MODERNIZING MASONRY
The statement is often voiced: "We must modernize Masonry." If any
importance can be attached to such statement, it must be that Masonry has
not been properly interpreted. The why and how of Masonry must be confusing
to the extent that the modernization plan is also confusing.
Masonry is a way of existence. It is life. What can I do to change
conditions? Surely, I cannot do anything about the fundamentals of life,
breathing, walking or sleeping. I cannot improve upon the rays of the sun.
I cannot do anything about finding a substitute for water. In all the
fundamental departments of life I cannot think of any plan to modernize
them. And I must accept Masonry as it is, its history, its tradition, its
principles and purposes. I must judge its worth by what it has meant and
means to humanity and to society.
The only possible change is in the manner that I apply Masonry to my life.
What Masonry offers to the Mason of today is as necessary and worthwhile as
it was to Masons of a hundred years ago. What its philosophy is worth
today, it was worth a century ago. What part of it can I eliminate without
losing something of lasting value? What can I put back into it that will
make it a more progressive system?
The modernization of Masonry must take place within the individual Mason.
There are no hidebound restrictions. There is some understanding that I can
gain today which I failed to see yesterday.
May Masons, through the faithful performance of their duties as Masons,
through a more careful study and understanding of our Institution, find a
new appreciation, rather than to generalize on the vague and indefinite
plan of "modernizing Freemasonry."
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