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!

Recommending Comasonry

Status
Not open for further replies.

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
So... in your mind, our Freemasonry is no different than any other "Masonry lodge"?
In my mind, my Freemasonry is no different that any other role-playing society with moral purposes that put on the façade of being descendent from stonecraft, except that mine is one to which I belong, it is much more connected to other organizations than the unconnected ones, it is far more conservative, and it suffers from the same lack of actual self-improvement education as the others to which it is connected do.
I do not understand this way of thinking. At best (to me), all the other "Freemasonry organizations" are emulating us, or in a not so generous term... playing pretend.
They play pretend no more or less than we play pretend.
At worst, they are actively deceiving people into thinking their organizations are the same as ours.
Nah. We're all being deceived in one way or another by the wild claims that each organization puts out there to attract more members into their offered role-playing games.
I've read over what I just wrote, and it sounds harsh.
Nah. It sounds right in line with what you were trained to say. Chill! You'll round those edges soon enough Bro.!
Maybe it's because I'm so new. If I offended anyone I apologize.
Not yet. But you'll know when you do. :D
 
Last edited:

Thomas Stright

Premium Member
Glen Cook said:
One assumes you are speaking of female co-masons. It is my understanding they wear a modest gown.

So we need to change our rituals to meet the individual's need? All masons in my GL have went through the same as I have, It's what we have in common and IMHO places everyone on the level when entered.


Freemasonry is not restricted to men

According the to Obligation I took it is...
 
Last edited:

Brother JC

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
@LK600 Did you click on Glenn's link? "Regular in all ways except..." isn't just play-acting being us, it's conveying a moral message identical to ours in a different venue. I have no intention of trying to sit in lodge with any of these others, but I'm not going to vilify them, either. LDH has been around for over a century. It's not clandestine, it's unrecognized by my GL, that's all.
I think it's pretty egotistical to say our corporation is the only one that knows what it's doing.
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
So we need to change our rituals to meet the individual's need?
We do this already.

How many times has ritual been changed to assist candidates who...
  1. are in a wheelchair?
  2. lack an arm due to service in the military?
  3. suffer from an ailment that requires them to close their eyes rather than wear hoodwinks?
  4. have back problems such that the third ruffian situation has got to be acted out such that they don't damage their backs further?
Or how about an officer who is in a wheelchair who travels through each and every office in the lodge one per year where ritual become a challenge to be performed exactly like others do?

We do make changes and have done so for some time.
All masons in my GL have went through the same as I have, It's what we have in common and IMHO places everyone on the level when entered.
Your jurisdiction may be more rigid than others. It is not the same all over.
According the to Obligation I took it is...
Do you also believe that only Ford can make an authentic vehicle and that all other manufactures are pretenders?
 
Last edited:

Thomas Stright

Premium Member
We do this already.

How many times has ritual been changed to assist candidates who...
  1. are in a wheelchair?
  2. lack an arm due to service in the military?
  3. suffer from an ailment that requires them to close their eyes rather than wear hoodwinks?
  4. have back problems such that the third ruffian situation has got to be acted out such that they don't damage their backs further?
Or how about an officer who is in a wheelchair who travels through each and every office in the lodge one per year where ritual become a challenge to be performed exactly like others do?

We do make changes and have done so for some time.

Your jurisdiction may be more rigid than others. It is not the same all over.

Do you also believe that only Ford can make an authentic vehicle and that all other manufactures are pretenders?

As you already mentioned. My GL may be more rigid. I'm fine with how things are structured.

There are some things I would like see changed at the GL level but allowing women is not one of them


Sent from my iPhone using My Freemasonry mobile app
 

coachn

Coach John S. Nagy
Premium Member
As you already mentioned. My GL may be more rigid. I'm fine with how things are structured.
And yet, your next statement contradicts your fineness statement...
There are some things I would like see changed at the GL level ...
As would I.
...but allowing women is not one of them
And that is not the issue; it never was. However, claiming "freemasonry is restricted to men", without adding the conditional phrase "in the freemasonic order to which I belong" is.
 

LK600

Premium Member
@LK600 Did you click on Glenn's link? "Regular in all ways except..." isn't just play-acting being us, it's conveying a moral message identical to ours in a different venue. I have no intention of trying to sit in lodge with any of these others, but I'm not going to vilify them, either. LDH has been around for over a century. It's not clandestine, it's unrecognized by my GL, that's all.
I think it's pretty egotistical to say our corporation is the only one that knows what it's doing.

Egotistical? How about I change my name to yours... and go around and tell everyone I'm you.. or the same as you. It's okay because I'm probably conveying similar things as you would? no... it wouldn't be okay, and in some settings, it would be illegal. Not trying to be argumentative, but this is how I see it.
 

Ripcord22A

Site Benefactor
Egotistical? How about I change my name to yours... and go around and tell everyone I'm you.. or the same as you. It's okay because I'm probably conveying similar things as you would? no... it wouldn't be okay, and in some settings, it would be illegal. Not trying to be argumentative, but this is how I see it.
Is the Canadian Football League still football? Its not the NFL but what they do is still football is it not?

Sent from my LG-H918 using My Freemasonry mobile app
 

Glen Cook

G A Cook
Site Benefactor
So we need to change our rituals to meet the individual's need? All masons in my GL have went through the same as I have, It's what we have in common and IMHO places everyone on the level when entered.




According the to Obligation I took it is...

Well, I know some GLs which have changed the ritual to meet those with physical needs. Indeed, I have allowed brethren to sit rather than kneel. Further, ritual does change. It is not immutable. Yet further, not all rituals are the same.

You note all Masons in your GL have been through the same ritual. But we were not speaking of your GL.

Actually, it is my understanding that your ob prevents you from either being present at or assisting in making a woman a Mason. So does mine.

It is not clear you understood my quote was from the UGLE Board of General Purposes (Brethren are therefore free to explain to non-Masons, if asked, that Freemasonry is not confined to men (even though this Grand Lodge does not itself admit women)). I am a UGLE Mason.
 
Last edited:

Brother JC

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
Egotistical? How about I change my name to yours... and go around and tell everyone I'm you.. or the same as you. It's okay because I'm probably conveying similar things as you would? no... it wouldn't be okay, and in some settings, it would be illegal. Not trying to be argumentative, but this is how I see it.

Apples and oranges... if I start a grand lodge and call it the Grand Lodge of California, then your analogy would fit. Americans have changed everything about the Craft so much that you could say all of the US GLs were playing make-believe.
Obviously you aren't going to see beyond your "my GL" view, and that's fine. I have a broader vision that allows for other paths.
 

goomba

Neo-Antient
Site Benefactor
I'm going to try and say it differently.

My father and his brother both had families. 100 years from now if the Goomba surname is still around via descendants of those two people then the two separate families are descendants of my grand parents.

Over the decades are there vast differences, yes. Do they consider each other immediate family, no. But there would be no argument they are related even if they don't live in the same house. Hell maybe some of the descendants have done something others find counter to the good name of Goomba. Maybe some feel they are more Goomba than others.

I am not advocating admitting atheist and women into my lodge or grand lodge. No am I advocating they change theirs either.

What I am saying is it is not intellectually honest to claim I alone have a claim to the name of Goomba. To claim that only my descendants can be true to the Goomba name.

By all means have pride. I hope that each Mason believes the lodge they belong to is the best in the world. It's not about losing anything in our tradition. It's about being open enough to just look out a window and acknowledge that there is indeed an entire world outside. A world we may not want to explore or take part in. But a world nonetheless.

NOTE: It's is normal not to explore the entire world. Just because you eat at one restaurant does not mean you have to eat at all of them.
 

LK600

Premium Member
Apples and oranges... if I start a grand lodge and call it the Grand Lodge of California, then your analogy would fit. Americans have changed everything about the Craft so much that you could say all of the US GLs were playing make-believe.
Obviously you aren't going to see beyond your "my GL" view, and that's fine. I have a broader vision that allows for other paths.
I disagree on the apples to oranges, but that's okay. Beyond that, I have no "GL view" due to being so new. My view is what I bring with me good or bad. I do agree on the "other Paths", but I think our view on what constitutes an other path may differ. And at this point, I think it's best to bow out of the discussion (though I still need to respond to Goomba first). Thank you for your thoughts, truly.
 

LK600

Premium Member
I'm going to try and say it differently.

My father and his brother both had families. 100 years from now if the Goomba surname is still around via descendants of those two people then the two separate families are descendants of my grand parents.

Over the decades are there vast differences, yes. Do they consider each other immediate family, no. But there would be no argument they are related even if they don't live in the same house. Hell maybe some of the descendants have done something others find counter to the good name of Goomba. Maybe some feel they are more Goomba than others.

I am not advocating admitting atheist and women into my lodge or grand lodge. No am I advocating they change theirs either.

What I am saying is it is not intellectually honest to claim I alone have a claim to the name of Goomba. To claim that only my descendants can be true to the Goomba name.

By all means have pride. I hope that each Mason believes the lodge they belong to is the best in the world. It's not about losing anything in our tradition. It's about being open enough to just look out a window and acknowledge that there is indeed an entire world outside. A world we may not want to explore or take part in. But a world nonetheless.

NOTE: It's is normal not to explore the entire world. Just because you eat at one restaurant does not mean you have to eat at all of them.
Thank you sir, you raise great points, some of which I have no answer for. I may very well be combining/lumping varying groups under a singular definition inappropriately. I am completely open to that possibility, as well as others. Some of the lines of thought put forth in this thread are not... what I expected, to say the least. And that's okay to. But as stated above, it's time I bow out of this conversation before things devolve further.
 

Brother JC

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
Thank you for your thoughts, truly.
Thank you, my Brother.
This is one of those topics that really needs face-to-face conversation to be able to express what we're thinking. I always feel I'd make far more sense if I were speaking.
 

Brother JC

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
One quick note, LK; I am speaking specifically of LDH (regarding co-masonry), not just some spurious fly-by-night money grubber. This may not change your thoughts but I felt it needed clarifying.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top