A Brother Asks: Is Freemasonry truly a continuation of operative masonry?
My Response: No, it is not.
Brother: Wow! That's not the answer I expected. Would you please expand on this?
Coach: Sure! Although the Freemasonic lore espoused in lodges tells us that Freemasonry is a continuation of Stonecraft, the reality is something entirely different.
Brother: What is the reality?
Coach: Freemasonry is a continuation of Mystery Play Productions.
Brother: Mystery Plays?
Coach: Yes! These were plays put on by most all Guilds, and not just Stonecraft organizations.
Brother: Other guilds put on these plays?
Coach: Yes. These were occupation "produced and sponsored" public plays put on under the premise of educating and entertaining the masses.
Brother: Interesting!
Coach: Indeed! They also served the purpose of product and service placement for marketing purposes.
Brother: Marketing? Wow!
Coach: Yes. In the case of Freemasonic societies, they have collectively privatized their plays.
Brother: Privatized?
Coach: Yes. That is the original meaning behind the word "peculiar" in the phrase, "peculiar system of morality," used to describe Freemasonry.
Brother: Yikes! That makes so much sense!
Coach: Yes, and it's hidden in plain sight too!
Brother: Indeed!
They put these morality plays on for paying patrons who wish to join the society. The joining is called "Being Made" and also "Being Accepted" and occurs through morality plays called "The Entered Apprentice Degree". These plays are provided to joining members as an initiation ritual. Once "Accepted", modern members are also "Admitted" into the lodge that produced the play.
Brother: How do you explain The Lodge of Edinburgh #1 (Mary's Chapel) which has its minutes unbroken since 1599? They were then entirely operative. They are now entirely speculative. The minutes document the transition.
Coach: Yes, they were originally entirely operative according to their unbroken documents. Yes, it is clear that at some point they changed their business model and hence their operation. They transitioned:
1) from working on stone and selling their stonecraft skills and products
2) to selling memberships to men to experience total-immersion live-action alternative-reality role-playing social-theater that was scripted using the lexicon, symbols and fabricated lore of stoneworkers with the intent to put on morality plays for private patrons with this basis and for moral purposes.
It is not likely that this transition was instantaneous, deliberate and purposeful. It is more likely that it was a series of decisions and choices based upon money, personal interests, short term goals, and opportunities presented to the membership over many years.
When you examine what these Stonecraft Lodge members did then and what Freemasons do now, it should be clear that the two operations are as different from each other as living the dream and acting out a fantasy. It should also be clear too that their business model was originally premised upon bringing members in to teach them stonecraft and to make them productive stonecraft workers for the business.
The moment they chose to include members who were not going to support that business model is the moment they chose to sell membership into something else to create a revenue stream not dependent upon sales of stonecraft product and services but upon an offered theatrical modality that was not stonecraft.
Keep in mind, the common thread between the stonecraft lodge activities and what is now referred to as the early "speculative" period was the dinner parties both offered that included drinking, eating, singing, discourse, social intercourse and, ...wait for it... entertainment.
It should also be clear that the wives of these included non-stonecraft working men had to be appeased of their concerns. After about 100 years or so of doing these dinner party activities, the society enacted a rule to assure that no man could be excluded due to the concerns of his wife, who might fear that her husband was part of a dinner party society that had women as members.
Sadly, there is very little dinner party activity going on in our modern Grand Lodge era. All that we typically have offered to us now, beyond the usual Degree activities, are boring business meetings, installations and Grand Lodge Entourage visits.
I emphasize one point though. Freemasonry as it is typically practiced today is not now speculative.
Brother: It's not?
Coach: It's not! Being "Speculative" denotes being a "speculative equivalent" of an "operative version". Freemasonry is not an equivalent representation. If any Freemasonic organization was to authentically claim to be a Speculative version of Operative Masonry, they would have to practice the Speculative aspects of Operative Masonry and not just give it lip-service that claims the title without ever doing the Work that justified the title.
In the case that you provide, it should be clear. Just because a business doing Stonecraft kept minutes over a long time and these minutes showed that they transitioned their business model, doesn't mean that they are continuing what they did before the transitioned; they are not. No matter what illusion members who interpret their minutes want to have you buy into, calling a sausage an orange doesn't make what you have an orange; it's still a sausage. The same applies to the labels they put forth. Calling what Freemasons currently do "Speculative" doesn't make it so. It's quaint, and it's romantic, but it's inaccurate and mislabeling.
From a wider view, the evidence is clear. Freemasonry is not a continuation of what Stonecraft Masons did prior to about 1717 (or what they did after then for that matter!) Freemasonry is not even close to being a speculative version of operative masonry. What they (stonecraft lodges) did (stonework for fee) and what we (Freemasons) do (total-immersion live-action alternative-reality role-playing social-theater with a moral purpose for fee) are two entirely different activities and practices and are not even analogously equivalent.
Brother: They're not? Please explain!
Coach: Sure. Let's get into this a bit.
If you do not believe my claim, ask yourself the following four questions:
- Did you actually serve any apprenticeship whatsoever that established and cultivated a strong foundation for doing Speculative Work.
- Did you actually receive any Training whatsoever to do Speculative Work?
- Did you actually put forth a Masterpiece of Speculative Work to earn that Master Mason title?
- Can you clearly and concisely explain to another human being what Speculative Work actually is, without describing theatrical training?
Speculation is not just learning scripts and acting them out. Claiming a Speculative connection to Operative Stonecraft is like saying that, because we put on plays using archeological references, tools and stories, that makes us a speculative version of archeology or because we put on plays spouting and espousing the ancient Greek Philosophy of Plato that we are modern Platonists. We would not be a speculative version of either. We would still be a theatrical society putting on plays and role playing what the script and choreography called for.
The practices Stonecraft Masons had and the practices we modern day Freemasons have are not different versions (Op. v Spec.) of each other. The two are not even close.
The fantasy is fun and quite enjoyable and participation does bring rewards, but the reality of our practices is far from the romantic dogma provided through most channels who have an invested interest in keeping the fantasy alive. Keeping all this in mind as we participate within its theater allows us to stay well-grounded in our expectations of what it truly offers to all those who engage in its offerings.
It also helps us focus upon the true intent and purpose: To immerse our patrons in artificial realities which allow them to play out roles of men going through initiations that focuses them upon what they can and need to commit themselves toward to become better men as a result of doing so.
All Freemasonic activities are to do just this. When we fail as an organization to support them in becoming those better men, our results fall short of our intend goal.
For Further Light:
Why no records?
F&S,
Brother John S. Nagy
PS - For more information on this topic, please consider reading "The Craft Unmasked! The Uncommon Origin of Freemasonry and its Practice"
A Brother Asks: In some lodges I have seen that the flap of the apron worn is pointed up... why is that so?
F&S,
A Brother Asks: Why aren't females permitted in mainstream's open lodge activities?
