My Freemasonry | Freemason Information and Discussion Forum

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

If many or most young people demit, is it worth joining?

John Doe123

Registered User
Hello Masons. I am not a Mason, but I was going to seek admission today. That is, until I learned that the average age of masons near me was around 60. This seems very high. Too high to be possible. I don't know if this number is accurate, but if it is, it implies that new people are demitting or are not joining. In other words, this implies that there isn't value in staying a member. So my question is, should I be discouraged? Is this a legitimate reason to seek fellowship elsewhere? I don't want to step aboard a sinking ship. I only want to be on winning teams.

Any thoughts would be most appreciated.
 

John Doe123

Registered User
If you are worried about the ship sinking then don't get onboard. If you can put your trust in the Captain then do it.
Thank you Morris for your reply. Well, both of these mutually exclusive questions are 100% true for me.

To break the tiebreaker I am here to learn. On the downside, the time investment and drawbacks in being a member are considerable. For one thing, it is very hard to know who I know is a Mason and two people must co-sign the petition. Another known downside is being hated by many conspiracy theorists. All these downsides make me question if it is worthwhile.
 
Last edited:

n8blanchard

Premium Member
While older age averages may be a discouragement to some I would encourage a new initiate to remember, you will only get out of Freemasonry what you put into it.
If you view it as a sinking ship, then you may want to reconsider your intent to join.
I would encourage you to think of the older Brethren as a source of wisdom and knowledge that you will never find anywhere else as opposed to "a loosing team".
If you look at it this way your experience will be much more rewarding.
Brotherly love and friendship has no age boundaries.
 

David N.

Premium Member
If I had to guess, I'd say that the average age around here is pretty high when it comes to membership. And that's membership on paper. Men who have been paying their dues for 40 years but I wouldn't know them on sight (and I'm pretty active.) But alot of younger motivated guys are taking leadership roles in my area.

I only want to be on winning teams

Can you...sort of clarify what you mean by this? Serious question. I didn't become a Freemason to be part of a winning team as far as numbers/demographics go. I actually can't put that into any sort of reasonable perspective.
 

John Doe123

Registered User
I would encourage you to think of the older Brethren as a source of wisdom and knowledge that you will never find anywhere else as opposed to "a loosing team".
If you look at it this way your experience will be much more rewarding.
Brotherly love and friendship has no age boundaries.

Thanks you n8blanchard for your advice. I fully agree. Indeed, I respect the elderly more than most anyone. The only use of age in the equation to me is that it implies there is not enough value to new members for them to stay or join.
 

JJones

Moderator
If there wasn't enough value in the fraternity then we wouldn't find 60+ year old members who have been in the fraternity longer than I've been alive across the board.

Yes, there are some problems that need addressed and hurdles that we need to overcome, both at the GL and local levels, but as a mason who's considered young by most standards I can vouch that the value is there.

That being said, there are a lot of men my age who I've seen raised only to be discouraged or frustrated by older members. Freemasonry is a labor of love and if you tend to walk away from things when they become problematic then you may want to look elsewhere. Not trying to imply anything here, it's just something I've observed numerous times.
 

John Doe123

Registered User
I only want to be on winning teams

Can you...sort of clarify what you mean by this?

Sure, of course. What I am saying is that if I have an option to join a team, I would avoid a team that has a bad record. If I am picking a stock, I would first filter by the sector, to make sure that is doing well. If it were the 1990s, I would avoid investing in the #1 typewriter company. In the past decade some publishing houses have declared bankruptcy. I would avoid taking a job with an old school publishing house. If I were looking for a job, I would avoid taking an offer of a company that is in debt and low on cash and with a declining stock. The old ages imply something is very wrong with this organization. If the entire outfit might be defunct soon and it isn't of benefit to others who've become Masons, I don't want to make a lifetime commitment.

There are certainly wealthy philanthropists who have extra time and money to help out people in need. If Masons fit into that category, I would probably only do them a disservice by joining, since my own resources are limited.
 

n8blanchard

Premium Member
While I understand the desire to question the of "Value" of the craft I will retort back to my original comment.
"Value" is personal and subjective, and depends entirely on what you "think" it is going to do for you.
Again the value you get will be proportionate to the value you give.

I sit in Lodge with many members who have been active for 50 years (Not age - Active). The other night I visited a lodge that celebrated three Masonic Birthdays of 47, 49 & 50 years respectively.

The true value lies in our beautiful institution, that has for almost 300 years, stood the test of time and continues to make good men better.
 

n8blanchard

Premium Member
P.S. As you can see by several of the posters in this thread we are not all old. :)
Additionally I would suggest that there is an upswing in younger gentlemen, specifically in my area, who are joining.
 

Companion Joe

Premium Member
I will go ahead and say that from the sounds of your posts, you might want to go ahead and look somewhere else if you are trying to find a fraternal organization. Freemasonry isn't about winning teams or whatever that is about. Age is a number. Those men are fountains of experience. The type of young men that don't recognize that are not the type of young men I particularly care to associate with.

Don't concern yourself with the longevity of Freemasonry. The fraternity as we know it has been alive and well for 298 years. It will continue to be alive and well long after others have gone the way of the dodo. There are ebbs and flows in everything, but Freemasonry has withstood the tides of time.

As for worrying about conspiracy theorists, well, lions don't concern themselves with the opinions of sheep.
 

rpbrown

Premium Member
I look to our older members for wisdom and teaching. We have one of our lodges founding members still active (66 years and counting). Yes, we have younger members, some that are only 18. But they are taking it for what it is, a learning experience. Only a few younger people from our lodge have dropped but I feel that they were looking for Masonry to provide them something that it didn't, although I cant imagine what it was.
If you want a brotherhood with a long, steep tradition, and you want to learn those traditions, help others and have a fellowship, then Masonry is the right place.
 

amaya14

Registered User
John Doe,

I will echo all what it have said and I will only add that freemasonry is what form this country with our founding fathers who were Freemasons.
 

John Doe123

Registered User
Again guys I really respect older people and that isn't an issue for me. See my prior comment to that effect.

"It seems to me that the real issue is what you are joining to find."

Thus far I haven't indicated what I'm looking for. My purpose in posting is to resolve the paradox. I see this,

...lions don't concern themselves with the opinions of sheep.

which is a statement implying Masons are a strong fraternity. And yet there seems to be a problem in keeping young members, at least in my state. I know that some lodges are closing doors. It is a concern. The collective judgment of young people is nearly about all I have to go on, for they have much more knowledge about what benefits of being a Mason are than can I until or unless I successfully join.

So let me answer your question JamestheJust [about what my goals are] so that I can get better advice, although my original question still stands and is really separate, in my opinion. What I would value in life now is advice from experienced and successful people about how I can fail less often in my business and personal life and how I can succeed more often. I'm not saying I'm doing that poorly now. Rather, that I have a feeling I am not hitting on all cylinders, so to speak. If I had someone to tell me what not to do I am sure it would be of use and value. Does Masonry still offer that (as much as it did in the 1950s when membership peaked), or is that a reason younger membership is apparently an issue in some lodges? If on the other hand I am only going to be learning about viet nam, perhaps it is best to not join.
 
Last edited:

n8blanchard

Premium Member
Good morning again John Doe,

Try to keep in mind, in my humble opinion, the true strength and value in Masonry is not in our numbers. I will leave that at that.

Addressing your second and more direct question;
While I can assure you, you will find friends and mentors within your journey that I am sure can offer you any valuable life lesson you seek, I will suggest that if that is your primary reason for joining you should look elsewhere.
IMHO - It is not a business and networking platform meant to give you incredible connections and business acumen. Yes, that MAY happen outside of Lodge, but If that is your only objective try a business seminar or life coach.

Regards,
NTB
 

crono782

Premium Member
Part of the reason for the large skew in age of membership is due to the affectionately termed "GAoF" or the Golden Age of Fraternalism. This was a post WWII and beyond period of massive membership rushes in most fraternal organizations, Freemasonry being among them. The remnants of which we now see as a hyper-inflated membership age range. What you are seeing now is things equalizing. Yes, there are many members who are long in the tooth, but that does not mean that younger men are not joining. Yes, some Lodges are closing their doors, but that does not mean others are not growing.

I get it that you do not what to join an organization, put lots of time into it, only to see it go defunct. Like others have said, Freemasonry, has stood the test of time through drastic swings in membership, when it was outright outlawed in areas, had active political bodies rally against it, etc.

There is a wealth of knowledge to be passed on from the older generation which, in turn, you can pass on yourself.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
The dropout rate isn't any different from what it has always been. About half of all men initiated to Entered Apprentice are still members when they die.

The average age has a pair of causes. First as mentioned above was an out of pattern large influx of members during the WWI and WWII generations. That introduced a bump with similar effects in Masonry that the Baby Boom generation has in general American society. Second was the Me Generation of late Boomers generally didn't join any organizations so the positive demographic bump was followed by a negative demographic bump. We got so many Granddads but so few Dads. Or Great-granddads and Granddads depending on your age.

Now the rate of petitioners is back to what it was before a century ago. But the minimum age is 18 these days and there is only one person alive on Earth who's 118 years old and she's not a brother. Our records show the trend quite clearly but it has taken longer than living memory to happen.

The new generation is petitioning in floods. Life balance seems to be a theme among a generation who saw their parents be workaholics. We are one of the primary places that teach life balance.

You appear to want something trendy. Right now we're watching the guys who joined us as part of a trend die of old age. Trendy isn't something we'd learned to find appealing.
 

pointwithinacircle2

Rapscallion
Premium Member
What I would value in life now is advice from experienced and successful people about how I can fail less often in my business and personal life and how I can succeed more often. I'm not saying I'm doing that poorly now. Rather, that I have a feeling I am not hitting on all cylinders, so to speak. If I had someone to tell me what not to do I am sure it would be of use and value.
John, It depends on how you define success. If you mean money then you are in the wrong place. If you see success as having an inner sense of Honor, Happiness, and Integrity then you are asking the right question. But I caution you that just as no man is forced to become a Mason, no Mason is forced to learn these lessons. The lessons are offered to Masons in the form of symbols and allegory. It is up to the individual to study and decipher their meaning. It is not an easy task. Yes, having older, wiser men to guide you is a plus. But remember this: Some things cannot be taught using words, they must be experienced to be understood. What Masonry offers is the experience of Manhood, of Character Building, of Individual Self Improvement. The work to make these things your own is up to you. When I was a new Mason I expected to be given these things, and I was disappointed. I considered quitting. What I discovered was that my disappoint was of my own making. That was disappointment was due to what Masons call my own "vices and superfluities" A good definition of this is:

Vices and Superfluities
The word "vice" comes from Latin where it means "a flaw or weakness." A stone with a flaw is not suited to the builder's use. Its flaw will weaken the whole building. A man with a flaw is – well, all of us. Don't kid yourself. We are all imperfect, even if we rise to the level of "good enough to pass." Vice is about not living up to the ideals we know are there, the ideals we strive for. It's about failing to care about other people and the hurtful consequences of our actions. Living in the moment is a good thing, but not if you lack compassion for others, not if you are only thinking about your own pleasure, wealth, or power.

One of the first things a Mason is taught is that he should begin ridding himself of these. For me it didn't happen easily or quickly, but the experience and the understanding that I acquired as a result have made me the man I am today.

As for the age of the members; I find that in my Lodge the younger people may be outnumbered but they are the ones who are taking the leadership roles.
 
Last edited:
Top