12/03/2023
How does one become a Freemason? This question is justified, because all sorts of misleading and nonsensical things haunt the world about the worldwide Fraternity. The cloud of the "secret society" and the "world conspiracy" lies like ancient dust over the lodges.
Also: Is it so easy to become a Freemason and if so, how? In English usage there is a very nice phrase that completely answers this question in a simple and beautiful way: "To be one, ask one!" — "Would you like to become one, ask one!"
And it really is that simple: You can easily find the homepages of the lodges in your area on the Internet, with their address, e-mail contact and often also telephone numbers. If not - or if you are not sure - just inquire at the office of the Grand Lodge of the Old Free and Accepted Masons of Germany at E-Mail: [email protected]. They can help you there in every case.
All that remains is the question: why should one become a Mason? Carlos Urban, author, cartoonist, media man, and for many years a Freemason has collected the main reasons in his book "Why, and How Good People Should Become Freemasons."
The order of the following arguments does not represent a valuation. You will surely find one or the other that you consider important to yourself. You always decide for yourself whether you want to become a member. Nobody will push you to do anything.
1. Conveying values
In many areas, efforts are undoubtedly made to convey values: in schools, churches, associations, at seminars, parties, in clubs and, of course, among families and friends. However, I am not aware of any group in which values are imparted as holistically and profoundly as in a well-run Masonic lodge. It is the unique mixture of conversation, ritual, and participation in a group that successfully conveys values.
2. Networking
There are networks everywhere: in associations, at work, in politics, in the cultural sector. They are usually there to promote professional or private careers, to isolate themselves from other opinions and are often disparagingly referred to as "cliques." What you can hardly find in Freemasonry are the professional networks that have been rumored over and over again. On the contrary, they are frowned upon in the lodges as derogatory "business masonry." So, if you expect professional benefits from membership: Forget it! In the lodges there are completely different networks that are like the modern "social networks" of the Internet. If you need fellow campaigners or advisors, listeners, supporters, also reminders, creative suggestions, and contacts for a certain task, you will find what you are looking for here relatively quickly. The networks in the lodges are not targeted but varied.
3. Professional advantages
Now, it may seem strange that immediately after having disavowed professional Masonic networks, I associate membership in a lodge with professional advantages. What seems contradictory at first glance can easily be resolved. I'll try a quote from Adam Grant: "The good guys — people who give for nothing, who help friends and offer advice to strangers — more than the average guys make it all the way to the top. They look at what others need and how they can help them. They share their knowledge, their energy, their connections with others. And that is precisely why they are successful."
Grant's theory, "Being successful for the benefit of all," coincides with what the Freemasons claim, and has been practiced for a long time. But, according to my observation, there is even more to suggest that, on average, there are probably more professionally successful people among the Freemasons than in the society at large: In the lodges, the members learn and deepen their social skills, and, through the conversations with their lodge brethren, they internalize a fair and pleasant interaction with other people, who they consciously know come from the most diverse circles and professions, thus gaining a much more comprehensive view of the world than their [profane] colleagues can, and they can draw on the collective knowledge and experience of the fraternity. Freemasons have good prerequisites to be successful on their own and be satisfied at the same time.
4. Culture of dialogue
The pleasant discussion culture is often the first thing that guests notice when visiting a lodge. And the brothers also appreciate this "thinking aloud with friends," as Lessing put it, which results as the consequence of the "overall methodology" in Freemasonry. For a successful communication with one another, one must feel safe and have found his place within the group. The fraternal togetherness, which in no way necessarily must end in whitewashing, the respect for the right of another to his opinion supports this.
Every now and then, lodges invite external speakers on a wide variety of topics. The speakers like to attend, and they like to come back because they are impressed by the openness and tolerance of the brotherhood, as they are found in a well-established and working lodge. It is not uncommon for this to be the beginning of a membership.
5. Social in*******se
Everyone needs a minimum of social in*******se. The lodges also solve this need, because in addition to the - incidentally not so dry, but entertaining and humorous - conversations about ethics or related topics, the lodge also serves as a casual in groups conversation or confidential conversations with friends. In addition, many lodges occasionally go on excursions or hold internal and public events with [the participation of] their members' spouses [and female relatives]. There are also numerous contacts and collaborations with other lodges, but also with non-Masonic groups and organizations. Socializing in the lodge takes place in the right measure, with a good balance between good manners and relaxation.
6. Find friends instead of "buddies"
Many have hundreds, even thousands, of "buddies," for example on Facebook. But these are temporary digital acquaintances. But what every person need are real friends with whom one can talk about everything, who have the time and an ear [to listen] about worries and needs, with whom also to share fun and joy, who one can call or meet at impossible times, who help unselfishly, when you need them. Statistically speaking, every person has only one to three good friends. How about if you could have more than that?
Several factors come together in the lodges that favor the emergence of friendships: The same interests as a connecting element, the frequency of contact, the openness to approach others, the will to listen and understand, as well as the willingness to be friends. And there is also a type of friendship: the "brotherly friend." These are Freemasons who provide help without having an explicit friendship, when a lodge brother needs it, are on hand with advice and deeds, and also who approach others of their own accord, when they see a need.
Freemasons are closer to each other than is perhaps the norm in society. That is why the potential for friendships is greater here. Note: in Freemasonry, as in normal life, friends do not come by of their own accord. One must do a lot for it.
7. Self-awareness
When interested people turn to a lodge, they are often looking for the meaning of their personal life. "But surely that cannot be everything?" is one of the common questions. These people, whom we call "seekers," expect ready-made answers from Freemasonry, which they can give only themselves. It is with good reason that the Masonic path begins in the Apprenticeship level with the search for one's own self, one's own questions, strengths, weaknesses, demands, wishes, and possibilities.
Following the principle of Freemasonry as a kind of "western art of living," the answers are not sought through immersion, yoga, meditation, but through reflection, through a balanced relationship between reason and emotionality, through rituals and conversations with friends.
Wanting to be who one is, what one can do, what one wants and how one implements it, for which the Fellow-craft degree comes into the proverbial game, is one of the fundamental tasks of Freemasonry, to help its members reach a position, a point of view, a goal, and a personal insight. First of all, this is important in order for one to be able afterwards to prove himself in and for a society.
8. Religiosity and spirituality
Although humanist Freemasonry is tolerant of religions and does not have any religious convictions of its own, nor it is spiritual in the true sense of the word, it does, however, offer in its rituals thoughts from various religious, spiritual, and philosophical systems, that the participants can, but does not have to, use as suggestions and as part of their own personal worldview.
This freedom of thought stems from the early history of modern Freemasonry, and especially the inclusion of partly opposing worldviews enables the process of mutual respect and understanding, even in areas other than religion. The religious image of humanitarian Freemasonry, a child of the Enlightenment, is very revealing and has room for all religious or ideological perspectives.
9. Practicing tolerance
Tolerance is anything but indifference. One can be indifferent to other people because he does not want to deal with their problems or peculiarities. This can even be a libertarian form of exclusion, tolerance is not. Tolerance always goes hand in hand with a different opinion, which one does not share, but tolerates in the sense of "enduring," which is why tolerance is not suitable for being a permanent state. Goethe already recognized: "Tolerance should only be a temporary attitude: it must lead to recognition." That is easy to say, but tolerance is one of the most difficult tasks a person can deal with.
In the lodges the ground is prepared for tolerance, not just from the willingness to live a humanistic way of life. In the lodges one meets a wide variety of people, perspectives, and experiences, which can lead on the path from indifference to tolerance, to recognition and insight.
10. Opinion formation
There is no doubt that the various media are important for forming opinions. However, real opinion formation only takes place in conversation with other people. There is a risk of not working out an opinion with like-minded people, but only consolidating it or even leading to prejudices. A lodge, which preferably consists of the most diverse people, the "community of unequal," as the Fraternity also calls itself, forms an unimaginable spectrum of opinion. For many brethren it is refreshing what, for example, they heard on a brother's evening after a keynote speech and just under an hour-long, open-ended discussion, in terms of different opinions and points of view that contribute to a comprehensive formation of opinion.
11. Informal self-restraint
At a time when the media is "chasing a new sow through the village" [makes a big fuss] almost every day, in which every rumor is turned into a report, in the social networks every privacy is degenerating into public announcement, it is comforting to know that there are also "informal protection zones," in which not everyone is compelled to have an opinion about everyone, in which confidential discussions are also confidential, but where one can also try out opinions and thoughts in a kind of opinion-forming laboratory, where freedom applies to thoughts, even if they are not yet mature or at the time is not yet ripe. Here, secrecy is seen as a character strengthening "man's virtue," it forms the basis for trust, friendship — and extraordinary thought.
12. Idealism
If you are an idealist who wants to save the world, if you are looking for a "conspiracy for the good," if you want to help others: then you have come to the right place among the Freemasons. Here you will meet — not only, but still — many like-minded people with whom you can implement your idealism within the lodge or outside of it. In all likelihood, the Fraternity will be able to provide you with recognition, assistance, and moral support.
13. Worldwide Fraternal Chain of Union
If you travel a lot, you might want to feel a little at home, no matter where you are. This is possible through the so-called "Worldwide Fraternal Chain of Union," because Freemasons in a regular lodge have the right to visit any other regular lodge in the world. Traveling brothers report again and again about the friendly reception received in foreign boxes, the pleasant experiences and the sometimes-long-term friendships and contacts that result from it. It does not have to be the Worldwide Fraternal Chain at all. The neighboring lodge is also happy to have visitors and can offer a welcome change and a broadening of the horizon.
14. Humane attitude in daily life
Stéphane Hessel, in his book "Engage yourselves!" calls for a comprehensive engagement in everyday life. "It's not enough to get upset about how unjust the world is. Injustice is very real. It lurks at my door, here and now. […] What is needed from me there? Be there with words and deeds, with heart and mind. Provide support to the person concerned. So this gap between very rich and very poor, which aroused my indignation, can lead me to concrete action."
The beauty of Freemasonry is that its values can be asserted on a small and unspectacular manner. Freemasons do not make demands on their members; they leave it up to the individual how far he implements these demands in his life. They already consider it a great gain when every member implements a humane attitude in the family, in relationship, in the circle of friends and acquaintances and in the workplace, as best they can. One does not need to carry the Freemasonry [sign] before him, he can just act very discreetly.
Quite a few brothers are committed to this goal in and with the lodges, they carry the Masonic virtues according to their possibilities in associations, parties, organizations and work there for mankind. The humanistic virtues are universal and can be implemented on a small or large scale without any sense of mission.
15. Inner peace and balance
Freemasonry, especially through the weekly lodge meetings, and even more so through the monthly ritual, means a recurring pause, a conscious moment of deceleration. Whoever perceives more consciously, reflects, and organizes his life, who has friends, who can clarify his relationship in the world and to the supernatural, will be able to survive even in rough everyday life with greater balance and steadfastness.
16. Uphold the external liberation of man
Jürgen Holtorf notes in his book "Conspiracy for the good," "that the Masonic mission of the external liberation of man can be regarded as fulfilled." One might assume that this is the case for the core of the western world, but at the time of its publication this statement was not entirely true even for Europe. The "liberation of man" has by no means been achieved even in the western world. And where it has been able to be implemented, at least in part, it is not guaranteed forever and must be defended and strengthened every day against conflicting interests.
