Is Change A Dirty Masonic Word?

I was coming home from work the other day and listening to the radio when the announcer said that the production of CDs was slowly being stopped. The era of the CD is over. Oh my, I wondered, what am I going to do now? And then I realized that I hadn’t even gotten rid of all of my 8 track tapes yet.

Now I know how my grandfather felt. He was born in 1881 and died in 1980. He once told me that he had seen the advent of what was then every modern invention, from the mass use of the auto, to the radio, to TV, the airplane, the refrigerator, air conditioning and on and on. When he started out his career in his 20s he was a salesman operating out of a horse and buggy. Before he died he saw a man land on the moon. Now that kind of change can frizzle your brain.

Change is so prevalent today. Our President ran his first campaign on the slogans of HOPE and CHANGE. But it seems, at least to me, that the change that technology is bringing us is moving at a more rapid rate every decade or is that just my imagination? One can purchase the latest in technology and it is outmoded in what seems a flash. My first computer lasted me 10 years, my second only 5 years and my third will be replaced after 3 years.

Here is an idea of what the near future could see.

 

  Electronics

• From the mundane to the extraordinary, it seems every day a new piece of technology is released that promises to revolutionize the way people live. The Mind Lamp from Psyleron uses electron tunneling, a process that measures quantum-scale probabilistic events, to determine what color your mind is thinking about in order to shift the lamp to that color. For people who have trouble texting, the Android application “ThickButtons” anticipates which letters are most likely next when typing a text on a touch screen smart phone, and the program expands those letters to make texting easier. From the co-inventor of Twitter comes Square, an accessory that plugs into your smart phone that allows a mobile merchant to swipe a credit card anywhere they receive cell service.

Health

• Thanks to advancements in the field of medicine, the quality and length of human lives continues to improve. Scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles have engineered mesoporous silica nanoparticles that successfully increase the percentage of cancer fighting drugs delivered to tumors during chemotherapy. A vaccine developed by Pfizer called CDX-110 causes white blood cells in the body to target and destroy cancer producing cells in the brain. Two studies released in “The New England Journal of Medicine” have proved that the asthma pills Singulair and Accolate work as successfully in preventing asthma symptoms as steroid inhalers. Each of these inventions offer a chance to ease the suffering of individuals afflicted with these conditions.

Science

• Recent developments in scientific equipment have allowed scientists to continue uncovering the mysteries of the universe. A half-mile underground in Geneva, Switzerland, is the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator designed to allow physicists to study the smallest known particles. Physicists hope to use the collider to recreate the conditions that existed immediately following the Big Bang. NASA’s Gravity Probe B has confirmed two key predictions related to Einstein’s theory of relativity by measuring the warping of space and time around a gravitational body, and how much a spinning object pulls space and time when rotating.

Automotive

• Researchers from Google have developed a car that drives itself automatically using artificial intelligence software. The car’s on board computer uses video cameras, radar sensors and laser guidance software, along with detailed maps, to navigate roads and traffic. The firefighting vehicle Amatoya has an insulated cabin that can withstand temperatures of more than 600 degrees, and is armed with dual high-powered water cannons that allow the vehicle’s crew to fight fires from within.

Read more: Recent Innovations in Technology | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8394861_recent-innovations-technology.html#ixzz1kdMDzYLi

All this has me wondering of course about Freemasonry. While the world spins on a high speed hi tech mode of constant change, what is Freemasonry doing? Of course I don’t mean the message but the messenger. The tenets and virtues of Freemasonry are timeless as is its ritual. So the question is, are we really keeping up with the times in the deliverance of that message?

Could Freemasonry using technology actually hold a meeting online?

Could it do away with altogether its Lodge building?

Could it streamline itself into having all degrees performed at Grand Lodge, as part of a Grand Lodge session, three times a year for every Lodge in the jurisdiction?

Could its record keeping become 100% digital?

Could all the messages a Lodge or Grand Lodge needs to deliver to its members be done electronically?

Does Freemasonry make efficient use of websites, You Tube and E Readers now?

Does Freemasonry in your jurisdiction use Facebook and Twitter now?

Does your Grand Master, Grand Lodge officers and local Lodge Master text?

What I see now is also the death of the home PC and even the laptop. The younger generation is communicating by texting, reading from E-readers, and connecting to the World Wide Web and everything and anything via smart phones. If Freemasonry desires to connect with the present generation will they be willing to use the tools that this generation uses? And will they be able to communicate the timeless message of Freemasonry in a manner that today’s hi tech youngsters can receive? Or is change really a dirty Masonic word?

10% Effectiveness

Hmm… I came across an interesting management study today that discussed the ineffectiveness of managers. This study is equally applicable to the fraternity and may give us some insight why the fraternity is floundering. In a study by academics Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal, they revealed some interesting impressions of the decisiveness of managers: “What we found in our research surprised us. Only about 10 percent of the managers took purposeful action.” The remainder were busy, just not very effective: 40 percent were energetic but unfocused; 30 percent had low energy, little focus and tended to procrastinate; and 10% were focused, but not very energetic.

Let that sink in: only 10% of the managers took purposeful action. That would imply only one in ten Lodges are led by decisive Masters. To me, that’s a scary statistic. It means we are not setting goals and devising ways to achieve those goals. Maybe it’s time for some management training in our Lodges.

For more information on the study, click HERE.

Supply Side Versus Vulture Freemasonry

Reflecting on the last few years in Freemasonry, I have been remembering what a friend of mine always said, “Nobody knows who we are anymore.”  This was always followed by an intense debate over modern Freemasonry’s use of Institutionalized charity to solve that problem.  He thought all the charity work was great and just the thing to get Freemasons noticed.  I thought it was too expensive and time consuming, taking away from the practice of Freemasonry.

DGM Michael T. Anderson PHA MLK Parade

If you want people to know who you are then connect with the community.  This means getting active in the small local efforts to make your community better. One of the ways Freemasonry can get noticed is to march in a parade. Here you can see the Prince Hall Texas Masons marching through Dallas on Martin Luther King Day.  Leading the group is Deputy Grand Master Michael T. Anderson (on the left, front waving), no stranger to Freemason Information regulars. He made an appearance on Masonic Central which is archived here.

If you want to be of service to those in your area clean a highway, spruce up a park or maintain a ball field. Or have your Lodge host a hero’s night honoring a special teacher, fireman, policeman, social worker or charity service group. Hold the honoring ceremony outside the Lodge, open to the public and invite the press.  Another alternative is to run a blood drive offering a free breakfast to all who donate. If you have a hospital in your area regularly scheduled visitations to any and all would be most welcome. Local scholarships given by local Lodges, not Grand Lodges, will cement a friendly community relationship, provide a much better outlet for that Masonic charitable component and get Freemasonry noticed, all at the same time.

Where Freemasonry gets off on the wrong track is when it goes into big time, impersonal, costly and never ending charity – Institutionalized charity – aimed at everybody, to gain publicity. Or when Freemasonry runs costly television, radio and theater ads. Instead of making the product better they spend their money on trying to market Freemasonry. What they are trying to do is to increase the supply by hyping the demand when they really should be increasing the demand by hyping the supply. If that doesn’t seem to ring true, The Beehive will get Art Laffer to explain it to you.

The Mainstream Grand Lodge of Minnesota has announced that it will raise and donate $65 million to cure Cancer. A noble gesture for sure but how is this helping Freemasonry in that state? Think of all the more productive ways that money could be spent. The Grand Lodge could help any of its chartered local Lodges replace a costly building expense like a new furnace. It could run workshops and seminars to better educate the Brethren. It could pay for a speaker’s bureau to tour the state adding, in many cases, a much needed zest to boring business meetings. It could finance out of state large visitations beyond the budget of most Lodges. It could make the difference between a Lodge having to fold or a Lodge able to continue on. In essence Grand Lodge could do a lot to further the growth of Freemasonry and lead local Lodges in a more inspired, better educated and higher quality practice of Freemasonry. Improve the product and the membership will grow as a result of that effort. It is “Supply Side” Freemasonry at its best.

And Minnesota isn’t the only one who has chosen this path. The Mainstream Grand Lodge of Massachusetts now runs a massive health care system at multiple locations in addition to a very expensive CHIP program. Recently the Grand Lodge has doubled its Grand Lodge dues and fees that local Lodges must cough up, who in turn pass the burden onto the local Lodge Brethren. Many other Grand Lodges have similar such programs. This is “Vulture” Freemasonry at its worst.

What do massive charities, health systems and cash donations do for the advancement of Freemasonry within a jurisdiction? Why try to buy good will and notoriety when just practicing the virtues and tenets of Freemasonry will do more for you? If all the sweat, effort and money goes to marketing, advertising and financing others while bankrupting and diminishing Freemasonry, everybody loses. Why not try being side by side in the trenches with your community rather than an outsider trying to buy friends. And then go celebrate and march in a parade.

Understanding the Moral Law on MLK day.

On this national Holiday, we are to reflect and celebrate one of the greatest Americans in our pantheon of Founding Fathers, D. Martin Luther King, Jr.  One of his many contributions to our American way of life came at one of his darkest hours which produced one of his brightest writings in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail.  In it, king gives us an insight to the truth behind his protests and a reflection in how far afield we, as a nation, have walked from justice which we derive out of our own understanding of the moral law.

Masonry speaks at many levels about the Moral Law, how it is a rule and guide to what ‘being’ a Freemason is all about.

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his Letter from a Birmingham Jail which was an answer to his criticism for his peaceful protests in the south in pursuit of equality between white and black Americans.

In his letter, King writes to address criticism made against his presence in the Alabama protests to southern religious leaders who, in their collective opinion, thought the American Negro should wait for their equality, which King says acts as a “tranquilizing thalidomide” which, in the African American ear rings as a justice “never” to be had.

If you’ve never taken the time to read his letter, I highly suggest you not only read it, but take some time to understand his meaning and intent behind it, especially on this day of remembrance.

But, my purpose here is to look at his teaching of the Moral Law and how that squares with the Masonic understanding as taught in the fraternity’s catechism.  In his letter King, talking about the unjust laws of segregation, says that a just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God.  He says “Any law that uplifts human personality is just.  Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

At the time of his writing, segregation was a daily reality for black Americans, which “distorts the soul and damages the personality” giving the “…segregator a false sense of superiority, and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.”

So what does this have to do with the Moral Law of Masonry?  First we need to understand how masonry sees the Moral Law, which is something I explored in 2010 in Whence came the Moral Law in Freemasonry?  In that piece, the question asked was “Is the Moral Law from a religious perspective, as in given to man by the Great Architect, or a man made law constructed with religious ideas but applied in a humanistic manner so as to apply to our interaction with one another?”   My conclusion, after looking at several sources, was that the idea of the Moral Law was best exemplified as being “…the virtues which we ought to cultivate, always tend to our own happiness, and that the best means of promoting them consists in living with men in that perfect union and charity which are cemented by mutual benefits.”

In essence, the Moral Law could be distilled down to living of the Golden Rule which, in the Christian faith, comes from Matthew 7:12 which says:

“In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law of the prophets.”

Interestingly this is a Rule, Law, or Code that is in nearly every faith system.

So, what lesson can we take away from Kings Injunction of the Moral Law and the Masonic application of it?  Essentially, King and his peaceful protest to fight injustice in American society was a challenge to fight a law of segregation that was out of harmony with the moral law, even though many felt that it was.  His example was to examine a just and unjust law saying “An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself…difference made legal” while “a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow that is willing to follow itself,” or “sameness” made legal.

The greatest stumbling block to this sameness is not the extremist of ideal but the “…moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”  In other words, not going with the status quo and working to make things better for all.

Further in the letter King asks “…Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love?”  He also writes about the role of religious institutions and their lethargy in the movement to end segregation as “…a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo, standing as a taillight behind our community agencies rather than a headlight leading men to higher levels of justice.” which I believe could be applied to religiously concerned fraternities who hold so dearly to be upholders of the idea of a Moral Law.

Needless to say, King was angry at the position religious leaders of the south had taken and puts the challenge to them to aspire to justice and the upholding of the moral law saying “There was a time when the church was very powerful.  It was during that period when the early church Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed.  In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.”  But he goes on to challenge the church saying “The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound…so often the arch-supporter of the status quo” that “…if the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant ‘Social Club’ with no meaning for the twentieth century (emphasis mine).”

Again, on this Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday, I strongly recommend reading his letter so as to gain a better understanding of the past within which it was written and to apply that understanding to the injustice that remains to this day, now nearly 60 years since its writing. When you read it ask yourself if your institutions of association application put you in the headlights or the taillights leading to higher levels of justice.  As you read it, reflect on the ideals of the Moral Law, in society and in Masonry, and what it means to you in your faith, practice, and understanding of justice, as without it no law could be truly just.

Rewarding Incompetence

It’s not about “taking turns”; it’s about getting the job done properly.

(Click for AUDIO VERSION)

Throughout the corporate world we have seen examples of the Peter Principle in practice, whereby people rise above their level of competency; people who make a mockery of their job and discredit their company and themselves in the process. Perhaps they were promoted because nobody else wanted the job or perhaps they were simply selected based on seniority; maybe they politicked for the job and were rewarded not for what they had accomplished but their ability to kiss the backside of someone else in authority, aka “cronyism”. Regardless, they have risen above their ability to effectively perform the job they were assigned. In many cases, the job in question is just a pit stop in the road to the top, but more often than not, they covet the position they have acquired and either perform it with an iron fist or just let the work go to pieces (or both). This naturally raises the ire of subordinates and others more qualified to perform the work. It also becomes rather obvious to customers and vendors who have to deal with the person. Naturally, they scratch their head in bewilderment as to why this person was selected for promotion.

We also see this phenomenon in nonprofit organizations where people are seeking social stature as opposed to performing anything of merit, be it a homeowner association, a sports club, a professional trade society, a civic organization or whatever. Those who tend to covet titles in such groups normally suffer from low self-esteem as they never accomplished anything of substance in their professional lives and now crave recognition. Even in the most rudimentary 501(c) organization, they fail to grasp it is a legal entity in the eyes of the state which must conform to certain legalities. Failure to execute specific rules and regulations can easily lead to lawsuits and disaster.

I have seen too many Masonic Lodges where officers are promoted “through the chairs” without making an effort to learn anything along the way. If they graduate to the East, the Lodge usually suffers and the other officers are forced to pickup the slack. If they are voted out of office before reaching the top they are crestfallen and fade from view. Both scenarios upset the harmony of the Lodge and is indicative of the barbaric way Masons elect officers.

To the individual, promotion is a confirmation of his abilities. If he is a poor performer, his advancement sends a dangerous message that his work meets with the approval of others. Naturally, the person will not change and continue in his faulty ways. If his progression is arrested though, he will question why. Hopefully, he will receive some coaching along the way before this happens which is one reason why I’m a big proponent of Employee Performance Evaluations (click for a free COPY). Such reviews are just as pertinent in a nonprofit organization as they are in the corporate world. Without such reviews or coaching, and the person is rejected, he is blindsided and his ego is shattered.

To assure the right people are selected for key posts, political machines are often devised thereby compromising the harmony of an organization. You either play ball with the good old boys in charge or forget about progressing through the organization. Sadly, you find this in both the corporate and nonprofit world. It’s distasteful and ultimately impedes the organization’s effectiveness. Whenever the wrong person is put into a position of authority, the systems of the organization falter, productivity slips, the moral values of the business are put into question, and harmony is disrupted. Basically, it’s a “lose-lose” situation that can be difficult to rectify.

Aside from the political aspect, I am at a loss as to why people believe they should be elevated, particularly if they have not demonstrated they possess the skills or fortitude necessary to successfully perform the work. Perhaps it is a sense of entitlement, that it’s “their turn” to be promoted. Such a mindset is invalid and should be rebuked as nobody is entitled to a position based on “turns”; it’s ludicrous. People should be selected for promotion based strictly on qualifications and availability. In situations where people are selected out of desperation, it should be made clear to them that retaining their job and any possible advancement in the future depends on their ability to successfully execute their job and prepare for the next. The lack of counseling and instruction in this regard does them a disservice. Likewise, the failure to heed the advice does the organization a disservice.

Nonprofit organizations are particularly susceptible to promoting people through the ranks without merit. Such organizations today are struggling for members and consequently beg people to take positions out of desperation. The group, therefore, shouldn’t be surprised when such people accomplish nothing. Instead of pleading with people to take a volunteer job, perhaps it is time to merge with another like-minded organization, change your approach to membership, curtail what you are trying to accomplish, or call it a day.

Part of the problem is the myth that everybody must win, that nobody loses, which is something we have been fostering in our youth over the last few decades. This is just plain fallacious. Just about every aspect of life involves instances of winners and losers with the lesson being: if you want something, you must earn it. Only then will you value it as opposed to having it dropped in your lap without lifting a finger.

So, why do we reward incompetence? Maybe it’s because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings; maybe we want to throw someone a bone as a political gesture; maybe it’s someone’s “turn”; or maybe we simply do not have anyone else to do the job right now. Regardless, the person has received it for all the wrong reasons. Hopefully, they will rise to the occasion and do a competent job. Unfortunately, most do not and damage the organization, not to mention earning the ire and resentment of others. Remember this: for every person who takes a job they have no intention of performing, somebody else must compensate and perform the duty.

Rewarding incompetence is one of the most common management snafus that has cursed companies of all sizes and shapes for years. Longevity of a problem doesn’t make it right, it just means people do not want to deal with it, hoping instead it will go away on its own which, of course, never does. The message must be made clear to all involved, promotions must be earned. In desperate situations where people are forced into positions they are not qualified, they must be coached properly, but if they fail to assume their duties and responsibilities, or even try to put forth an honest effort, it must be made vividly clear their journey upward in the corporate hierarchy will come to a screeching halt. Advancing does a disservice to the company, the people, and the individual. It is just plain bad business.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim’s columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

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Copyright © 2012 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

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