Masonic Paradoxes
Masonic Paradoxes
This work in progress documents Masonic Paradoxes, Lacunae, Contradictions, Inconsistencies, Altered Texts, Practice-Principle Gaps, Ritual-Principle gaps, Human Rights gaps, Re-Interpretations, etc., etc.. Contributions are invited.
What are the top three Masonic Paradoxes, in your opinion?
Some possiblities:
The 1815 surreptitious substitution of a falsified Charge, establishing a religious belief requirement.
The 1781 & 1827 surreptitious substitution of a falsified Regulation, establishing an innovation prohibition.
The shift from liberal, progressive, and cosmopolitan in 1723 to religious, atavistic, and nationalist in 1815.
See also:
The Future of Universal Freemasonry in Society -- Paradigm and Paradox
Freemasons have long been advocates of toleration, liberty, equality and compassion. Their cosmopolitan advancement of reason, human rights, and dignity was considered subversive in an age ruled by institutions of dogma and repression.
Today freemasonry's institutions are often seen as backward, fragmented, pre-occupied with ostentation and control, and possibly aloof from freemasonry's original values.
What are those values? How do they inform freemasonry today and tomorrow? How will freemasonry be relevant to civil society in the future?