The Spirit of Freemasonry

This past weekend I began the Individual Development Course. This is a management course developed by the Grand Lodge of New York along the lines of those of Franklin-Covey. While talking to few of the participants, it became clear that many were interested in the esoteric side of the Craft and were looking for a place to study these aspects. During our discussions, many of us agreed that there were alot of Brothers in the Craft today that completely unaware of Masonry's esoteric side and only see the Craft as a charitable organization.

While reading "The Meaning of Masonry" by W.L. Wilmhurst, I came across the following:

"What seems now needed to intensify the worth and usefulness of this great Brotherhood is to deepen its understanding of its own system, to educate its members in the deeper meaning and true purpose of its rites and its philosophy. Were this achieved the Masonic Order would become, in proportion to that achievement, a spiritual force greater than it can ever be so long as it continues content with a formal and unintelligent perpetuation of rites, the real and sacred purpose of which remains largely unpercieved, and participation in which too often means nothing more than association with an agreeable, semi-religious, social institution. Carried to its fullest, that achievement would involve the revival, in a form adapted to modern conditions, of the ancient Wisdom-teaching and the practice of those Mysteries which became proscribed fifteen centuries ago, but of which modern Masonry is the direct and representative descendant..."

That was written around 1922, and yet it seems that is what many within Masonry today seek.