SO IS MASONRY EDUCATION?
Yes. In a very
real sense, education is at the center of Masonry. We have stressed its
importance for a very long time. Back in the Middle Ages, schools were
held in the lodges of stonemasons. You have to know a lot to build a
cathedral -- geometry, and structural engineering, and mathematics, just
for a start. And that education was not very widely available. All the
formal schools and colleges trained people for careers in the church, or
in law or medicine. And you had to be a member of the social upper classes
to go to those schools. Stonemasons did not come from the aristocracy. And
so the lodges had to teach the necessary skills and information.
Freemasonry's dedication to education started there.
It has continued.
Masons started some of the first public schools in both Europe and
America. We supported legislation to make education universal. In the
1800s Masons as a group lobbied for the establishment of state supported
education and federal land grant colleges. Today we give millions of
dollars in scholarships each year. We encourage our members to give
volunteer time to their local schools, buy classroom supplies for
teachers, help with literacy programs, and do everything they can to help
assure that each person, adult or child, has the best educational
opportunities possible.
And Masonry
supports continuing education and intellectual growth for its members,
insisting that learning more about many things is important for anyone who
wants to keep mentally alert and young.
What does
Masonry teach?
Masonry teaches
some important principles. There's nothing very surprising in the list.
Masonry teaches that:
Since God is
the Creator, all men and women are the children of God. Because of
that, all men and women are brothers and sisters, entitled to dignity,
respect for their opinions, and consideration of their
feelings.
Each person
must take responsibility for his/her own life and actions. Neither
wealth nor poverty, education nor ignorance, health nor sickness excuses
any person from doing the best he or she can do or being the best person
possible under the circumstances.
No one has the
right to tell another person what he or she must think or believe.
Each man and woman has an absolute right to intellectual, spiritual,
economic, and political freedom. This is a right given by God, not by man.
All tyranny, in every form, is illegitimate. Each person must learn and
practice self-control.
Each person
must make sure his spiritual nature triumphs over his animal nature.
Another way to say the same thing is that even when we are tempted to
anger, we must not be violent. Even when we are tempted to selfishness, we
must be charitable. Even when we want to "write someone off," we must
remember that he or she is a human and entitled to our respect. Even when
we want to give up, we must go on. Even when we are hated, we must return
love, or, at a minimum, we must not hate back. It isn't easy!
Faith must be
in the center of our lives. We find that faith in our houses of
worship, not in Freemasonry, but Masonry constantly teaches that a
person's faith, whatever it may be, is central to a good life.
Each person has
a responsibly to be a good citizen, obeying the law. That doesn't mean
we can't try to change things, but change must take place in legal ways.
It is important
to work to make this world better for all who live in it. Masonry
teaches the importance of doing good, not because it assures a person's
entrance into heaven -- that's a question for a religion, not a fraternity
-- but because we have a duty to all other men and women to make their
lives as fulfilling as they can be.
Honor and
integrity are essential to life. Life, without honor and integrity, is
without meaning.
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