John W. Bizzack, Ph.D.

From 1793-1805, England’s growing concern and fear of invasion by Napoleon’s enormous army and navy resulted in Parliament authorizing several watch stations to be built along the English coast and manned by civil servants. The purpose of these watch stations and duties of the lookouts was to serve as the early warning system to an invasion fully expected to arrive by way of the English Channel. Napoleon’s plan to invade England,however, was sidetracked in 1805 as he became more focused on his military campaigns in Austria and Egypt. In 1815, the English army defeated Napoleon once and for all at the Battle of Waterloo and the threat of an invasion completely disappeared.

We call the natural ability to make sound judgments based on observable facts, common sense. As we are told in a quote often attributed to Voltaire, common sense is not so common. Keeping an open mind, no matter one’s bias is a hallmark resting at the core of any research, especially research about American Freemasonry. Another guiding principle for research about Freemasonry and the institutions that surround it, is appreciating the reality that to attain truth is to be open to the possibility that we are simply not right about a lot of things because we do not take into consideration the original meaning or intent of actions,courses, and even simple mottos. The story behind the seal of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts is an example of what research can do when reason is followed. In fact, the term, Follow Reason, appears today as a motto on that grand lodge seal. Following reason is precisely what Masons in that state did in 1880 after a committee in 1857 presented a report that changed the original 1733 seal and motto.

Surely the founders of Freemasonry and the authors and revisers of our ritual must have given due regard to this basic problem of life when they designed the ceremonies whereby candidates are inducted into our Craft. Certainly, the central theme of all our rituals is the leading of those blinded by the darkness of ignorance, and bound by the cords of superstition, out into the uplifting light of truth and knowledge. Who can justly deny the design of Freemasonry’s educational aims and activities; but some may doubt whether we are placing proper emphasis on the fundamental objectives of our Fraternity today?

To become a member of the Masonic Fraternity a man must meet the qualifications as established in his Masonic Jurisdiction, be unanimously approved by the body of the Lodge to which he applies, pay the fees required, and be initiated. If he proves proficient in the first two degrees, he may advance to the degree of Master Mason. Once made a Master Mason, he can call himself a Mason for the rest of his life, as long as he pays his annual dues and remains in good standing with his Lodge. He can, if he wishes, then apply for membership in appendant bodies, and, if admitted and advanced through their processes, pays his annual dues, and remains a member of a regularly chartered Masonic lodge, also remain a member of the appendant body for the rest of his life.

In the late 1960s, Earl Nightingale spoke every day for ten minutes on a radio show called, Our Changing World. I was a cadet in a military school at the time. My roommates and I listened to Nightingale’s calm, baritone voice, every morning for five years while preparing for class. Nightingale was on the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor and was one of fifteen surviving Marines on board that day. Following the war, he pursued a career in into radio and within a decade, he became well-known commentator, writer, speaker, and author of his time – dealing mostly on the subjects of human character development, motivation,excellence, and meaningful existence. Since the 1960s, his books, translated into thirty different languages, have sold millions around the world. His program, Our Changing World was heard in over twenty-three countries and was the biggest syndicated radio program in the history of
broadcasting.