Cornerstone-Talk

Masonic Research: Furtive Facts, Fanciful Fictions.

"Truth may seem, but cannot be: Beauty brag, but 'tis not she; Truth and beauty buried be." -- Shakespeare

Much of what we believe we know about Freemasonry is not actually so.

Much important Grand Lodge history is unrecorded, unacknowledged, or unknown.

“The history of Masonry ... is fanciful, unreliable and pretentious to a degree that often leads to absurdity.” -- Albert G. Mackey, 1917.

Recently, all the Grand Lodge in Ontario Proceedings have been placed on the Internet.  They were digitized at the University of Toronto, in cooperation with Brock University, funded by Heritage Lodge.  Similar efforts are under way elsewhere.  Masonic Researchers around the world can now access this treasure of source documents, potentially raising Masonic knowledge to a higher standard of evidence.

"In Freemasonry we have nothing to hide. The GL publishes its Proceedings every year, disclosing all business transactions." -- Daniels, 2009.

Masonic Research contrasts with Masonic Education.

There is no Grand Lodge Committee on Masonic Research.

Education is the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction. There are teachers, pupils, prescribed facts and conclusions.

Research is the systematic inquiry into and study of materials and sources in order to discover facts, gain insight, and reach understanding.

"Our systemic failure to operationalize our rhetoric runs contrary to our values and interests" -- Richard Colvin 2007.10.27.

We will explore historical and contemporary case studies in Masonic Historiography, Masonic Doctrine, and Masonic Governance, such as:

• The first celebrated Masonic Researcher wrote that Noah, Moses, various Egyptian Pharaohs, Greek Philosophers, Roman Emperors, and English Kings were Master-Masons.

• The second celebrated Masonic Researcher falsified the text of a regulation, eventually resulting in a million Masters swearing an oath to enforce obedience to an illusion.

• The first Grand Chaplain was convicted of fraud and hanged.

• The first Grand Master of the UGLE surreptitiously injected three questionable changes into the Constitution.  Two have been removed.  The third remains largely undiscovered.

• The notion of "No Innovation in Freemasonry" is a hoax, still perpetuated today.  This is a serious matter, as this corruption of Freemasonry is used to prevent the righting of wrongs.

• The notion of "No Women in Freemasonry" is false, according to the UGLE.

• Courts of law have determined that Freemasonry is not a religion, in the USA and in the UK.

• The UGLE removed two errors from its Constitution in 1847 and in 1986.  In 2010 the Grand Lodge in Ontario was prevented from considering those long overdue corrections.

Resources will be available to participants who wish to engage in fact-based Masonic Research.

“In fact, the government of every Grand Lodge is completely despotic.” -- History of Grand Lodge of British Columbia, 1871-1970, 1971 p.512.

Peter Renzland is the president of the Toronto Society for Masonic Research, the oldest Masonic research society in North America.  He has examined contradictions between principles and practice, in the history of Freemasonry, involving issues of race, gender, religion, ethics, governance, and discourse.  A particular focus has been on foundational texts and their mutation through time.  He has produced extensive research on the history of Prince Hall Recognition in Canada.  He is a member of the G-15, an official group within the Grand Lodge in Ontario, that has been described as "that think-tank of bright young Masons" and as "Philosopher Gadflies".

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Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic -- Violation of Text -- Deception of Trust.

Before we can interpret and understand writings, we must learn to read.

Before we can truly understand written history, we must learn historiography.

Before we can interpret and understand foundation texts, we must learn to distinguish the genuine from the counterfeit.

The most essential foundational texts of Freemasonry, as presented to Freemasons, have undergone tampering.

Some most renowned Masonic thinkers have not acknowledged this.  Have they tried to deceive their readers?

Or perhaps they have themselves been deceived?  Apparently they have trusted their peers uncritically.

More than a million Lodge Masters have sworn a false and pernicious Oath of Office, trusting their elders uncritically.

Some of these essential texts are:

The Charges of a Free-Mason (Anderson, 1723 vs. Williams/Sussex 1815)

The Summary of the Antient Charges and Regulations (Preston 1781; Sussex, 1827; UGLE 1986)

Installation Oath of Office.  (op cit.)

"Free By Birth" (Sussex 1815, UGLE 1847, UGLE 1853; GLC 1856; GLCPO 1980; Daniels 2010)

See also, UGLE BPGLR 1929 vs UGLE BPGLR 1989.