Masonry's Failure...

Man, I just love these Old Tiler Talks. Goooood schtuff.

Masonry's Failure

"Old Tiler Talks," by Carl Claudy

"Why does Masonry fail so much?" puzzled the New Brother, dropping into a chair beside the Old Tiler in the anteroom.

"I didn't know it did," commented the Old Tiler. "But then, I'm an old man and my eyes are not very good. Maybe I don't see clearly any more. Tell me about it."

"Oh, you see well enough! You just don't want to admit that the order to the service of which you have devoted so much time and thought is just a failure!"

Continued...

[edit on 9/30/05 by The Axeman]

Originally posted by The Axeman
Man, I just love these Old Tiler Talks. Goooood schtuff.

Yep. The Old Tiler was indeed a wise old Brother!

To those who rise Masonry has a helping hand to extend. To those who fail and stay fallen, she has charity. Not hers the fault that humanity is frail. She hold the torch; if they close their eyes to its radiance and refuse to see the narrow path that the torch illumines, will you blame the torch?

The why credit masonry with the success? And in this analogy, masonry is just the torch, not the path either no?

Masonry professes to teach moral virtue no? And while I'll agree that many religions profess the same thing, they also tend to emphasize salvation over virtue (in a sense). So masonry seems to be the one most striclty making a claim at setting up the possiblity of moral improvement. And yet, it doesn't work very often, because men who've had masonic training, in addition to all that everyone else has, still so often end up being no more moral than other men around them, or indeed any more moral that they probably would've been without masonry and with some other instituion to use to focus on their moral improvement, no?

Nygdan,

Masonry has never asked for "Credit" for our efforts to make Good men better.

Free Masonry can only supply the tools with which a man can improve himself. We have no way to force anyone to improve. The only manor of penalty is to expell someone for violating one of our rules of conduct.

We offer the opportunity, encouragement and example for the brother to follow in the path of self improvement. BUT there is NOTHING except peer pressure and advice we can do if a brother causes Not to follow the "teachings" of Masonry.

The works of Claudy, as with many of the writings on Masonry, act as teaching aids. They are designed to help pass on lessons to the brothers from the most experienced (or more articulate) brothers. As you may have noticed here, some masons have greater ability to articlate their knowledge than others. (Masonic Light is a prime example)

While the organization does teach, not all brothers learn. This could be the fault of the teacher, the student, the environment or any number of reasons, but not of the knowledge offered. Masonry should however be given credit for continuing to offer this knowledge to interested men for over three hundred years. While there is no possible way for me (or anyone) to know the actual figures, I am of the opinion that the organization succeedes in vastly more cases than it fails to impart a positive influence on its members.

No one will ever deny that there have been masons who have NOT followed the teachings of masonry. But never has the organization, nor its members denied these failures. Nor have we ever tried to cover up the fact that the individuals were members.

Considering that the lodges have been in existance for so long, you should be willing to admit that there is the possablilty that the teachings have something to offer that is possitive enough to cause men to ask to join. Remember that no one is invited, they must first ask to join.

Originally posted by Nygdan
The why credit masonry with the success? And in this analogy, masonry is just the torch, not the path either no?

The analogy is correct...Masonry illuminates the path, the path itself is laid out by the Brother's own virtue and spiritual beliefs.

Masonry professes to teach moral virtue no? And while I'll agree that many religions profess the same thing, they also tend to emphasize salvation over virtue (in a sense). So masonry seems to be the one most striclty making a claim at setting up the possiblity of moral improvement.
And yet, it doesn't work very often, because men who've had masonic training, in addition to all that everyone else has, still so often end up being no more moral than other men around them, or indeed any more moral that they probably would've been without masonry and with some other instituion to use to focus on their moral improvement, no?

That's right...the possibility of moral improvement. The improvement lies upon the Brother, like Masonic Student said....Masonry is just a tool for improvement, it's up to the brother to use it.

reply to post by The Axeman



yo axeman remember the bad gramma guy? this is of topic but i tried to u2u you.. but i can't until i have made 20 post wtf man! so i have made an explaination to your question