CRYSTAL GAZING
In 1974, The Conference of Grand
Secretaries in North America, presented a series
of papers entitled "Is Freemasonry Prepared to
Serve Man in the New Century Ahead?" The
paper presented by M.W. Bro. Robert A. Hinshaw, PGM Grand Secretary Ohio bears
repeating, and has been adapted for this short
Talk Bulletin.
Looking at several Fraternal Reviews that
were printed just as the last century closed, here
are a few of the things United States Freemasonry was concerned about:
Indiana and Kentucky: unauthorized cipher
rituals .
Ohio: spurious groups (Cerneau Masonry).
Frequent reference is made to Masonic
Homes, per capita, taxes, Grievance Committee
reports.
Many Grand Lodges were concerned about
the problem of non-payment of dues, both
about how to reduce the number and what
should be the penalty for failure to pay: suspension, removal from record, or what?
Most Grand Lodges were enjoying a modest
increase in membership, chartering new Lodges
and erecting new Temples.
In sweeping generalities, one could conclude that by and large, the Fraternal
Reports of the various Grand Lodges written prior to the turn of the century
were not drastically different from those being written today. Many of the
problems and concerns of 90 and 100 years ago are the concerns of our Grand
Lodges today. Perhaps the magnitude of the problem is not quite the same,
perhaps the locale of the problem has changed.
Point two, then, is that if one were to draw a
picture of Freemasonry at the turn of the century
in broad brush strokes only, the picture could
reasonably well substitute for today's picture.
Most of Freemasonry's problems did then and
do now result from the nature of man and his
basic failings.
But this is not unexpected.
If one were to scan the newspapers and
magazines of the 1890's he would find basically
the same news items in print then as today:
murder, robbery, vandalism, extortion, crimes
of passion, narcotics, drunkenness, forgery,
arson, corruption in public office, a search for a
higher standard of living through technological
progress, etc.
Actually, many of the stories in the Bible recount the same type of behavior, a behavior
reported earlier by other writers who predated
the Bible by many centuries.
Man's basic nature has changed little from that of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel.
His environment and surroundings have changed continuously and dramatically, but the human
animal remains almost a carbon copy, at least
psychologically or behaviorally.
Finally, we come to the question at hand: Is
Freemasonry prepared to serve man in the new
century ahead?
Let us ask ourselves, What will we find in the
new century ahead?
First, a continuing technological advance
with the following striking advances, and more:
(a) In the field of communication, the ability
to communicate via thought transference will be
developed, we call it ESP or mental telepathy today; in the next century it will
include not only personal "one-on-one" communication with Aunt Minnie in Kansas
City, but mass communication as well.
(b) In the field of transportation, we will
easily travel at speeds approaching or exceeding
that of light. Personal "energy packs" for local
airborne transportation will be common.
It will probably be possible near the end of
the next century to transport objects (and
perhaps people) by first converting them (or it)
to energy "waves" and then reconstructing the
object at the final terminal by means of a
sophisticated computer controlled reconstruction apparatus.
(c) Energy will not be transmitted by wire or
pipe, but by waves. Solar energy will have come
and gone as an economical energy source,
likewise gravitational energy. The exotic energy
sources that will be in vogue are too fantastic to
even guess at in terms of today's technology.
(d) We will probably again receive visitors to our planet from outer space,
perhaps from our galaxy, perhaps from beyond. In turn, we will be sending
expeditions regularly to other planets. We will have long ago colonized the moon
(Lunar Lodge No. I ?) and countless space satellites will circle our globe. We
will not comment at length on the use of the word "again" in
the first sentence other than to say it means what
it says a repeat occurrence of an event that has
already taken place.
(e) Probably the most dramatic progress will
occur in the field of medicine. During the next
century almost any organ will be capable of
transplant not only transplant, but "manufacture," as well. Human bodies will be reconditioned
much as we now recondition or remanufacture automobile parts. We will know a
great deal more about the power of the body to regenerate lost parts. The life
span will be greatly extended with little aging process accompanying it, and as
a result we will be faced with the moral problem of who will and who will not be
permitted to continue on this planet, which by the way
will almost certainly be under one government,
if for no other reason than to effectively deal
with other worlds.
The most striking development of all to occur in the field of medicine, and the one that will
have the greatest effect on Freemasonry, will be
the great advances that are just over the horizon
in man's ability to understand and to alter the
human brain, and hence, to control the human
personality.
Here, properly used, will be man's first(?) capability of "programming" himself.
We say "first" but it will not really be a first, for each of us has had the
capability all along to live in god's image, but few chose to make the
necessary sacrifices to do so, to practice the self-discipline required to lead a moral life.
What we should, therefore, say is that now
man will have the first easy way to program
himself, to become near-perfect. Unless our
basic human imperfection again gets in our way
and in our greed we program our fellow man for
greater lust, greater personal gain, for greater
material gain, we stand during the next century
to make a significant improvement in man's
development.
We might well see in the coming century the
emergence of man's capacity to affect his
behavior in a positive direction, either through
surgery, chemistry, or controlled breeding probably a combination of the first two.
We don't think that we as Freemasons are
"ready" for this today, any more than
Rotarians, Presbyterians, Baptists, Republicans,
males, Ohioans, or any other group is "ready."
In fact, many in this audience probably aren't
even ready to believe the possibility of this exists.
As Freemasons, however, we can adapt with
time and be ready probably to serve man's
needs on the short-term scale, just as we have
done successfully for 250 years.
And what are man's needs that cause him to
seek Masonry?
(a) A need to be appreciated and respected.
(b) A need to be associated with a status
group.
(c) A need for companionship.
(d) A need to be "needed."
These are a few of the major reasons and
not too dissimilar from the reasons man joins
any other voluntary group. So long as Freemasonry offers an opportunity for an individual
to gain self-respect and the respect of his peers,
and at the same time offers him an opportunity
to be a contributing part of the group,
Freemasonry will survive and will continue to
serve.
Freemasonry will however, have to be a little
like a football team on any given Saturday.
While no great team knows precisely what it will
face this Saturday, or next Saturday (and certainly not in the next century) it meets each game
in its turn, scouting the opposition as thoroughly
as it can, coaching its players to the best of their
abilities, stressing a well-balanced offense and a
rugged defense, having what is called a strong,
effective "game plan," and then once in the
game remaining alert to the opposition and
receptive to changes.
So with Freemasonry, We must:
(a) Scout the opposition (man's disinclination to become a Mason, or a member's potential to become a "drop out", active antagonism
by outside groups, etc.). How do we answer a
man's needs to make him want to become a
member and to remain in good standing?
(b) Coach the players (members) to the best
of their abilities. This means to educate the
members, stress good ritual, demand attractive
temples, admit only respected members. We
need to make Masonic membership "sought
after" rather than "thrust upon one." Keep the
standards high, get the members involved,
develop leaders.
(c) Develop a well-balanced offense and rugged defense. In other words
develop a program that will permit Freemasonry to meet the needs it can and
should meet, still retaining its basic fundamentals that characterize us as Freemasons.
(d) Finally, remain "loose," i.e., creatively
responsive to change within our basically accepted framework so that we avoid
vacillating
to every whim and wind and like a chameleon
change into something entirely and totally
unrecognizable.
"But," you say, "isn't this essentially what
Freemasonry has been doing for 250 years?"
To which we would answer, "Yes, and with a
pretty good record of achievement. Freemasonry
has weathered many a storm. It has been effective in adapting itself within reason lo changing
times, still retaining almost all of its basic foundation stones and ancient charges intact."
And with dedication, determination, self-denial and self-discipline, there is no reason why
Freemasonry cannot continue to field a winning
team at any given time. The team we have today
might not be able to win the game played in
2074, but it will acquit itself with glory this year.
And by taking each year in turn, we will be
ready to take the field, in 2074.
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