A message and grand hailing sign to all other fellow masonic brother’s that are fed up with the current systems of control and wish to develop a World based on truth and spirituality.
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"A Freemason's Struggle within Modern-Day Society: The Secret is Out!" by: Donny Gillson
I have been very blessed over the years. I have achieved two degrees. The first in Computer Science from Saint Paul Technical College, the second last evening in Psychology, I have been raised to 32nd Degree within Freemasonry, I have been knighted as Knight of The Rose Croix, a Knight of Malta, and a Knights Templar.
I now been bestowed the honor of Grand Secretary ORDO ILLUMINATORUM UNIVERSALIS E.'.V.'. #66...Reflecting back on everything I have accomplished; finishing my next degree will be such an achievement. I want to thank everyone for supporting me; including, ever single one of my Masonic Brothers and The Lord Jesus Christ for giving me the power and the glory to achieve everything! I love you Lord! This is a little dity that I wrote last year about how I view Freemasonry and its mis representation throughout the internet and society as a whole.
In the book written by C. Wright Mills entitled, "The Sociological Imagination." the author describes how sociological imagination "enables the possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals. It enables him to take into account how individuals in the welter of their daily experience. Often become falsely conscious of their social positions." (Mills, pg. 9) I would have agree and have found myself with a sense of false consciousness that transcends into my own private life, but for the purpose of this paper I would like to explore his statement along with, other concepts and theories defined by author George Ritzer in his book entitled, "Introduction to Sociology". I hope that throughout this essay, I can evaluate the true meaning of the sociological imagination as it applies to my own social environment and its relationship to a certain fraternal brotherhood to which I belong. However, in order to explore this more in depth, I will need to give a bit of background information about my own personal affiliation with a very unique subculture within our modern-day society that has been continually shrouded in mystery and
controversy; a society called Freemasonry.
controversy; a society called Freemasonry.
Roughly eight years ago, my grandmother informed me that several of my relatives, including my grandfather were Freemasons. This information came as quite a shock, because like other non-masons I had always looked at this organization as a society that dabbled deeply into the occult or even worse, witchcraft. These were things that had gone against everything that my own spiritual and christian belief system held so closely. Karl Marx once stated, a false consciousness was a "lack of understanding of capitalism’s nature and the erroneous belief that capitalism operates to worker’s benefit." (Ritzer, pg. 42) I too had come to the false belief, much like proletarians of capitalism, that Freemasonry was some sort of cult that worshiped Lucifer, and Freemasons, like capitalist, created our governmental structure, by directly influenced everything that was negative within society; such as, politics, the economy, and our countries core belief systems dating all the way back to George Washington. So, it had came as a surprise to learn that my misconception about Freemasonry where entirely wrong and unfounded; in fact, my grandmother opened my eyes to what it truly meant to be a member of an elite brotherhood of men that took on the ideas and principals of making good men, better men. Additionally, my grandmother educated me about the experiences my grandfather had as a Mason and how it improved his life as a police officer and as a member of his community.
Learning this information ultimately lead to the natural question, "How come you never told me about the families association with Masonry?" All my grandmother could do was give me a simple smile and chuckle by saying, "Well Donny, you never asked. So, I never told you." Even though, I was able to get
past my unfounded beliefs and became a Mason myself, by following in the footsteps of my grandfather. It had become clear to me much like Mills outlined that ,"men often feel their private lives are a series of traps. They sense that within everyday worlds, they cannot overcome their trouble."
(Mills, pg. 8) I found this passage to be a perfect example of what I was experiencing within my own self; not only did I find myself in spiritual trap of confusion, but what was my position within society and how could I improve it. With this in mind, I decided to join this fraternal organization of Freemasonry in August of 2007; where I became a Master Mason, Knighted as a Knight’s Templar, and achieved the prestigious 32nd Degree, by seeking further enlightenment in masonry.
past my unfounded beliefs and became a Mason myself, by following in the footsteps of my grandfather. It had become clear to me much like Mills outlined that ,"men often feel their private lives are a series of traps. They sense that within everyday worlds, they cannot overcome their trouble."
(Mills, pg. 8) I found this passage to be a perfect example of what I was experiencing within my own self; not only did I find myself in spiritual trap of confusion, but what was my position within society and how could I improve it. With this in mind, I decided to join this fraternal organization of Freemasonry in August of 2007; where I became a Master Mason, Knighted as a Knight’s Templar, and achieved the prestigious 32nd Degree, by seeking further enlightenment in masonry.
I must state, that this did not come without its own share of troubles; in fact, over the past six years, I have experienced a multitude of negative reactions from friends, church members, and society as a whole, because of my affiliation with
Freemasonry. I believe the reasoning behind this is not far from the different sociological views that I once held toward Freemasonry. Furthermore, masonry has been demonized over the centuries branding it with conspiracy by movies, television, and the internet. Earlier, I spoke about how I had fallen into trap of believing that all Freemasons were deviant and had no place in society. I fell victim to this because I was not educated enough to understand the true culture of the craft and about the men that proudly called themselves Freemasons. As I went through the rituals from the first to the thirty second degree; I can honestly state that these types of allegations could not be further from the truth and that society has been misinformed about the true nature of values of which Freemasonry actually believes in. According to Ritzer, mainstream society sociological values are defined as, "general and abstract standards that define what a group or society as a whole considers good, desirable, right, or important."(Ritzer pg. 119) As I mentioned earlier, one of the key values within freemasonry is to make good men better. We are not just a bunch of men that sit around trying to figure out how to take over the world and create some sort of New World Order; much like the conspiracy theorist would like you to believe as they try to misinform society through television, movies, and other forms of media.
It is my personal opinion, that the majority of men within masonry abide by a higher standards of norms and laws, by telling us what we should and should not do in any given situation. And, by becoming a mason we are expected to follow the norms and obey the laws that are presented to us under our own
Masonic constitutional guidelines. Additionally, we are bound by not only the brotherhood, but we take serious oaths that bind us throughout time and space. One of the most important values that all masons strive for, regardless of race, color, creed, or profession is that we all meet upon the level. What this means is, that no one mason is better than another and we all are equal under the eye's of God. It troubles me when society goes around spreading false information about who and what Freemasonry is all about. There is nothing evil or taboo about our craft; in fact, we are just a group of men that believe in a higher power and to maintain our lives to a very high standard under that commitment.
Freemasonry, has a very important symbolic culture which creates its own unique language by using meaningful symbols that help or enable communication to other masons, which allows us, to accumulate culture and transmit it from one generation to another. (Ritzer, pg. 123) So, I can understand how modern-day society could become confused about our craft, because of our use of certain occult symbols as a form of communication throughout our own society. However, in my own personal investigations, it has become clear that there is little to no research by sociologist within the culture of Freemasonry; furthermore, masonry has been associated with what we Freemasons call, "secret society syndrome." Freemasonry is not a secret society, but it is a society of secrets. Which may cause people outside of masonry to frown upon our organization. Whenever I need to demonstrate why we hold our knowledge so tight for those who have been initiated, I state that one of the best ways to compare our organization is to look at the Coca-Cola or Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporations. I look at masonic secrets the same way any other organization safe guards their information; in fact, it is easier to find in-depth information (which I will not confirm nor deny the information on the internet as truth) about the rituals, passwords, and other information about freemasonry over the internet than it is to find the secret formula of Coca-Cola or the special herbs and spices within the original recipe of KFC.
It baffles me when people state that freemasonry should not keep their knowledge from the world; while the world continues to consume and support corporations that hold secrets so tight not even the President of the United States could get that information. This is just one of the troubles that Freemasonry has experienced in modern-day society. Mills describes that "troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others." (Mills, pg. 11) along with,"the framework of modern society is sought, and within that framework the psychologies of a variety of men and women are formulated." (Mills, pg. 9) I could not agree more; in fact, when I have divulged that I am a Mason to others, I usually get one of two responses. One, would be "What is a Freemason?" Or the other, "I heard Freemason's worship Lucifer. So, do you really worship the Devil?" This issue even came up within my church back in Lino Lakes, Minnesota. When my pastor basically shunned me from the church because of how freemasonry conflicts with being a christian ideology. It has becomes tiresome to explain that my choice to become a mason was not only because it was something that my family was involved in, but as a spiritual journey of enlightenment to better understand me as a spiritual being and my relationship with God. So to not create conflict, the majority of the time I just keep my affiliation with masonry a secret. By, maintaining this silence I am able to avoid several private troubles that can be brought up where I am judged by society. Furthermore, I can avoid many sociological issues "about what the value truly is and what it is that really threatens it." (Mills pg. 11)
I wanted to be able to express my belief and value systems; however, the majority of the time when I do give out this information it only causes deeper issues within the relationships that I am trying to build and uphold. For example, I was on a recent date with someone that I met online. Our conversation was going well and we were getting along just fine. But, when I revealed that I was involved in masonry; I could tell that she started to get a bit uncomfortable. To this day I have not heard from her again. These types of experiences have been a struggle for me, so I have just decided to keep my affiliation secret until the time is right to give this information to another person. Throughout time, men who have become Masons have simply kept their affiliation as discreet as possible; however, I would like to change this very import rule of thumb. I believe that it is important to educate individuals about the misconceptions of freemasonry. The challenge is how do I do this without cause undue hardship upon myself? I believe that hiding from society and not allowing others to know of your accomplishment and search for further enlightenment is a disservice, and there is much to learn and share. I believe that since we are not very open about our association, it is one of the major reasons why we have seen such a decline in fraternal membership over the last 50 years. I hope that at some point we will be able to break away from the stigma that plagues this fraternal brotherhood and that I can stand proud to be a member of this wonderful brotherhood of men.
Since, I would categorize freemasonry as a unique subculture "that involve groups of people who accept much of the dominant culture but are set apart from it by one or more culturally significant characteristics." (Ritzer, pg. 127) It has become obvious throughout this essay that masonry would fall under what sociologist would consider the conflict theory with a sense of falseness. Conflict theory, is one of the widely known sociological theories in American Sociology, and seen as an inversion to the structural-functionalism designed to compete and counteract with society with the falseness where television, books and the internet emanate from people with prepacked ideas and falsify reality that has nothing to do with Freemasonry. Ritzer p. 57 - 58) It is our responsibility as masons, to educate and enlighten others so in the future this conflict may disappear. Freemasonry along with, Sociology need two have these two different theories to thrive in an every changing world.
As Mason's we will continue to uphold our beliefs and ideals without the permission of society and/or religion; additionally, by having a sociological imagination I am able to use the tools needed to push away and look at Freemasonry from a different point of view then I once had. It was important for me to look outside the box and become a freethinker without limits. As a modern-day society we have the right as spiritual beings to believe what we want and when we want to think it; this is our God given right. I pray that in time, society will looks past our differences in thinking and just become more consensuses to the issues and ideals that make up this incredible brotherhood. I am proud to be a Mason, and I thank my grandmother, for encouraging me to walk down this path of enlightenment and spiritual awareness.
I have followed in the footsteps of my relatives and I have become a better man because of it. Even though, society may look at me in different way, outside of the sociological norm, this is nothing more than a conflict between one cultural society to another. And, for that I say, "so mote it be. Amen."
Always feel beloved,
SK Donny Gillson 32 #66
I have followed in the footsteps of my relatives and I have become a better man because of it. Even though, society may look at me in different way, outside of the sociological norm, this is nothing more than a conflict between one cultural society to another. And, for that I say, "so mote it be. Amen."
Always feel beloved,
SK Donny Gillson 32 #66
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