1. It must have existed from the very beginnings of Freemasonry.

2. It's an element of the Order of such importance that Freemasonry would no longer be Freemasonry if it were removed.

I realise that different orders or persons ideas will vary to the meaning of Landmarks.

However I'm curious to know what the Landmarks are to fellow Masons (any order).

From my own readings and studies over 22 years of membership of Freemasonry I have found that this topic is one which generates a lot of argument and never comes to a conclusion as there is not one agreed and definitive list of Landmarks accepted by the majority of Grand Lodges, Grand Orients and Obediences.

For a start A Belief in a Supreme Being? Not required if you are a member of the Grand Orient de France. No Woman to be made a Freemason? Tell that the Le Droit Humain and other Co-Masonic Bodies! There is even a "Landmark" that says that the "Landmarks" cannot be added to, deleted or amended. Simply ridiculous when one considers that these Landmarks are all man made and not divinely inspired and that in any event some have been changed anyway, for example there are many of the disabled who are Freemasons and many decended from those taken into slavery centuries ago yet there is a prohibition in one of the Landmarks on a "cripple" or "one not freeborn" being Made a Mason. Some of the American Grand Lodges have a list of Landmarks they consider to be binding but there is at least one which does not have them at all.

My own position is that the Landmarks, sometimes called "Mackay's Landmarks" are an interesting historical curio in Freemasonry but that is all.

On landmarks: "Nature's landmarks are easily reformed by Nature itself."

Challenge that.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word 'landmark' as follows:-

• noun 1 an object or feature of a landscape or town that is easily seen and recognized from a distance. 2 an event, discovery, or change marking an important stage or turning point.

It provides an interesting angle of the 'unchangeability' of landmarks.  Taking the first option as the preferred interpretation, one cannot sustain the concept of unchangeability.  In time, everything changes.  The second option presents, in a way, a more permanent nature, because events are, surely, unchangeable - or are they?

Well, that depends on whom did the reporting of the event.  History is the victor's account.  What we believe to be true now, may not actually be an accurate representation of the facts.

So, are landmarks unchangeable?  Sure - as unchangeable as we choose them to be.  And therein lies their power.  It is what we, together, choose to build.  Landmarks represent the foundation upon which we choose to erect the superstructure of the Temple of Humanity.  We can choose to limit ourselves and express these principles in a divisive way.  Or we can choose to broaden our minds and express these principles in an inclusive way, understanding and welcoming the fact that the Temple of Humanity is erected with the purpose of building a shelter for the whole of Humanity, and all that lives in this biosphere.

That doesn't mean we have to let everyone into our rooms, though.  This house we be are building is big enough for all of us.

S&F,

Cora
--
International Order of Co-Freemasonry "Le Droit Humain",
British Federation
Lodge Light of Amen-Ra No. 717, Orient of Surbiton
Lodge St Francis No. 817, Orient of Camberley
Mark Lodge Nephthys No. 32, Quarries of Surbiton
HRA Triangle The Hidden Glory, Vault of Surbiton

The UGLE, for example, doesn't actually have any "Landmarks", it has "Ancient Charges and Regulations" these come from the formation of the first Grand Lodge (of London and Westminster) so definitely date back to 1717. However, their claimed lineage goes back further as the first Grand Lodge claimed itself to be a "revival" of the existing system of Freemasonry.

PS I'm moving this into the History section.