The big box VS boutique question. If only I had a personal recollection that bears on this issue. {dreamy music swells and the screen dissolves into wavy lines} Two years before I became a MM my jurisdiction streamlined the ritual and greatly simplified the examinations. (my examination consisted of giving the word, grip and saying yes after each promise was read to me.) When I discovered that the examination that I took was not the same one my father and grandfather had taken I became determined to learn theirs. Working from an old one letter key I reconstructed the old catechism. Then, having learned it on my own, I proposed to my WM that I be allowed to perform it in Lodge as an entertainment. I figured that the old guys would enjoy hearing it again and the new guys would learn something. I was surprised when he told me that when the G.L. approved the new examination they also outlawed the old catechism style examination and that it was a Masonic offense to perform it in open Lodge. When I asked why he told me that only one system of examination could be used because (and here is the point) they wanted to avoid the perception that there were two types of Masons.So why is Freemasonry's “target market” the masses? If as CoachN said this system/strategy was designed or has evolved in response to Freemasonry’s financial model, why is it continuing to be followed. It is obviously failing due to shifts in culture and demography.
Should Freemasonry continue to be “marketed” to “big box store” discount price average quality product customers (“the masses”), begin marketing to “boutique store” high price superior quality product customers (“those who elevate their thinking above the masses”), or some other strategy?
***DISCLAIMER***I am not proposing a particular change. In fact, I had never thought about it in these terms until I read CoachN’s posts, but they got my “little grey cells" to working.***
Soooo, as long as we need the income from the inactives to keep out Lodges open, we need to keep them convinced that they are 100% Masons. We can't allow them to think that maybe there are two types of Masonry and theirs is the inferior one. Of course the easiest way to make everyone equal is to teach everyone nothing. But that would be silly. We wouldn't do that would we?