The Masonic Family

The Masonic Family

Author: W.Bro. Ambarish Singh Roy, P.Dy.RGM, P.G.SD

Not everything on this earth can be understood by putting two and two together, applying logic or practical or should I say traditional application of mind. We do not always do things for something tangible in return. A soldier plunging into battle amidst guns blazing all around him isn’t just doing his job. He isn’t doing it for his paycheck, but for something deeper. A moth flying right into a flame also does it for a reason, known only to it. We too do things which do not seem rational or practical, but we do it for a reason known to the heart alone. We all know Freemasonry is the world’s oldest and perhaps largest fraternity, but it is something more than that – it is one big family. Like all families there is bonding, there is love and there are disagreements and there are squabbles. We also have our share of the proverbial bad apples, but they do not always spoil the other apples in the basket. Most of the credit for this goes to the teachings of Freemasonry which I honestly believe, if truly understood and applied, does make a good man better. Similarly sometimes some members of our family are dissatisfied and they leave our fold.

It is always sad to see a Brother leave, more so, perhaps, because we accept him as our brother to begin with. It isn’t a relationship orchestrated by fate or social norms, but it is by his and our choice that he becomes our brother. I personally believe that unless a person is expelled from Masonry for Non -Masonic conduct or similar such circumstance, a Mason who resigns does not cease to remain a Mason. I of course do not wish to enter into a debate about Constitutional rules and regulations. They stand where they are. I speak of something latent. A man is made a Mason, he takes oaths, makes promises, learns lessons and labours sincerely to ascend the next step. The entire purpose of an obligation is that it is meant to be inviolable. A brother thus resigning may, for all practical purposes, cease to be member of a Lodge or even a Grand Lodge, but cannot cease to remain a Mason; in other words, one can take a man out of Masonry, but not Masonry out of a Brother.

We should not and do not stay in Masonry for material benefits. We do not spend days and months toiling over ritual books and perfecting perambulations for metal trinkets and pieces of well-printed paper. We do not dedicate decades, and in many cases most of our lives to Freemasonry to get a mere Grand Rank. These things are important, no doubt, to those wanting them, but to a Freemason the satisfaction comes from something more latent, something intangible, but something pure, unsullied and uplifting. The question that then arises is – what is it that makes us stay? Is it the rituals? Is it the teachings of Masonry? Is it the Fellowship? Is it the congenial company of like-minded people? I would like to believe it is a wonderful assimilation of all of those which makes us stay in Masonry.

So why do people leave? As mentioned before, like any big family, we too have our share of problems, disagreements and strife. Like most spheres in life Freemasonry to a great extent has been plagued by politics, one of the things we as Masons are supposed to shun. The very moral fabric of our great organisation is being desecrated, by politics for an individual’s and/or a group’s struggle for prominence and control .Lodges are supposed to be a sanctum where we rise above the ‘profane world’. So naturally it disturbs us when profanity invades our sanctum. It shouldn’t, and perhaps in a perfect world, it wouldn’t affect Lodges, but times being what they are, and some people being what they have sadly become, these things do and will affect Lodges.

The question is, when it does, what do we do? We could say let others handle it. We could say it’s not my problem and walk away. We could frown in disgust and remark that this isn’t what we joined Masonry for and stop coming to Lodge. Donning the top-hat of logic and keeping our feet firmly grounded on the soil of practicality, there is no way to refute these remarks. We all have so much going on in our own lives today that we really do not wish to take on added pressures and hassles. Indeed why should we?

If we do not find an answer to this question, we will never be able to dissuade another Brother from leaving our folds. To take you back to my initial remarks here, Masonry is a family, and we do not stay in or leave a family because of the hassles or the lack thereof. We are a part of the family and we should be ready to weather any storm that hits us, together. We care when we truly feel a sense of belonging. That soldier laying down his life in the battlefield does so because he defends that which belongs to him and that he belongs to – his motherland. So my brethren, the next time we feel dissatisfied, or see a brother unhappy, let us try to understand him. Let us make him feel a part of the family. Let us not bicker amongst ourselves the way the profane world does. We are meant to be above that and we should strive to be so.