Grand Orator, (United Grand Lodge of England) Kai Hughes, Directs Us To What Is Important:

Source: Freemasonry Today (Magazine of the United Grand Lodge of England)

If there is one phrase that irritates me in Freemasonry it is when the junior warden stands up at the festive board to propose the toast to the visitors and refers to this as one of the most important toasts of the evening because ‘visiting is what Freemasonry is all about’. Those few words highlight to me one of the real problems in Freemasonry: we do not know what Freemasonry is all about.

I am not saying that visiting a lodge does not have an important role in Freemasonry; it does, but this role is linked to supporting the lodge and developing one’s inner self. The presence of visitors swells the numbers and helps the lodge to create that energy which is so important at the initiation, passing or raising of a candidate and the continual witnessing of the degrees helps to imprint the sublime messages contained within those ceremonies on our minds.

As a young mason, initiated at the age of 25, I remember feeling disillusioned with Freemasonry as there did not seem to be anything more to it than just trying to reproduce a word-perfect ceremony consisting of obscure and outdated words and having a good time at the festive board. So many of us will have spent an inordinate amount of time lying in the bath, walking the dog or pacing up and down in the kitchen, trying to learn the words of the ritual and get them in the right order, but how many of us can honestly say we really understand why we have three degrees and what deeper message the ceremonies of initiation, passing and raising is supposed to convey to a candidate?

It was a visit to a German lodge that made me realise that there was something else to Freemasonry. The ceremony started not with the Master opening the lodge but with the Brethren preparing themselves for the ceremony by quietly meditating, while a pianist played some beautiful classical piece in the background. No one spoke and by the time the Master opened the lodge, the atmosphere was so highly charged with energy that the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end. Then we witnessed a highly moving and word-perfect ceremony delivered with feeling and emotion.

Word-perfect because the book was open in front of them should they have required a prompt and delivered with feeling and emotion because they had learnt the ceremony and, more importantly, understood the spiritual or deeper message they were supposed to convey. Even today, I can remember nearly every part of that ceremony and it spurred me on to try and understand the philosophy of Freemasonry and its deeper, hidden meanings.

We are told that our order is founded on three grand principles – ‘Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth’ – and, for me, the key to the philosophy of Freemasonry is found in that last principle – Truth. So what is ‘Truth’? It is the knowledge of yourself and through that knowledge you are able to discover your own potential and prepare your mind to reach a higher level of spiritual consciousness. Initiation is the start of that journey to awaken those hitherto dormant higher faculties and enables a candidate to recover those genuine secrets that are buried within the centre or the innermost part of our soul.

Our potential is our real nature and is something beyond words, judgement or intellectual analysis. Even if we studied the words in the rituals for years we would not arrive at this state of knowledge and understanding. Through words alone it is difficult to enter into real knowledge: we need experience.

That experience comes from our ceremonies and it is important that we create that energy I described above. To do this we need to ensure that our members understand the underlying philosophy of Freemasonry and are able to translate its symbolism and connect with its deeper meanings for themselves. Too often today our ceremonies are just a set of mumbled words, at best well delivered and without deviation from the script.

If we do not ‘spiritualise’ our ceremonies then Freemasonry will continue to become more and more of a philanthropical and social organisation just like Rotary or Round Table. The difference between us and them is three degrees and we should learn to value and understand the nature of that difference and not forget that as a person awakens ‘Truth’ within themselves then the other grand principles of Freemasonry – ‘Brotherly Love’ and ‘Relief’ – will flow naturally anyway.

Illustration: Detail from the frontispiece for the Moderns Book of Constitutions of 1784. Acknowledgement: The Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London