Freemasonry: The Naked Truth

In order to help you understand the purpose of this chapter, here is a story which is an excellent illustration of what we mean by Masonic work.

Just before the beginning of a meeting, the Doorkeeper at the entrance to the Lodge received a young Mason who wished to attend.

“Our Lodge usually convenes just opposite yours and our meeting has just been cancelled. It’s the first time I have the opportunity to visit your Lodge. Tell me, what are the Brothers and Sisters of your Lodge like?

“What are the Brothers and Sisters of YOUR Lodge like?”

“Frankly, they are rather selfish and not very fraternal. In fact, it’s the main reason why I’m happy to visit you this evening”, replied the young Mason.

The doorkeeper answered:

“I’m afraid you will find the Freemasons here exactly the same as those in your Lodge”.

The young Brother thanked him for his answer and decided to go elsewhere to look for a more congenial Lodge.

Five minutes later, a young Sister turned up at the door and asked exactly the same question.

“Our Lodge usually convenes just opposite yours and our meeting has just been cancelled. It’s the first time I have the opportunity to visit your Lodge. Tell me, what are the Brothers and Sisters of your Lodge like?”

The Doorkeeper asked the same question: “What are the Brothers and Sisters of YOUR Lodge like?”

“They are kind, welcoming, honest and fraternal. I have many good friends and I really regret that our meeting has been cancelled,” answered the young Sister.

“You will find that the Freemasons in our Lodge are very similar”, said the Doorkeeper. The Senior Warden[1] , not very far away, had heard the two conversations. As soon as the visiting Sister had entered the Lodge, he spoke reproachfully to the Doorkeeper:

“How can you give two completely different answers to the very same question asked by two different Masons?”

“The person who has an open heart sees others in a favourable light”, said the Doorkeeper. “Everyone carries their universe in their heart”.

Following a similar logic, in ancient Greece, the Sophists taught their disciples that, to be as fair as possible, not only should you prepare arguments to defend your own opinion, but also force yourself to develop arguments to defend the point of view of your opponent. You need to accept that your opponent is someone on the opposite side, just like in a mirror, but certainly not an enemy to be destroyed. When our spirit adopts the logic of empathy, it quite naturally finds the middle path. The disciple needed to train himself to be able to accept the principal of a 360° vision. This is why we consider it useful to provide you with a contradictory opinion, by forcing ourselves to make a case for prosecuting Freemasonry.

The following exercise is also useful and often used in self-development seminars. It is a very effective way to help us modify how we interact with others and question our hasty judgements. The method is as follows. Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left side, write down all the positive things you think of something, a person, or even Freemasonry. Then, on the right-hand side, write down all the negative things you can think of. Then compare the two lists. Test the system by taking your mother, father or favourite grandparent as an example and you will see how rich and meaningful the exercise is. It helps us to free ourselves from the binary choice of “sanctification” or “demonization”. Nothing and nobody is totally perfect in this world, nor totally bad either. When we are able to acquire a clear and fair vision, our judgement will be stable and mutually acceptable.