My Brothers, and those interested in Freemasonry,
While there are many myths about this organization, gifts from the uninformed, uninitiated and malicious, some of them are very good in the long run for the fraternity.
When someone asks me or my fellows if the freemasons know the secret of the Knights Templar (Poor Soldiers of Jesus Christ and the Temple of Solomon or Knight Hospitaliers) we often allow the myth to continue for a bit because it lets us tell the full story of brotherhood, truth and relief. It allows books like those written by Dan Brown to attract the interest of those we might well wish to have as brothers if we were allowed to go out and recruit.
Another of my personal favorites is the belief that members are threatened or sworn using oaths of great personal harm and if those oaths are ever breached, the member might well be subject to such a death. There is even a case where such a death was the catalyst for the Anti-masons. We all of course know that oaths sworn are against the true penalty of losing the good will and love of our brothers and not our lives. This however is so often the “ice breaker” question; “What are the consequences of your obligation?” or “Will the masons threaten my family if I tell?”
Freemasons are here to help each of us grow and travel our path to enlightenment, with the aid of likeminded good men. We hold the tenets of brotherhood, truth and relief of those in need as paramount and the virtues of truth, love, honor, reliability, charity and duty to family, God, country and the fraternity.
The myths may have been started with a negative intent, but seem to serve as a bully-pulpit to allow us to tell the real story. In times past it was necessary for a man to ask three times before he would be given a petition. I am certain this kind of story was so often the first contact. A fellow know a man of good character and who is also a freemason; he reads these myths (and others) and must find the means to resolve the conflict of what is sees and what he hears.
“Traveling along a rough and lonely road I met a stranger, whom I later discovered was my brother” is a quote from a Galen Green folk song, but it tells of how many men come to be freemasons. They speak with a friend during a time in their lives when things may be rough, or they may be seeking more brotherly affection and understanding, it is then they find that among the lodge there are friends who become brothers.
