It seems to me that we expect a lot from our candidate for initiation. Apart from the principles of Freemasonry, he may have only a hazy idea of what is to come. Almost certainly he cannot yet grasp anything about the individuality of the lodge he is to join. I was initiated into a lodge of ritual perfectionists, but only found out about that after my initiation. It is a lodge which still boasts the largest number of holders of the coveted Emulation Silver Matchbox award for conducting a ceremony without need of correction. So the members spend a great deal of time concentrating on the words of the ritual and learning them to as near perfection as possible. That is no bad thing, as long as the words are also understood, and I have to say that lodge is still one of the best around from that point of view.
    But if we send our new initiate along to lodge of instruction to learn the words, we are not necessarily helping him to make a daily advancement in masonic knowledge. We may be filling him with knowledge of the script to be recited. We may not be imparting the knowledge of what happens to him as an individual at initiation.
    As a young Mason, I was very keen. I spent many waking hours memorising the degrees and the Emulation lectures. The book was always in my jacket pocket, and I remember wondering if, by some magical osmosis, the words might seep through my jacket into my bloodstream, so that, even without knowing it, I was learning something as I went about my daily business. You can see how fanatical I was.
    Of course I don’t believe that happened, but after about six years of attending lodge of instruction more or less on a weekly basis, I had mastered the words with a fair degree of accuracy. I had learned, not only the ritual of the three degrees and the installation ceremony, I had also committed to memory many of the fifteen sections of the Emulation Lectures (see the review on page 57 of this issue). These lectures encompass much that is not taught at our initiation. In them, we learn about the importance of morality, of symbolism, of what symbols can mean to us, and of how the masonic path can shape and inspire our lives. After all this learning, something very strange happened. Just when I thought I knew it all, I started reading, I mean really reading the words, working them out, not just memorising them. And then I realized how little I really knew.
    Our lodges, as I had read in the fourth section of the first lecture, stand on holy ground. But as I was now really beginning to listen, the next time I went into a lodge, I reminded myself – ‘here, you stand on holy ground’ – ground sanctified by the aspirations and intentions of generations of Freemasons who had conferred degrees and worked masonically on it. The next time I was privileged to be present at an initiation, I was able to remind myself that we were there better to enable the candidate ‘to unfold the beauties of true godliness’ in himself. Therefore the candidate’s mid- to long-term aim was just that – pursuit of divinity, and the time needed for the fulfilment of that promise would probably far exceed the sixty minutes of the degree ceremony itself. When listening in lodge, I was able to ask myself, ‘Why are the mysteries of nature and science hidden? And what is it that makes them mysteries in the first place?’ I no longer had to ponder the true nature of the mysterious veil, nor did I have to wonder why the eye of human reason needed another light with which to pierce it. I was better able to contemplate on my inevitable destiny and to know how to pursue that most interesting of all human studies, the knowledge of myself. The flood gates were open, and I had at last started on my masonic path, a path on which I continue today, since the search for self-knowledge never ceases.
    My basic proposition is this – while we are encouraging our newly-initiated Brother to learn the words and actions as well as possible, let us try at the same time to engage him, to light his spark, to have as much input, or more, from him as he is getting from us. Although you could argue that a thorough command of the words is important, you could also argue that the adherence to rigid forms is stifling in itself. But there is another dimension, and it is this. Are we ‘talking at’ the candidate too much? At what stage do we set aside rigid forms of ritual, so that his knowledge changes from being static to being dynamic? Is he making a daily advancement in masonic knowledge, and if so, how? In what way do we light the fire of his mind, rather than merely filling his vessel? If we do stop and engage him in this way, rather than sending him to lodge of instruction until he knows the words, we may find the results rewarding for both of us.
    jrees@aol.com