Earlier this month, before the most recent shut down order, I was able to open Chehalis Lodge. This wasn’t done for any regular purpose, rather the Lodge had to open in order to make an extremely serious and rare decision that will impact it, potentially, for generations to come.

In keeping with our Governor’s guidelines at the time, there were only five of us present in the entire building, we maintained social distancing, and the Secretary collected contact tracing information from each of us.

It was the very first time I’ve been able to wear the Deputy Grand Master apron and Jewel since I was installed half a year ago.

It was also the first time I’ve done any Masonic ritual in what has become almost a year. I regret to say, my memory wasn’t good. I had a hunch that I would be rough, and I needed to get the Lodge open quickly so that we could turn on the Zoom feed for everyone who was at home, so I opened the Lodge with the assistance of our printed Standard Work. I decided to close it from memory though, and let me tell you, that was rough. Much rougher than I ever hope to be again.

To my mind, none of that is particularly important though.

What is important is the feeling that I got from being with my brothers, in person, despite maintaining the mandated distance. What was also important was hearing, and once again absorbing, our ritual as so many men have through the generations.

It was to me an uplifting experience, a spiritual experience.

I must confess, although this may sound ‘sappy,’ that it felt very similar to me as my first entrance into Lodge years ago when I became an Entered Apprentice Mason.

It reminded me of a question about Freemasonry:

Is Freemasonry a social organization that is a part of our larger society?

Or

Is Freemasonry a spiritual organization that is set apart from our larger society?

I think that question has likely been pondered by a great many Masons over our long history.

Indeed while he doesn’t use the same words as I use above, Albert Pike discussed the question in detail, interestingly taking both opposite opinions through the course of a single one of his books.

I suppose that it is for each of us an individual question, and that like so many things in Masonry the answer may be different for each of us.

As for me personally, I come down to the latter option. I do see Freemasonry, our brotherhood, and our mission in the world as belonging in the realm of the sacred. Of course we have secular concerns as well, but ultimately I believe Freemasonry should be, and is, uplifting to the soul.

This past month stood as a stark reminder to me that it is just that for me.

I think that is likely why our Masonic forefathers called our buildings Masonic Temples. The term ‘Masonic Center’ is much newer, the result of some misguided public relations idea. To me, and I think to the vast majority of our Masons, our buildings are just what they were called in the days of old, Masonic Temples.

Since that meeting of Chehalis Lodge, and since I had these thoughts, our great State has again shut down normal operations. We had hoped that Lodges that felt it best to do so would have been able to begin meeting (with limitations) on December first. Unfortunately, for reasons of public health, those plans have had to be put on hold.

It is my hope that all of us can remain safe and healthy, so that we can all be present when this pandemic is defeated and we can once again sit in Lodge together.

#Spiritual #AlbertPike #Lodge #Chehalis

-Cameron

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

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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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Freemasonry is an active endeavor. As Masons we are charged with improvement of the self, and care for others. By doing these things, we ultimately improve the world around us.

We improve ourselves by reflecting, deeply into our natures. Thereby discovering those things that we should use our gavels to chip away from our character, and conversely, strengthening our best qualities. This is labor. Mental labor, but work nevertheless. We will never be perfect men, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive towards perfection of character.

We should labor to take care of our Brothers, and if they are distressed, their families as best we can. To paraphrase our ritual, as far as his needs dictate, and our own resources allow, presuming of course, always, that he is a worthy brother, with a worthy need.

Lastly, we should endeavor, in some way, to make the world around us just a little bit brighter. Eyes in desperate need should never see a Masonic ring pass uncaringly by. This too is our labor, for everyone has a claim upon our kindness.

Improvement of self is a solitary endeavor. It is labor that we must do on our own.

Assistance to a Brother however can, and likely should be given at the Lodge level, so that everyone can assist in some small way, but have their own contributions magnified by being combined with those from everyone else. That is one of the beauties of Masonry, being able to work together and combine efforts in order to have a strong impact on any given problem.

Helping the world around us is much more difficult of course, given the vast scale of many of the problems within our society. For that reason, our Fraternity has created many formal charity programs. Lodge Scholarship and Bikes for Books programs that support local educational efforts. The Scottish Rite's Rite Care program that helps children who can't otherwise learn to speak. The York Rite charity programs. Shriner's Hospitals for Children, and of course, our own Washington Masonic Charities. Money is a form of work. It is what we exchange our work for in order to purchase the works of others. By giving some of that to one or more Masonic charity programs we are in effect giving of our labor, and using our labor to help improve the world around us.

In this time of pandemic, when so much is curtailed, I suggest that we might all be wise to use some of the extra time we likely find ourselves with to do some Masonic labor. To do the work of reflection within ourselves, in order to improve ourselves.

After this pandemic has passed, we will get back into our Lodges, and again be able to labor within them with our Brothers. In the meantime, with so many out of work for so long now, genuine need in our communities is exploding. It is my hope that those of us who can give something to one or more of our Masonic charities will seriously consider doing so.

In closing, I leave you with a few words from Morals and Dogma:

“Masonry is action and not inertness. It requires its Initiates to Work, actively and earnestly, for the benefit of their brethren, their country, and mankind. It is the patron of the oppressed, as it is the comforter and consoler of the unfortunate and wretched.” -Albert Pike

#Labor #Charity #MoralsAndDogma #AlbertPike #WashingtonMasonicCharities

-Cameron

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

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Not all, but certainly a great many men become Masons because they are in search of the ancient and esoteric knowledge our Order is purported to hold. Indeed, this knowledge has been a huge membership driver for hundreds of years.

Unfortunately, as a group we seem to have some difficulties discussing these things. Perhaps worst of all, decades ago in some kind of misguided public relations scheme many started denying that Freemasonry holds any secrets at all beyond its modes of recognition.

Alas, this discussion requires honesty, so I'll be writing honestly.

Freemasonry does hold secrets. It is a repository of knowledge coming down from a misty past.

Men join to find that knowledge, but unfortunately once they become Master Masons they are often disappointed because nothing they thought that they would find was actually communicated to them.

Generally these men end up going NPD or seeking Demit early in their Masonic careers.

When that happens it is a terrible loss for them individually, and for the rest of us as well, for we have lost whatever talents they would have brought to the fraternity had they remained active within it.

When considering the loss of such a man, we must, as said above, be honest. When it happens, it is our fault. It happens because we, who know better, did not properly communicate with this man during his candidacy.

We let him believe that what he was seeking would be openly communicated to him through the rituals of our Degrees by never communicating to him otherwise.

The fact of the matter is that the profound lessons of Freemasonry are hidden within it. They are veiled.

Even the very definition of Freemasonry we give points out that fact:

“A peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols.”

Far too often those going through our Degrees miss the 'veiled' part, so it is incumbent upon us to communicate that to them.

There is of course a reason that Masonry veils its secrets. Man doesn't value that which is given to him for free. He only values those things that cost, those things which he must work in order to have. For that reason, Freemasonry makes a man work to uncover the knowledge hidden within. It never communicates it clearly or openly.

So how do we learn that which Masonry has to offer?

By study and reflection.

As Masons seeking knowledge we must read. We must read that which was written by the men who traveled the same journey before us. By doing so we discover what they found for themselves.

We then reflect upon what we have read to discover if there is something within it applicable to our own lives. We must dig deeply within our fundamental selves in order to find that which speaks to us personally.

Through this reading and reflection we will eventually discover the true secrets of Masonry.

If we communicate these requirements to our candidates, and show them how to get started down the path towards Light, we will find our retention increased, and that is wholly good for our Lodges, and our candidates.

Some thoughts from the distant past on the same subject:

“If you have been disappointed in the three first Degrees; if it has seemed to you that the performance has not come up to the promise, and that the commonplaces which are uttered in them with such an air, the lessons in science and the arts, merely rudimentary and known to every schoolboy, the trite maxims of morality, and the trivial ceremonies are unworthy the serious attention of a grave and sensible man, occupied with the weighty cares of life, and to whom his time is valuable, remember that those ceremonies and lessons come to us from an age when the commonest learning was confined to a select few, when the most ordinary and fundamental principals of morality were new discoveries; and that the three first degrees stand in these later days, like the columns of the old, roofless Druidic temple, in their rude and primeval simplicity, mutilated also and corrupted by the action of time, and the additions and interpolations of illiterate ignorance...”

”...Imagine not that you will become a thorough Mason by learning what is commonly called The Work, or merely by becoming familiar with our traditions. Masonry has a history and a literature. Its allegories and its traditions will teach you much; but much is to be sought elsewhere. The streams of learning that now flow broad and wide must be followed to their heads in the springs that well up in the far distant past, and there you will find the meaning and the origin of Masonry...”

”...let him who desires to understand the harmonious and beautiful proportions of Masonry, read, study, reflect, digest and discriminate.” -Albert Pike, 1857

As Masons it is our duty to make certain that those who come to us seeking Light understand that Freemasonry does not give that Light to those who do not work for it.

It is our duty to explain that the pursuit of Masonic knowledge is a life long quest. If we truly seek to assist those who come to us we will point out the entrance to the path his quest must follow, and direct him to some quality literature that will help him begin his journey.

By doing so we set a man up for a successful Masonic experience, we create a Mason in heart as well as in name, we build a Mason for life.

#MasonicEducation #SecretsOfMasonry #AlbertPike #MemberRetention

-Cameron

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

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For years I've been telling people that membership in the Scottish Rite Research Society is the best value in all of Freemasonry.

Yesterday that was shown to be true again, so I thought I'd post the claim here.

A beautiful hard bound edition of Albert Pike's Magnum Opus showed up in my mailbox. It's a large and imposing volume, included with my yearly membership of just $55 per year.

As this post is about value, let me explain just what you get for that small cost. It starts with four issues a year of The Plumbline, a newsletter that generally covers a single topic of Masonic Education. Secondly, each year the Society publishes a hardcover book titled Heredom, it is a goodly sized volume that details a number of topics of interest to Masons. I always find Heredom to be fascinating and always find myself reading it cover to cover as soon as it arrives.

Lastly, each year the Society sends each of its members a bonus book of interest to Masons. Sometimes it is a smaller book, sometimes larger, but always something of great interest. This year, as mentioned, it was the Magnum Opus.

This book contains Pike's first revision of the Scottish Rite degree rituals from 4 to 32. I've already begun reading the lectures of each degree, and know that there will be a great deal of wisdom contained within them.

These are not precisely the degrees or lectures that we know today, between completion of the Magnum Opus and today our degrees have been revised a minimum of five different times, including by Pike himself.

In my travels around our Jurisdiction I often hear a desire for further Masonic education. The Scottish Rite Research Society is providing that education in a very big way, at a very small cost. I know that if you join, you will not regret it.

Scottish Rite Research Society

Please note that you do not have to be a Scottish Rite Mason, or even a Mason for that matter in order to join the Society.

#MasonicEducation #ScottishRite #ScottishRiteResearchSociety #AlbertPike

-Cameron

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

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