Very true! After the ritual is over anyone can say or do anything they want but in my jurisdiction singing "Closer My Lord To Thee" during the ritual would not be permitted. Since he had previously been told not to do this why was this not enforced?
He was no longer permitted to sing it during the degree so he stopped. By the time I met him he was still carrying a torch over the issue that others considered resolved. To me it's instructive that when I told him he could sing it after the degree he didn't understand.
Around 5 years ago GLofTX banned use of Chamber of Reflection because it was being done *during* first degrees. It's not a part of the mandatory ritual so it's not allowed. To me the solution was so obvious. Move it to before the lodge is tiled and then it's not included at all. Performed but not included, problem about ritual vanishes instantly. But no the lodge doing it insisted so the practice got banned in general.
Folks do think through what's a part of the ritual of the degree versus what's a part of the opening and closing ceremonies. But they don't think through that there is a period for free form activity during the tiled time and more periods for free form activity before and after the tiled time.
