Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Blind Leading the Blind

Masonic lodges ideally bring men of good will together under the auspices of self betterment amongst ones brethren. The premise that we are a moral order with wise and high minded purposes, concerned with the betterment of society and the individual are part of the masonic plan. Yet in some lodges of Freemasonry, we rush the candidates through the degrees for no good reason. I think this is a huge mistake, as it minimizes all the qualities which our ritual is supposed to inculcate, it minimizes the ritual itself which is part of the tie that binds, and most importantly it confuses the candidate who is on a journey, of mind and spirit that requires time to imbed its pattern in the initiate. What is the hurry. Ultimately it is shortsighted and a bit hypocritical. It suggests that our fraternity has actually little understanding of the mystery today, and is a potential harbinger of demise. It is not ideal for the blind to lead the blind. We are either afraid of what the established religions are thinking of us or we have forgotten entirely what the mystical school is designed to awaken and teach.

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