Memorising Masonic Ritual Is Important, But At What Cost?
Why do we place so much emphasis on memorising the ritual for our degree ceremonies?
It’s important, but, did you know by doing this we end up unintentionally neglecting the opportunity of practicing Brotherly Love and Charity to some brethren who are truly in need?
Now, this doesn’t mean we can open up the floodgates and start reading the ritual. However, it does raise the question of when would reading the ritual be practising those virtues we profess admiration for.
In this edition of Daily Masonic Progress I want to address reasons why performing the ritual in our ceremonies without reading is critical to our learning. At the same also consider which circumstances would permit reading under Brotherly Love and Charity and whether or not it is detrimental to the Craft and the Candidate’s experience.
But before I go any further, I need to address a common misconception and a mistake we have fallen into.
That mistake is thinking that we must “memorise the ritual”.
So, last week I attended an Installation. As a Grand Officer, I was in the delegation led by the Deputy Grand Master, where the Assistant Grand Master was also in attendance. After the Inner Workings were complete and we were back in the Third Degree, it was time for the presentation of the Working Tools to the new Master.
The Brother who was supposed to present them was sick. With the Installing Master standing on the floor, and no one to hand the tools to, there was an obvious void, and a few moments of awkwardness before the Grand Director asked for any brother who could present them.
In the spur-of-the-moment thing, I volunteered. A few gasps shocked in the air, and you could hear the brethren think, was he just going to get up and do them like that?
After being escorted to the North East of the Dias, I presented the tools to the WM.
Everyone was quite taken aback that such could be delivered at a moment’s notice and presented somewhat flawlessly. Now I know I made a few little and minor errors in the delivery, but most of the time, they are only minor things that don’t interrupt the flow or the meaning.
Later, in the south many Brethren had commented to me about how impressive it was, especially in front of the Deputy Grand Master and the Assistant Grand Master.
Sure, many will simply say that:
“Darren, you are a great ritualist and you can easily memorise the work. So it’s only natural that you’d be able to do such a thing, but many others don’t have that same ability”
Well, here is a secret.
When I was in high school, I scored so horrendously low on my ATAR (GPA / A-Levels) that I got an * yes that’s an asterisk. The mystery mark. So low, they don’t bother to tell you just how bad you did.
My high school was practically reading car magazines for 6 years. I only graduated because I copied two years’ worth of work out of my best friend’s book in the final two weeks, otherwise, the School was going to terminate my course. Yes, two weeks before the end of high school, I was at risk of being kicked out and failing.
So when people tell me, that I have a natural talent and I am special for being able to memorise the ritual easier than most and “oh, but this brother is different”, it just doesn’t wash.
The truth is, I have seen many other brethren who have more serious learning difficulties (like dyslexia) perfect the ritual and deliver it flawlessly. They’ve even started with further ground to make up than someone like my actual brother who faces the same challenges. Except these brethren have had to do it with English as a Second Language.
So what’s the common denominator?
Well, it’s about putting in the effort.
It’s the lesson of the Gavel, Chisel and Rough Ashlar. The Rough Ashlar doesn’t become perfect without the constant and consistent small efforts of a Craftsman hammering away at it with the Chisel and the Gavel.
Except that’s only the lesson at the surface level. See the Chisel is both symbolical of discipline, like I just described, but also Education.
This is the heart of the matter. Memorising ritual is not education.
There are 6 levels of cognitive learning (Bloom’s Taxonomy) required to have learned something, and memorising ritual is just the first level. It’s being able to recall information.
However, we also just memorise things for a once-off purpose, like an examination, and we never learn them, so we struggle to retain them in our memory.
If we just fall back to reading, we never start the process of learning.
We never complete that first level (memorisation/remembering), let alone the remaining 5 and we never truly become a Master Mason who’s mastered the Craft, let alone a true Installed Master who is supposed to be a Master of Arts & Sciences.
This means we never get anything from Freemasonry and all the lessons of the Craft just go to waste. It’s also the reason why lodges can have poor retention & engagement of members because they either never get to the first level of learning, or if they do, they never go any further.
How can you ever get to the point where you can take all the lessons of Freemasonry, put them together to create their meaning & application to your own life - let alone implement them?
This is why performing the ceremonies without reading is critical to our learning & progress as Men and Masons.
So now we understand why it’s important to learn the work.
What about the rare scenarios where someone who due to medical reasons needs to read it?
I want to give this question its proper attention, but we need to also consider the candidate who’s been receiving the work from any brother who is permitted an exception to read.
Oh, and when I say, an exception to read, I am not talking about doing a sneaky book open on the pedestal to hide that he’s reading — what I mean is, obvious reading, especially when the medical reasons prohibit what he’s already learned from actually being performed.
Some may argue that it takes away from the experience of the candidate. Then others say, that work read well is far better than memorised work performed poorly which impacts more on the candidate’s experience.
Yes, I agree, but like I said previously, 99% of the time, poor performance of work is simply a result of not putting in the preparation before it. Look, I know we all have a bad night once in a while, but those are mostly prevented if we make sure we don’t cut corners on our practising.
Pro Golfers, for example, in the lead-up to a major tournament will go and practice, practice, practice. Because they know what they need to do to perform at their peak.
Yes, this is Masonry, but remember, Freemasonry is supposed to be a Sandbox for life.
It’s that sacred space, where we are picked up and encouraged when we fall. But are also held accountable when we don’t put in the work like we should have.
But what is detrimental to the Candidate’s experience, is our work not being a true representation of the practice of Freemasonry. Not using your work as a way to demonstrate to the candidate that this is all part of the system or morality, that makes good men better, gives them fulfilment, purpose and meaning.
What is more detrimental to a Candidate’s experience is showing him that the things we do are not aligned with the things we say— that we don’t walk the talk. We ignore the opportunities to support each other, and we just end up showing Masonry doesn’t improve each of us, because we are not practising its lessons or its system.
In the moment, stuff ups here and there may seem detrimental to the experience. However, consider that when that Candidate sees the progress of the same brother performing the same work again, but with improvement, or finds out how we supported our brother to go outside of his comfort zone and confront his and our own limiting beliefs — the greater lesson of Masonry is learned.
Now we understand & appreciate that it’s putting into action our Masonic teachings,
what about Brethren who have a medical condition that means they have to read it?
Throughout our ceremonies, we are taught and reminded of Brotherly Love and Charity. When I say charity, I don’t mean it as pity or as in our brother needs our charity because of distress. I mean charity as in love.
We need to make allowances for brethren who may fairly claim our assistance and we should not be letting their circumstances in life, cause us to sideline them.
If we truly love our brothers and we are truly going to be loving towards and of them, they need our encouragement and our support.
Yes, some, ok, many, will have limiting beliefs that they can’t do it. That’s natural.
That is all the more reason why we must encourage them and support them through it, we must pick them up and nurture them along the way and be constructive in coming up with solutions to work around that obstacle.
Freemasonry is supposed to take you outside of your comfort zone, stretch you and grow you. The Craft does this in a sacred space where it's okay to make mistakes in the process of learning.
And look, there will be some brethren who naturally disagree with me or may disagree with your efforts on this.
However, you still have to have done the work to begin with.
Our brother doesn’t get a free pass and just turns up and reads, no, he still has to put in the work to learn like everyone else. The only difference is, that he gets a (symbolic) Lewis.
This Lewis could be in the form of having an iPad in an upright position with a teleprompter app following his voice. So if he needs the prompt or to read a few lines he can. We can position it near the altar so he can administer an obligation correctly. If he has a physical impairment, he could have a PM do the physical floor work for him while he gives the verbal work.
The ultimate thing to remember is this:
Freemasonry is a peculiar system of morality, its grand principles are brotherly love, relief and truth and we are a society designed to bring out the best in each other.
We must be supportive of our brethren, especially when they need our assistance and are prepared to put in the work and the effort. We must encourage them to become the best version of themselves so they can learn & grow.
By practising the lessons of our craft, we thereby teach others by our good example.