[QUOTE=catsix]
Does it strike you as fair that masons give each other preferential treatment outside the masonic temple in, say, business situations,
[/quote]
From what I know of Freemasonry, such a stance would also be unmasonic.
That also would be unmason, again, from what I know about Freemasonry.
Must be a pain getting buried at the lowtide mark if you foul up.
[QUOTE=catsix]
Does it strike you as fair that masons give each other preferential treatment outside the masonic temple in, say, business situations, while women who are deliberately excluded from being masons will be stepped around to help a brother?
[/QUOTE]
Wait, do you mean that you feel it’s ok to step around men who aren’t masons, but not women?
Personally, I think the job should go to 1) me and then 2) the most qualified person and then maybe your favorite University/football team/fraternity/tie pattern can play a part as a very distant third.
I think there is a bigger question at work here, and I’m not qualified to address the problems of sexism in the workplace or modern society, I’m afraid.
[QUOTE=Lust4Life]
Must be a pain getting buried at the lowtide mark if you foul up.
[/QUOTE]
Darn sand gets in everything.
As for getting preference for being a Mason, I am still waiting for it to happen. I did have a nice meeting with an observant Las Vegas policeman once, but since I wasn’t going to get a ticket anyway, I didn’t get out of one.
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi]
Outside of the UK, I have never been in a Lodge that allowed alcohol. The Shrine, as noted allows strong drink in their buildings, but being the ‘fun’ part of Masonry was always their mission so to speak.
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Was Rudyard Kipling a Mason? His first published story, “The Man Who Would Be King,” tells of two British adventurers who use the Craft to take over the Kaffiristan region of Afghanistan (the premise is that a form of Masonry has been established there since Alexander passed through).
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist]
The Royal Arch degree is not currently a part of the Blue Lodge, I don’t believe. It might be called something else now, but it’s my impression that the Royal Arch is a York Rite thing, so I probably wouldn’t recognize it even if I converted to Mormonism.
[/QUOTE]
How many branches, lodges, rites, etc., are recognized in Masonry?
A guy I was friends with at my last job invited me to his lodge one evening. It was like a recruitment night. All of us guests were given a tour and told the story of the Masons.
Afterwords we went down the the rec. hall and had a few beers and cheese and crackers and the like and it was a very nice night. I was thinking hard about joining but my life was going 20 different ways at once. Now I’d like to join but lost touch with that friend. Maybe I need to look him up.
All in all, it is remarkable, once you open your eyes you see Masons just about everywhere. If you want to join, you should have no trouble finding someone local to help you.
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
How many branches, lodges, rites, etc., are recognized in Masonry?
[/QUOTE]
That’s a complicated question. Short story - Scottish Rite, York Rite & Shriners. However… there are appendent bodies and whatchacallums that I can’t remember - De Molay, Rainbow Girls, Job’s Daughters, Eastern Star, that Amaranth thing. As far as other recognized lodges - in Colorado we recognize the other 49 states, probably lodges in Puerto Rico, Guam, D.C. etc., plus Prince Hall and England. By extension then we also have the opportunity to recognize other lodges that got their charter from the UGLE, but not Ireland or their chartered lodges. There’s also groups like High Twelve…
You see Masons tend to be people who like to join things. As a result (especially in the US) there are lots of clubs for Masons all with funny hats and funnier names:
Tall Cedars of Lebanon (Pyramid-shaped hats)
Mysterious Order of the Veiled Prophet of the Enchanted Rhelm (a.k.a. ‘The Grotto’ Black Fezzes)
The Order of Bunker Hill (Did I get that one right?)
The Sojourners
And a bunch more, all of these would puzzle the heck out of a Non-American, but as I said, some people simply like to join clubs.
Men have the opportunity to become masons and participate in these business networking sessions. I do not.
I think that any club in which gender or race are terms of membership in which business networking takes place has a pretty large problem.
This includes women only clubs, by the way.
I’ve often thought that joining the Masons would be good for my husband. Unfortunately, the reasons I think it would be good for him are probably the same reasons he wouldn’t join. He isn’t one to join clubs or such, he suffers from a fair bit of what I call existential angst, he feels very disconnected to the world, can not commit to a religion, but can’t let go of the idea of it either. He is very traditional in most ways, values honor, is a “do the right thing” sort of guy and is very introverted. These may be qualities that most men have, but I have never seen it in quite the way I see it with him.
What I think Masons could provide him with in which I may be way out of line. A focus on being a “better man.” Taking that desire to reach out to others through charity. A shallow enough focus on religion to not freak him out, but a connection to something “more than him, older than now and greater than this.”
Of course, I’ve suggested it to him, but he blows me off. Tell me, what would you tell a man, who is just coming into his own as a husband and father, who is struggling with his place in this world, that perhaps Masons might be a good place for him to be?
FWIW, I’m a raging atheist and have offered to attend the church of his choosing if it would help him be more at peace.
(previewing my post makes my description of him sound rather like a horoscope, bleh)
[QUOTE=Monty]
…Not only am I member of DeMolay, I am also a member of the Knighthood, an order within DeMolay…
[/QUOTE]
Reeee-eeeally!
Good to bump into ya, brother.
By the way, I’m RD, PMC (twice!), PIKC; hold Chevalier and BHK with two stars.
Never did petition to join Lodge, though. Odd, because my dad and grandfather were both active and buried with Masonic Honors. I have both of their aprons.
[QUOTE=Monty]
…Not only am I member of DeMolay, I am also a member of the Knighthood, an order within DeMolay…
[/QUOTE]
Reeee-eeeally!
Good to bump into ya, brother.
By the way, I’m RD, PMC (twice!), PIKC; hold Chevalier and BHK with two stars.
Never did petition to join Lodge, though. Odd, because my dad and grandfather were both active and buried with Masonic Honors. I have both of their aprons.
Seriously…where’s the Grail? Just whisper it. We won’t tell anybody, I promise?
So, bobtheoptimist:
Would you like to give up being a Mason?
[picture of naked girl flashes on screen above the word “YES”]
Think carefully . . .
[picture flashes again]
[QUOTE=catsix]
I think that any club in which gender or race are terms of membership in which business networking takes place has a pretty large problem.
[/QUOTE]
Then you should have no problem with Freemasonry as business networking is not supposed to take place. If/when it does, it should be outside lodge, for it is officially frowned upon (around these parts), and thus is not masonic but rather the actions of individuals.
Once, after a layoff, I mentioned my dilemma around a group of masons, and all expressed sympathy and offered to help out with dues - nothing else.
I’ve seen a number of guys quit the lodge because they joined with the expectation of furthering their careers through masonry.
I expect there are plenty of “but this one time I didn’t get hired because …” stories, and I revert back to my earlier assertion that this is a societal issue rather than a masonic one.
Auntbeast - I wish I could help, but unless he’s as off-kilter as myself, watching National Treasure, reading Kurtz’s Adept books, and otherwise sending him to wander unguided through the realms of conspiracy central might not help. He ever show any interest in the Knights Templar or mystical symbolism? 
Diogenes - Grail? C’mon! Magic cups held by semi-divine? P-shaw! It’s all about the gold, baby! That and the early writings of L. John Baptist saying “the real money is in faking a virgin birth and convincing the sheeple that some random hippy is god. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?” But we keep those papers locked up pretty tight.
BrainGlutton - you’re ideas intrigue me and I’d like to subscribe, but the wife would kill me. Keep those pictures flashing, tho.
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi]
Yep, the Trilateralists do all the exciting stuff nowadays. All we get are the simple jobs, poisoning wells, making the cows go dry and all that.
[/QUOTE]
Then what do the Jews do?
Never mind, I just remembered the Media. 
Do you guys have some connection with Rosicrucianism? looks like AMORC has some things in common with Masaons.