To not understand Masonic lodges

[Bearbehind]

Just been talking to a friends who's husband is a head honcho mason.

He's called the Grand Master or something equally ridiculous.

Apparently throughout a masons 'career' they get to fill in certain blanks in the book and only at the top level do you get to fill in all the blanks.

AIBU to think WTAF?

What is the point in this seemingly childish behaviour in grown men?

On the revealing of the breast thing- doesn't anyone who is a candidate for the Pope have to reveal his tackle to prove he's not a woman too?

(I've just googled,but FYI- googling 'Pope proving he has testicles' throws up non-work safe results.)

Anyway- humans throughout history have tried to make sense of the world and their place in it by developing stylised rituals and the concept of 'the outsider'.

Almost all auctioneers are Masons, apparently.

A lot of farmers, too. It used to be that law enforcement was very Mason-heavy, but not so much these days. Senior police, maybe.

The Round Table is vaguely similar, if not as weird. Almost all of the male cops and firefighters I've known have been members.

I'm imagining a Panini sticker book

My first thoughts were of a My a Little Pony sticker book I had when I was little.

grapes why can't he meet people and raise money for charity without all the childish filling in of blanks as you progress up the ranks?

Quacking - I visited a masonic temple in Belgium and was shown around by a woman member - they have mixed orders there. They said the Egyptian style didn't mean they worshipped cats or old Egypt or anything, just that it was the fashion when the temple was built. I wasn't convinced by that because I'd seen a letter coming from someone called something like 'big cat'. They're very anti-Catholic over there, but tolerate Protestants. They had politicians of all colours and masonic connections are used in Belgium as a way of, for example, getting an appointment with the prime minister. She admitted some of the lodges were really snobby - her husband had been rejected by one of them because he was 'only' an architect. It was pretty interesting.

Went to a family funeral not so long ago. There were lots of people there who were apparently 'brothers'. I had no idea this relative was a mason until then, but my parents knew even though they completely disapproved. He was obviously 'out' about it as well, but it never came up in conversation.

I was at the pub a year or so ago when someone arrived and just looked at the older slightly posh looking man in the group and asked him outright which lodge he belonged to. He answered honestly while I sat there open mouthed.

A friend is the first man in his family not to be one - his father and granddad were senior police.

Grapes why did he chose masons over parties or rotary etc where you can meet ALL kinds of people and do things for charity?

Charities not parties

I've just googled,but FYI- googling 'Pope proving he has testicles' throws up non-work safe results.)

Who’d have thunk it!

"grapes why can't he meet people and raise money for charity without all the childish filling in of blanks as you progress up the ranks?"

They want the advantage in life, in general. Old boys' network, but much more so in my opinion. They like to say it's the same as helping someone out from your church or your hobby group, but it's really not.

I don’t understand the Masons but I am grateful for their existence and have a quiet reverence for them, we have them to thank for so many lifesaving services, lifeboats for the RNLI and coastguard agency, air ambulances and much more.

Once in my job on a project I hit a wall of bureaucracy, with huge ramifications for a city and unbeknownst to me someone involved in the project belonged to a lodge and immovable obstacles were overcome, this was executed with incredible discretion, six years later I look back with nothing but admiration.

I was at the pub a year or so ago when someone arrived and just looked at the older slightly posh looking man in the group and asked him outright which lodge he belonged to. He answered honestly while I sat there open mouthed.I

They display it: mason wallets etc.

Pancake - I think he just thought 'this is the kind of man who must be a mason'. It's probably something I could have realised myself if I'd thought about it. Some of them are very secretive about it though so I doubt they all display it.

I used to do after dinner sings at lodges with choir. They paid us handsomely.
Always wondered if it is sinister tbh.
That and religion, men and their power structures.

I don’t understand the Masons but I am grateful for their existence and have a quiet reverence for them, we have them to thank for so many lifesaving services, lifeboats for the RNLI and coastguard agency, air ambulances and much more

Do you honestly believe that people who worked or managed or fundraiser the lifeboats wouldn't have bothered and would have chosen different careers were it not for the Masons?

Firemen didn't go into the fire service because they were masons, They joined the Masons AFTER becoming firemen, because some felt obliged, others wanted the perks. We would still have a fire service if masons didn't exist!

Dad was a Mason though guilted into it by the family - your father was a Mason but he's no longer alive and he would be so proud... etc.

He did his three levels and left. Always referred to it as The Plasterers' Union.

Religion defently comes into in Scotland

They do a lot for charity yes, but that doesn't disguise the fact that it's long been a secret society that's sought to exert influence behind closed doors for their own ends.

It's very much a 'we look after our own' type club, and whilst superficially it's a harmless men's club, deeper down, it's positively creepy. I know of 4 masons all of differing characters, but one common theme is shared across them - a deep desire to feel important, if not in the wider world, at least inside a secret organisation. Decent men, all four, but that little character flaw prevails far too often.

"someone involved in the project belonged to a lodge and immovable obstacles were overcome"

That just shows you the power they have.

Most of us manage without following a weird cult where information is only divulged at certain levels

Unless you're a Scientologist!!

Religion defently comes into in Scotland

Not necessarily. My friend and several of his fellow Lodge members are Catholic. It's never been a problem

My two cents from someone who's dad seems to have been a Freemason forever:

• it is secret. It was 'the club'. I resented that as I didn't understand and as he left for work before the family was up, it took him away from us some more.
• aprons, handshakes etc.
• ladies evenings. Odd evenings.
• security - if dad had died when my sister and I were young, my family would have been looked after well.
• this continues - my dad has been in hospital for a while now. It snowed and the 'masonic' fairies secretly de-snowed my mum's car for her to get to the hospital.
• I'm still not sure what my thoughts are.

Pancakeinmebelly I am not suggesting that anyone chose a career based on the masons? Not sure why you would think that I was suggesting this?