🚀 go-pugleaf

Earlier JOHN BROWNING said this to RON BOUTWELL about New to the echo:


JB>Ok, here it goes,  the big one...
JB>The "B" book.  I know what what it is, where it can be had and for
JB>how  much.  I know it is suppossed to be a MAJOR NO NO.  But it has
JB>been  mentioned to me on more than one occassion by fine upstanding
JB>brothers. I understand it is a violation of my oath to use it.  But
JB>when a PM  slides it at ya, what do you do.
JB>Is that a big enough question for you to begin with :-)


Well, it is and it isn't a violation.  I posed this question when I was an EA
 myself, I
was offered the temporary use of such a book by my sponsor (also a Past Master),
and I believe Boomer has mulled over this same question as well.  Here's what I
was told :

1.)     We agreed as masons not to print, paint, stamp. stain..... any of the
 ritual
stuff.  In the case of books like Lester's "Look To The East" we have not done
 any
of this, Lester did.  However, Lester operated on a loophole too.  He left out a
couple of things like due gaurds, signs, grips, words etc....  he also changed a
small amount of the wording in the Cross Fire Lectures.

2.)     In the case of Duncan's Masonic Ritual, he has all of the due gaurds,
 signs,
grips, and words correct, but he reorders some paragraphs as well as some
wording.

In either case, the only reason we are obligated never to write any of this down
 is
so as not to allow such information into the wrong hands and have non-masons
attending open lodge pretending to be brothers.  It is obvious to me from both
books that a non-mason can read both books and still not know what he is
expected to know to gain fradulent admission to a lodge.  So Lester and Duncan
have not violated the most basic spirit of the rule of silence in question.

In conclusion, using the books for a study aid in memorization is the aim of
 both
authors.  If these books are used privately by the individual for such a purpose
 and
never taken to lodge, you are usually considered square in most lodges.  If,
however, you produce the books in a lodge, the WM is usually instructed by GL
mandates to confiscate it.  They are not protesting your possession of them or
their use in private, but only their use in an actual lodge.

Ron Boutwell
Indianapolis, Indiana
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 * CmpQwk 1.30 #648 * "God is dead"-Nietzche "Nietzche is dead"-God