From Darkness to Light

      You are a stranger to Freemasonry and Freemasonry is a stranger to you. You are about to join more than just a Lodge. You are about to join a fraternity with over 20,000 members in Arkansas with over 200 Lodges. In the U. S. alone, there are over 3,000,000 members and nearly 14,000 lodges; with thousands of Lodges and tens of thousands members in other countries throughout the world.  Freemasonry has a history stretching back over many centuries, an intricate system of laws, a large number of purposes, ideals and obligations, many rights, privileges, and duties with Ancient Landmarks to be preserved.

 

      It is too much to expect that without guidance and education, you will be able to make yourself at home in such a society or unaided, to take your proper place in the Lodge work with credit to yourself and honor to the fraternity. You have the right to expect that the Lodge will give you the information that you need.  Without proper instruction and information, your Lodge experience will never be what it is supposed to be.  This is not your typical organization!  This is an organization that you can expect to be a member of until the day that you die.  Most people who join civic organizations are members only for an average of 7 years.  Most members of the Masonic fraternity are members for a lifetime.  Failure to receive proper instruction, to go on undirected and uninstructed, may be why some of the brethren cease to attend Lodge or drop their membership.

 

      Again, this is not your typical organization.  It is necessary that you become inspired in the true spirit of Freemasonry and learn to believe in, as well as understand, its purposes, ideals, rules and laws. As seems to be typical in America today, you cannot just sit by as a spectator and watch as the brethren perform the various ceremonies on which you are about to enter.  You must be a participant.  You must read, study, and learn about this great fraternity.  If you are not willing to do this, you have perhaps made the wrong choice in your selection of an organization to join.  Believe us, the effort is well worth it. Brotherhood is of greater importance today to a man than ever before.

 

      Before you take your first step into this great fraternity,  there are certain things you must understand.  There are five subjects that we wish to address in this lesson before you ever step into the Masonic Temple.  They are:

 

                      What is Freemasonry?

 

                      Where did it come from?

 

                      What does it mean?

 

                      How does it work?

 

                      What do I need to know about my first night

                      or initiation?

 

What is Freemasonry?

 

      To begin with, you should thoroughly understand that Freemasonry is entirely serious in character.  Contrary to what you may have heard or may hear, there is no horseplay or frivolity in our Degrees.  Their primary purpose is to teach, to convey to you a knowledge of the principles of the institution with which you are about to unite. With this in mind, you should prepare yourself to approach the three Degrees with an open and relaxed mind, determined to absorb as much as possible, without fear of ridicule or indignity.

 

      Our ritual refers to Freemasonry as being “a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.”  It might be said that Freemasonry is a system of moral living, surrounded by mysticism, expressing a belief in God and eternal life and teaching brotherly love. Another explanation which might  be offered is that Freemasonry has gathered together or taken those certain principles or fundamental truths which have been proven by time to be necessary for right thinking and moral living.  Further, it presents these fundamentals to its initiates for their use in formulating their own personal code of moral living.  It is recognized that all of our civilization and life are built on a foundation of two accepted truths: the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.  Freemasonry encompasses both of these truths, but it places the emphasis of its teaching on the Brotherhood of Man and all that it implies.

 

      The primary doctrine of Freemasonry is Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.  Its principal virtues are Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance, and Justice.  These principles or beliefs cover a broad and comprehensive field, actually supplying the pattern to meet every experience in human life.

       These principles or truths of Freemasonry will be presented to you in the upcoming three degrees of Masonry.  The presentation will be made symbolically by a system that is unique and peculiarly our own.  Its origins can be traced back to the medieval guilds of operative masons who built the great cathedrals of Europe. The nature of this presentation is such that the benefit you derive from the Degrees will depend entirely  upon you.  The good you get out of Masonry may be much, or it may be little, depending upon your willingness to study, digest and put into practice the thoughts and doctrines that will be presented.

 

      Our Lodges

 

      Each Lodge is composed of a group of men desirous of learning about and practicing Freemasonry, bound together by their Masonic obligations and working under or controlled by Masonic law.  Each Lodge, after meeting certain requirements, is granted a Charter by the Grand Lodge of its particular jurisdiction, by which it is authorized to meet, act and work as a Masonic body.  It is governed by a set of officers elected or appointed annually.  The principal officer of a Lodge is the Worshipful Master, who rules and governs under Masonic law without question, answerable only to the Grand Lodge and to the Grand Master.  He is assisted by a Senior Warden and a Junior Warden, who together with the Treasurer and the Secretary, comprise the five officers elected annually by the membership.  In addition, there are other necessary officers either elected or appointed by the Worshipful Master.

 

      Each individual Lodge, or constituent Lodge as we call it, is ordinarily limited to a definite area of community. There are some 14,000 Lodges in the country and each is governed by a Grand Lodge.  In the U.S., we have a Grand Lodge in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.  Each Grand Lodge is supreme unto itself and owes no allegiance to any higher authority other than to certain fixed Masonic usages, or “Landmarks” brought to us from past ages.  Each Grand Lodge passes it own laws, adopts it own ritual, sets its own standards and governs all Lodges and individual Freemasons within its own jurisdiction.  However, you should understand that our principles are fixed and that Freemasonry is basically the same from one Grand Jurisdiction to the next.  Though the rituals and regulations might be slightly different in each jurisdiction, every member believes in and practices the fundamental principles and doctrines of our Order.

 

      On the next page, we will discuss where Masonry came from.  This will give you an idea of our rich and proud heritage and should make you even more proud of the decision that you have made in seeking Masonic membership.