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The European Concept sounds interesting too. Not so esoteric as TO lodges, but those principles sound familiar to me. But the freemasonry in the different european countries is very different. Much more different than you know it from state to state. Much more different than AF&AM and F&AM...

I follow that movement with great interest. The name is better chosen than European Concept, as the last one indicates something cultural foreign. That is not a lucky choice of name in my opinion. Are there TO lodges in Texas?

I tried to argue with them for quite a long time, but I realized, it is a waste of time. They don't want to loose their ignorant state of mind, because it is secure. The daily life is so easy, if you have one to blame for all your mishaps. You don't get the job you tried to get? It's because you...

It was already said, that the brotherhood includes men from many religions. Not all of them know something like regular church services. Also, you cannot determine a man's devotion by looking at his church schedule. A man, who is bored to death in a church, but still attends to avoid stress with...

It is my opinion, that we should keep apart all religious and also social/public ceremonied from masonic rituals. I don't see any good in mixing them. What should a masonic wedding means to my wife, when she, on the other hand, cannot experience, what masonry means? And on the other hand, what...

Exactly. Even with red socks, the initiational experience will be there. So, to be straight, you actually CANNOT redo the ceremony. Because it is not a mere ceremony, but an initiation. And you cannot do an initiation on a man, wo is already initiated. And what would you do, if the candidate...

I would not like to be in a lodge, where the WM is in his office, because he has to. Chaos will follow, or the WM delegates everything, and then he becomes the 2nd or 3rd important figure in his lodge instead of the leader. That does not fit the figure.

I'm not quite sure, if we talk about the same, when we talk about by-laws. Here, they mean a special set of rules, in addition to GL regulations, that govern the internal administration, organization and/or duties in a single lodge. They are given by the general meeting = all members of a lodge...

I'm not sure, if it is so straight, but it sound reasonable. But it is also a question of common fashion-traditions and on how much the GL in question rely on the work mason traditions. If you have a strong work mason stream in your jurisdition, wearing the apron under the jacket makes no sense...

Hate is a feeling, and feelings belong to men. You don't need to be a saint to be a mason. But you have to hate the hate, to be a mason, so to speak. We strive to become a better man, that is all that is expected from us.

Ah, OK! Very interesting, indeed. And I indeed thought, you meant a normal degree meeting. There are no such inspections in any degree, grand lodge, or ritual system in Germany.

Stuttgard itself has 6 lodges, 4 of Grand Lodge AFAM of Germany, one of Grand Land Lodge of Freemasons in Germany (Swedish Rite) and one of the American-Canadian Grand Lodge, working in US style.

This is a very good and valid point. The secrecy in and of the brotherhood usually centers around ritual and symbolic stuff. The questions and interests of wifes are usually far more social in nature. They don't want to know, if we raise the left or the right hand or stick the finger in the...

I have never read the book from cover to cover, but I work much with biblical texts in my masonic books, and I surely have read all parts of the bible in parts. I usually use the Luther Version of 1984 or the catholic german standard bible, as our ritual contains several phrases taken from...

In Germany, the AASR also works the degrees and meet in the same buildings as blue lodges. There is no "stage work", always "floor work" with one to five candidates. I know that of other european AASR too. It seams, that it is typical US development. AASR is of french origin, but what we know as...

That seems to be a major point of concern in this issue. There is another thread going on, where exactly the same arguments are told. So, maybe I may add a viewpoint from a different rite, with similar problems. In ther Swedish Rite, we have 10 degrees, degree 7 to 10 are given in a Chapter...

In Germany, the York Rite is very small, 200 brothers, maybe a few more. That brings it to the point, that very few Commanderies exist, and travels of more than 100 miles are common. I belong to the Swdish Rite, which has a better cover, so we don't have that problems, but I know enough YR...

Hm, that would make Commandery into an invitational body. I think, we have enough of those. There are always more silent brothers and more active brothers. The teachings of chivalric degrees should be open to all christian brothers, no matter how good they are with the ritual. But, maybe this...

Well, I don't know how demanding your Commanderies are, as our chivalric degrees are different, but should it not be more demanding? When it would be like lodge, why do anything else but lodge anyway? The brothers in Commandery degrees are usually (or should be) experienced brothers with some...

That is her opinion, and it is surely godd and right for her, but to be true, it is not natural. The all-should-share-everything attitude is quite new, compared to human history as a whole. To look at the natural way of things, we often have to look at the primitive tribes in Africa or South...