What’s up brothers this is Justin with Masonic improvement today I’m going to talk to you about why I quit Freemasonry but before I get into that please go ahead and hit subscribe if you would they’ll keep you updated on my content and I usually release one or two videos
A week so if you enjoy this or if you enjoy anything else I produce be sure you hit that subscribe button so that you can keep up with me so why did I quit Freemasonry well this actually happened probably almost 10 years ago when I first got into the maternity no
See you at the time when I joined here in Texas you could not actually sit in a stated meeting unless you were a Master Mason so I went through all the grease I worked really hard while learning all the memory work and because that’s really all they expect you to do is just
Learn the memory work and so I worked really hard on that I went to the EAA now I went through my fellow craft and I finally did that you know the master’s degree learned all that work and turned it in I was finally able to sit in
Stated meetings and so I go to my first steady meeting and it’s just a business meeting all the all that they did was they open and closed they talked about the bills they talked about the fundraiser we did a like a like a biannual fundraiser when and I think I
Talked about this before we did a biannual fundraiser so twice a year we did like this huge thing to raise just enough money to pay the bills and that would that was it and so I learned very quickly that either we were planning a fundraiser all right or we were talking
About how one did and then we be planning it right again and so that was that was that was all we ever did so I went through all this work I put all this effort in and so I started saving the meetings and it was nothing going on
There was nothing so I was I had this revelation as as we were preparing we were actually it was the day have won these fundraisers there’s a it’s a barbecue day weed so we could barbecue that we sold it and I was loading waters onto this onto a dolly and just stacking
Water on there and I just had this just revelation just occurred oh my my it’s like this is just a service organization this is just like the Lions Club or something like that and not to say there’s anything wrong with the Lions Club but that’s not what
I thought I joined and so I had this revelation that you know was just a service organization and I finished that day you know I finished helping that day but I just I just didn’t go back so I stopped going I became inactive it has happened for this one out for
Probably a year or maybe two years I just I just stopped going and my my dad who is a member of that same launching my granddad you know both members at large par the reason I joined to start with the kid try giving to come back and
I come here once in a while just to learn you know just to realize there’s nothing really going on you know and it just and it just always seemed odd to me because that’s I mean I reach this conclusion you know it’s basically the service organization but why was there
All this memory work why were there originals why was why was all this symbolism and allegory and in in mystery involved in it if are you gonna do is just turn out some our view and never really I never really clicked with me you know there was like this
Disconnect between what the fraternity actually was in what we did in practice and I always was kind of aware of that but it seemed to me that I mean even when I visited of the lodges in the area think that’s all that they did it’s just
You know and then they give awards in one swamp at each other on the back and that’s all it was to it it’s just raising money and giving away and complaining about how nobody showed up and then and that was that was so basically all the lodges I visit is the
Same old song and dance you know open it bills come I got no one showing up oh and talk about fundraising and then leave and and normally after they closed everybody leave as fast as they could so anyway so so that’s that and then that’s for a few years and I don’t
Really I don’t really know what caused this to happen but I just one day randomly I decided you know I do some research on fraternity I just kind of you know cuz you know I just told my dad you know I’m not going anymore I’m not really
Interested in that and for some reason I just you know I started thinking I was like you know I remember why didn’t you go and that’s all that all the dontist it goes on but I also remembered you know what I said earlier you notice all this ritual and
History and symbolism it’s like why is this there if this is all we’re doing so no way don’t lie I started googling and I think I specifically talked like Texas Freemasonry it took me to at the time the website was I think it’s Masons the Texas and now it’s my Freemasonry but
That’s how those masons of Texas am I mean it’s still it was still a really great website and I moderate on there and and they have all kinds of articles and everything and so I just I don’t know I don’t know what it was I just started reading the articles and it
Wasn’t your typical run-of-the-mill articles because like we’ve all heard the Tyler talks and and you know all the stuff that Grand Lodge is put out and it’s none of its really inspiring or particularly interesting I’m sorry or at least that it wasn’t to me some people would probably like that stuff but you
Know for me I was like you know but anyway so start reading these articles I was like hey I haven’t thought about this and they’re approaching everything from a different for a different perspective you know if so it’s like it really caused you to re-evaluate things like whoa this watch does things differently
You know it’s like what if we did do things with Worth with higher quality you know and so I would encourage anybody if you want to go to the website I’ll put a link below I do search for the articles there’s several great articles there’s lots of
There were just just wonderful at least at least they work for me you know as a young freemason that was a pretty much lost you know and at the time it was exactly what I needed and you know as time was won by I’ve read other things that you know are
Really good also but they’re all really inspirational for me so I am they inspired me enough that actually started going back I got involved again I started going back to my to my old baggage and I got into the line I’m started going through the chairs you know I was really
Passionate I was doing yelling though I still didn’t really understand a lot of things kind of like the importance of culture to get your organization on the track you think it should be you need to approach it from a more of a macro cultural perspective than a micro
Climate perspective but these are all things I’ve learned down the way so anyway and and later on things happen I I eventually I left and all the changes that’ll work towards kind of down the wayside but that’s that’s another post up I talked about that before previously
Anyway so I’m not really hit on that but that’s why I left the fraternity and and eventually I came back so the reason I’m sharing this with you is because I think there’s something to be learned here um we often wonder why we’re lose against many members almost as we initiate put
Through the degrees and granted I don’t represent everybody in the fraternity but I think that I represent a population where again I don’t represent the entirety of that population either but there’s something there and and there’s something to be said if I event for these reasons other people did as
Well and I know fur factors other people you want younger people in the fraternity we want younger people in fraternity totally get that and the thing is we’re looking for something that most lodges aren’t offering anymore and that’s I mean when I joined there was there was an air of mystery there
Was air secrecy I prestige associated with it and you join you go no I mean almost I hate to say as soon as you join I mean as soon as you get that ei degree that is all just blown out the window and often sometimes the first time you
Walk on that large building is just blowing out the window I’m sorry you see a bunch of guys sitting around eating bologna sandwiches cussing telling crew jokes and you know and it’s it’s gone I mean this this this this marvelous thing that you have made up in your mind is just
Shattered by everybody’s acting as basic and mundane as they can and a lot of the old-timers or a lot of people I should say not just the old timers or saying well that’s what you get for having such high expectations well you can say that but you’re losing these people so you
Know it’s just it’s just you got two sides of the coin so people wanted to be so mundane and that other people wanted to be marvelous and it’s it’s you know these people the mundane people think the marvelous people are just out of their minds the mundane people are
Saying you expect too much out of this 300 year old prestigious fraternity you know it’s just the whole thing is counterintuitive but anyway so that’s why I left and also why I came back and that’s just my story that I wanted to share with you so I
Hope you enjoyed it again if you like the video please hit like be sure to hit subscribe because I have a lot more on throughout the next few weeks and after that as well so I will catch you on the next video and thanks again for watching
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