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RESTORING MASONIC SECRECY
by Bro. Ron Watkins
SW, Wayfarers Lodge #50
If Masons are known for anything it is our commitment to secrecy. The Mormon prophet Joseph Smith Jr. once wrote, "The secret of Masonry
is to keep a secret." But in recent years there has been a steady diminishment in our commitment to our obligation. It is likely this had
its source in the ill founded effort to accommodate our critics. Though the ritual could not be more specific, nor the wording of our
obligation, there are those Masons who demonstrate a less then healthy respect for this aspect of our legacy. It is not unusual,
for example, to hear, "The only secret is that we have no secrets." Or that "The only secrets we have are a few words and methods of
identification." Regretfully, too often these words are spoken by those in leadership.
There is no reason for Masons to apologize for our practice of secrecy or to retreat from it. Secrecy is the heart and soul of society,
as vital to its existence as law and order, and personal liberty. Every day thousands of secret meetings take place in every community of
any size. They take place across the dinner table at night when a couple discuss family finances. They occur in our doctor's offices, in
the halls of government. Few secrets are more tightly held than a company's finances. Secrecy in society is so common it's difficult to
envisage life in its absence. Imagine a community in which everyone knew everyone's business?
The long history of Freemasonry has demonstrated time and again the wisdom of our practice of secrecy. During the birth of modern Masonry
in many countries it was not just socially unacceptable for certain persons to meet, it was deemed criminal. In other countries membership
in our fraternity led to imprisonment or death. Without secrecy our beloved Masonry would not exist.
There are good reasons to keep our obligation. We are committed to aiding any man who identifies himself to us as a Master Mason in a
certain way. We do not want that method to become common knowledge. We also want our ritual to remain private so it has the maximum
positive effect on candidates. A Masonic lodge is one of the few places where a man can confide in a friend with the expectation that
what he says will not be repeated and become common gossip. Life is difficult for good men as so much of society's pressure directs us
into darkness. In fact, morality and decency are usually mocked in popular culture. Secrecy has a mystical effect on us, binding brother
Masons in a way they are not elsewhere. A close bond forms among Masonic brothers who share one with the other their difficulties and
problems. The mutual support of like-minded and obligated men is one of Freemasonry's great strengths. To disregard the practice of
secrecy is destructive to all of this.
But there is much more to our practice of secrecy for the primary purpose of Masonic secrecy has nothing to do with any of this. Desirable
as these reasons are, it is the act of keeping a secret that is most important and why it is emphasized so emphatically in our ritual.
Asked what thing was most difficult for a man Aristotle replied, "To be secret and silent." The subtle, yet profound, influence of
maintaining the obligation to keep a secret has upon us is one of the Hidden Mysteries of a Freemasonry.
The practice of secrecy serves to remind the Mason that truths are buried within him, aspects of his nature yet to be discovered and
understood. Indeed, secrets often form the greater part of our nature. To uncover and understand them is to know ourselves in a profound
way.
There is another reason for restoring secrecy to our former practice and it is a very practical one to the Craft. As Malcolm C. Duncan
wrote in his Masonic Ritual and Monitor more than a century and half ago, "Curiosity has had a much greater influence in swelling the
ranks of Masonry than philanthropy and brotherly love." To reveal too much diminishes interest in becoming a brother.
Let us be once again be both secret and silent about those matters we have obligated ourselves to withhold from the Profane. Only good
can come from it. We lift the veil from our lodge rooms only to our own detriment.
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