Microwave Mentality

Four years ago I gave a speech in Jefferson, Iowa to some new fifty year Masons. In it I said:

Our Fraternity is also undergoing change. I joined the Fraternity in 1966 and I have seen many of those changes myself. We no longer have to memorize long catechisms, you can take a test on the night you get your degree and be declared proficient. There are even opportunities to get all three degrees in one day at the "Grand Master's One-day class." These may be called symptoms of what I refer to as Microwave Mentality. We want it hot, we want it fast and we don't want to have to put any effort into it. Obviously you are not getting a gourmet meal when you do this.

I got to thinking about that today as I contemplated this week at Lodge. We have three persons who are going to receive degrees this week. There will be three Entered Apprentice Degrees on Monday, Three Fellowcraft Degrees on Tuesday and on Thursday we will have the first of three Master Mason Degrees. By the time of the Stated Meeting all three of these new Brothers will be voting members of the Lodge.

This is the way it is now. When I joined the Lodge I received my Entered Apprentice Degree on March 17, on April 7 I was made a Fellowcraft and on April 20 I was raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason. That was pretty fast considering the amount of memory work a person had to do back then. I did not do much with my Masonry until the early 1970's.

In Europe it can take years for a person to become a Master Mason. They open (I understand) their meetings on the Entered Apprentice Degree so there is no "rush" to get the new member through. Members also have to study and present philosophical papers. I well remember when George Apostopolous from Greece joined Arcadia Lodge. He seemed puzzled at the speed with which he received his degrees and when he gave a discourse on the meaning of the three Ruffians the night he was Raised he startled all of us somewhat. But he had a different understanding of what was expected of him than we did.

The discussion in Lodge of when the new Brothers would get their degrees brought all of this back to me. They are anxious to receive them. This won't be the first time we have scheduled degrees close together and it is to accommodate one of the new Brothers who is leaving for college. It will be hard on the Lodge to get teams together to do the work this week and once they are in there will be no more work until at least October as we did not receive any petitions at the last meeting.

I understand the desire to have the Brothers in as soon as possible. I understand the enthusiasm and I appreciate it. I also understand and believe that they will be missing something. They will miss out on time to reflect, time to meet with their mentor and discuss the degree and to perhaps read about the experience and really "soak it up." To internalize the experience. I personally would have preferred it to have spread the degrees out over a month or so. Not only for the new Brothers but for the Lodge. Because I believe that regular activity is healthy for the Lodge. Once a week is better than all at once - in my opinion. but then I don't much like the idea of One-day classes either.

The other advantage to spreading it out is for us to get to know the new Brother a little better as he goes through the process. In my new Lodge (Specialis Procer) in Des Moines the custom is going to be to ask the Brother to prepare a paper between his degrees and take some more time in joining. I think it will give him a richer experience.

But you know I am not in charge. I am the Secretary and I just take the minutes and observe the Worshipful Master's will and pleasure. I know MY place.

I do, however, prefer a gourmet meal that takes a while to savor and digest along with a fine wine and conversation as opposed to McDonalds. (Although sometimes you just have to have a Big Mac.)

Thanks for stopping by, Hugs, j