June 9, 2025 • 30 mins
In this episode, we sit down with MWB Akram Elias, 33º, PGM of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Freemasonry in the 21st century. We explore how to effectively communicate the core values and positive impact of Freemasonry to a broader audience, while maintaining the traditions and privacy that make the fraternity unique. Join us for a thoughtful conversation on attracting new members, engaging with the community and ensuring the continued relevance of Freemasonry in today's world.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast, the only
Masonic podcast probably endorsed by the Grand Lodge of New York.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Here we love them for that every day.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I am your humble host, right worshipful Brother Michael Arsa,
and you've walked in for a great episode with one
of my favorite, most worshipful brothers. This guy has a
ton of energy and getting the chance to see him
not only speak around the Grand Lodge of Washington, d C.
But also most recently at our New York Masonicon. He
was featured as a speaker for this conversation. Brother Elias
(00:57):
and I are sitting down to talk about two things.
On how we can market and share our story of
Freemasonry and this ever evolving modern world. And too, we're
going to talk a little bit about America two fifty
and why every lodge across the United States should be
involved in celebrating this unique history and their own way.
But first, let's welcome in most worshipful Brother akamalias Past
(01:20):
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia.
Welcome to the Craftsman Online podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Oh thank you so much. It is a great pleasure
to be here with you, and it's good to see
you again, my brother.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
It's awesome to see you.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
And as I was telling you before we hit the
start button, the office that you're in when you picture
a past grand Master, that's what you envision is plaques
and certificates, not somebody's basement. Nothing against that, but I
like the office. Before we jump into our conversation on
marketing and freemasonry and promoting our craft, I wanted to
(01:52):
start with an honor that you received in twenty twenty three.
You were selected as a Prestonian Lecture And we might
have a listener that's unfamiliar as to what that is.
So what is that award or that honor and how
are you selected for it?
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Well, it was, and it is indeed great great honor
to have received it.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
The Prestonian Lecturer designation is probably one of the highest, uh,
you know, awards that one can get from the United
Grand Lodge of England. It is named after William Preston,
who back in the nineteenth century dedicated uh you know,
(02:31):
some money and and legacy focused on promoting Masonic education.
So what happens is that once a year, uh, the
night Grant Lodge of England. It's a very you know,
lengthy process, internal, et cetera. They select someone to be
their Prestonian lecture and the person would have to present, uh,
(02:55):
you know, that lecture in writing. So it's mine. Is
like it's any booklet one can find by the way,
you can find it on Amazon. But I was picked
for twenty twenty three and the reason for that is
that twenty twenty three marked the three hundredth anniversary of
the seventeen twenty three Constitutions of Freemason and my research,
(03:20):
my lecture is specifically on that and how those constitutions
became the and I call it a cement, you know,
the indispensable travel excuse me, the indispensable travel that helps
cement the foundations of America. So the essence of that
is how Freemasonry spread. And I'm not talking about like
(03:45):
who the founding fathers of the United States were Freemasons.
How many of the leaders of the American revolutions were Freemasons.
As a lot that has been written on that. The
focus of my Perstonian lecture is how the constitutions enabled
(04:05):
the spread of Masonic lodgers in the colonies, which was
an essential thing, critical fact to help teach men at
the time who were considered pillars of their respective communities.
And by pillar I mean anyone who would contribute to
the development of their community. Whether you were a baker,
(04:27):
or a pastor, or an elderman, you know, a statesman,
doesn't didn't matter, it's that you're contributing. And it was
the place where these individuals learned how to govern themselves
under a rule of law, past legislation, and fundamental values
existed in those lodgers. First and foremost meritocracy that you
(04:52):
advanced through merit. Second, religious tolerance. Third pursuit of knowledge
in the liberal arts and sciences, so you can always
improve yourself as an individual. And this was important to
break a caste system that had existed in the old world.
So those fifty five great founding fathers, they were definitely geniuses.
(05:14):
Of course, they had their flaws, you know, like every
human has, but their unique contribution was that they gave
us gifted future generations of Americans. They gifted us what
I call a system engineering machine, a system of governance
that each and every generation of Americans uses to advance
(05:37):
its own human condition. So obviously, in that construct, the
responsibility became huge on the shoulders of a free people.
In fact, without responsibility, there's no true freedom, my brother,
as we know it's they're the two sides of the
(05:59):
same point. Without responsibility, there's anarchy. Plus if I don't
if I'm not responsible for what I can do, then
I will ultimately lose my freedom. In fact, when people
abandon their responsibility to govern themselves and delegate it to
some entity called government to think on their behalf, act
(06:20):
on their behalf, solve their problems on their behalf. After
two generations of people doing that, the third generation would
have absolutely no clue how to govern itself. And when
government failure happens, and it ultimately will we live in
an imperfect world. This is the way it is. So
when major failure in government or governance happens, that's when
(06:43):
dictatorship emerges. So they society had to learn in America
always how to govern itself, and the Masonic lodgers were
really the key instrument that taught people, and after two
generations of doing that, it was sustainable they wanted. It's
how that those constitutions influenced many places around the world
(07:05):
in different ways. They're the unique contribution was really the
great American. That's the essence of my Postonia.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You summed it up beautifully. If anyone was unfamiliar with
the award, they got a great background there and they
also got great insight to you. I've been fortunate. I'm
sure several of our listeners have to see you speak
in lodges or at Masonic events. For anyone that you
are new on their radar now they have an idea
of the energy and the passion that you bring in
your lectures, which I dig. You're instantly one of the
(07:34):
most quotable speakers. I jotted it down without responsibility, there
is no freedom. That's a great, great quote. The other
thing I love when I talk about the energy is
you have a phrase you use and you speak when
you go to the audience and you say are you
with me? And you get us all excited to follow
you with where you're going, And selfishly I'm like, all right,
I got to jot this note down. America two fifty
(07:54):
is next year, and we have to get you back
on to talk about that because it's a big piece
of the puzzle getting back to for this episode, we're
talking about marketing and communicating the craft like outside of
our lodge rooms. As a past grand master, I'm sure
you have had a significant amount of time to invest
on the idea of membership development, retention. And it's interesting
(08:17):
you were given an honor because you speak internally and
with some external audience about freemasonry. That seems to be
the challenge, right is how do we share our message
outside of our buildings, outside of our lodges.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Well, it is, and they are related. The challenge is
internalized external and the reason for that is that the purpose,
the main purpose of freemasonry is, as we say the cliche,
make men better. If we want to refine it, really,
freemasonry gives the individual who is willing to improve himself, okay,
(08:49):
gives him the tools and provides him with the skills
to learn how to become a better person. Okay. So
there is that individual effort and rest disability that are
really really necessary. But you see, as you improve yourself
within the lodge. So the lodge is the safe ecosystem,
(09:10):
in other words, the place where you learn to improve
yourself by absorbing and internalizing the fundamental lessons of freemasonry
to reflect on the tools. And that's why lodgers need
to have you programs that really dissect the ritual and
help the members raise questions, how does this help me?
(09:35):
What is happening in the dialogue of the opening of
the lodge help me better person? So this is the
internal without the internal. What is it that we are
offering now since we're focusing on the outside. What it
is is that there are many ways that freemasonry makes
itself present. I like to use the word make yourself present,
(09:58):
in other words, make your presence felt in your community.
There are many ways of doing that. The ways that
I focus on and I advocate and I really encourage
brethren to identify opportunities in your community where the lodge
(10:19):
can be a participant, maybe a lead actor, maybe a convener. Okay,
meaning it is the place that is that is bringing
different elements of the community together. So opportunities, and those
opportunities also focus on key anniversaries or p events, key
(10:42):
dates that have to do with your community or the
nation as a whole. That is the reason why I
think twenty twenty six offers an extraordinary opportunity for a
Freemasonry to reposition itself in every single community across the
United States. Because the history of this great experiment, it is,
(11:04):
its development and the history and development of Freemasonry are
so intimately connected. Do you hear me? Are you with me?
They are really intimately connected. So how can we miss
such an opportunity. We can't. I think it would be
almost a crime.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
My mind is already spinning.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
One of the things I love about our nation's capital
I moved here three years ago as a New York
Mason relocated to DC professionally, is how entrenched, like you
can't walk down the street without tripping over something that
has to do with American history. And there's that Masonic connection, right,
And I'm totally with you. I am excited to see
what we present to the outside world during that America
(11:48):
two fifty because I feel like we get these key
moments in time or there's a spotlight and this opportunity
for us to speak. And one idea that I had
that I had to jot down was maybe you and
I are familiar with you know, government contracting in that space.
Maybe we need to take more of a pack approach
to when we promote or talk about the branding of
the craft, and less of a recruitment as less commercials
(12:10):
that say, hey, come join freemasonry, and just more commercials
that say, here are the glorious benefits of freemasonry in
your community and in the lives of the men that
are around you.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
It's definitely by showing what we do and who we
are in the community that is the most attractive thing.
You know, people will immediately start asking and show interests, etc.
I mean, this is the part that I focus on.
I know there are different ways again for trying to
promote the craft. I personally focus on that approach and
(12:40):
I call it again, how do you position your lodge?
And I say the lodge because there is something fundamental
here comparison between how the craft is structured in our
country and how our country, our system of government is
also structured. We don't have a national central government in
the States, so we have a federal government, which is
(13:02):
the government of the Union. We have fifty states, they're
almost fifty countries. But you know, they are. In other words,
they have a large degree of autonomy with fifty constitutions,
et cetera. So we have fifty state governments, fifty state
institutions of all kinds you can imagine, and then we
have more than eighty nine thousand local governments in the
United States. That non centralized and decentralized structure of government
(13:26):
is also, in a way very similar to how Freemasonry
is structured, except that in the case of Freemasonry, we
don't have.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
A federal or even an international governing body. It just
gets to like the state level. Yeah, correct, it is
at the state level. So we do have a national
conference once a year where the Grand Lodgers you know,
and the Grand Masters and the leadership of fifty of
the Freemasonry in the fifty states come together. But it's
not like the Congress you know of the states. Okay,
(13:57):
so exchange information, et cetera. There's really state and local level.
So what I mentioned state and local level. In other words, now,
if you're a Mason listening to us here and you
live in your town, in your city wherever you are,
you need to think first what do we do at
our local level? Because each city, each town in America
(14:20):
is preparing itself for the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary
next year. But if you have not, it's not too late.
But the work has to be done now in twenty
twenty five to identify the opportunities. Figure out what is
happening in your city, in your town in twenty twenty six.
Is there a committee or a commission in most places
(14:41):
there are? How do you connect with it? Okay, and
be part of the dialogue. Think of the history of
your lodge and how it connects to the history of
your community. My brethren, please, I beg you hear me out.
Do not think of twenty twenty six as the birth
date of a matter, and that's it. If it is
(15:02):
only about the birth date, only the thirteen founding states
would be celebrating it. This is a celebration of this
great experiment in human governance that started two hundred and
forty nine years ago that has transformed humanity in ways
like no other civilization has ever done. You know, in
(15:25):
the history of humanity, I mean, freedom and democratic governance
have expanded and have been sustained because of the leadership
of the United States. This great experiment in human governance
and we as Freemasons are intimately engaged in that, and
our generation today has the responsibility of being the trustee.
(15:48):
Think about ways to really come together. Do not do
things only as Masons, only with your lodge or your
Scottish Rite Valley. Don't be in the key. The key
to this approach to marketing the craft is to create networks.
(16:09):
Is to create to leverage relationships with other institutions that
are important in your community but are not necessarily you know,
related to masonry. Maybe some of the founders were back then,
or that would be great because you know, there may
be some churches, there may be some institutions. You can
do a reenactment of a partnerstone or something. How about
(16:31):
reaching out, for example, if you have the community college school,
launch an essay about, you know, the history of your
town and then say this is masonry that is sponsoring it.
How about bringing young artists, painters for example, who are
students and say, hey, we'd like you to come up
(16:51):
where we're sponsoring an exhibit about the history of ourtown
and how it connects to masonry. You know, in Washington,
d C. We did that back in two thousand five.
As a matter of fact, we commissioned twenty one paintings.
We did not go to a mason to do them.
We went to a non mason, prominent paintern. We did
not exhibit in our lodges. We went to the Octagon Museum,
(17:17):
to the American Institutes of Architects. We leverage relationship, that relationship,
and this is how we got huge coverage about this.
More than half a million people went through the exhibit,
and many of those went back to their respective states.
And I'm sure there's brothers listening, going, well, that's great,
(17:38):
But like we have limited resources, we have this, and
as you said, it doesn't have to be something grand
and extravagant. It also doesn't have to be something that
just speaks to the colonial aspect of America. You could
do something as simple as volunteering to hand out American
flags at local parades. That's a simple thing that's a
touch point. I had this idea where if you're in
every lodge that I've visited, it doesn't matter where, it
(17:59):
always has that local historical gem, that story that they're
so proud of. Why don't you open up your lodge
that night, But instead of you just telling your story,
put something out in the community. Have people come in
and talk about how their family was involved with the
birth and the history of our country exactly. Also, if
you have a great parking lot and you know there's
you know, a great July fourth fireworks, why don't you
offer free parking for people to come and park their car.
(18:21):
You know, get in creative and inventive. You know, find
a way to inject yourself and I think the payoffs.
You said that you're part of something bigger than yourself,
which relates back to the craft exactly. You can find
(18:41):
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(19:02):
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(19:22):
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Lee for doing that. Patreon dot com Craftsman Online Podcast,
thank you for your continued support. See we've had a
(19:57):
great conversation our listener, and to the watching the live
stream on YouTube, you're getting a very high level marketing conversation.
We've talked about branding, we've talked about strategic partnerships, identifying stakeholders,
value proposition.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
We haven't gotten into the role.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
We talked about targeting audiences, but we haven't gotten into
the role of technology. And we kind of mentioned like
apps and young people tend to be on it, and
I started thinking about it that this goes beyond using
technology like AI or machine learning, or VR headsets or
what the instant technology that you're seeing every day in
social media and how we can start to use that
as a better tool. And one idea that I jotted
(20:37):
down just for us at crassp On online is we
need to stop putting so much content out that talks
about the history of freemason and more that talks about
the experience of it, the benefits that can be seen
in the members of our fraternity.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Yes, absolutely two things. The history. You know, it's we're Americans,
and Americans one of the flaws of us or one
of the everything has always there's always costant benefit right
to everything Americans are We Americans are not as focused
on history in general.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
You know.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
We we focus on the present and the future. Now
that has a great benefit, and the great benefit is
that it helps us turn the page. You know, other nations,
other cultures around the world that are so into history,
history is a burden. Okay, it's hard for them. I remember,
I remember, you know, having this is years ago in
(21:31):
the nineties during the Balkans conflict, you know, when when
we know we in Serbs and Croats and Bosnians and
people were telling me that akram I opened my window
and the house across the street is seven hundred years old.
It's hits me in the face. History hits us in
the face. We cannot it is it's not we cannot.
(21:53):
It is so challenging, so difficult to overcome that burden,
you know, to shed that burden of history. So that
is the positive. That that's why in America, we Americans,
we change more quickly. We accept, you know, we daily,
we experiment, we fail, we learn, we try again, you know,
we do so all that because we're not as much
(22:13):
in history.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Of course, the cost.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Is that we're also missing the good lessons of history.
So it is important to mention something about our history.
But what is needed today and that I would say
in that history may do it mainly to educate people
coming in, But honestly, most people knock in on the
door increasingly, I should say most people increasingly from what
(22:38):
I've seen, They've done their research. They know a little
bit about maybe too much, you know, but they know
something about the connections and founding fathers or something like that.
So yes, that can be built up. But the key
thing today, and I say today, because this is a challenge,
we must bring in the new generation. And again I
(22:59):
say twenty twenty say, is an extraordinary opportunity to help energize,
energize our craft across the country, focusing on projects, on
things that have to do with the community. Expose what
we do so online using technology. This is the stuff
that we're going to be we should be talking to.
So two points I want to mention about technology. One,
(23:20):
when Masons are talking among themselves, doesn't matter what platform
they're using. Please, I beg you, my brethren, think think
of this platform as if it were a lodge. In
other words, tire yourself. Don't throw in comments. Just like
a word spoken cannot be taken back. If I am
(23:43):
speaking with my brother face to face and I make
a fo pow, I do something that hurts him, I
can take it back right there. I can hug him,
you know, embrace him. Okay, I can apologize right there.
There's that human contact. You can you know, connect. But
virtually no one has a clue of the state of
(24:03):
mind that your brother is on the other side of
the chat. You have no idea. So you have thought
about something, you are quick, and you send something. How
will it impact your brother on the other side? Okay?
And then people may feel injured or insulted, and they
(24:24):
will forget about controlling their passions and they fire back.
So this technological too, is fantastic to help us keep
the bond, you know, and strengthen it among ourselves. But
we've got to treat the platform as if it were large.
So that's for us. As far as engaging the public,
(24:47):
it's exactly what you said earlier. What anything that we
do using technology that engages the public, it should be
about things that have to do with the community that
we are doing now. If there is anything with history,
if it should be around special anniversaries, and organize an event. Okay,
and organize an event again, as I mentioned, this is
(25:09):
a wonderful opportunity the history of the lodge, history of
the town. There may be cornerstone opportunities, all kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
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(26:04):
I'll leave you and our listener with this final question
around that idea of like how do we paint the picture?
So you know, I always say to my New York brothers, Oh,
you got to come visit in DC. Oh, I'd love
to come down there. I was like, you know what,
here's a neat way to think about it. My favorite
part about going to lodge is that I get to
pass the Washington Monument every time I drive to the
Almah Shrine where Saint John's Lodge meets. Now I get
(26:25):
to see that every month. And if that doesn't hit
you between the ears when you are sitting there looking
and thinking about Washington before you go into a lodgrum
as a mason, my brother, I don't know what else
would fire you up to come in here, and you
use your mind as a living stone. So I would
love to leave our listener with this question from you
and your reply your vision for the future of Freemason.
(26:47):
We talked about America two fifteen next year, but beyond that,
what are you seeing for the future of our craft?
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Well, I think the future for our craft is preparing
the new generation to and I use like to use
the word that the lodge would graduate engaged, free, enlightened citizens.
We need always a vibrant civil society in our country.
(27:15):
Each generation needs it. And this is important to preserve
this great experiment and not just preserve it, in other words,
to preserve its foundation. It's it's principles, main foundations, but
to keep pushing it forward. It's an experiment always in
the making, forward looking, et cetera. But our people for
(27:37):
Freemasonry in the United States, we cannot have generations of
Americans who don't understand the system of governance. Why is
our government structured the way it is. Why do we
have separation of powers? Why do we have checks and balances?
Why do we have limited government? Because that's important by
(27:57):
limiting the power and the role of government, not that
government is not important. Government is very important. James Masen said,
if we were angels, we would not need government. But
we're not angels, and we will not be governed by angels. Right,
But as John Locke and Adam Smith, I mean, these
are important. Really, it's important. Those great ideas of the
(28:18):
Enlightenment of the eighteenth century are still valid. We improve
on them, we build on them. We don't take things literally,
keep building on the essence is still extraordinarily valid. We
need limited government, limited meaning limited in its relationship with
business and in its relationship with civil society. Think of
our system of governance, and I describe this in great
(28:40):
details in my Pristonian luture. By the way, okay, it
is like a three legged stool. Government is one leg
with its three levels. Okay, government one leg, Business is
one leg, three enterprise and civil society. In the third life,
it is how do we keep the three constantly imbalance?
(29:01):
Each one is expected to fulfill a role in governance.
Business so business ethics, business leadership, business wise, civil society.
Engage citizens. It is citizens who create businesses. It is
citizens who organize and create NGOs and associations. So what
we need is enlightened, engaged, free citizens as many as possible.
(29:26):
Our mission the way I look at it, after twenty
you know, beyond twenty twenty six, beyond the two hundred
and fifty, are we going to be the laboratory, the
lab that is going to or the incubator that is
going to graduate a new generation a free, engaged citizens.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Thanks again to my guest this week, most worshipful Brother
Akram alias, past Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Washington,
d C. If you've enjoyed this episode, picture you follow
the Crass one online podcast. It's as simple as hitting
follow on Spotify or subscribe on Apple Podcast. That's how
you can get the next episode next Monday morning, bang
right there on your phone.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
And if you'd like to hear more of.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Our conversation with Akermalias, well now it's a good time
to join us over on Patreon. Start that free seven
day trial and you will get access to our bonus
extra time episode at Patreon with Craftsman Online. This is
right worshal for Brother Michael arse until next week. Let
peace and harmony prevail.
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast, the only
Masonic podcast probably endorsed by the Grand Lodge of New York.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Here we love them for that every day.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I am your humble host, right worshipful Brother Michael Arsa,
and you've walked in for a great episode with one
of my favorite, most worshipful brothers. This guy has a
ton of energy and getting the chance to see him
not only speak around the Grand Lodge of Washington, d C.
But also most recently at our New York Masonicon. He
was featured as a speaker for this conversation. Brother Elias
(00:57):
and I are sitting down to talk about two things.
On how we can market and share our story of
Freemasonry and this ever evolving modern world. And too, we're
going to talk a little bit about America two fifty
and why every lodge across the United States should be
involved in celebrating this unique history and their own way.
But first, let's welcome in most worshipful Brother akamalias Past
(01:20):
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia.
Welcome to the Craftsman Online podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Oh thank you so much. It is a great pleasure
to be here with you, and it's good to see
you again, my brother.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
It's awesome to see you.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
And as I was telling you before we hit the
start button, the office that you're in when you picture
a past grand Master, that's what you envision is plaques
and certificates, not somebody's basement. Nothing against that, but I
like the office. Before we jump into our conversation on
marketing and freemasonry and promoting our craft, I wanted to
(01:52):
start with an honor that you received in twenty twenty three.
You were selected as a Prestonian Lecture And we might
have a listener that's unfamiliar as to what that is.
So what is that award or that honor and how
are you selected for it?
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Well, it was, and it is indeed great great honor
to have received it.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
The Prestonian Lecturer designation is probably one of the highest, uh,
you know, awards that one can get from the United
Grand Lodge of England. It is named after William Preston,
who back in the nineteenth century dedicated uh you know,
(02:31):
some money and and legacy focused on promoting Masonic education.
So what happens is that once a year, uh, the
night Grant Lodge of England. It's a very you know,
lengthy process, internal, et cetera. They select someone to be
their Prestonian lecture and the person would have to present, uh,
(02:55):
you know, that lecture in writing. So it's mine. Is
like it's any booklet one can find by the way,
you can find it on Amazon. But I was picked
for twenty twenty three and the reason for that is
that twenty twenty three marked the three hundredth anniversary of
the seventeen twenty three Constitutions of Freemason and my research,
(03:20):
my lecture is specifically on that and how those constitutions
became the and I call it a cement, you know,
the indispensable travel excuse me, the indispensable travel that helps
cement the foundations of America. So the essence of that
is how Freemasonry spread. And I'm not talking about like
(03:45):
who the founding fathers of the United States were Freemasons.
How many of the leaders of the American revolutions were Freemasons.
As a lot that has been written on that. The
focus of my Perstonian lecture is how the constitutions enabled
(04:05):
the spread of Masonic lodgers in the colonies, which was
an essential thing, critical fact to help teach men at
the time who were considered pillars of their respective communities.
And by pillar I mean anyone who would contribute to
the development of their community. Whether you were a baker,
(04:27):
or a pastor, or an elderman, you know, a statesman,
doesn't didn't matter, it's that you're contributing. And it was
the place where these individuals learned how to govern themselves
under a rule of law, past legislation, and fundamental values
existed in those lodgers. First and foremost meritocracy that you
(04:52):
advanced through merit. Second, religious tolerance. Third pursuit of knowledge
in the liberal arts and sciences, so you can always
improve yourself as an individual. And this was important to
break a caste system that had existed in the old world.
So those fifty five great founding fathers, they were definitely geniuses.
(05:14):
Of course, they had their flaws, you know, like every
human has, but their unique contribution was that they gave
us gifted future generations of Americans. They gifted us what
I call a system engineering machine, a system of governance
that each and every generation of Americans uses to advance
(05:37):
its own human condition. So obviously, in that construct, the
responsibility became huge on the shoulders of a free people.
In fact, without responsibility, there's no true freedom, my brother,
as we know it's they're the two sides of the
(05:59):
same point. Without responsibility, there's anarchy. Plus if I don't
if I'm not responsible for what I can do, then
I will ultimately lose my freedom. In fact, when people
abandon their responsibility to govern themselves and delegate it to
some entity called government to think on their behalf, act
(06:20):
on their behalf, solve their problems on their behalf. After
two generations of people doing that, the third generation would
have absolutely no clue how to govern itself. And when
government failure happens, and it ultimately will we live in
an imperfect world. This is the way it is. So
when major failure in government or governance happens, that's when
(06:43):
dictatorship emerges. So they society had to learn in America
always how to govern itself, and the Masonic lodgers were
really the key instrument that taught people, and after two
generations of doing that, it was sustainable they wanted. It's
how that those constitutions influenced many places around the world
(07:05):
in different ways. They're the unique contribution was really the
great American. That's the essence of my Postonia.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You summed it up beautifully. If anyone was unfamiliar with
the award, they got a great background there and they
also got great insight to you. I've been fortunate. I'm
sure several of our listeners have to see you speak
in lodges or at Masonic events. For anyone that you
are new on their radar now they have an idea
of the energy and the passion that you bring in
your lectures, which I dig. You're instantly one of the
(07:34):
most quotable speakers. I jotted it down without responsibility, there
is no freedom. That's a great, great quote. The other
thing I love when I talk about the energy is
you have a phrase you use and you speak when
you go to the audience and you say are you
with me? And you get us all excited to follow
you with where you're going, And selfishly I'm like, all right,
I got to jot this note down. America two fifty
(07:54):
is next year, and we have to get you back
on to talk about that because it's a big piece
of the puzzle getting back to for this episode, we're
talking about marketing and communicating the craft like outside of
our lodge rooms. As a past grand master, I'm sure
you have had a significant amount of time to invest
on the idea of membership development, retention. And it's interesting
(08:17):
you were given an honor because you speak internally and
with some external audience about freemasonry. That seems to be
the challenge, right is how do we share our message
outside of our buildings, outside of our lodges.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Well, it is, and they are related. The challenge is
internalized external and the reason for that is that the purpose,
the main purpose of freemasonry is, as we say the cliche,
make men better. If we want to refine it, really,
freemasonry gives the individual who is willing to improve himself, okay,
(08:49):
gives him the tools and provides him with the skills
to learn how to become a better person. Okay. So
there is that individual effort and rest disability that are
really really necessary. But you see, as you improve yourself
within the lodge. So the lodge is the safe ecosystem,
(09:10):
in other words, the place where you learn to improve
yourself by absorbing and internalizing the fundamental lessons of freemasonry
to reflect on the tools. And that's why lodgers need
to have you programs that really dissect the ritual and
help the members raise questions, how does this help me?
(09:35):
What is happening in the dialogue of the opening of
the lodge help me better person? So this is the
internal without the internal. What is it that we are
offering now since we're focusing on the outside. What it
is is that there are many ways that freemasonry makes
itself present. I like to use the word make yourself present,
(09:58):
in other words, make your presence felt in your community.
There are many ways of doing that. The ways that
I focus on and I advocate and I really encourage
brethren to identify opportunities in your community where the lodge
(10:19):
can be a participant, maybe a lead actor, maybe a convener. Okay,
meaning it is the place that is that is bringing
different elements of the community together. So opportunities, and those
opportunities also focus on key anniversaries or p events, key
(10:42):
dates that have to do with your community or the
nation as a whole. That is the reason why I
think twenty twenty six offers an extraordinary opportunity for a
Freemasonry to reposition itself in every single community across the
United States. Because the history of this great experiment, it is,
(11:04):
its development and the history and development of Freemasonry are
so intimately connected. Do you hear me? Are you with me?
They are really intimately connected. So how can we miss
such an opportunity. We can't. I think it would be
almost a crime.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
My mind is already spinning.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
One of the things I love about our nation's capital
I moved here three years ago as a New York
Mason relocated to DC professionally, is how entrenched, like you
can't walk down the street without tripping over something that
has to do with American history. And there's that Masonic connection, right,
And I'm totally with you. I am excited to see
what we present to the outside world during that America
(11:48):
two fifty because I feel like we get these key
moments in time or there's a spotlight and this opportunity
for us to speak. And one idea that I had
that I had to jot down was maybe you and
I are familiar with you know, government contracting in that space.
Maybe we need to take more of a pack approach
to when we promote or talk about the branding of
the craft, and less of a recruitment as less commercials
(12:10):
that say, hey, come join freemasonry, and just more commercials
that say, here are the glorious benefits of freemasonry in
your community and in the lives of the men that
are around you.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
It's definitely by showing what we do and who we
are in the community that is the most attractive thing.
You know, people will immediately start asking and show interests, etc.
I mean, this is the part that I focus on.
I know there are different ways again for trying to
promote the craft. I personally focus on that approach and
(12:40):
I call it again, how do you position your lodge?
And I say the lodge because there is something fundamental
here comparison between how the craft is structured in our
country and how our country, our system of government is
also structured. We don't have a national central government in
the States, so we have a federal government, which is
(13:02):
the government of the Union. We have fifty states, they're
almost fifty countries. But you know, they are. In other words,
they have a large degree of autonomy with fifty constitutions,
et cetera. So we have fifty state governments, fifty state
institutions of all kinds you can imagine, and then we
have more than eighty nine thousand local governments in the
United States. That non centralized and decentralized structure of government
(13:26):
is also, in a way very similar to how Freemasonry
is structured, except that in the case of Freemasonry, we
don't have.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
A federal or even an international governing body. It just
gets to like the state level. Yeah, correct, it is
at the state level. So we do have a national
conference once a year where the Grand Lodgers you know,
and the Grand Masters and the leadership of fifty of
the Freemasonry in the fifty states come together. But it's
not like the Congress you know of the states. Okay,
(13:57):
so exchange information, et cetera. There's really state and local level.
So what I mentioned state and local level. In other words, now,
if you're a Mason listening to us here and you
live in your town, in your city wherever you are,
you need to think first what do we do at
our local level? Because each city, each town in America
(14:20):
is preparing itself for the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary
next year. But if you have not, it's not too late.
But the work has to be done now in twenty
twenty five to identify the opportunities. Figure out what is
happening in your city, in your town in twenty twenty six.
Is there a committee or a commission in most places
(14:41):
there are? How do you connect with it? Okay, and
be part of the dialogue. Think of the history of
your lodge and how it connects to the history of
your community. My brethren, please, I beg you hear me out.
Do not think of twenty twenty six as the birth
date of a matter, and that's it. If it is
(15:02):
only about the birth date, only the thirteen founding states
would be celebrating it. This is a celebration of this
great experiment in human governance that started two hundred and
forty nine years ago that has transformed humanity in ways
like no other civilization has ever done. You know, in
(15:25):
the history of humanity, I mean, freedom and democratic governance
have expanded and have been sustained because of the leadership
of the United States. This great experiment in human governance
and we as Freemasons are intimately engaged in that, and
our generation today has the responsibility of being the trustee.
(15:48):
Think about ways to really come together. Do not do
things only as Masons, only with your lodge or your
Scottish Rite Valley. Don't be in the key. The key
to this approach to marketing the craft is to create networks.
(16:09):
Is to create to leverage relationships with other institutions that
are important in your community but are not necessarily you know,
related to masonry. Maybe some of the founders were back then,
or that would be great because you know, there may
be some churches, there may be some institutions. You can
do a reenactment of a partnerstone or something. How about
(16:31):
reaching out, for example, if you have the community college school,
launch an essay about, you know, the history of your
town and then say this is masonry that is sponsoring it.
How about bringing young artists, painters for example, who are
students and say, hey, we'd like you to come up
(16:51):
where we're sponsoring an exhibit about the history of ourtown
and how it connects to masonry. You know, in Washington,
d C. We did that back in two thousand five.
As a matter of fact, we commissioned twenty one paintings.
We did not go to a mason to do them.
We went to a non mason, prominent paintern. We did
not exhibit in our lodges. We went to the Octagon Museum,
(17:17):
to the American Institutes of Architects. We leverage relationship, that relationship,
and this is how we got huge coverage about this.
More than half a million people went through the exhibit,
and many of those went back to their respective states.
And I'm sure there's brothers listening, going, well, that's great,
(17:38):
But like we have limited resources, we have this, and
as you said, it doesn't have to be something grand
and extravagant. It also doesn't have to be something that
just speaks to the colonial aspect of America. You could
do something as simple as volunteering to hand out American
flags at local parades. That's a simple thing that's a
touch point. I had this idea where if you're in
every lodge that I've visited, it doesn't matter where, it
(17:59):
always has that local historical gem, that story that they're
so proud of. Why don't you open up your lodge
that night, But instead of you just telling your story,
put something out in the community. Have people come in
and talk about how their family was involved with the
birth and the history of our country exactly. Also, if
you have a great parking lot and you know there's
you know, a great July fourth fireworks, why don't you
offer free parking for people to come and park their car.
(18:21):
You know, get in creative and inventive. You know, find
a way to inject yourself and I think the payoffs.
You said that you're part of something bigger than yourself,
which relates back to the craft exactly. You can find
(18:41):
the Craftsmen Online podcast on Patreon at Craftsman Online Podcast.
If you're a listener to this show, if you listen
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Like that's amazing. Here's the best way you can help
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(19:02):
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(19:22):
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Lee for doing that. Patreon dot com Craftsman Online Podcast,
thank you for your continued support. See we've had a
(19:57):
great conversation our listener, and to the watching the live
stream on YouTube, you're getting a very high level marketing conversation.
We've talked about branding, we've talked about strategic partnerships, identifying stakeholders,
value proposition.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
We haven't gotten into the role.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
We talked about targeting audiences, but we haven't gotten into
the role of technology. And we kind of mentioned like
apps and young people tend to be on it, and
I started thinking about it that this goes beyond using
technology like AI or machine learning, or VR headsets or
what the instant technology that you're seeing every day in
social media and how we can start to use that
as a better tool. And one idea that I jotted
(20:37):
down just for us at crassp On online is we
need to stop putting so much content out that talks
about the history of freemason and more that talks about
the experience of it, the benefits that can be seen
in the members of our fraternity.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Yes, absolutely two things. The history. You know, it's we're Americans,
and Americans one of the flaws of us or one
of the everything has always there's always costant benefit right
to everything Americans are We Americans are not as focused
on history in general.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
You know.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
We we focus on the present and the future. Now
that has a great benefit, and the great benefit is
that it helps us turn the page. You know, other nations,
other cultures around the world that are so into history,
history is a burden. Okay, it's hard for them. I remember,
I remember, you know, having this is years ago in
(21:31):
the nineties during the Balkans conflict, you know, when when
we know we in Serbs and Croats and Bosnians and
people were telling me that akram I opened my window
and the house across the street is seven hundred years old.
It's hits me in the face. History hits us in
the face. We cannot it is it's not we cannot.
(21:53):
It is so challenging, so difficult to overcome that burden,
you know, to shed that burden of history. So that
is the positive. That that's why in America, we Americans,
we change more quickly. We accept, you know, we daily,
we experiment, we fail, we learn, we try again, you know,
we do so all that because we're not as much
(22:13):
in history.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Of course, the cost.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Is that we're also missing the good lessons of history.
So it is important to mention something about our history.
But what is needed today and that I would say
in that history may do it mainly to educate people
coming in, But honestly, most people knock in on the
door increasingly, I should say most people increasingly from what
(22:38):
I've seen, They've done their research. They know a little
bit about maybe too much, you know, but they know
something about the connections and founding fathers or something like that.
So yes, that can be built up. But the key
thing today, and I say today, because this is a challenge,
we must bring in the new generation. And again I
(22:59):
say twenty twenty say, is an extraordinary opportunity to help energize,
energize our craft across the country, focusing on projects, on
things that have to do with the community. Expose what
we do so online using technology. This is the stuff
that we're going to be we should be talking to.
So two points I want to mention about technology. One,
(23:20):
when Masons are talking among themselves, doesn't matter what platform
they're using. Please, I beg you, my brethren, think think
of this platform as if it were a lodge. In
other words, tire yourself. Don't throw in comments. Just like
a word spoken cannot be taken back. If I am
(23:43):
speaking with my brother face to face and I make
a fo pow, I do something that hurts him, I
can take it back right there. I can hug him,
you know, embrace him. Okay, I can apologize right there.
There's that human contact. You can you know, connect. But
virtually no one has a clue of the state of
(24:03):
mind that your brother is on the other side of
the chat. You have no idea. So you have thought
about something, you are quick, and you send something. How
will it impact your brother on the other side? Okay?
And then people may feel injured or insulted, and they
(24:24):
will forget about controlling their passions and they fire back.
So this technological too, is fantastic to help us keep
the bond, you know, and strengthen it among ourselves. But
we've got to treat the platform as if it were large.
So that's for us. As far as engaging the public,
(24:47):
it's exactly what you said earlier. What anything that we
do using technology that engages the public, it should be
about things that have to do with the community that
we are doing now. If there is anything with history,
if it should be around special anniversaries, and organize an event. Okay,
and organize an event again, as I mentioned, this is
(25:09):
a wonderful opportunity the history of the lodge, history of
the town. There may be cornerstone opportunities, all kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
The Craftsman Online podcast is probably sponsored by Bricksmasons dot
com and another one of those no coupon code needed.
You don't even need a special code. You can just
drop this item right into your shopping cart this week
and get twenty five percent off. Aproncasins. A premium Masonic
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Bricksmasons dot com this week, and you can get twenty
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(26:04):
I'll leave you and our listener with this final question
around that idea of like how do we paint the picture?
So you know, I always say to my New York brothers, Oh,
you got to come visit in DC. Oh, I'd love
to come down there. I was like, you know what,
here's a neat way to think about it. My favorite
part about going to lodge is that I get to
pass the Washington Monument every time I drive to the
Almah Shrine where Saint John's Lodge meets. Now I get
(26:25):
to see that every month. And if that doesn't hit
you between the ears when you are sitting there looking
and thinking about Washington before you go into a lodgrum
as a mason, my brother, I don't know what else
would fire you up to come in here, and you
use your mind as a living stone. So I would
love to leave our listener with this question from you
and your reply your vision for the future of Freemason.
(26:47):
We talked about America two fifteen next year, but beyond that,
what are you seeing for the future of our craft?
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Well, I think the future for our craft is preparing
the new generation to and I use like to use
the word that the lodge would graduate engaged, free, enlightened citizens.
We need always a vibrant civil society in our country.
(27:15):
Each generation needs it. And this is important to preserve
this great experiment and not just preserve it, in other words,
to preserve its foundation. It's it's principles, main foundations, but
to keep pushing it forward. It's an experiment always in
the making, forward looking, et cetera. But our people for
(27:37):
Freemasonry in the United States, we cannot have generations of
Americans who don't understand the system of governance. Why is
our government structured the way it is. Why do we
have separation of powers? Why do we have checks and balances?
Why do we have limited government? Because that's important by
(27:57):
limiting the power and the role of government, not that
government is not important. Government is very important. James Masen said,
if we were angels, we would not need government. But
we're not angels, and we will not be governed by angels. Right,
But as John Locke and Adam Smith, I mean, these
are important. Really, it's important. Those great ideas of the
(28:18):
Enlightenment of the eighteenth century are still valid. We improve
on them, we build on them. We don't take things literally,
keep building on the essence is still extraordinarily valid. We
need limited government, limited meaning limited in its relationship with
business and in its relationship with civil society. Think of
our system of governance, and I describe this in great
(28:40):
details in my Pristonian luture. By the way, okay, it
is like a three legged stool. Government is one leg
with its three levels. Okay, government one leg, Business is
one leg, three enterprise and civil society. In the third life,
it is how do we keep the three constantly imbalance?
(29:01):
Each one is expected to fulfill a role in governance.
Business so business ethics, business leadership, business wise, civil society.
Engage citizens. It is citizens who create businesses. It is
citizens who organize and create NGOs and associations. So what
we need is enlightened, engaged, free citizens as many as possible.
(29:26):
Our mission the way I look at it, after twenty
you know, beyond twenty twenty six, beyond the two hundred
and fifty, are we going to be the laboratory, the
lab that is going to or the incubator that is
going to graduate a new generation a free, engaged citizens.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Thanks again to my guest this week, most worshipful Brother
Akram alias, past Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Washington,
d C. If you've enjoyed this episode, picture you follow
the Crass one online podcast. It's as simple as hitting
follow on Spotify or subscribe on Apple Podcast. That's how
you can get the next episode next Monday morning, bang
right there on your phone.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
And if you'd like to hear more of.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Our conversation with Akermalias, well now it's a good time
to join us over on Patreon. Start that free seven
day trial and you will get access to our bonus
extra time episode at Patreon with Craftsman Online. This is
right worshal for Brother Michael arse until next week. Let
peace and harmony prevail.
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