What is Freemasonry? (I'll try my best to explain without revealing too much...)

When is a man a Mason?

When he can look out over the rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a sense of his own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope and courage... which is the root of every virtue.
When he knows that down in his heart every man is as noble, as vile, as divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive, and to love his fellowman.
When he knows to sympathize with men in their sorrow, yea, even in their sins, knowing that each man fights a hard fight against any odds.
When he has learned how to make friends and to keep them, and above all, to keep friends with himself.
When he can be happy and high-minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life.
When no voice of distress reaches his ears in vain and no hand seeks his aid without response.
When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope.
When he keeps faith with himself, with his fellowman, with his God. In his heart a bit of a song... glad to live, but not afraid to die.
Such a man has found the only real secret of Freemasonry, and the one which it is trying to give all the world.


To Better Explain.

There is no Society in this world that is so widely known yet so little known about, as that of the Free and Accepted Masons or Freemasonry. There are many speculations regarding what it is and many of these guesses are negative and undesirable. But to better explain what Freemasonry is it is best to first explain what it is not. First of all, Freemasonry is not a religion nor is it a Cult of any sort although it is a strict requisite for a person to believe in God, Freemasonry does not vouch nor adhere to a specific sect or belief. It is not an organized body out to reap havoc and destroy the social and political order in fact it is expected from its members to adhere to the laws, rules and regulations of the country in which are citizens. Masonry is not a secret society. Although there are information which are shared only to members, Masons are most of the time publicly known. Like all organizations, Masonry values the members' desires to keep some personal information private. For example, if in a meeting Brother Juan Dela Cruz has expressed his desires to be assisted by other brothers in the medical profession in his hernia problem, it would be inappropriate to have this known publicly, not to mention embarrassing. Thus we keep such information a secret. But that is just an example, there are other similar subjects that we think is best to be discuss discreetly.
Our rituals of course, like all Fraternal bodies are reserved only for members. Freemasonry is not a secret organization in a "cloak and dagger" sense although it has its own so-called "secrets". As we have discussed earlier Freemasonry is very public in a lot of ways. Take for example, the Masonic Lodges (the place where Masons hold their meetings and other activities), Lodges have the typical masonic logo (the square and compass) outside the building and most of them contain the term "masonic lodge" or "masonic temple" on their signs.
There are also public installation of officers and other public activities for masons and their families and although most of the time we keep a low profile, Masonry has a lot of community projects (e.g. feeding program, gift giving, medical and dental missions) for the poor and for the physically-challenged individuals and we also sponsor educational scholarships. (We keep a very low profile to the point that we use another name so as not to deviate from our philosophy that Masons should remain humble and should not aspire for fame or prestige as a price for the goodwill it has done.)
Masonry is an organization of men who believe in the ancient philosophy of the "operative masons" by which their lives and crafts have been guided since time immemorial. Even though the Freemasons (we are also called "speculative masons") no longer builds castles and cathedrals, we use the ancient masons' principles to build better characters, hence build better individuals. To put it simply, Freemasonry turns a good man into a better man.

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