Freemasonry has survived for centuries through thick and thin, the Dark Ages, the Anti-Masonic movement, World Wars, and now are challenged by many hi-tech distractions. However, we seem to keep moving forward, slowly but forward and Freemasonry continues to grow. It seems that the younger members are turning to the fraternity for social ties, history, tradition, personal growth, and to learn many of the esoteric topics that the fraternity has to offer.
Esoteric or esoterism are terms that are almost as mysterious as it's teachings. According to Merriam Webster, the term esoteric is defined as follows;
a: designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone
b: requiring or exhibiting knowledge that is restricted to a small group
Now, let us go a step further....what is meant by initiate. Webster defines the term initiate as to cause or facilitate the beginning of: set going; to induct into membership by or as if by special rites. Initiated or properly admitted(as to membership or an office): instructed in some secret knowledge.
Freemasonry has a certain level of mystique and intrigue. When the "initiate" joins the fraternity they are expecting something with an almost mystical or mythical feeling This is very often diminished drastically when the initiate has his first exchange with the Junior Warden, who has a slight clue but really doesn't know how the exchange is supposed to go. The initiate immediately feels let down, and if it doesn't go as it should with the Senior Warden, all hopes of a mystical and or mythical experience escape with the forgotten or misplaced words....the initiate wonders just how seriously do these guys take their task at hand.
In my opinion there is one thing that separates us from the rest of the fraternities, and that is our ritual, rites, and ceremonies. These are designed for specific purposes and are meant to convey to the new candidates or initiates the rich teachings, traditions, history, and heritage of the craft.
My travelling includes going to regular communications usually with my counterpart, WB Dan who is a District Deputy Instructor. He gets very frustrated with correcting the same errors over and over again. WB Carl, a former District Deputy Instructor has commented that we've been making the same mistakes for 40+ years.....and it's probably longer than that.
The thing I've noticed lately is that a word or phrase makes it's way into the work....and the next thing you know.....everybody is using the wrong word or inserting a phrase that doesn't belong...and it's darn difficult to get the brothers back on track.
Some will say it's just one word or it's only 3 more words, what difference does it make. Well it makes a big difference, because it will spread and catch on much quicker and much more universally than the correct words.
The strange thing is that often when a part is read, it's read with the wrong word(s)! How is that possible? We don't realize it, but subconsciously the wrong word(s) become engrained on our minds, that even while reading it we substitute the wrong word(s)....truly amazing!
There are certain words, usually small words that are commonly substituted, this is usually a good indication that the brother truly doesn't know his part of the work as he should. He roughly knows it and can slough his way through it, but at the end of the day he has not truly studied and read correctly, his part of the work.
As we stand on the threshold of a new era in Freemasonry in the State of Michigan, we have some decisions to make. As it relates to our ritual work, do we want to say the right words, use the correct phrasing, confer the degrees as has been done for countless years...or....are we at a place where close enough is good enough?
