Spreading the Light Through Interactive Dynamic Freemasonry

Spreading the Light

through Interactive Dynamic Freemasonry

What follows is an abridgement of an address given by MWB Robert B. Heyat, PGM, at the XI World Conference of Masonic Grand Lodges which took place May 12- 15, 2011 and was hosted by the National Grand Lodge of Colombia at Robert B. Heyat Cartagena de Indias. Past Grand Master

My Dear Brother Masons, I take this opportugradually withdrew from getting involved in the affairs nity to share with you my thoughts on the of their societies, and instead become more and more matter of where our Craft is at this point of inward focused, turning lodges into either exclusive time and whether or not the Craft is facing a crisis. clubs or an oasis for lay men to gather for fellowship in Based on my own experience since my initiation 45 their closed fraternal temples. years ago, I venture to say that I am extremely disappointed that the Craft, including myself, has failed to turn our ideals into reality. The question is why and how this situation has come about? In reviewing the early Under the paradigm of not engaging in politics, we have The progress of democracy and the growth of political parties have actually had an adverse effect on the activities of our Fraternity. Under the paradigm of not engaging in politics, we have avoided engagement of any kind years of Freemasonry, we in social issues that affect see that the leaders of the communities and societavoided engagement our societies. Such an attitude has alienated our ies were mostly the elite and high caliber men, not of any kind in social Craft from the society and has rendered us irrelevant necessarily powerful and wealthy, but certainly issues that affect our in our communities. As a result, Freemasonry is intellectuals, scholars, scilooked upon as an archaic entists and high quality professionals, who could societies. Such an exclusive institution, with weird rituals and secretive individually influence their societies and help shape attitude has alienated operations. The fraternity has, for the most part, the destiny of their people. The result was the great our Craft from the completely dissociated itself from civil society and revolutions and democratic all that affects daily life in advances in the 18th and 19th century in Europe, South America and the United States of America. society and has rendered us irrelevant in our communities. There was a time that many men of high quality, young and old, Unfortunately, over time, the Masonic instituour communities. eagerly yearned to join Freemasonry in order to tions became passive and benefit from its teachings stagnant and changed in and enact its ideals not character and mode of only in their lives, but also operation, which in turn affected their leadership and in others’ by spreading light to all corners of the the attitude of their members, failing to understand the world. There was a time, not too long ago, when many true meaning of Freemasonry and of being a Mason. of the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, members They ceased to translate the Masonic ideas and ideof Congress and men of high standing, both in pubals, taught in their rituals, into action. Masonic lodges, lic and private sectors, in the United States were Grand Lodges, and the individual Masons within them, Freemasons, and proud of it. But now, very few Free

masons in a position of authority or leadership care to To discuss and engage in the important social issues identify themselves as such, viewing it as damaging to confronting our societies should not be taken as engagtheir reputation and a liability. ing in politics or becoming part of a political force or How do we change this situation? There may be many ways to approach this mission; however, the following course of action is, in my opinion, fundamentally necessary to bring about positive and productive change: entity. We can discuss these issues among our membership and act upon them for the common good of our people without becoming political or taking a specific political side. Most of the important issues such as poverty, education, immigration, fighting crime, Membership: Declining numbers through death, drug addiction, helping children, and so on, can be attrition and our inability to attract new members considered without political overtones and be pursued should not be viewed as a significant factor. It is the individually or as an institution for the good of society. quality of membership that matters. One worthy and capable individual can do great things as a leader in his community. Therefore, we should look for quality individuals with high potentials, to enlighten them, have them join our ranks and empower them to spread the light of Freemasonry in their world environment. It is only by recruiting such individuals that Freemasonry can revive and rejuvenate itself and regain its position of positive influence in society and in the lives of other people. Engagement in social Freemasonry should opt for a dynamic program of engaging in the real issues of concern to society and educate and empower its membership to take on these issues in their daily lives… Interaction within Universal Freemasonry: Successful interaction with other Grand Lodges and Masonic institutions in communicating these ideas and promoting joint actions on common issues is the necessary next step and will provide us leverage on a global scale. Our fraternity has always been universal in character and we boast of the universality of Freemasonry, but regrettably we never really and actively engage in it. The reality is that each Masonic jurisdiction acts as an isolated entity and is more concerned about its sovereignty and issues: We should change exclusivity than working the agenda and content with other Masonic of our activities in our entities for a higher lodges and among our members. Fraternal relations purpose. They normally have dedicated their resources or charity work should not serve as our primary primarily to internal and superficial programs and goals. Fellowship is not necessarily limited to Masonic projects that accomplish little and leave no funds to gatherings, and charity seldom changes the lives of engage in the worthwhile programs and meaningful people, and in many instances breeds dependability activities mentioned above. and even poverty. Support for the new, regularly-established Grand Freemasonry should opt for a dynamic program of Lodges: Much has changed in the world in the last engaging in the real issues of concern to society twenty years. A good number of new countries have and educate and empower its membership to take emerged and joined the ranks of independent nations. on these issues in their daily lives and pursue them More recently, there have been revolutions and politiactively by getting involved with non-Masons in their cal changes in a number of older countries. In many of communities, in their countries, and indeed in the these countries new Grand Lodges have been created world at large. This goal can only be achieved by first and in others there exists a favorable environment to concentrating on attracting future leaders to the Craft establish Freemasonry. These newly organized brethand providing them with the proper tools to tackle the ren, in spite of legitimacy and regularity, face steep challenges confronting society. challenges and thirst for recognition. However, many of our long-established Grand Lodges, rather than continued on page 27