Episode 58. 18:53 Working Tools Series - Ritual: why do we memorize?

With the One Day to Masonry approaching (1/18/25), we sit down with Al Golder and Arun Natarajan. Learn about the evolution of our work, from the early pioneer days in Minnesota to the 21st century. Consistency, uniformity, and accuracy: why is it so crucial that we communicate our ritual correctly in every lodge?

”It is through our ritual that Freemasonry has a deeper purpose, which we often overlook in the rush of the modern world.”

Transcript

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Welcome back to another episode of Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries. My name is Reed Endersby and I am happy to be joined today by two friends and brothers, Al Golder Welcome brothers. Hi Reed. Thank you. At the time of today's recording, we are just a few weeks away from the one day to masonry. And what better time to discuss our ritual with two of the finest ritualists that I know in Minnesota. Not to mention that Al you're a member of Anoka Lodge, number 30, and you are also the chairman of the custodians. And we're going to learn a little bit more of what that means shortly. Arun, you are a monitor on two of the three degrees and also a member of Cataract Lodge, number two. Al, start with you, just a little background on yourself, where'd you grow up, and what led you to want to become a Freemason Well, I grew up, uh, around the St. Paul area, Invergrove Heights, and, uh, my father was a Mason, and when he became a member of, uh, his lodge on the St. Paul side, he was talking to me about becoming a Mason. And I really didn't think much about it, but it wasn't until I was at, uh, The Anoka County Fair and ran into brothers from Anoka Lodge that I started to engage in a conversation there. And through that process got interested in becoming a Mason. in a room. How about for yourself? You're a member of Cataract Lodge. Number two. what was the catalyst for you to say? I want to pursue becoming a Freemason curiosity more than anything. um, my, my work. This book leads me to travel a lot across the world I saw brothers now, wearing rings with a square and compass, in different parts of the world and I was curious about, hmm, what is that? And why am I meeting people from different parts of the world wearing the same type of uh, a ring? Y, the letter G And so that curiosity led me to become a Freemason. As we prepare for the one day to masonry in a few weeks, which is an exciting day. A lot of masons and even non masons that listen to this podcast, not every state or jurisdiction has this opportunity that we provided Minnesota in which we. conduct all three degrees in one day for a class of candidates who want to become a Freemason, and perhaps they have a schedule that would not be conducive to the timeline of what we may say is the more traditional route. We have a lot of new members coming in that are physicians, they are in law enforcement, or first responders, working schedules that just don't quite work, and this has been a way of adapting to. The changing times and being able to provide a, an exceptionally quality experience too. But with that, talking about ritual Al, you are the chairman of the custodians, which, what, what does that mean for someone who's relatively new member as far as being certified in that? Sure. Well, the custodians are appointed by the grand master each year. And the custodians have the responsibility. If you think of the word custodian, we're really talking about caretaker or somebody who watches over something. And that is our guard, is to make sure that the ritual work is preserved for the state of Minnesota. What type of certification, what did you have to do in order to become certified, quote unquote? Well, the custodians are appointed from the monitors who are first grade monitors. In other words, they are certified or have memorized all three degrees or a proficiency in all three degrees. And so as a monitor, Arun, you are certified as a monitor on two of the three degrees. That's correct. that may be a bit of a mind blowing reality for a relatively new Mason to think that a ruin you have memorized and recited two of the three. Al, you have done all three successfully, more or less. Word. Perfect. Correct? More or less. We have a upcoming certification process. it's typically done the first weekend in February each year, and that is published by Grand Lodge. And any Mason can come and participate in an observational fashion to see what we're doing. We do ask that people who want to be certified as a monitor, um, they have a conversation with either the custodian first or with their Lodge secretary, so that there is some understanding of the requirements to become a monitor. but typically what that process looks like, So is we have a minimum of three custodians available, and you go through the entire degree beginning to end all the lectures, all the floor work, to be certified as a monitor. How much room for error is there, in all seriousness? Is there, can you be prompted a little bit, or does it have to be? We're talking 100 percent accuracy on this. No, we, we do recognize that not everybody has everything 100 percent memorized or that they have memorized some words wrong. I know for myself, when I went for my master Mason certification, I had learned one word incorrectly and it was, enlightening to actually, uh, learn what the correct word was. It was something that I will never forget. perhaps that's not as well known for all of our members that they can in fact visits a monitor exam and witness a monitor exam. the process. Absolutely. And we encourage that for brothers who are interested in becoming a monitor. It's a good way to really understand what the expectations are and what that experience is going to be prior to them actually going for the certification exam themselves. On a bigger picture, part of why we decided to sit down and have this conversation today about ritual. Yes, it's ahead of the one day to masonry, let's talk about Why the ritual is so important. We know it is the foundation of who we are as Freemasons and what we've set out to do in becoming that better version of ourselves and ideally using as we say in the Lodge setting The ritual is our rule and guide to life. As we strive to learn the ritual, at times it naturally feels as though we are simply focusing on the words, which is of utmost importance, but we want to learn it. Correctly and accurately, but we also don't want to miss the meaning behind the words. Why is memorizing so important? Cause I've had been asked that from friends who are not Masons and even some newer members. Well, why do we go to such a arduous length to memorize all of these words? And we could just read it out of the book. I think what's important to remember is that. Historically, Mouth to ear has been the most effective way to communicate information from one person to another throughout the ages. We have found that Many times where technology has failed us, where books have failed us in terms of relaying information from one generation to another over the eons. I remember as a child, one of the stories that really had an impact on me was, was Fahrenheit 4 in that story. It talks about a society where books are banned. And at the end of the story, we recognize that people have preserved the stories by memorizing them and communicating through memorization. So that is a foundation and why we strive to deliver those passages with accuracy, because it really does enhance. The meaning behind the words. If we're reading out of a book, it could easily become very monotone, very wooden, we're just reading words for the sake of reading the words, but a ruin you would share that in learning the ritual throughout your Masonic journey, it wasn't just learning the words. You'd read through it, and as you did so, you understood it better. And is it safe to say that helped aid in the memorization process for you? Yeah, thank you, Reid. That's a great question. I would like to take one step back to sort of explain the answer that I'm about to give is, uh, for me, many years ago, when I, when we talked about, uh, why did you become a Mason, the question arose in my brain too, like, why am I a Freemason? And, uh, I was trying to answer that question through a lengthy process. It took me some time to figure it out, but eventually I figured it out. And the answer to that is, is, uh, I kept asking myself was Freemasonry. It's not a social club. It's not a welfare club, although it's extremely sociable and promotes its members welfare. It's also not an exclusively charitable organization, although charity is at the fundamental core of its philosophy. In other words, it's not mandatory that every Freemason must do charity. It's just highly encouraged. And we call ourselves a group of like minded men. nothing could be farther from the truth for me. We're really, we're not like minded. We're not like minded at all. Please elaborate on that. Yeah, so the way I think about that is that again as I said before, I've traveled for work to different places I've seen Freemasons who are of different nationalities, different religions, different races, come from different cultures, who speak different languages. Yet, we are all Freemasons. We are not like minded at all. We are as diverse as it could be, but we are connected as Freemasons. Then I was thinking to myself about, you know, we say, Worshipful Brother George Washington. We say, King George VI, Worshipful Mozart. Clearly, they didn't need Freemasonry to prop up their egos or boost their careers. Yet, they became Freemasons. So then it occurred to me that, uh, the, the tie that binds all of us is the ritual. that's what it's all about. And that's the significance of the ritual. And, uh, when you say you're a Freemason, It's, it's automatic that that also means that you're part of these ceremonial ties. and that to me is the importance of why every Freemason should pay importance to reading the ritual. I'm glad on a side note we covered that. We are not like minded. Everyone comes from a very different background, whether that be socioeconomic, religious, a number of different things we could list of how different we all are. Maybe the better way to word that is that we coalesce around core values, Ways in which that we can personally become that better version of ourselves. That's another abstract term that lodges describe themselves as well. We make good men better. Freemasonry doesn't make anyone anything, but we do provide our members. A treasure map in order to follow to become that better version of ourselves, how we can take the steps personally and commit to that. And that brings us full circle again into the discussion of our ritual. can you give a little more history on it You know, in the early days of Freemasonry, there really was no prescribed ritual for how lodges functioned. It was really William Preston who saw this gap and put together the ritual that we recognize today. Let's look back in history a little bit. If you've not read the book Centennium, it was the 1853 to 1953 Grand Lodge in Minnesota recap. And there's a passage in there that shared that for 20 years from 1849 to 1869, there was no established uniform work in lodges in Minnesota. Had you been the master of a lodge or president of the lodge, during that period, it would have been proper for you to conduct your lodge in any constitutional work in which you were learned. I'd like to throw in there terminology that would be understandable for non Masons who listen to this podcast, and we talk about the work, that is, the ritual, the value teachings, the sequence of going from an Entered Apprentice to a Fellowcraft to a Master Mason. Part of why Al and Arun, your roles that you serve in, are to ensure that the uniformity of the ritual work that we do today, in today's world, is uniform, it's not differing from one Lodge to another. Sometimes that's a bit of a disconnect, that a Lodge may say, well, what difference does it make? Well, it's close enough, right? They take a little Shortcuts, little improvisations, little aspects that become maybe a custom of that Lodge themselves and not really realizing the gravity of that mistake in taking freedoms or embellishments with it. That is something that we have seen from Lodge to Lodge. You know, it is through the rituals that Freemasonry has a deeper purpose, which we often overlook in the rush of the modern world. The ritual's secret science is that of knowing yourself. this is why consistency. And the degree work is important. These are very deep lessons that we are trying to communicate to new masons, and we need to make sure that we get it communicated correctly and consistently from one lodge to another. So it's not a case of Grand Lodge meddling in our old lodge traditions. I'm kidding when I say that, Absolutely. And certainly, uh, sometimes custodians get an arrow on their back For communicating what is the correct way to do great degree work and sometimes communicating that is a struggle for some lodges and some brothers who when they see something done In their lodge or in another lodge that they like and they want to bring into their own lodge to Use as a lodge tradition themselves We sometimes need to pull back on that and again as custodians we need to watch over and make sure that Our degree work is consistent across the board. We really are doing a balancing act taking into consideration our process. Learning the ritual, learning it accurately, but also with the focus of that being on the content. It's the balance between delivering that as a process of our internal requirements, and as a result, that is going to enhance the meaning behind the words, Sometimes that balance gets a little bit out of whack because when we want to learn the work, we just get so hyper focused on the words, but we sometimes perhaps have an opportunity to balance that with the meaning behind it all. Absolutely correct. for me personally, the journey is one of reading the Blue Book over and over again and trying to understand what it says. Some of it is old English. Some of it, when you just read it at the face value, it just doesn't seem to make any sense. And then that's when you have to pause and try to understand what that means. Because there was so much of significance in the Blue Book. my sense of it is no different from listening to a song on the radio. You hear it for the first time, you like it, you listen to it 10 times, and by the 11th time you're singing along. And, uh, the Blue Book is somewhat similar. And in trying to understand it, you will have to read it over and over again. I would emphasize the meaning of the ritual more than the memory work of the ritual 100 To me the memorization of the ritual is a means to get to the meaning of the ritual I look at it in, in our working tools, when in some of the symbols that we even use in the fellow craft degree. In the middle chamber work, we talk about, grammar, rhetoric, logic, and I apply those tools to how we do our, Ritual work. I look at grammar as just memorizing rhetoric as how do we effectively communicate the messages in an eloquent way with our speech patterns, logic, understanding what we're saying, and as that progression through those tools, through that staircase and the memorization is just the first part of it. Say there's a brother out there who wants to learn more, wants to first and foremost commit to learning things accurately. Where would that brother start? Is that at the Lodge level? Can they or should they reach out to one of you? What does that process look like? Where I would ask people to start is read the ritual, read the cipher book as they can. A lot of the information that's encoded in the cipher is printed in English in the Minnesota Manual. So that's a great place, a great resource to start. I would also encourage brothers who are interested in learning the ritual to reach out to a monitor or a custodian or a member of the lodge that knows the ritual really well and those brothers will serve as mentors and will help you through that process. Each area has an area custodian. There are also a number of monitors around the state that are able to help out with degree practices, memorization, just coaching on what the ritual is. I really can't thank both of you enough for being here today encouragement and sharing resources for our members on how to learn more. It's intimidating. It's a lot of work to do, but there's a lot of resources of, Um, and your committees and many other brothers out there that will help guide someone within a lodge across the state of Minnesota learn more and more importantly, to learn it correctly. Time, patience, and perseverance accomplishes all things. Put in the work, and you'll get her done. Slow sustainable progress, that's something we talk about very frequently on the podcast. Arun, Al, thank you so much for both being here today. Thank you very much. Thank you. this has been another episode of Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries.