WantToLearn (31/08/2010)

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Hi guys
Really pleased i found this forum. A great sense of community going on here.
Im being initiated later this year and cant wait!
Read a comment on here last night thats got me thinking...
The comment pretty much said that the craft over here in the uk has been hijacked by the upper classes and only the knights dukes lords etc and other "old money" are the only ones that can truly aspire to the upper reaches of the craft... Is this true?
All the best

multisync (19/08/2010)

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Crumbs we'd be here all day but from my perspective UGLE Freemasonry is based on an elaborate conscious and sub conscious hierarchy often based on class.

We all have to stand up and clap the PGM

We salute up never down

Gold braid and different coloured aprons

We toast the great and the good

Stewards often have to wait on people hand and foot during meals

GM isusually Royalty these days and has been for a long time..

etc etc

We areruled byasystem based on class(occasionally fortune has a small part to play) but being a Knight , Lord Duke or Prince will almost certainly g.tee Grand Rank.

We are neverever even remotely equal in any way shape or form. Those that believe we are are deluding themselves with all the 'meet on the level' stuff..It's a sop, I have heard that In some Provinces an accompanying officer is expected to chauffeur the PGM -or whatever- from his home, to the Lodge and back to his home. No matter where in the Province those might be.(at his own expense!)

I'm not remotely bitter or bothered by all this, just I don't believe we are all equal or that was ever the intention once the 'upper classes' hijacked modern Freemasonry and made it their own..

No point going on and I'm sure there are many more obvious one's but that's how it is and so mote it be..;)

dp (31/08/2010)

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Thanks for pasting the original text.

I would disagree that the "top" jobs are reserved for people with title but what I would say is that the more involved one gets with Freemasonry and the "higher" up one goes the more is required in terms of both time and cost.

For example I live in the Canary Islands and I travel regularly on Masonic business between the Canary Islands as well as to the Mainland (Spain) and also to the UK. I am fortunate to be in a position where I can afford both the time and cost to do this.

The result is that I am in a number of orders and hold rank in a number of orders that my Brethren do not. I am not a better man or Mason for this and given the opportunity I am sure that a lot of my Brethren would commit the same amount of time (and by default cash) to Masonry as I do.

So, a lot of the "higher" positions within Masonry are held by people who are retired, semi retired or business owners (MD's whatever) and have a lot of cash to pay for all the travelling and regalia. This is a filter all of it's own.

No nepotism involved.