MW Cameron M. Bailey

Due to the pandemic, many Masonic leaders, including me have attempted to continue engaging with the Fraternity through means other than our regular meetings and events.

This blog is just one such example.

Written essays, videos, podcasts, through all of these means a great deal of high quality content is being created. Just today I saw a superb video created by one of the leaders of my Scottish Rite Valley.

When we consume this Masonic content, I think it is important for us to remember that no one man speaks for Freemasonry.

Freemasonry is a worldwide Brotherhood enjoyed by men of every nation and creed. Certainly such diverse men will hold a great diversity of opinion. Beyond that every Mason has a right to, and does indeed hold his own unique view of what Freemasonry is to him.

Freemasonry means one thing to me, it means something different to my friend and Brother VW Larry Foley. Given that Masonry means something a bit different to each of us, it follows that when communicating about it, we might well communicate about different things, and in different ways.

All of this is a long way of saying that when we read a Masonic essay, or watch a Masonic video, or listen to a podcast, we need to remember that it is perfectly OK for us to disagree. No matter what position the man who created it holds.

Properly we should accept that which we believe to be true, for ourselves, and reject that which we find, upon reflection, to be false.

Through my years as a Mason I have slowly created what has become a fairly large, extremely high quality Masonic book collection. All of that has resulted in a great deal of Masonic reading, over quite a few years now.

Back when I was a brand spankin new EA, one of the very first things I read, and I've never forgotten, is the following passage from Albert Pike in which he made the same point I have tried to make above. I am pleased to commend it to you.

“Every one is entirely free to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to be untrue or unsound.” -Morals and Dogma

That precept by Brother Pike has been of tremendous value to me in my reading as I have continued my own quest for Masonic Light.

#ThisBlog #AlbertPike #MoralsAndDogma

-Cameron

Cameron M. Bailey Past Grand Master The MW Grand Lodge F&AM of Washington

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