Should You Become a Freemason?

A guide to joining the world’s most secret organization

Not long ago I received a question from one of my readers that asked: “What are the advantages of being a Freemason?”

Frankly, that’s the wrong question to ask It strikes me as a ‘buttonholing’ from someone who has an agenda. That is to say, the enquirer is a person who is trying to learn whether he can milk Freemasonry for the benefits he sees from joining the organization, and is hoping to obtain confirmation of his belief that the society is a ‘cash cow.’

While many Freemasons are successful, it would be a mistake to believe that they became successful because they joined. Masonic lodges’ membership rolls include men whose professions range from police officers and teachers to lawyers and CEOs. Profession is irrelevant to membership in Freemasonry — with the caveat that illegal endeavors are strongly frowned upon.

If you’re asking the what the benefits of Freemasonry are then you haven’t done your research, you haven’t done soul-searching and haven’t put thought into what it would mean if to you if you were elected to join the society.

The right question is: why do you want to become a Freemason? If you’re hoping to capitalize on the drama portrayed in Dan Brown books, you’ll be sorely disappointed. (Brown’s book, The Lost Symbol actually names the masonic lodge where I was raised as a Mason, but the book is a caricature of Freemasonry, not reality).

While I can’t tell you why you should join Freemasonry, I can tell you why you shouldn’t join Freemasonry. These reasons NOT to join follow:

• You hope to get rich.
• You want to get a great job.
• You want to control the world
• You want to learn about secrets that are hidden from the world.
• You want to run for political office or convince members to support a political ideology or candidate.

If you are thinking about becoming a Freemason, you should know that becoming a full member is a multi-month commitment. If you have sinister intensions, or aren’t straightforward about what you want out of Freemasonry, it will come out soon enough.

There’s a lot of information about Freemasonry on the Internet — and some of it is good, and some of it is useless. You should do your homework, and verify that what you read is true.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy reading what you learn about Freemasonry during your research!

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