What is Freemasonry – A Response to Tim Bryce & Greg Stewart

[milliken3]

“Freemasonry does not exist in a world where brotherhood is a mere dream flying along the sky; it exists in a world of which brotherhood is the law of human life. Its function is not to bring brotherhood into existence just as a hot-house gardener may at last coax into bloom a frail flower, though the climate is most unfriendly, but to lead men to understand that brotherhood is already a reality, a law, and that it is not until we come to know it as such, and practice it, that we can ever find happiness, together. Freemasonry does not create something too fine and good for this rough world; it “reveals” something that is as much a part of the world as roughness itself. In other words, it removes the hoodwink of jealousy, hatred, unkindness, and all the other myriad forms of unbrotherliness in order that a man may see and thus come to know how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. The hoodwink of cloth or leather that is bound over a man’s eyes is not the real hoodwink at all, but only the symbol thereof; the real hoodwink, and it is that which Freemasonry undertakes to remove from a man’s eyes, is all that anti-social and unhuman spirit out of which grow the things that make life unkind and unhappy. “Brotherhood is heaven; the lack of brotherhood is hell.”

REST OF ARTICLE: www.freemasoninformation.com/2014/02/what-is-freemasonry-a-response-to-tim-bryce-greg-stewart/

[Tamrin]

I approached this article with some trepidation, thinking it was likely to be another case of, "That's What Freemasonry is All About, Isn't It?" This was the title of a talk by the late, lamented Bro. Rev. Neville Barker Cryer, in which he pointed out that, despite claims to the contrary, Freemasonry is not ALL about charity; hospitality or a code of life; but is "A peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." I was pleased to find my fears were unfounded and the article did address that system of morality, as a system which drew recognition to the living reality of "brotherhood" and "community". Albeit, I have difficulty seeing where this differs greatly from Tim's and Greg's talk of "fraternity".

I especially liked the observation by H.L. Haywood (quoted above).