Help, Aid & Assist Distant Membership Seekers

(There are many membership seekers who contact existing members on line for assistance in becoming a member.  Here is an article/response that you can link to when you get contacted through social media networks regarding these membership queries.)
 
A Membership Seeker Asks:  I want to be part of Freemasons now. Can you help me?
 
My Response:  Are you seeking to become a member of the Freemasonic Order?
 
He Continues: Yes!
 
My Response:  Okay.  Where do you live?

He Continues: I live in [location deleted by me].
 

My Response:  Thank you. You are outside of my area.  You have several options.  Here are only a few, with caveats:

1. When Freemasonic Orders are outlawed in your area:
• Immediately stop any further activities or you will put yourself in harms way. I cannot stress this any more emphatically.
2. When Freemasonic Orders are legal in your area, you should:
• Identify a local lodge member, make contact with him and ask for a petition. If he turns you down, find out if it is the local practice/tradition of turning membership seekers down several times before acceptance and act accordingly.
• Identify a local lodge, make contact with the lodge secretary and ask for a petition. Same "if" as above applies.
• Identify a Grand Lodge, contact the Grand Lodge secretary and ask for a petition. Same "if" as above applies.

He Continues:  But you are a member of Freemasons.  Would you help me join?

 
My Response:  I have done just that.
 
He Continues: I know that you want to help me ... But honestly, I do not know of any places in my area... Please let me talk to some members you know in my area, give them my phone number (############), or give me a phone number of a member and I will take it from there.
 
My Response:  It's not that I will not help you any further.  What you are asking me to do is not something I can or should engage in, and for many specific reasons.  You must do these things for yourself.
 
He Continues:  But you are a member of Freemasons. Why will you not help me further?  
 
My Response: That is a extremely important question.  Thanks for asking.  Here's why:

1. You are asking an existing member...
• from a different area than yours,
• who has no influence whatsoever over the lodges or lodge members in your area,
• whom you do not know,
• who does not know you,
• to do something further that he should not do. 
2. In some areas, you MUST already have an existing relationship with a member of a lodge in your area; not members outside your area, especially those that do not know you and that you don't know.  In this case, you MUST wait for that person to propose you to the lodge before a petition will be offered to you.
3. I am not from your area and therefore cannot tell you what lodge to approach as it is NOT in my area and within my knowledge.
4. You asked for advice/help/support.  What is offered to you is exactly what you can and should expect to receive from an unknown stranger and outsider to your area.
5. Your next step it to locate a lodge near you, ask for its admission requirements and then you should act accordingly.

One more caveat you should consider when seeking membership:  There are many bogus groups and individuals who claim to be members of Freemasonic Orders.  Be CAUTIOUS of their Scams!
 
He Continues: Well, okay. Thank you very much.
 
My Response: You're most welcome...  Good Luck!

BTW - A good Brother made an awesome video that expands upon this theme.  You can find it here:  https://youtu.be/pmEO_eA-idg
I high recommend you listen carefully to what this Brother has to say and what he has to offer you in your current situation.

Respectfully,
 
Coach John S Nagy

A Brother Asks: What's Missing?

A Brother Asks: I see so many men coming in to our organization with no clue as to what to expect from their membership.  Coach!  What's missing?

My Response: Great observation and a truly awesome question!

It's a front end preparation issue and in it is the flaw that you have detected.  The missing component in far too many Masonic Investigations is not having the petitioner disclose verbally and in a concise and revealing way what he Perceives to be "Betterment" and how that Applies specifically to him!   These two things are the Vision and Intent behind his joining!

Think about it.  What's Prescribed based upon Ritual?  If we take it for granted that he actually did come to the organization to truly improve himself, shouldn't that be the target to shoot at in all his future involvement?  Shouldn't that be what we focus upon in our investigation and later on in our support of him?  Shouldn't that be what he shares with us upfront so that everyone is on the same page as he goes through our Freemasonic process? 

When these two things are not disclosed upfront, he is likely to blindly wander the Freemason Landscape unknowingly bumping into one Improvement Opportunity after another without taking advantage of them in any way. His focus will be elsewhere and so will most all those who direct him.

To Improve Improvement Opportunities, Investigation members would do well to have the potential Brother-Member lay out this Strong Foundational Intent and Vision during the Interview.  What does he Visualize Betterment to be and how would that apply to him!  Force the interview to come to a complete stop if necessary and return to it when the petitioner has had time to give these things worthy consideration and contemplation.  These are not worth dismissing or skipping past.  They ARE the reason all candidates have come through the West Gate, at least, according to Preston-Webb Ritual.

Yes, his Vision and Intent may and shall rightfully change with Further Light and that's not the point or an issue here.  Giving him opportunities to pro-actively think is!  And especially upon the very things that Ritual Espouses!

A Purposeless Quest is non-hunger driven eating; it serves no good purpose.  Make sure his Quest starts out with the best of intent and clearest of vision!

If a Pre-Mason's attention is not focused upon the very reasons Ritual espouses for what he should be coming here to do as a future member, how can we honestly expect him to focus upon that activity if we don't?

F&S,

Brother John S. Nagy