I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to be a mason in the late 1500s in Scotland when the rebirth of masonry as a speculative craft from the operative craft was happening. What must a craggy old warden of a lodge have thought when he saw men joining who had never set one stone atop another in their entire lives?
     It must have been hard on the operative masonic warden. It must have seemed to him that the whole world was turning upside down. How could a man call himself a Freemason and not work stone?
     But this was masonry about to emerge with renewed strength and life. Speculative Freemasonry was about to change the emotional and cultural world as surely as operative Freemasonry had changed and shaped the physical world by building cathedrals, fortifications and castles.
     The operative masons had dreamed of faith, security and safety and worked with skill to bring those dreams to reality. The speculative masons would dream of humanity, liberty and fairness and they would labour with skill to bring those dreams to reality.
     The operative mason had only a little ritual – enough to define the few officers of the lodge, set basic rules of conduct and instruct in the practical work-place rules which kept people from getting hurt. The speculative masons seized upon ritual as a means of instruction and thought and expanded it to meet their needs.
     In some way the two masonries were very different – but in all the important ways they were the same: they were the means by which dream-driven men could accomplish those dreams. As those dreams have changed over the centuries, masonry has changed. Freemasonry has always been a living, breathing, dynamic thing. The Light masonry celebrates is the light that shines in the eyes of dedicated and thoughtful men engaged with life, not the chilled glint of light reflected from the dusty glass of a museum display case.
     And so masonry changed again, after the battles and revolutions which reshaped society. It became, essentially, a charity. We found new philanthropic causes and devoted time and energy to them. We solved problems for society and culture. Philosophy became less important and ritual became more so. It was very comfortable and very rewarding. And we hardly noticed that the comfort was that of a well-made coffin. That is the masonry into which I was initiated, passed and raised.
     And so I have a certain fellow-feeling with that old Scots operative warden because Freemasonry is changing again. I rejoice in that because I know the alternative is death and I love Freemasonry too much to watch it die. I know that any organisation which does not reflect the needs of its members is not long with us. When was the last convention of the National Association of Buggy Whip Makers?
     We have been given a second chance at life and only the profoundly ungrateful would turn their backs on it. Social and cultural changes have resulted in young men looking for a source of spiritual and ethical values in venues other than religion.
     In the United States the age of candidates seeking admission is growing lower. He comes having researched masonry on the internet. Often he comes after having read the rituals. He comes knowing much about what he is doing and he often comes with many questions. And he comes expecting answers.
     As some of our lodges have discovered, statements such as ‘You don’t need to worry about that’, or ‘The ritual has everything you need to know’, don’t fall on deaf ears – they are heard, and are treated with the contempt they deserve.
     It is important to understand that these masons do not come looking for a fight. They want brotherhood. They want intellectual stimulation. They want to have someone at their back in the battles of life. They want to be with men dedicated to making a difference. They want to be with those who have subdued the ego and focus on that which is real and not on ‘petty piques and quarrels’. They want to be in an association with older men who have promised to mentor and to share wisdom and experience.
     In other words, and rather embarrassingly, they come looking for exactly what we have been telling the world we have to offer.
     Really, they are not asking for much. They are only asking for what we should be able to give in civility, let alone fraternity.
     ‘Don’t ignore me. Share with me. Treat my questions and concerns as important. Help me learn, let me help with the lodge.’
     And perhaps most important: ‘Understand that I am dream-driven too. And my dreams are important just as yours are.’
     And it is true. Just as the old operative masons were driven by dreams, as the first speculative masons were driven by dreams, as the masons who created the great charities were driven by dreams, as we are driven by dreams, so are the young masons. And they are our future.
     Dream-driven organisations can never die... unless they kill the dream.
     In the life of every organisation there comes a point of choice – a point at which circumstances, even the dreams themselves, culminate in a moment of decision. When that point is reached each person must make a choice. It isn’t possible to avoid it, for not choosing is a choice. One choice leads to new growth, the other to the ease of death and the comfortable warmth of decay.
     Freemasonry is at that point and each of us must choose! You may choose life or you may choose death; but you must choose!


James Tresner is an Oklahoma mason, Grand Orator, masonic author and Book Review Editor for The Scottish Rite Journal.