Making a Case for Templarism

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Randy Sanders

When I petitioned York Rite years ago, I petitioned too early in my Masonic path. It wasn’t that I needed more time to learn my Blue Lodge lessons, it was that there existed too few learned companions that could teach the deep lessons. The same remains today, meaning in most cases I had to learn the lessons on my own and without any mentoring, just like in Blue Lodge. Fast forward to receiving my Orders in Knights Templar, and I was stunned at the words I heard, the amazing allegory, the beautiful charges to be a better man. And I held deep hope in my heart when I attended my first and second Commandry meetings which also turned out to be my last.

Why would they be my last? After all, I experienced sheer beauty and powerful imagery in receiving the orders. How can I make a case for Templarism if I myself became disillusioned over stale coffee and dragging business meetings? You know, the same stale coffee and dragging business meetings we endure in Blue Lodge? I experienced even worse in the Asylum. I listened to adult men argue over the placement of a ribbon or pants length on a uniform of no significance, argue over foot placement during extremely basic marching and maneuvering drills, and watched them wear funny hats in the name of a 150-ish-year-old tradition. A tradition supposedly connected to a centuries-old religious military order that quite possibly obtained and applied the spiritual teachings of the East.

Doesn’t sound like much reason yet, right? The meaning is lost on those focused on the outer trappings. That is partly my definition of outer trappings: physicality that inhibits passage into the inner workings of anything. Remember the lessons of the Entered Apprentice to not get caught up in the outside world, to subdue your passions so that you might shed the physical and thereby get on with the important stuff. Today’s Templars with a few exceptions lost their way, and we can bring life back into an organization with such beautiful lessons. We must be the ones who teach those lessons because those adept at teaching the lessons within the organization become scarce. There’s egotistical infighting at the leadership levels as recently exposed at the national level, there’s devolution into the unimportant worries of whether a uniform is worn correctly, or the hat has enough feathers, or the foot is lifted high enough while marching. It’s all allegory. It isn’t important except to those who never understood the allegory.

Knights Templar and Templarism is indeed worth saving, and we should make the effort. Templarism allegory demonstrates the 24-inch gauge by teaching us to work toward preparation and to balance our time. It teaches personal ritual by demonstrating preparing the uniform as an allegory of cleansing and preparing yourself to meditate or do inner work (see an excellent article or catch the YouTube reading of Personal Ritual by Brother Chuck Dunning). Templarism teaches the allegory of the righteous battle as a means toward working hard to find your higher self, and finally, Templarism parallels the journey toward enlightenment by the finding of the Lost Word. What? No lost word? Templarism calls it the Holy Grail.

Again, the lessons of Templarism, largely lost on most current Templars, continue to be worthy of saving. Templarism teaches a wonderful set of philosophical values and moral virtues. Templarism lessons extend well beyond the stale coffee, silly costumes, and stomping footwork for those willing to take that next allegorical marching step. The symbolism encompasses a contemplative path toward Light, and the allegories of the Orders demonstrate the inner workings of the Psyche, or Self, on its various cyclical journeys. Journeys that lead to the Divine. These remain powerful internal lessons we may preserve while reminding the leadership and ritualists that the external lessons are outer trappings that have trapped many unworthy Knights thus denying them the Grail. There are always deeper meanings to any Masonic body.

~RS

Randy and his wife Elyana live near St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Randy earned a bachelor's Degree in Chemistry with an emphasis in Biochemistry, and he works in Telecom IT management. He volunteers as a professional and personal mentor, NRA certified Chief Range Safety Officer, and enjoys competitive tactical pistol, rifle, and shotgun. He has 30-plus years of teaching Wing Chun Kung Fu, Chi Kung, and healing arts. Randy served as a Logistics Section Chief on two different United States federal Disaster Medical Assistance Teams over a 12-year span. Randy is a 32nd-degree KCCH and Knight Templar. His Masonic bio includes past Lodge Education Officer for two symbolic lodges, Founder of the Wentzville Lodge Book Club, member of the Grand Lodge of Missouri Education Committee, Sovereign Master of the E. F. Coonrod AMD Council No. 493, Co-Librarian of the Scottish Rite Valley of St. Louis, Clerk for the Academy of Reflection through the Valley of Guthrie, and a Facilitator for the Masonic Legacy Society. Randy is a founding administrator for Refracted Light, a full contributor to Midnight Freemasons, and an international presenter on esoteric topics. Randy hosts an open ongoing weekly Masonic virtual Happy Hour on Friday evenings. Randy is an accomplished home chef, a certified barbecue judge, raises Great Pyrenees dogs, and enjoys travel and philosophy.

Preserving Our Legacy: Past Master Jewels

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Jim Stapleton

After a Worshipful Master has served their Lodge and a qualified successor has been installed in their place, the Brother becomes the Lodge’s new junior Past Master. Even though Past Masters don’t have the same authority as Worshipful Masters, Past Masters continue to have a special role in their Lodges. They help to advise the Worshipful Master. The wise counsel whispered by a Past Master is immensely important. They also often serve on various Lodge committees and fill Trustee roles. Past Masters are called upon to head up committees of investigation and help to guard the West Gate. A dedicated cadre of Past Masters is truly necessary for a Lodge to function.

In many jurisdictions, an outgoing Master is presented with a Past Master jewel. This is a way for the Brethren to demonstrate their appreciation and acknowledge the work performed by the Past Master. These jewels are often beautifully ornate pieces. Past Master jewels might be made of a variety of materials, but a number of them are made of gold or silver. Sometimes they are even embellished with precious gemstones. The name of the Brother and the year(s) during which they served as Master are frequently engraved on the back of the medal. Regardless of the jewel’s intrinsic worth or value, it surely has deep sentimental meaning for the Brother.

In my Lodge, as well as many others, the Past Master jewel is technically on loan to the Brother. The idea is that the jewel stays in the Past Master’s possession while they are alive. However, when the Brother is called from Labor and goes to the Lodge on High, the jewel should be returned to the Lodge. These valuable objects can then be cleaned and restored so that they can be presented to a future Past Master. Engraving on the back of the jewel gets updated to show which individuals were entrusted with it, along with the years they served as Master. This is a way to preserve a lodge’s financial resources because it isn’t necessary to constantly buy new jewels every year. More importantly, it is a physical manifestation of the interconnectedness of the Lodge’s previous Past Masters.

This is why it breaks my heart to scroll through online sites that sell used Past Master jewels. Recently, a Brother pointed out that a Past Master jewel from one of the Lodges that merged to form my Lodge was up for sale on a popular bidding site. The antique dealer that was selling the jewel wanted a small fortune. It felt like the medal was being held, hostage! I emailed the seller to say that it was a piece of Lodge history and that those jewels are actually the property of their Lodges. Sadly, (but not surprisingly) I never received a response.

Past Masters that belong to Lodges that refurbish the jewels should make it clear to their families that the jewels are to be returned to the Lodge after their passing. Family members that don’t know of this custom cannot be expected to know any better. Brothers can even add the wish to have the jewel returned to the Lodge in their wills. That way, their loved ones can ensure that these pieces of history are brought back to the Lodge to live on for future Masonic generations.

As Masons, we are stewards of our Lodge resources and have a responsibility to our future members. What we have in Freemasonry today is because we had fraternal ancestors that worked to build for the future. In the same manner, we need to do what we can to ensure that future generations can also enjoy the Fraternity and appreciate the historical connections to past Brethren.

~JS

Jim Stapleton is the Senior Warden of USS New Jersey Lodge No. 62. He is also a member of the New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education No. 1786. Jim received the Distinguished White Apron Award from the Grand Lodge of New Jersey. He was awarded the Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award. Jim is also a member of the Society of King Solomon.

“The Shade of Trees They’ll Never Sit Under”: Investing for the Lodge and Your Future Brethren - Part 2

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Phillip Welshans

Part 2: Defining the Parameters

This material has been prepared for general and educational purposes only. This material does not provide recommendations concerning investments, investment strategies, or account types. It is not individualized to the needs of any specific investor and is not intended to suggest that any particular investment action is appropriate for you, nor is it intended to serve as the primary basis for investment decision-making. Any tax-related discussion contained in this material, including any attachments/links, is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding any tax penalties or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to any other party any transaction or matter addressed herein. Please consult your independent legal counsel and/or tax professional regarding any legal or tax issues raised in this material. All investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal.

Before we get into the weeds of managing lodge investments, it's probably helpful to start at a 30,000-foot view and define the parameters of our discussion. Investing, like most fields, has a dictionary of technical jargon and terminology that is accessible to all but understood by the few who take the time to learn (sound familiar?). For example, many people know what a stock is, per se, but not what it's for or how its price and value are related.1 A stock is something you can buy and sell, but so what?

This is also because I don't want to simply assume every brother reading this is starting with the same level of knowledge. If you're new to investing, either in your personal life or in your involvement with your lodge (or both), it will do you no good whatsoever if I jump right in with jargon and wrongly assume everyone spends every working day around this stuff like I do. So, this post starts with some basics. If you're reading this and saying to yourself, "I know this already," that's cool; skip ahead to other posts and you'll be fine.

Defining Investing

Investing is buying a security or financial interest in a venture or business that is designed to generate a return on investment (ROI) for the investor. It is one of the fundamental means by which capital is allocated in a capitalist society. There are people who need capital to start a business, grow a business, build a prototype, etc. Existing companies need additional capital to expand their operations or fund new capital expenditures ("capex"). They can all access that capital through a variety of means, not least of which is attracting investors, both public and private.2

Generally, in our discussion, we will think of investing as buying and selling securities in companies, funds, and so on, rather than buying direct interests in businesses. The reason for this is ease of use and low cost. Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, it's not practical for most lodges to expend the time, energy, and money needed to make direct investments in businesses or ventures. Especially when the huge, highly liquid secondary markets are easier and cheaper to access than ever.3 Most brokerage firms like Fidelity or Vanguard or Schwab offer every customer commission-free trades on thousands of mutual funds and ETFs. For the vast majority of lodges out there, your investment management will occur almost solely in the secondary markets.

Individual & Institution: The Two Types of Investors

Just as there are dog people and cat people, Dodge people and Chevy people, fries people, and onion rings people, so too there are two types of investors: individuals and institutions. Individuals are you and me, sitting at our desk or computer, buying and selling stocks. You may have heard the term "retail" investor bandied about as well, and generally this and "individual" investor are interchangeable so we'll use them that way here too. Institutional investors are large organizations such as corporate or government pension funds, asset managers, university endowments, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, and banks. These investors are giant players in the markets with, in most cases, (tens of) billions of dollars to throw around. For example, the biggest pension fund, Japan's government pension scheme, has something like $1.5 TRILLION dollars under management.

Retail investors tend to have smaller accounts individually4, although by some measurements still makeup about half of all assets under management. They also tend to be less "sophisticated" investors, seeing as how most retail investors' day jobs are not in investing or finance broadly.5 For many retail investors, investing is a hobby or a task they have to perform in order to plan for retirement.

You may (or may not) be surprised to learn that Grand Lodges are considered institutional investors. Many Grand Lodges have accrued large holdings of real estate and other assets over their many decades of existence, and they've created foundations and endowments to manage those assets. If you attend your Grand Lodge's annual or semiannual communications, there is probably a portion of the proceedings and information packet dedicated to the performance of these accounts.6 Almost certainly your Grand Lodge, via an internally formed investment or finance committee, has hired a professional financial advisor to manage those assets full-time, and that advisor will usually provide regular updates to whatever committee or other body has been tasked with keeping tabs on these substantial sums of money.

But what about your lodge? Individual lodges share traits of both individuals and institutions. On the one hand, most lodges' assets will be closer to those of an average individual investor (let's say <$1 million as a round number) than an institution. Often a lodge's investments will not even be the biggest asset it owns, that being the lodge building and/or land itself. Moreover, a lodge may not have a brother or brethren who are active members and have any sort of investment knowledge. Therefore, as an "investor," the lodge may be fairly unsophisticated. That's OK! Not every lodge needs to have a Warren Buffett in-house in order to successfully manage their investments. We'll talk more about why that is and what steps those lodges might want to take later on.

Yet in other ways, it's very much an institution. For one, it's a group of people pooling resources into a single entity. Many lodges are also set up as non-profits and are therefore tax-exempt, which has implications for how finances are managed and differ from retail investors, who must pay annoying things like capital gains taxes, income taxes on dividends, and property taxes. And the time horizon for a lodge is typically much longer than an individual. This is arguably the most important difference and is one I consider to be important enough that it's worth spending more time on in a future post.

My personal view is that it makes the most logical and prudent sense to approach most aspects of your lodge's investment management from the standpoint of an institutional investor. In this case, I think it's prudent to ignore the number of assets your lodge owns and focus instead on the implications for risk management and asset allocation that come with thinking like an institution. So from here on, I will be assuming we're thinking about your lodge as an institution and not as an individual investor.

Conclusion

So, after all that, where are we? In sum, these posts are going to be focusing on constituent lodge investment management, but through the prism of an institutional investor. We'll be confining our discussions to primarily public secondary markets, as this is where the vast majority of constituent lodges will be investing, but we will address other markets and assets as appropriate. And this will be done in layman's terms as much as possible, with plenty of footnotes and definitions of technical terms as needed.

1. Broadly, a stock is a claim on the cash flows of a business, extending out into the future. The value of a stock is those future cash flows (profits and any dividends paid), discounted back in time to today at some rate called, unsurprisingly, the "discount rate." They are discounted because a.) they're uncertain and not guaranteed and, b.) a dollar that might be received sometime in the future should implicitly be worth less than a dollar received today.
2. We will spend some time in a future post talking about the difference between public and private financial markets, how they fit into investment management, and how you may want to think about each as you monitor your lodge's assets over time. We'll get there, I promise!
3. There are "primary markets," which is where investors with large amounts of money and expertise invest directly in businesses. An example would be a venture capital fund making a large direct investment in a Silicon Valley startup. Another common example is an initial public offering (IPO), where a private company offers shares of stock to the public. The secondary markets are where investors trade already existing securities. If you buy/sell a stock or bond or share of a mutual fund, you're participating in the secondary market. The New York Stock Exchange is a secondary market.
4. Very wealthy individuals can be an exception to this rule. Lots of high-net-worth individuals (HNW) will have access to investment vehicles with large minimum requirements. I'm thinking mainly of hedge funds, closed end funds, and investment in private equity shops as limited partners. Those with enough wealth will create so-called "family offices" where a small team of analysts and portfolio managers will manage a family fortune full time. These family offices are kind of in a no-man's land; they're not really retail but they're also not considered institutions, strictly speaking. But practically speaking they're often treated as institutional investors. The wealthier you are, the more you behave and are treated like an institution within markets.
5. The use of the word "sophisticated" here was coined by the investment management industry, and is more than a little pejorative in my view. It's a way for the pros to put more distance between themselves and the masses of individual investors by making themselves seem smarter than some of us really are. Just my two cents. Plenty of "sophisticated" investors go bust every year while prudent, yet unsophisticated investors bank solid returns.
6. Many, but not all, Grand Lodges keep this information close to the vest and are loathe to disclose anything but the highest level of information. Lack of disclosure just breeds speculation in my opinion, even more so when you're talking about an organization made up of people who are already promising to keep the secrets communicated to us.

~PW

Phillip Welshans is Senior Warden of Palestine Lodge #189 in Catonsville, MD under the Grand Lodge of Maryland A.F. & A.M. He is also a member of the Maryland Masonic Lodge of Research #239, and the Hiram Guild of the Maryland Masonic Academy. As a member of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, S.J. in the Valley of Baltimore, he has completed the Master Craftsman programs and is a member of the Scottish Rite Research Society. His interests are primarily in Masonic education, particularly the history of the Craft, esotericism, and the philosophy of Masonry.

Moving Forward With the Next Phase

by Senior Midnight Freemason Contributor
Gregory J. Knott 33° 

As I write this article, I am having my first day of retirement. I recently retired from the University of Illinois with a combined 35 years of service, with my last role being that of Secretary of the Board of Trustees and Secretary of the University.

Most of my career was spent in various administrative roles in areas such as finance, budgets, human resources, facilities management and finally working with the University Board Chair and University President on all the affairs of the board of trustees.

As I reflect back, I couldn’t have achieved all that I was able to without the support of so many people. I have to begin by thanking my parents, Jack, and Barbara Knott, they sacrificed time and again to ensure that I was able to get through college, help me with buying cars, moving countless times, etc. They always supported me without question.

My wife Brooke, has been an endless rock of support. Being in administration in higher education isn’t always easy with the endless amount of personalities and issues that confront colleges today. Brooke has always been there for me, offering me support and a willing ear when needed. Nothing I have accomplished would have been possible without her.

Riley, my daughter, and Hayden, my son, also consistently encouraged me along the way. Like most parents, I wanted the best for them and always sought ways to help them succeed. They were also part of the support, I needed to stay so successful. They also helped provide me with the motivation to ensure they had everything they needed to succeed in life as well.

Recently, as Secretary of the University, I was able to sign my daughter's second college diploma from the University of Illinois. This actually makes three diplomas in total that I have signed for her, as she was a student at Parkland College when I was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Not sure how many dads get to do this, but none the least to say I am very humbled in getting to have done so.

In the workplace, I have had so many great mentors who encouraged me along the way in my journey. For fear of leaving some of them out, I won’t list them by name, but want to just say thank you! One of my first mentors, when I was a student worker, consistently challenged me, always giving me more than I thought I was capable of, but encouraging and coaching me and letting me see that I had skills that I didn’t know were possible. Even though it is more than 30 years later since that job, we still keep in touch and he has been a consistent cheerleader throughout my career.

I don’t know if it was fate or not, but it just seemed I was able to find one mentor after another in my career that made a positive impact on me. To each of them, I am so grateful for everything they did for me.

As I move into this next phase called retirement, I don’t entirely know what is ahead yet. But that is the part I am looking forward to, the new challenges and adventures that may come my way. Initially, I am going to take some much-needed time away from a 40-hour structured work week. I will be doing some substitute teaching in my local high school, and I am looking forward to being around the young people of today. I have often thought of the 24-inch gauge and how it applies to our daily life. I will be adjusting mine and looking forward to the future.

As we learn through the masonic degrees, life is a journey, where we gain more working tools and knowledge along the way. We are “traveling upon the level of time to that undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.”.

I wish you well on your journey.

~GJK

Gregory J. Knott, 33° is a founding member and Senior Contributor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Past Master of St. Joseph Lodge No. 970 in St. Joseph (IL) and a plural member of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL) and Naval Lodge No. 4 in Washington, DC. He’s a member of the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Eastern Star and is the Charter Secretary of the Illini High Twelve Club No. 768 in Champaign-Urbana. He is also a member of ANSAR Shrine (IL) and the Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees. Greg serves on the Board of Directors of The Masonic Society and is a member of the Scottish Rite Research Society and The Philathes Society. He is a charter member of a new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter U.D., and serves as its Secretary. Greg is very involved in Boy Scouts—an Eagle Scout himself, he is a member of the National Association of Masonic Scouters.