I’ve been a Mason for 20 years, Past Master, 32°, Scottish Rite & York Rite. I don’t have any juicy secrets (like “33° Masons control the price of Ovaltine”), and I’m of the view that we’re / they’re mostly harmless. That said, I’m disillusioned. The Brotherhood is broken and not fulfilling what they promise to their craftsmen, which is to make good men better. It’s become one big LARP that sucks free time and money from its members and gives nothing back to the Brothers, their families, communities, or the world.
They broke their oath, I’ll break mine. Ask me anything. Or nothing.
I’m of two minds. The pro-Mason side of me says they were critical in filling the gaps where theology falls short. More specific obligations to prioritize your family, community, world for example. Other obligations are towards charity. There’s also an aspect I heard over the years: that you are the average of those you surround yourself with. If it’s a group people who are focused on improving their lives (and their families, community, etc), your life would reflect that.
That said, a lot of these might’ve been important back before there were schools, positive role models, literacy, iodine in our food supply... I don’t think they’re effective at helping as much as they used to.