The great cathedral building masons of the Gothic age organized themselves into lodges. These lodges were places of education and one of the few places outside of the monasteries where a lay person could become literate. Masons gathered in their lodges to study geometry, architecture, mathematics, philosophy, and grammar. In time, the richness of the lodge environment caused men who did not actually work with stone to petition to join as non-operative, or speculative, members. Today, our craft is purely speculative in nature, but we cherish our operative heritage and use their tools and customs as the basis of our teachings and ritual.
Ask ten Masons what Masonry is about, and you'll get as many answers. Here are some quotes that might help you to grasp who we are and what we do:
Kerry Shirtz, The Backyard Freemason, from his video Introduction to Freemasonry, is a relatively new Mason. Here are his completely modern words:
I love Freemasonry. I love the ideology of Freemasonry. I love the way so many people with different life experiences, with different religions, different colors, different races, different philosophies, with different political outlooks... we can all come together and share a commonality that is so powerful, that is so good... It's fun to hang out with good people... They're funny. They're very, very wise. They're absolutely fabulously good-hearted men... The common ideology is to do good in the world. Stand up for the oppressed and the poor. Do something good with your life, because it's the right thing to do...
Here is a perspective that goes back nearly three centuries to a much earlier period in speculative Masonry. From Anderson's Constitutions of 1732:
But though in ancient Times Masons were charg'd in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves; that is, to be good Men and true, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguish'd; whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must have remain'd at a perpetual Distance.
