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 really sorry to be salty. You’ve got the right attitude. Don’t let me tarnish your view of the craft.
I think my problem boils down to nostalgia. When I joined it was great. There was steady activity at the lodge, a lot of charitable work with the community, real strong Brotherhood, families getting together. It was really communal.
Then most of the Brothers I was close to coincidentally moved within a few years (mostly due to the state economy). At the same time we had several years of bad Masters who ran activities into the ground. Everything kinda went downhill, and I burnt out trying to get the lodge back to that level of energy when I was Master. It was especially maddening to see it get worse after.
Our lodge is probably a pretty rare case. Masonry is very much just like a family - sometimes they’re slightly less than functional. One thing I do know, it won’t take long for my dysfunctional Masonic family to pull itself together and become a thriving lodge again. After your degree you’ll understand why something like that is possible.
I wish you best of luck in your journey towards the East.