The One remains, the many change and pass;
Heaven’s light forever shines, Earth’s shadows fly;
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

After I suggested that we were ‘about to reveal the clear, dynamic and powerful force of Freemasonry for the good of mankind and of society’, a Brother said that he had turned the page looking for the changes I was proposing, and was disappointed not to find any. I share his frustration. Our inability to change back to our true spiritual home, this great inertia of the Craft which ensures that we seem to be forever rooted in the 19th century, is actually based on a myth. It is based on a myth because the greatest period of change in Freemasonry actually occurred in the 19th century itself and it was, believe me, not a change for the better.
    What am I talking about? Well, for instance, prior to the union of the two rival Grand Lodges in 1813 there was no clearly defined ceremony for the installation of a new Master. In most European constitutions, there still isn’t, so they are more true to our 18th century origins than we are. And to be frank, the installation ceremony is not at all in the same language or spirit as the rest of our ancient ritual. Without wishing to upset the sensibilities of those who take a different view, may I quote from the address to the Master:

You ...cannot be insensible to the obligations which devolve on you as head [of the Lodge] or to your responsibility for the faithful discharge of the duties annexed to the appointment. The honour, reputation and usefulness of this lodge will materially depend on the skill and assiduity with which you manage its concerns, while the happiness of its members will be generally promoted in proportion to the zeal and ability with which you promulgate the genuine principles of the institution. [my italics]

I accept that this may have meant something to our brethren in 1813, but in today’s world, if you can cut through this verbosity, does it mean anything? No, our origins are far removed from that. Compare the clarity of the (far older) first degree tracing board:

...the form of the lodge is... in breadth from east to west, in length from north to south, in depth from the surface of the earth to its centre, and even as high as the heavens... in all regular, well-formed, constituted lodges there is a point within a circle round which the brethren cannot err; this circle is bounded between north and south by two grand parallel lines, one representing Moses, the other King Solomon; on the upper part of this circle rests the Volume of the Sacred Law, supporting Jacob’s ladder, the top of which reaches to the heavens . . . in going round this circle, we must necessarily touch on both those parallel lines, likewise on the Sacred Volume; and while a mason keeps himself thus circumscribed, he cannot err...

- and yet these words are seldom, if ever, heard in lodges today. Why not? It is a myth to contend that Freemasonry is changeless. You can say that it should be, but even the strictures of Emulation have not been successful in preventing change. A small but significant example: up to 1883, the only time the Junior Warden raised his column was at calling-off; he did not raise it at the closing, as we do today, a practice which is completely contrary to the symbolism of the duty of the Junior Warden (‘to call the brethren from labour to refreshment’ in the middle of the lodge meeting). A few years after that, the then senior member of the Emulation committee, when asked to rule on certain words used when leading a candidate for initiation to the pedestal, replied that ‘as in the past there is no official form of words insisted upon’, yet today there is a very rigid form of words.
    But the point is this. The changes we have introduced over the last 200 years have ensured that, in a large degree, many original forms are lost to present-day practice, and other forms have become ossified and their meaning is obscured. Before the union, once a Brother had been initiated, he at once set about learning morality lectures with a high spiritual content, thus really working at his own personal building. He knew about the power, wisdom and goodness of the Almighty:

The universe is the temple of the Deity whom we serve; wisdom, strength and beauty are about His throne as pillars of His work, for His wisdom is infinite, His strength omnipotent and beauty shines through the whole of the creation in symmetry and order. The heavens He has stretched forth as a canopy; the earth He has planted as a footstool; He crowns his temple with stars, as with a diadem, and with His hand he extends the power and glory. The sun and moon are messengers of His will, and all His law is concord. The three great pillars supporting a Freemasons’ lodge are emblematic of those divine attributes...

He knew how to achieve inner peace and contentment, something we sorely need in today’s hectic world. He knew also about intellectual truth, how to acquire it, and how to acquire knowledge and improve his lot in life. He learned (revolutionary stuff this!) to free himself from the constraints of a sometimes oppressive religious dogma, and to learn, with the philosopher Immanuel Kant, to think for himself (Kant’s way of putting it was ‘aude sapere!’; dare to know!)
    We need to read; we need to learn; we need to think. Initiation is only the beginning, and passing and raising will do nothing for us unless we have learned something beforehand.
    jrees@aol.com