Hello to all Freemasons and those interested in Freemasonry,
The growth of the Freemasons Facebook page has been excellent and inspiring. Tens of thousands of people from all over the world. Thank you for making it a success.
For those who are interested in exploring Freemasonry for the first time, I thought I’d make this basic post to help answer a few common questions and help leverage time.
To become a Freemason, we have a saying
“To be one, ask one”
That’s, it, you ask a Freemason.
How do you find a Freemason? If you know one, great — otherwise, look up the local Grand Lodge or local lodge (make sure it is not a scam) — they usually have a website, and contact them.
It may take a while — dont be discouraged — also, if the lodge doesn’t get back to you after a month or two, go ahead and contact them again, its easy to slip through the cracks sometimes.
Next steps:
To join you must be male, age 18 or older (21-25 or older in certain jurisdictions) and you must believe in a Supreme Being (God, Allah, etc. — Freemasonry is open to men of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and other faiths)
I wanted to take a minute to help some of those who reach out. Every day I get 3-4 chat requests, emails, questions even sometimes calls from non-masons, asking about joining. I publicly list my name, profile and contact info because I love meeting new people from around the world and to connect with Freemasons and others everywhere.
First, a couple things should be noted:
– I happen to be page admin but I am by no means any sort of Masonic leader or “head of the Freemasons” or anything like that at all! There are MANY brethren on the Freemasons page with MUCH more knowledge and experience than me — in fact I’d say most by far, and I’m not being modest.
– I don’t admin the page full time- I have a family and job and other responsibilities- so, while I absolutely love to connect with new people and love to meet new people and definitely welcome FB connections if you want to subscribe to my personal page — please be aware that I have limited time and if I answered everyone’s individual questions it would take several hours per day that I wished I had but do not. Now please don’t take that as me saying I don’t want to hear from you, I do—please friend me, subscribe and let me know if you are a Freemason — I love to speak to and meet people and especially can talk about any areas related to my work (economics/ emerging markets, investments, business, even politics) if you want to invite me for coffee anywhere on earth I’m game — but, if your question is “How do I join?” or “What are the Freemasons?” (which I get several times per day) unfortunately it’s not likely I’ll have time to answer those questions, especially since they are answered so many times elsewhere. The next group of common questions are from those who just joined or are about to and have questions about balloting, the first meetings etc. again, I wish I had time but I’m only one person, there are tens of thousands on the page so I’d encourage you to ask there. [minor side note, if you are going to try to use the page and connection for fraud, don’t waste your time, we’ve got a couple good members with strong security backgrounds]
– The very best people to answer questions about Freemasonry are local people, in your area you can meet face to face, the next best source is on the page by asking the public, this enables many members, most wiser than me, to have input and enables you to hear from a variety of people.
– One reason I publicly disclose my name is because I am happy to build a network and meet people, welcome.
Now, for the most common questions- which related to “how do I join?” and “what is Freemasonry about?” Please take a look at the Facebook page, the web page and ask around on the page as well. As far as how to join, it’s simple. To be one ask one. Find a Freemason and ask him about joining.
If you are in a country that has no Masonic lodges this will be extremely difficult but if you have a local lodge, ask there. (Also, be aware of phonies, and fake “Masonic” organizations- real ones are recognized by certain Grand Lodges, you can ask around if you have questions.
So , this post is a little uncomfortable because it seems to focus on “me” too much and that’s just to help some of those who contact me so often. The Facebook page and web page is a great collaborative effort and it’s a privilege to be a steward of the ideas of so many.
To those interested in Freemasonry, welcome and feel welcome to connect with me personally as well.
To brethren everywhere lets connect and may we meet…..
I now open the post to additional advice, comments and wisdom from other bretheren.
Thanks!
-B