What do you mean? Freemasonry is (among other things) an organization of individuals. How can an individual take responsibility for a group/club/organizational experience ? It seems antithetical to me.
I hope this question was directed at me because, well, thank you for asking. I agree completely that Freemasonry is an organization of individuals. I was taught that Freemasonry is structured around the individual. Its purpose is to provide the individual with the tools and symbols necessary for personal improvement. It
does not tell the individual Mason what to do with himself once he has become a better man. That is up to the individual Freemason to decide. This decision constitutes the "Masonic Experience".
I recall an old poem that goes something like this:
some ships sail east and some sail west
on the self same wind that blows
tis the set of the sail and not the gale
that determines which way she goes
It is not the observing of the wind, but the setting of the sail that determines the Masonic experience.
There is another sailing story that might be pertinent here. About 2500 years ago a wise man said something that translates roughly as: "If one does not know to which port one is sailing no wind is favorable".
Early in my Freemasonic career I was rather bitterly disappointed by some of the things I experienced as a Mason. Freemasonry, and my Lodge Brothers, were just not living up to my expectations. I didn't know what to do. I almost quit. Instead I did something rather un-Masonic. I thought to myself "To heck with these fraternal jerks, I can be a better Mason than all of them". And that is exactly what I set out to do. When no Brother could make time to teach me the ritual, I got a printed copy and sat at home and learned it by myself. So, when the next man petitioned and all the "Senior" Brothers were scrambling around saying "Where can we find someone who can do the EA lecture, it was me, the newest and youngest Mason in the Lodge, who stood and said "WM, I can perform the EA lecture". And that is exactly what I did. And when I gave that lecture I felt something. I felt both proud and humbled. I felt the thing that I came to Masonry looking for. I felt like a Mason. I found the thing that I had expected the group/club/organization to give me, but I had learned that it cannot be given, it can only be earned. The point here is that I chose a port. I said "This is the Mason who I will become, and I will do it no matter which way the winds of my Lodge are blowing". And that has made all the difference.
So, I encourage other Masons to do what I did, to step out, to take a risk, to face their fears, to be better than they think they can be. To stand and take action as an individual Freemason. I am sure there are other ways to receive the wages of a MM. I just do not know any of them.
I hope that my Brothers will not find this rather self-revealing tale to be in bad taste. It is a part of my story, and I only have one story to tell.