Rough Ashlar No. 27: Paraphrasing an Old Adage for a New Day.

In recent months I have watched discussions in various Masonic forums. Perhaps things are indeed spiraling downwards toward new levels of ridiculousness within the craft, or perhaps it is simply that with the increasingly serious level of dystopia that passes for our public lives these days, I simply am seeing more absurdity in everything. I'm not at all certain which is the case, though it seems completely credible to me that it is a bit of both.

Whichever is the truth, today I have witnessed several conversations online that leave me more than a little bemused. I am accustomed to non-masons being attracted to open Masonic groups like moths to a flame. Some come with a sincere desire to learn and more than a few legitimate questions. Others post, often incoherently about Illuminati, and similar themes.

It has always saddened and puzzled me why the legitimate Masons seem all too often as uninformed about such topics as the crackpots are. Gradually, I've come to the conclusion that between the ignorance and the all too often crude behavior displayed by brethren online, that there are as many crackpots within the lodge as without.

On more than one occasion in the past month I have found myself offering the observation in such groups that "You may lead a brother to wisdom, but you cannot make him think."

I am just going to leave that there.