tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869478970144099419.post8246935660829757848..comments2024-02-28T21:03:45.959-06:00Comments on From Darkness To Light: Thoughts on Halcyon Lodge #WhateverFD2Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00107071548484176640noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869478970144099419.post-72010627264321942752008-10-30T21:41:00.000-06:002008-10-30T21:41:00.000-06:00http://abelscenotaph.blogspot.com/Read for yoursel...http://abelscenotaph.blogspot.com/<BR/><BR/>Read for yourself the FACTS of the accusations. Seek the WHOLE truth! Find the puppets who were used by former brothers to front thier bogus chairity.Vox de Maathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01487152587170496473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869478970144099419.post-2021325107373307182008-10-30T21:38:00.000-06:002008-10-30T21:38:00.000-06:00http://abelscenotaph.blogspot.com/Read the FACTS a...http://abelscenotaph.blogspot.com/<BR/><BR/>Read the FACTS about this lodge and what they're accused of.Vox de Maathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01487152587170496473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869478970144099419.post-67341339033487966162007-12-01T15:12:00.000-06:002007-12-01T15:12:00.000-06:00more herehttp://www.reformfreemasonry.com/document...more here<BR/>http://www.reformfreemasonry.com/documents/ReformFreemasonry.pdfTubal Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00704479584240584425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869478970144099419.post-87999842381719744762007-12-01T15:11:00.000-06:002007-12-01T15:11:00.000-06:00A Radical IdeaImagine, for a moment, a Grand Maste...A Radical Idea<BR/>Imagine, for a moment, a Grand Master armed with both the vision to dream an<BR/>unbounded future for Freemasonry and the courage to pursue the dream.<BR/>Looking around, he sees the glaring disconnect between the mindless repetition<BR/>of today’s rote “tradition” and the core purpose and core values that Freemasonry<BR/>used to represent. Seeking to recapture that which was lost, he creates a new<BR/>haven for experimentation—an at-large Grand Master’s district. The purpose for<BR/>this special district is to create a home for new lodges to creatively explore new<BR/>and innovative ways to practice the timeless core of Freemasonry in a manner<BR/>relevant to today. Freed (by special dispensation) from the weight of rules,<BR/>regulations, and district deputy grand masters, these lodges answer only to the<BR/>Grand Master himself, who in turn, wisely, benevolently, gives them the freedom<BR/>to create, be fruitful, bountiful, and multiply!<BR/>Alas, we all know that the above scenario is all but impossible in the oppressive<BR/>climate that governs grand lodges. So, if grand lodges will not suffer creativity,<BR/>will not suffer successful lodges to orbit their Grand Hairball, then perhaps the<BR/>time has come for those lodges that dare to accelerate to escape velocity and,<BR/>following the challenge of Dr. Harari, start with a new dream, a bold vision with<BR/>audacious goals.13<BR/>The challenge, according to MacKenzie, is to orbit the Giant Hairball, which<BR/>means to actively engage in the opportunities that an organization presents<BR/>without being sucked into the Hairball of the organization.14<BR/>Orbiting is responsible creativity: vigorously exploring<BR/>and operating beyond the Hairball of the corporate<BR/>mind set, beyond “accepted models, patterns, or<BR/>standards”—all the while remaining connected to the<BR/>spirit of the corporate mission.<BR/>To find Orbit around a corporate Hairball is to find a<BR/>place of balance where you benefit from the physical,<BR/>intellectual and philosophical resources of the<BR/>organization without becoming entombed in the<BR/>bureaucracy of the institution.15<BR/>The challenge to the Hairball is to allow people to achieve orbit. But the more<BR/>massive the Hairball grows, the greater gravitational pull it exerts, sucking<BR/>everything into the “nothingness of corporate normalcy made stagnant by a<BR/>compulsion to cling to past successes.”16 In such cases, orbiting may not be<BR/>possible (nor tolerated by the Hairball), leaving one with the stark choice of<BR/>remaining to be suffocated by the soul-crushing rule of what worked in the past<BR/>or flying out into deep space, liberated, but alone.<BR/>A very recent occurrence provides an example of what can happen to lodges that<BR/>dare try to orbit the Grand Hairball. A few years ago, a group of young men<BR/>dedicated themselves to reinvigorating their local lodge in Cleveland, Ohio. The<BR/>newly renamed Halcyon Lodge, #498 F & AM, beholden to the Grand Lodge of<BR/>Ohio, has a rich history going back to 1877. They occupied a magnificent temple,<BR/>which sadly, in a refrain all too familiar to most masons, was deteriorating due to<BR/>lack of attention and money. The building was home to a number of nonproductive<BR/>masonic tenants and little else.<BR/>The young men of Halcyon Lodge decided that it was time to take aggressive<BR/>action. First, they raised their outdated and grossly insufficient annual lodge dues<BR/>to $150. This caused a mass defection of “veteran” masons who apparently did<BR/>not think that their masonic experience was worth 42 cents a day. Had any who<BR/>were truly in distress asked for remission, it certainly would have been granted.<BR/>None did.<BR/>Next, the men of Halcyon Lodge took on their non-productive masonic cotenants.<BR/>They asked them to pay their arrearages and begin contributing to the<BR/>restoration of the Temple building. Their masonic brethren answered this call by<BR/>abandoning the temple to find cheap space in some other crumbling masonic<BR/>edifice. Ultimately, the men of Halcyon were left in sole possession of a tenantless<BR/>building that needed work. So they rolled up their sleeves and set to work!<BR/>They restored the grandeur of their lodge room, the elegance of their dining hall,<BR/>and added amenities like wireless Internet, HDTV, and workout equipment. But<BR/>they did not stop there. Seeing the opportunity in their underutilized asset, they<BR/>endeavored to build out rooms to serve the non-masonic community as well.<BR/>After meeting with their local youth boxing association (a 501(c)(3) charity), they<BR/>built a boxing ring! Their aim was to reimagine their heretofore mostly empty<BR/>temple into a vibrant community center that could once again teem with life.<BR/>Then, this lodge full of enthusiastic young men did the unthinkable: they gave<BR/>their shining temple away! One of the largest budget items for any lodge that<BR/>owns a temple building is real estate taxes. In Ohio, fraternal groups are not<BR/>exempt from real estate taxes; but charities are. So, in an inspired maneuver, the<BR/>young men of Halcyon Lodge formed a charity for the community and gave their<BR/>building and a substantial sum of money to this new charity that was created to<BR/>serve not just masons, but the community at-large. Now they could not only<BR/>claim an exemption from the heavy burden of real estate taxes, but they could<BR/>grant deductions from Federal income taxes for donations made to the entity.<BR/>And as their mission had expanded to serving the community as a whole, they<BR/>could now solicit support from that community.<BR/>Along the way these young men also embraced the Traditional Observance Lodge<BR/>movement, adopting TO practices like use of a Chamber of Reflection and an<BR/>intensive candidate education program. They created an impressive web site that<BR/>quickly became recognized as being one of the best lodge-hosted web sites on the<BR/>Internet.<BR/>So, these enthusiastic, dedicated young men: revived their lodge, attracting new<BR/>young candidates to Freemasonry that had previously not found anything there<BR/>to interest them; restored their magnificent temple building; invited the<BR/>community into their newly restored building, turning a once mysterious<BR/>building into a hub of community activity (and exposing many people to<BR/>Freemasonry for the first time in the process); and solved the intractable real<BR/>estate tax problem by transferring their building to a 501(c)(3) charity. Any one<BR/>of these feats would be impressive, but the young men of Halcyon Lodge did them<BR/>all in less than three years!<BR/>And what was the Grand Lodge of Ohio’s response to their inspired success? Was<BR/>their success acknowledged? Were they asked to share their model as a template<BR/>for other lodges to follow? Were they even given an “atta-boy” from any grand<BR/>lodge officer? No. They were investigated, intimidated, castigated, probated, and<BR/>threatened. Why? Power and control, as always. In Ohio, the grand lodge tightly<BR/>regulates temple companies that own masonic buildings. In the eyes of the grand<BR/>lodge officers, the real estate transaction must have seemed like a plot to free<BR/>Halcyon Lodge from the power and control of the grand lodge, and that they<BR/>could not suffer.<BR/>Apparently, they did not care that the Halcyon Model made good sense or even<BR/>that it was wildly successful; all that mattered was their power and control.<BR/>Ultimately, on November 12, 2007, the brothers of Halcyon Lodge returned their<BR/>charter to the Grand Lodge of Ohio following a visit by a delegation of grand<BR/>lodge officers sent to threaten them into submission.17 Apparently, the Grand<BR/>Lodge of Ohio will suffer no orbiting satellites, no matter how successful they<BR/>may be.<BR/>Perhaps in the end, the need for grand lodges is more illusion than reality. Like<BR/>the Wizard of Oz, grand lodges attempt to project an image of being great and<BR/>powerful, but if you follow Toto and look behind the curtain, all too often you find<BR/>petty men, frantically turning knobs and pulling levers in a vain attempt to<BR/>appear more important than they really are. In order to encourage and organize<BR/>the creation of new lodges, eliminate the artificial divisions of state boundaries,<BR/>and liberate lodges from the whims of petty men vested with a little brief<BR/>authority, perhaps it’s about time we begin exploring a new organizational<BR/>structure for the 21st Century that is independent of the antiquated grand lodge<BR/>system. Exploring this new organizational structure is the topic in the next and<BR/>concluding section, Freemasonry 3.0.Tubal Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00704479584240584425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869478970144099419.post-84129966560734950232007-11-19T07:43:00.000-06:002007-11-19T07:43:00.000-06:00Should be interesting...to reserve judgement is wi...Should be interesting...to reserve judgement is wise but the threshold for turning in a Charter of course is high. I think anonymous postings are legit as they voice undercurrents.Radcliffehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06491628119144784710noreply@blogger.com