Freemasonry Explained

For those wishing to know more about Freemasonry

 

 

WHAT ARE THE MASONS?

Masons are men who have decided they like to feel good about themselves and others. They care about the future as well as the past, and do what they can, both alone and with others, to make the future good for everyone.

Many men over many generations have answered this question,

WHO ARE THE MASONS?

The answer is simple. Freemasons are members of a fraternity known as Freemasonry or Masonry. A fraternity is a group of men (just as a sorority is a group of women) who join together because:

  • There are things they want to do in the world.

  • There are things they want to do "inside their own minds."

  • They enjoy being together with men they like and respect.

HOW DOES A MAN BECOME A FREEMASON?

Some men are surprised that no one has ever asked them to become a Mason. They may even feel that the Masons in their town don't think they are "good enough" to join. But it doesn't work that way. For hundreds of years, Masons have been forbidden to ask others to join the fraternity. We can talk to friends about Freemasonry. We can tell them about what Freemasonry does. We can tell them why we enjoy it. But we can't ask, much less pressure, anyone to join.

There's a good reason for that. It isn't that we're trying to be exclusive. But becoming a Mason is a very serious thing. Joining Freemasonry is making a permanent life commitment to live in certain ways. We've listed most of them above -- to live with honour and integrity, to be willing to share with and care about others, to trust each other, and to place ultimate trust in God. No one should be "talked into" making such a decision.

So, when a man decides he wants to be a Freemasonry Mason, he asks a Mason for a petition or application. He fills it out and gives it to the Mason, and that Mason takes it to the local lodge. The Master of the lodge will appoint a committee to visit with the man and his family, find out a little about him and why he wants to become a member of the Masons, tell him and his family about Freemasonry, and answer their questions. The committee reports to the lodge, and the lodge votes on the petition. If the vote is affirmative -- and it usually is -- the lodge will contact the man to set the date for the Entered Apprentice Degree. When the person has completed all three degrees, he is a Master Mason and a full member of the Freemasonry fraternity. 

 

  

SITE MAP

Direct link to underlined items

an audio dissertation - "WHAT IS FREEMASONRY"

A look at the construction of Solomon's Temple and the meaning attached to a Masons "working tools".

A collection of 40 Masonic Essays  and Short Talks

A collection of Masonic Poetry and Prose

A selection of Masonic music

Who to contact for specific information about joining

 

Comment on this website or any other Masonic issue

 

WHEN ARE MEN CONSIDERED MASONS?

Freemasons and virtue:
When they can look out over the rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a profound sense of their own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope, and courage -- which is the root of every virtue.

 Masons and nobility:
When they know that down in their heart every man is as noble, as vile, as divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive, and to love their fellowman.

 Freemasons and sympathy:
When they know how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yea, even in their sins -- knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds.

Fraternal friendship:
When they have learned how to make friends and to keep them, and above all how to keep friends with themselves.

 Masons and life:
When they love flowers, can hunt birds without a gun, and feels the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he hears the laugh of a little child.

 Happiness:
When they can be happy and high-minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life.

 Freemasons and aiding a distressed voice:
When no voice of distress reaches their ears in vain, and no hand seeks their aid without response.

 Faith:
When they find good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of divine things and sees majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of that faith may be.

Masons and fellow man:
When they can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and into the face of the most forlorn fellow mortal and see something beyond sin.

 Hope:
When they know how to pray, how to love, how to hope.

 Masons and their God:
When they have kept faith with themselves, with their fellowman, and with their God; in their hand a sword for evil, in their heart a bit of a song -- glad to live, but not afraid to die! - Masons.

 Mason and Secrets:
Such men have found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which it is trying to give to all the world. These are the Masons. 
 

 
A belief in a Supreme Being.

Every applicant must profess such a belief but Freemasonry does not define, or impose, a definition of a Supreme Being. Each individual applicant must define that entity for himself. Atheists and Agnostics cannot, therefore, become Freemasons. This belief is absolute and admits of no exceptions. Of course individuals might lie in this respect in order to gain admission and there is little that Freemasons could do to identify such men. All is taken on the honour of the individual concerned. In fact everything that a Freemason does in his private and public life must be honorable and Freemasonry encourages all members to behave in an upright and moral manner. Members are encouraged to support their individual faith by attendance at their , Church, Chapel, Mosque etc, but it is not a requirement.