MOTIVATION IN AN ERA OF STARDOM

What and why. If I were asked to identify the ethos of Freemasonry in Upper Canada, these ideas come immediately to mind.  An ancient fraternal order appeals to men for whom the larger questions of life are personal and private. Why Masonry deserves a reasoned response. Fifteenth century was a time when science was 'truth to power' unravelling the estates and taking human agency to a new level- why has elements of the Enlightenment, the Reformation and counter reformation, as well as nation, seen clearly on the Scottish landscape. A civil war, plague and a fire that razed London gave reason to question beliefs.  And time did not stand still when London bureaucrats successfully sold the idea of linkage, in what we know as a Grand Lodge. Embracing humanist philosophy, the freedom to think and reason undermined demagoguery and demagogues. We did not to wait long for the system that tolerated poverty, the greatest element of social exploitation, was attacked up by gentrified women in Britain and embraced by the naisant Order.  What.   What and why are elements that exist within the Craft always in balance; if you will allow, the protons of our molecular structure. The generation of Masonry around the world required translation and adaptation to the locale.  Authority and uniformity were replaced with Constitutional accountability- the work of each Grand Lodge. Today, we clamour to address the a paradox; seeming decline in membership as migration takes on epic proportion worldwide and our numbers increase.   To understand, we need look no further than the type of men who reluctantly receive the William Mercer Wilson Award- a group of self-effacing men who remained active, in service of the lodge, the foot soldiers. They are unusal because unlike the rest of us, they do not seek recognition; rank does not eclipse being a mason.  So what inspires and appeals to them? Has anyone asked? Audi, Vide, Tace.