion as today, Lodges and Grand Lodges alike suspended normal activities. Lacking email, Twitter, Facebook, and other communications tools, those Lodges also posted notifications in their local newspapers.

Freemasons rallied across the country. In lieu of meetings, Lodges did what they were equipped to do. Masons opened their kitchens and made food for victims and health workers alike. Many other Lodges made their dining facilities available to the public and served meals. In Pennsylvania, the Grand Lodge moved healthy elderly residents of a retirement home into a Lodge where they could be segregated from those in the residence already stricken with the flu.

Far and away, the main thing Freemasons did during the pandemic was to convert their Lodge buildings into hospitals, many in towns that had no hospital at all.

In short, the country was knee-deep in a crisis, and Freemasons were there to help. That begs the question, what are we doing today?

In spite of the similarities between the two pandemics, our response, or anyone's response for that matter, would have to be different. While hospital beds are in short supply in many areas, Masonic Lodges are not well-suited to be hospitals. Other large facilities such as arenas, hotels, and even temporary buildings are filling that gap.

We can't open our Lodges to serve as eating places given the quarantine regulations, and many Lodges are not equipped to cook and deliver meals. Besides, restaurants have taken over that function by delivering carry-out meals, sometimes at no charge.

Things are further complicated by the fact that in virtually all jurisdictions, Lodges can't meet. In my jurisdiction, that means we can't vote on any distribution of funds or other activities that would require the Lodge's consent. Also, today, as opposed to 1918, there are far more large and coordinated relief efforts taking charge and providing assistance. Still, there are areas of need where Grand Lodges or individual members can step in.

The Grand Lodge of Ohio issued a report that enumerates some of its activities on the local and state levels. There, individual Lodge Brothers are delivering food and supplies to those who can't get out. They are also deferring payment for those items if the recipients are unable to pay. One Brother has set up an online audiobook library using his own collection of books for members, their families, and widows to access and enjoy. Still, another Lodge is calling not only its members but others in the community to do wellness checks. Another Brother with access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) he has accumulated in his job through the years is donating it to the medical community.

Any one of these ideas or something similar (like individual donations to food banks) would be something a Lodge can do as a grassroots effort by its members, without requiring a vote in a stated meeting. We are Masons, and one of our great tenets is relief. We don't always need formal votes and large-scale programs to pitch in. We need Brothers who will do it because… that's what we do.

A century ago, Masons stepped up to be among those at the forefront during a devastating pandemic. A century from now, what will they say about the Masonic effort in this crisis?

* * *

Note: The author's grandfather, Cord Harrison, died in the 1918 pandemic. He was a druggist, likely infected by a customer. He died early in the crisis before its impact was fully understood.

When is a Man a Mason?

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Brian L. Pettice, 33˚

When I joined the Valley of Danville, Illinois, twenty-three years ago this past March 22nd, each member of my class was presented with a book—The Builders by Joseph Fort Newton. I’ve never read this book cover to cover, but I have read a good portion of it over the years, and I would say it has helped shape what I think of Freemasonry, and what it means to be a Freemason. Over the years, I’ve occasionally visited its pages to learn, to re-learn and reflect, and to reground myself when I’ve needed to.

This past month, our country, our communities, our fraternity, and, indeed, each of us entered a time of crisis. This change, for most of us, was relatively abrupt and shocking. Most of us hadn’t seriously thought about a crisis like COVID 19, nor how we would respond to it and the changes it has wrought. Crises often bring out both the best and worst in people. I know this because I’ve experienced crisis several times in my life, and I know that it brought out both the best and the worst in me and those experiencing it with me.

This crisis has proved no different. With no meetings to go to, I’ve felt a kind of Masonic lethargy. My time this spring mostly would have been filled with preparing for and learning and re-learning parts for different lodge and appendant body degrees. I feel relieved not having to do that, but learning and re-learning parts are also one of the ways that I immerse myself in reflection on the meaning of those specific parts and degrees. It is also how I meet with and connect with my Brethren.

Without any of that reflection and connection, I have felt my Masonic spirit atrophy. Worse, a lot of the time I would have spent in learning and reflection with my Brothers, I filled with time online and on Facebook. Don’t get me wrong; I think Facebook can be a fantastic way to communicate. I have seen it used by many people, organizations, and brethren to spread messages that are uplifting and feed our spirits—the best in people. Unfortunately, I have also seen it used by people, organizations, and even brethren to spread messages that lack truth, that denigrate and mock those with whom they disagree, that threaten violence, and that encourage the mindset that “others” are less than human—the worst in people. Worse than this though, is what witnessing this worst in others brings out in me. I have found myself feeling disdain towards others that post or like things I disagree with. I have found myself wanting to share that disdain—to meet adverse action with like adverse action rather than kindness. I knew I needed to make a change.

And so it was that I sat down to read a portion of The Builders this weekend. Unlike some other times that I opened this book, I didn’t really know what part of it I wanted to read. I knew I wanted to fill my mind with that that would uplift my soul and get me on the right track again, but I wasn’t sure where I would find that, so I decided to start at the beginning. I didn’t get far. I thumbed past the Title page and the contents and the list of illustrations and got to the Preface. There, the late Francis G. Paul, 33° (Past Sovereign Grand Commander of the NMJ and author of the Preface in my edition of the book), directs us to Newton’s essay, “When is a Man a Mason?” that concludes the book.

When I went there I found this:

"When is a man a Mason? When he can look out over the rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a profound sense of his own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope, and courage-which is the root of every virtue. When he knows that down in his heart every man is as noble, as vile, as divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive, and to love his fellowman. When he knows how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yea, even in their sins-knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds. When he has learned how to make friends and to keep them, and above all how to keep friends with himself. When he loves flowers, can hunt birds without a gun, and feels the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he hears the laugh of a little child. When he can be happy and high-minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life. When star-crowned trees and the glint of sunlight on flowing waters subdue him like the thought of one much loved and long dead. When no voice of distress reaches his ears in vain, and no hand seeks his aid without response. When he finds good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of divine things and sees majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of that faith may be. When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and into the face of the most forlorn fellow mortal and see something beyond sin. When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope. When he has kept faith with himself, with his fellowman, and with his God; in his hands a sword for evil, in his heart a bit of a song-glad to live, but not afraid to die! Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which it is trying to give to all the world."

This is a beautiful essay that deserves ample reflection, but one sentence really connected with me this evening.

When is a man a Mason? When he knows that down in his heart every man is as noble, as vile, as divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive, and to love his fellowman.

How often I forget this simple truth. I am, and we all are both the best and the worst, the noble and the vile, the divine, and the diabolic. Knowing this, my duty and purpose and reason for being a Mason is to continue to seek to know and to love and to forgive my fellow man. When I can do that when I can see the noble and divine in others, even when at their most vile and diabolic, I will be looking at them with divine eyes—seeing them the way God sees them—worthy of my kindness, respect, affection, and love. This is what I am pledged to do for my Brethren and all of Humanity. I hope my Brethren will look on me with the same forbearance.

~BLP

Brian L. Pettice, 33° is a Past Master of Anchor Lodge No. 980 and plural member of Olive Branch Lodge No. 38 in Danville, IL and an Honorary Member of a couple of others. He is also an active member of both the York and Scottish Rites. He cherishes the Brothers that have become Friends over the years and is thankful for the opportunities Freemasonry gives and has given him to examine and improve himself, to meet people he might not otherwise have had chance to meet, and to do things he might not otherwise have had a chance to do. He is employed as an electrician at the University of Illinois and lives near Alvin, IL with his wife Janet and their son Aidan. He looks forward to sharing the joy the fraternity brings him with others. His email address is aasrmason@gmail.com.