Recently I was able to take part in the initiation of a new Brother into Masonry. This Brother would be easily identified by anyone at the Lodge because he was there nearly every Wednesday for 6 months before he was initiated. He needed that 6 months to get to know a Brother – it is a requirement for petitioning the lodge.

I talked with this Brother about 5 months ago. I asked what he was going to do to learn about Masonry in the next 6 months. He told me that he had already read everything there was to read, or at least a great deal on the subject – certainly more than I have read I felt. So I left it at that. I wondered what he had read and his thoughts on it, but I didn’t get a chance to ask in detail. I was happy to see he was the initiate when I was told as was interested to see his excitement.

I was acting JS and therefore had to prepare the candidate. To my surprise, he was already prepared, as much as he could be on his own, before I left the lodge to get him ready. I thought this was certainly a result of his previous reading and assumed familiarity with Masonry and its rituals.

I think that is about where it ended. During the ritual it was clear that the experience of Masonry is much different than what you would get while reading it. It was clear that the experience either made this Brother forget what he had read or it wasn’t clear enough in the reading to make it familiar past how to get dressed. There were several instances where assumptions seemed to be being made and a movement was made by the initiate that wasn’t in line with the ritual and a correction was needed. This is no more or less than the regular candidate coming into Masonry that hasn’t read a thing, other than they type of movements or missteps that were made.

Now, it would seem that I took some pride in this Brother being taught a lesson and being brought down from his high horse reading position. That couldn’t be further from the truth! In fact I was impressed with the age old saying that reading the ritual truly teaches nothing about the secrets of Masonry. The lesson is in the experience during and after the ritual, not in knowing it or being able to recite it.

The Brother in this case is very well read and exceptional person and I am confident he is and will ultimately reflect honor upon our ancient institution. It was happy to see someone like him in the lodge as he seems like he will be very active and it obviously meant a lot to him. The lesson was for both of us – but I think I was the only one who needed to learn something.

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