Ritual - Why Bother?

Below is an edited version of an official UGLE Oration from 2008. The Orations have been superseeded by all the excellent content which can be found on the Solomon website. You will find an easy guide to Solomon and what it offers in this little video, which I think is rather fun. Just because there is an excellent new resource, doesn't mean the old content has any less value. See what you think.

 

Ritual - Why Bother

Let’s face it, the one thing that really differentiates us from organisations such as Rotary, the Lions and the Round Table is our ritual. Much has been written about what is contained therein but let us take a step backwards and consider why we use it and what relevance this rather old collection of little plays has for a contemporary membership.

Ritual is part of life and there is evidence that it has been practised as far back as the Neanderthals when their dead were buried in the foetal position, surrounded by food offerings, tools and different types of flowers.

But what is “ritual”? In a Masonic sense, it can be defined as a set of actions which contain certain moral lessons. These should enable the participants to glimpse their true and inner selves. Ritual is not ceremonial. A ceremony is a rite that confirms some form of role or status on its participants such as a coronation, a victory parade, or a graduation.

Ritual is transformative. Effective ritual should reveal a transition and demonstrate clearly how the “after” is different from the “before”. It should tug at the heart both positively and negatively and it should also have a shared resonance with all the participants. Not everyone is a naturally good ritualist, in the commonly accepted meaning of the word. To some it comes easily, to most of us, it can be something of a struggle.

Superficially, one could consider that our little blue book contains a series of lessons or let’s say information - which is to be imparted to the Candidate. How is such information usually conveyed in other systems? Take modern education and consider for a moment how the teacher assembles a course for his students to enable them to pass their examinations by imparting the information. He will read through a series of reference books and harvest the relevant data. This will be pulled together in the appropriate order and then communicated through lectures and handouts. The students will learn it and reproduce most of it in the year end examinations.

We all know how difficult and time-consuming learning the ritual is. So, on this basis, would it not be a good idea as a one-off exercise for an enlightened brother to do the same with our ritual? He could extract the key messages and teachings and write a course that contained all the content. The course in turn could be delivered in Lodge perhaps with the assistance of PowerPoint slides; it could even be given as distance learning over the internet. Our brethren could be told to “be nice to everyone”, to “be generous too” and “by the way, don’t break any rules.” How efficient! How simple! No more evenings spent immersed in the little blue book.

Masonic ritual is not about learning information and here lies one of the real Masonic secrets. Ritual is experiential. It is something that cannot be described or expressed in the same way that one cannot learn to swim or ride a bicycle by reading a book. It is a journey of the heart which changes you at your very core.

Initiation is the start of that journey which opens the door to the rites of passage that follow. Think back to your own feelings of apprehension and helplessness whilst standing outside the door of the Lodge just before your initiation. Can you remember that momentary burst of self awareness and disagreeable awkwardness when asked to give to charity shortly thereafter? Consider for a moment the feeling of sharing and brotherhood which emerged as the ceremony of initiation progressed. Others were there to help you and lead you. Our ritual can have a deep effect not just on the Candidate but on all those taking part as there is an overwhelming sense of togetherness and change. One can take great satisfaction from a fine ceremony but perhaps more importantly, participation brings its messages vividly to life for all those involved and binds them together for this is the Mystic Tie.

The content of our ritual, which is built around the three Grand Masonic Principles of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth is as current as ever and has perhaps even more relevance in this age of intolerance. Ritual is central to Freemasonry and lifts it out of the mundane to something quite special. It gives us an experience that cannot be described, and its effect touches us at the very core of who we are in our quest to become better men, as anyone who has experienced it will know. 

Xun Zi, the Confucian philosopher elegantly sums this up.

“A person should first be changed by a teacher's instructions and guided by principles of ritual. Only then can he observe the rules of courtesy and humility, obey the conventions and rules of society, and achieve order.”