Fraternal Review 2015 02

In this Issue of the Fraternal Review

Masters New Year Message

Reflections on Change

The Reflecting Pool

One Masons Perspective

The Mysteries of King Solomons Temple

The need for water and how a 19th-century

engineer found clues to a possible source

To learn to subdue my passions, to improve myself in Masonry

Be the Revolution

The Start of a Masonic Academy

Short Talk Bulletin

Freemasonry and Technology

Address to a Third Degree Candidate

Wisdom from the year 1927

1 SCRL Fraternal Review--February 2015

The Masters Message: Reflections on Change

This issue of Fraternal Review marks the beginning of our new year. We dont publish in January, as were

dark in December. The lodge just passed through its own dark time of loss and change, as three brothers gave

up their leadership roles after years of dedicated service, each for their own reasons. Theyre still with us,

helping with the transition, but a new secretary, treasurer and editor had to get up to speed on short notice.

Through all these changes, Ive been thinking of the stereotype that Masons don't like change. We especially want our landmarks, symbols and allegories to remain as they have been for hundreds of years. And yet, the promise of a new year is that change can be positive; that the darkest days of the year are followed by increasing light, producing the new growth of spring. This issue of the Review affirms that we can change creatively. We can bring new aspects of light and love into this world while remaining true to our traditions.

SCRL continues to disseminate contemporary writings from grand lodges and research lodges, showcasing that good kind of change: the steady expansion of Masonic knowledge. In this issue, theres a report on a new approach to Masonic education in Massachusetts just one of many education initiatives in the U.S. in recent years. There are glimpses into our history. One memorializes Masons who were present at the sinking of the Titanic. The other describes the 19th century discovery of an ingenious water supply system in King Solomon's Temple. The archeologist who found it eventually became a Freemason and the founding Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, the premier lodge of research in the world.

The images in this issue tell their own story. Im touched by the strikingly beautiful night photo of the reflecting pool at the base of the Washington Monument in our nation's capital. It reminds me of the great Seal of Solomon pictured at right: two interlaced triangles formed by the God of Light and the God of Reflections. Masonic ritual invites us to reflect and remember: that we are children of one Almighty Parent; that we can improve our human nature andbecome more and more a reflection of the Divine nature, Divine Love. OurMasonic labors are not only about increasing the light of knowledge, but also about growth in love. The ceremonies and traditions of Freemasonry foster the kind of self-improvement that strengthens the bonds of love in our personal relationships and supports us in giving ever more generously to our communities.

SCRL invites you to join us in our quest to spread more light and love, in the fraternity and around the world. If you are in our area, please come to one of our gatherings. Wherever you are, send us emails and letters to the editor. Let us know what topics interest you, and let us see your own writings. Some will be published here, or online. Help us explore how we might better serve your needs, and the growth of Freemasonry.

C. Douglas Russell

Worshipful Master, SCRL

SCRL Fraternal Review February 2015

"By the exercise of Brotherly Love we are taught to regard the whole human species as one family."


Southern California Research Lodge FRATERNAL REVIEW

EditorAdam Kevorkian February 2015

GOOD OF THE ORDER

C. Douglas Russell, Master

Stated Meetings are on the third Wednesday of each quarter in Gateway Lodge No. 339 at 500 East Imperial Highway, Brea. The next Stated Meeting is on April 15, 2015.

SCRL also meets monthly at 8:00 a.m. on the third Saturday to prepare the Fraternal Review for mailing, followed by an educational talk and discussion.. Coffee and snacks provided.

Send newsletters and articles to:

Fraternal Review Editor

P.O. Box 4153

Fullerton, CA 92834

[email protected]

Membership applications and book orders:

Jim Lockridge, Secretary

P.O. Box 4153

Fullerton, CA 92834

[email protected]

Fraternal Review is published monthly, February through December.

When you choose to receive our monthly mailing by email, you now get it in

color, and it is easier for you to read and store. Let the Secretary know if you

would like to receive Fraternal Review by email.

See our website at http://www.theresearchlodge.org to pay dues online, for

officer contact information, and for a book list.

Masonic Education: information and knowledge that promote individual growth.

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

Q: How many Freemasons were aboard the RMS Titanic when it sank on April 15, 1912?

A: According to the Spring 2012 issue of the Ohio Beacon, 19 Freemasons have been identified. At least 8 were members of American lodges. One of them was Elmer Zebley Taylor, who invented the paper cup. Bro. Taylor survived the sinking and died in 1949. Another 8 Brothers belonged to a lodge with the United Grand Lodge of England. One was a member of a South African lodge; lodge memberships of two

are unknown.

Eight hundred thirty-two passengers and six hundred eight-five crew members perished when the unsinkable Titanic sank. [Taken from Masonic Messenger, December 2012]


Fraternal ReviewFrom The Editor

Brethren, a new year represents a new beginning. No matter the course we set for our travels, let

us keep our Masonic roots alive. We have listed here a few choice symbols that seem appropriate

for the new beginnings represented by a new year. May you all enjoy a safe passage through

2015, filled with hope, faith, charity, and plenty.

Anchor and Ark Symbols of hope. Both anchor and ark are ancient symbols of safety

and a passage from this life to another, the ark as a means of safety from storm and stress.

Epictetus, stoic philosopher, born about 50 B.C., wrote, We ought neither to fasten our ship to one small anchor nor our life to a single hope.

Cornucopia Symbol of plenty. Usually the jewel of the

Stewards, whose early functions were to provide plenty of refreshment. The Greek god Zeus was nourished from the horn of a

goat. In gratitude the horn was placed as a constellation to forever

pour what was desired. The horn of plenty, or the cornucopia is thus a symbol of abundance.

Jacobs Ladder Symbol of hope, faith and charity in most

rituals. The use of a ladder or steps is a symbol of a climb towards

perfection in another and better land is older than the Bible.

Lion of the Tribe of Judah Symbol of the Messiah, which can have different names

for brethren of different religions. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is considered as signifying a

coming redeemer who would spring from the tribe, or meaning the King of Israel who built the

Temple, or symbolizing the Christ.

[More detailed explanations may be found in the Pocket Encyclopedia of Masonic Symbols,

The Masonic Service Association, 2011]

THOUGHTS ON CHANGEI believe it was George Bernard Shaw who said, Some men see things as they are and say why;

I dream of things that never were and say why not. Interestingly enough, I recently read that

Shaw was a Mason. I like this quote because of how it defines change. Change, it seems to me,

requires faith. All men of faith have courage, and so having the courage to have the faith to

accept change is the point I want to make.

[Exerpted from the Virginia Masonic Herald, Right Worshipful B. William C. Phillips, Jr.]


WHY IS RITUAL OFTEN REPETITIOUS?

Several word pairs in Masonic ritual make interesting studies, such as duly and truly, worthy and well-qualified, free will and accord, parts and points, hele and conceal.

At first glance, it may seem that these are so arranged only for emphasis.

In Middle Age English writing, especially in the 13th and 14th Centuries, when Freemasonry

was in the process of formation, England had two languages. One was Norman French; the other

Anglo-Saxon. To make sure of understanding, word pairs were much in use a word of similar meaning being taken from each language.

The apparent redundancy of expression in a number of places in Masonic ritual may be

traced back to these Middle Ages. The perpetuation of such usage now, when clarity of thought

and understanding might be served as well with one word, is only one of the many proofs that

Freemasonry delights to embrace that which is venerated and ancient.

[From One Hundred One Questions About Freemasonry,

published by the Masonic Service Association of North America.]

DUE DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO A MASON

The word due shows up in a number of Masonic expressions, such as due form and due guard.

Both express responsibilities of the officers and members of a Lodge and are admonishments

as to their conduct.

According to Mackeys Encyclopedia, due form comes from the French expression, en du forme, with the du coming from devoir, or to owe. In subordinate Lodges, the officers and members owe it to their brothers to perform their actions properly and with attention to the established usages and customs.

The due guard is a mode of recognition referring to the act of duly guarding a members obligations and in reminding him of a penalty should he violate such obligations. Mackey reports

that this expression is not found in English or continental Masonry, and is fairly recent within the

Americas.

In a similar manner, due examination is a test procedure in correct form, as prescribed by Masonic laws.

In addition, due is associated with direction and indicates what is proper. When found on a map, due east is precisely east, with no variation north or south.

Thus, the expectation imparted with the word due, is a strict adherence and effort toward Truth and Light.

[From a biweekly Masonic newsletter, edited by W.B. Lance Rommerdahl)


Fraternal Review

THE REFLECTING POOL

Masonry is a system of thought that inspires balance between the spiritual aspects of the self

and the mind of rationality and logic. Masonry expresses the ideals of the enlightenment

movement that faith and science are both ends of the same truth, so masonry can be interpreted

as the reconciler between these two, liberating the mind of the initiate from the superstition and

fear inspired by these polar opposites.

Masonry at its heart operates to give man the knowledge of himself that can be inspired only

by self-reflection and understanding of his personal connection to God, free of religious dogma

and set with the allegory of its system. Masonry realizes that Man is born in the darkness of ignorance, but has the capability for greater understanding of the light. Of his own free will and

accord an initiate must seek the door of knowledge and knock to receive its virtues. The initiate

must have a mind capable of wisdom, a heart capable of feeling, and a hand eager to pick up the

working tools of life toward the greater work of evolving society.

[Excerpted from an article by Brother James E. Frey, Crete Lodge No. 763, Crete IL, in

Masonic Temple Topics, June 2014]

As longs the deer for cooling streams in parched and barren ways, So longs my soul, O God, for Thy refreshing grace.

[From New Version of the Psalms of David (1696), inspired by Psalm 42]


Address to the Candidate on Receiving the Third Degree By Elwood C. Wilder, Past Master, Hawaiian Lodge No. 21 (1927)

My Brother,

Now that you have been raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason, it is proper that you

be informed of the significance of the work, of the workings of the Lodge and of Masonry in

general. This is known as the Blue Lodge and it is the parent or mother Lodge of Masonry. In

it are conferred the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason degrees.

You were told Masonry is a moral science, which implies that in it are to be found great

moral precepts. The Blue Lodge ritualistic work is symbolical of mans transition through this life, which is exemplified, in beautiful allegory and great moral lessons. The First Degree

illustrates birth from an outer oblivion or darkness into the light of life and the great lesson

which it teaches is that, no man should ever enter upon any great or important undertaking

without first invoking the blessing of God. The Second Degree illustrates the period of vigor

and action of mans life, his instruction in the useful arts and sciences and his application of the same in the construction of works of worth and beauty. The great lesson of this degree is

so to live that innocence, purity and things that are sacred will be held in the highest

reverence. The Third Degree illustrates the end of a useful and beautiful life and its transition

from earths fleeting and uncertain pleasures to the lasting glories of a brighter and better land, and is the Masonic answer to the question, Whither are you traveling? In it is taught the greatest of all Masonic lessons: That when human strength and wisdom fail, we should

ever remember that Divine assistance is vouchsafed us through the medium of prayer. That,

my brother, is the keystone in the beautiful arch of Masonry. Do your duty as manfully and as

faithfully as you can, and when you have reached the limit of your ability, ask God in the

secret precincts of your heart for strength and courage to carry on. The great lesson, which

runs through all of Masonry, is to seek Divine assistance and guidance through prayer, that we

may live cleaner and kinder lives, and leave the world a little better for our having had the

privilege of passing through it. Masonry, however, is like life, in that you cannot get any more

out of it than you put into it. The mere ceremony of becoming a Master Mason makes no man

any better than he was before, but the earnest endeavor to live up to the beautiful teachings of

Masonry cannot help but make any man better. It is all beautifully summed up in a verse of

The Cotters Saturday Night by Robert Burns:

And mind your duty, duly, morn and night;

Lest in temptations path ye gang astray, Implore His counsel and assisting might:,

They never sought in vain that sought the Lord aright.

It is fitting, that on such a momentous occasion as this, the candidate be presented with a

token to commemorate it, and there is certainly no more fitting token than a copy of the Great

Light of Masonry, the Holy Bible. This is the Holy Bible upon which you were obligated. It is

a beautiful Masonic Edition of the standard King James Version with interesting illustrations,

references and allusions to Masonic history. It is hoped that as the years roll by, you will find

it an ever-increasing source of faith and of hope and a happy reminder of this occasion and of

the brotherly love in which it is given.


Fraternal Review

BE THE REVOLUTION

THE START OF A MASONIC ACADEMY

By Right Worshipful Michael Jarzabek, District Deputy Grand Master

for the 28th District, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts

I often hear comments that we do not spend enough time in Freemasonry on education. Many

new members come to us with a preconceived notion that this is a large part of who we are.

Officers try to educate, but struggle due to the restraints of time and ability. Grand Lodge

provides some excellent sources, but this is not their exclusive right or responsibility.

In the 28th District, a few us decided to do something about it. We started what we like to call

the Academy.

We all remember the debt Masonry owes to the Greeks. In around 287 BC, Plato formed the

Academy in Athens. The Academy had no official curriculum or teachers in the traditional sense.

Instead, members would solve problems posed by one of the group. Usually, they would do this

by employing dialectic reasoning.

As I said earlier, in 2012 several Masons in the 28th District revived this ancient tradition. We

gathered in the Brigham Lodge dining room around several round tables. We came prepared to

discuss the point within a circle. We chose as our format the literature circle. A literature circle is

an educational method where several individuals discuss a common text. Each comes to the

circle ready to discuss a different aspect of the text.

In accordance with the agreed format, we divided the research into several approaches. selected

members, in the weeks preceding the event, researched the topic from either a Masonic, historic,

graphic, or esoteric point of view. In addition to the researchers, the group chooses a moderator.

His duty was to pay loose attention to the flow of discussion and, when necessary, to ask ques-

tions to reignite it. Before beginning, everyone agreed that there would be no wrong answers.

The Brothers present willingly discussed the point within a circle for over three hours.

Furthermore, the discussion continued in the parking lot. Thomas Lodge recently hosted another


of these evenings in a similar format and the results were mostly the same. At this event, we

limited the discussion to one hour but, once again, the discussion continued, this time over

collation.

This format has proven to be a very effective way to provide educational opportunities in the

lodge on a small scale.

The Harvard Lodge employs a similar approach in what they call their Philosophy Meeting. Past

topics have included, Dark Side of the Craft and Ourselves, and Precision and Truth in Masonic Ritual. Interestingly, the lodge allows remote participation by either phone or Skype video conferencing. This use of technology keeps Masons, who have moved away or are

traveling on business, connected to the lodge. Using video conferencing also provides remote

participants a multi-sensory experience.

The Harvard Lodge is an academic lodge. The 28th District is largely blue collar. Still, both

groups have many men who would like education to be a part of their Masonic experience. The

two groups could not be more demographically different, but their desire is the same: There is a

strong undercurrent of intellectual curiosity within our membership. It is our job to provide

opportunities, such as those provided by the Academy and the Harvard Lodge Philosophy

Meeting, to our membership.

Another way to provide these opportunities to our Brothers is a technique best illustrated in Cliff

Porters book A Traditional Observance Lodge. In Bro. Porters lodge, they have festive boards. During these events, a moderator will make a statement, which cannot be answered with a simple

yes or no.

An example would be, The progressive line is the best way to select lodge officers. Each brother receives a card either with a plus or minus written on it. These brothers must argue their point for or against the statement based on their card rather than by their personal feelings.

Plus and minus assignments can also be by table, side of room, or officer roles in larger groups.

This method is effective with little to no preparation. For this reason, if you have a few minutes

left at the end of a business meeting you might want to consider it.

Many lodges use a traditional lecture approach to education. This method, by its nature, is

authoritarian. The methods I described employ a more active or democratic participation. If we

truly meet on the level, which method should we use?

If you have questions or would like help starting your own education program, feel free to

contact me at [email protected]. My Brothers, Be the Revolution. That is what we came here

to do.


Fraternal Review

THE MYSTERIES OF KING SOLOMONS TEMPLE THE NEED FOR WATERPART I

By

Worshipful Brother Stephan Marshall, The Wayfarers Lodge 389

My story begins on a hot summers day in 1865. British Baroness Angela Burdett Coutts, on pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem was thirsty. When her guide drew up a bucket of stinking

water from a courtyard cistern, Coutts though tot herself, would Jesus have drunk such smell water

and what about King David? When she returned to England, Baroness Coutts donated 500 pounds

to help establish the Palestine Exploration Fund and convinced her friend and neighbor Queen

Victoria to become the patron of this new organization.

The goal of the Palestine Exploration Fund was to promote research into the archaeology and

history, manners and customs, culture, topography, geology and natural sciences of biblical

Palestine and the Near East. Two years later, the Palestine Exploration Fund sent 27-year-old

Lieutenant (later General, Sir) Charles Warren of the British Royal Engineers Corps to Jerusalem.

His instructions were to investigate the site of the Temple, the line of fortifications, the City of

David and the authenticity of the traditional Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Warren had previously

made a name for himself by perilously scaling and charting the Rock of Gibraltar. In February

1867, Warren, a buddy from the Gibraltar climb named Corporal Henry Birtles, two other

Corporals, a photographer, a surveyor and 8 mule-loads of equipment including crowbars, ropes,

jacks, handspikes, blocks and wheels, arrived in Jerusalem.

At the time, the Ottoman Turks ruled the holy land and holy city. As the firman (permit) to dig

hand not yet arrived from Constantinople, Warren insisted that the British Consul arrange a meeting

for him with the Pasha, the Turkish ruler of Jerusalem. To the consuls surprise, Warren convinced the Pasha to approve digging around (but not inside) the Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary,

known to us as the Temple Mount. A Moslem ruler would not allow an excavation inside the

Haram, as it was the third holiest site to Islam, containing the Dome of the Rock and the


Al-Aqsa Mosque. Warren, however, was not deterred. He hired local diggers and at a distance from

the outer walls of the Temple Mount, he dug a number of shafts and then began to tunnel towards

the Temple area. The people of Jerusalem noted he was always underground and nicknamed him

The Mole. When the firman finally arrived from Constantinople, Warren was startled to read that the expedition was permitted to dig everywhere, except for Christian and Moslem religious sites.

Well, that was exactly where he intended to excavate. Warren decided to wave the firman around

and say, I got it, but [was] sure to show it to no one.

For the next few months, he and his team sank shafts around the Temple Mount, digging down

through more than 130 feet of rubble to reach bedrock. The task was difficult and dangerous, as the

mountain of debris above their heads tended to shift. They had a procession of lucky escapes, when falling stones nearly crushed them to death. Warrens greatest contribution was his suggestion that Jerusalem D.C. (Davids Capital) laid outside the medieval walls of the Old City. At that time, everyone believed that the Old City was the old city; meaning fortifications from the days of David were located somewhere under present city walls. However, at the bottom of one of Warrens shafts outside the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount, Warren found the walls of the Old

City. As Warren tunneled alongside this wall for some 700 feet, he noted that it went way beyond

the limits of the city. The wall itself later proved to be fifth century AD, but the possibility, never

before considered, arose that the earlier city could have been located south of the Temple Mount

and the city walls, close to the citys source of water, the Gihon Spring.

At the end of October 1867, Warren and his team explored a man-made conduit, leading away

from Gihon Spring, Where the tunnel began at the spring, Warren noticed that the water firstcollected in an underground, cave-like chamber. With the help of his team and local Arab workers,

Warren cleaned out the cave and found the entrance to a tunnel. He followed it for 40 feet, where it

ended in a curious shaft, which rose into the darkness above his head. A few days later, Warren and

Birtles returned to climb the shaft. They climbed up to find another tunnel at the top of the shaft and

a series of caves leading up towards a blocked entrance. Slowly, it dawned on Warren that he had

unearthed a hidden water system leading to the spring from somewhere on the southeastern ridge.

This, coupled with the ancient wall and the tunnel leading to the Pool of Siloam, had striking impli-

cations. It meant that there had definitely been a settlement outside the medieval walls of the city.

Warren and his team went on to discover an array of underground cisterns and caverns, which

had been put to many different uses over the centuries. Although Warren could not excavate within

the Haram compound itself, his good relations with the guards enabled him to make a thorough

examination of the structure of the Dome of the Rock and the network of cisterns within the area.

Warren found and surveyed some 34 rock-hewn reservoirs of different shapes and sizes, the largest

of them 43 feet deep with a capacity of over two million gallons. They were deliberately positioned

in height and interconnected in series to supply flowing water to the Temple.

As far as we know, Charles Warren was the first and last person to survey beneath the Temple

Mount. The shaft discovered by Warren is today called Warrens Shaft in his memory, and forms part of a tunnel-way walk popular with tourists to Jerusalem. Charles Warren dug in Jerusalem for

only three years. In 1870 a new firman arrived from Constantinople forbidding all excavation.

Warren packed his bags and returned to England at the age of 30. (TO BE CONTINUED)[From a publication by United Masters Lodge No. 167, Auckland, New Zealand]


Fraternal ReviewNEW MASONS FIRST STEP

As the old saying goes "Life is a journey, and the journey of a thousand miles begins with

one step. For myself, my first step to Masonry began in the summer of 2013 when I took the initiative to fill out the form on the Illinois Grand Lodge website to receive information on this

wonderful fraternity. My name is Richard Cozad, and I am one of the newest Master Masons of

Crete Lodge #763. I was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in a beautiful and moving

ceremony on February 22, 2014. This day is familiar to our members as the date of birth of one

of our greatest forebears, George Washington, Master Mason and the first President of the

United States. For a newly raised Brother, the ceremony was awe inspiring and quite emotional. I

have been interested in Masonry for quite a few years. I was introduced to the fraternity as a

child by my mother while I was looking at a catalogue and saw a collection of Masonic rings.

She knew nothing of the fraternity other than the Masonic Ring and the Square and Compass. As

a lover of history at a very tender age, I was fascinated when I began to read stories of how the

Freemasons held a more than significant place in the formation of our country. As a twenty

something, I was drawn to various books on the Craft with essays on the tools of the fraternity

and how to use them to better oneself and make perfect the rough

ashlar. As I went through my twenties, my youthful idealism changed

to the realities of supporting and making a life for myself.

Flash forward to a few years ago. I was drifting in rough seas

having lost my mother a short time before due to heart disease and

cancer. I was without solid direction. Though I have a wonderful and

loving wife who is always at my side, I felt I needed a path to help

myself reach for something more, something to provide a purpose for

myself. I was always fond of saying that the story of my life could be

summed up succinctly in the title of a song by the rock band U2: I Still

Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Poets and philosophers like to

wax on the length and breadth of the life of a man. The average life

span of a man can be significant in terms of X amount of years or as

fleeting as a nanosecond in terms of geologic time, but one thing that most can agree on is the

need to leave something of yourself after your time has passed. Something that can be long

remembered by those whom you hold dear as the fog of time passes over and shrouds for most

all but the most famous and infamous.

After I was initiated as an Entered Apprentice, I was introduced to the concept of fitting our minds as living stones for that spiritual building, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

This struck me as something in which to strive, to live a life that that those who follow can

remember as a life that was well lived. To me, living well means having the ability to touch

another person, to make their day or other time period better than what was before. It can be as

small as opening a door for another person, or buying a meal for someone down on their luck. As

I progressed, I learned the tools of a Master Mason present us a symbolic guide to living well,

squaring our actions with the square of virtue, meeting a Brother Master Mason on the level, and

acting by the plumb. As my knowledge in Masonry grows, I hope to one day make the rough

ashlar into a perfect stone."

[Excerpted from an article in Masonic Temple Topics, June 2014]


THE SHORT TALK BULLETIN November 2014

FREEMASONRY AND TECHNOLOGY

By George Fairbairn

R. W. Brother Fairbairn is a Past Master and Past Secretary of Perfection Lodge #616 in St.

Catharines, in the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario. He is a Past District

Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Quebec.

--S.T.B. Editor

There are several things that bother me about technology; or perhaps more specically, the way that we are using it.

When I studied computer programming back in 1969, my fellow students and I would visualize

the impact that technology would have on our future. I remember one of my classmates saying:

"By the time we're 35, we will probably only be working 15 hours per week computers will be doing most of the work for us."

I spent 37 years working in the software technology eld. In the rst few years I worked about 35 hours per week (summer hours) and had time to play 9 holes of golf before dinner; in the last

few years, prior to retirement, I worked 50-60 hours per week, and played little or no golf.

Instead of technology reducing our work hours, it has increased them there is no longer any downtime everything is moving faster. Everything and everyone is available, and is expected to be available, all of the time.

I once served as Lodge Secretary to a young Master who was up-to-date with the latest

technology. He would demonstrate how easy and convenient it was to run MS Ofce applications from his Blackberry tablet for example. Although he had the latest technology, it

was necessary to remind him every month for his message for the summons. It seemed like he

didn't plan, but worked in a "reactive" mode if you wanted to get his attention, you needed to put yourself in his high-priority queue then he would react.

He once told me that he was away from work for 3 days and when he returned he had over 600

emails. One has to question how many of these 600 emails were important? And is the time spent sorting/prioritizing/ling and cleaning up these emails an effective use of time? Another important question is: if we are continuously reacting to outside events, to the priorities of others,

how can we ourselves be creative, let alone productive?

We are in effect living our lives reacting to others. Whatever happened to planning our day? It

has been my experience that organizations provide training on how to use technology, but they

provide little guidance on technology etiquette. Who needs to be copied on an email? What is the


Fraternal Reviewcost of disturbing someone unnecessarily? By the way, if you wish to reduce the amount of email

you receive, there is one rule of thumb send out fewer emails.

I recently viewed a short video titled, "Irrelevance." It was put out by AFA, the Association of

Fraternity Advisors and was being viewed in Masonic circles. It stated, for example, that mimes

are irrelevant, because of clowns (clowns talk, and thus are better).

The video concluded that if we want the attention of the younger generation we must be relevant

to them, and in order for our organization to survive we must adapt and change with the world.

The younger generation has access to so much information, but less and less time to make sense

of all those options. Therefore, to be relevant, we must act quickly to provide sensible answers to

their questions.

This video made me think: does Freemasonry need to change in order to be relevant in today's

high-tech, fast track world? I believe NOT in fact I believe that we are relevant because we are different.

I think that it's OK to use a responsible level of Social Media - to perhaps locate and foster new

potential members, or network professionally or learn from a community of Masons. But our

beliefs, our ritual and our practices are ne the way they are, and have always been.

It is generally accepted that the pace of life and its stresses will get even more hectic than at

present. Although people may be able to cope with this intellectually, I question if many can

cope with it emotionally, with the Internet bombarding us with a mass of ethical and unethical

information in the privacy of our own homes.

Brother Michael Yaxley, President of the Board of General Purposes of the Grand Lodge of

Tasmania, wrote: "Society does have a need for a body such as Freemasonry. I believe that this

need will increase rather than decrease. In the next century the work place will not offer

fellowship and camaraderie sufcient to satisfy the social instincts that people have. Many people will work at home, linked to the ofce by computer and telephone. Others will work in an ofce with complex but nevertheless inanimate equipment. The irony of the Age of Communication is that people spend, and will spend, more time by themselves."

When I became a Freemason, one of my rst impressions was that attending lodge was like being in a different world, and that was more than 40 years ago. When I was hectically working

in the last years of my career, I would be better rested in the morning if I attended lodge the night

before, even if I arrived home late. I believe that chatting in chat rooms, engaging on Facebook,

or tweeting on Twitter does not provide the emotional experience that is needed, and that our

lodges provide.

Brethren, may our lodges remain a safe haven and be that emotional connection that the younger

generation needs, and may our Brotherhood continue to be relevant until time shall be no more.


FR_2015_v7VERSION 6 WORD

Documents

Fraternal Review 2015 02