The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

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Chapter 10 - Conclusion
Thus declining memberships may be more closely linked to
outmoded rituals and oaths, that apparently are incongruous with our
society's emphasis on 'fun.' Some authors [...] suggest that fun is a new
focal point of mass interest and that 'living it up' and engaging in the
'swinging life' are becoming major values. If this observation is valid, it
helps explain why the Elks, who have placed increasing emphasis on
providing 'fun' for its members, are experiencing membership growth,
while other lodge groups with austere, demanding rituals have been
declining in recent years. 2093
However, Freemasonry with its "austere" rituals is still there, having
expanded to numerous countries. In America, its popularity is further enhanced
by the "Master Mason's playground," the Shrine, their "fun" organization.
Furthermore, the American children are already directed towards Freemasonry
when they join youth orders like the DeMolays, the Order of the Rainbow for
Girls, Job's Daughters. Thus, it can be rightly said:
The boast of the Emperor Charles V., that the sun never set on his vast
empire, may be applied with equal truth to the Order of Freemasonry.
From east to west, and from north to south, over the whole habitable
globe, are our Lodges disseminated. Wherever the wandering steps of
civilized man have left their footprints, there have our temples been
established. The lessons of Masonic love have penetrated into the
wilderness of the West, and the red man of our soil has shared with his
more enlightened brother the mysteries of our science; while the arid
sands of the African desert have more than once been the scene of a
Masonic greeting. Masonry is not a fountain, giving health and beauty
to some single hamlet, and slaking the thirst of those only who dwell
upon its humble banks; but it is a mighty stream, penetrating through
every hill and mountain, and gliding through every field and valley of
the earth, bearing in its beneficent bosom the abundant waters of love
and charity for the poor, the widow, and the orphan of every land. 2094
The very optimistic and self-glorifying statement above from an American
Masonic encyclopedia compares Freemasonry to a mighty stream that reaches
every hill, mountain, field, and valley, even the arid sands of the desert, which is
a metaphor for universality. It ponders on the thought that even the uneducated
red man has found a way into Freemasonry, and that colonialists have brought
the Craft to Africa. However, we have to consider the many differences between
the national forms of Masonry, before we can chime in such a hymn of praise.
As we have seen, some lodges are convinced that they belong to a "mainstream
Masonry" and therefore have the power and the right not to acknowledge other
lodges, such as female lodges, since there is no place for women in Freemasonry,
2093 Schmidt, p. 44/45.
2094 EOF, p. 817.