Willem S.Meijer
30th Grand Master of the Order.
Elected and installed 2010
Freemason since 1984.
Mother Lodge Concordia Vincit Aminos - Amsterdam
What is the essence of being a Freemason ?
In their Lodges Freemasons find a sheltered place to 'work' where they and others can meet and compare ideas. Rationally or intuitively they share the thoughts, accrued by predisposition or experience, about how they want to associate with each other and other people. They also consider their attitude to the world that they live in. This is achieved by a unique approach, full of references to cultures present at the birth of our society.
A brotherhood of people seeking self development and realisation. They are deeply attached to their own trusted methods but without dogmatism.
People with a secret that is almost unexplainable and thus can not be betrayed. The way we associate, the atmosphere of unity and trust, this secret is more essential than the reluctance felt about the symbols, ritual texts and solemn activities, the tools used in our activities.
Lodges exist by the grace of a subtle balance between gravity and merriment, between deep emotional involvement and some time later commentating with frankness and maybe self ridicule.
Which can only be a positive attitude to life. Masons tend to be more optimistic than pessimistic.
What have you gained from Freemasonry ?
Only if you are prepared to contribute will you receive anything in return. By regular attendance, by listening, by sharing your thoughts and feelings, to take a real part in the brotherhood, to place your trust in others.
Personally, as an agnostic, Freemasonry has become a place where I can labour with rationalism and also a touch of religious emotion. My field of view has expanded from “only the prove-able is relevant” to “the irrefutable is also worth thinking about”. With all permanent valuations I am gradually rationalising my attitude.
An increasing feeling for the mystery of our existence, a move towards spirituality in the sense of “the personal sensation that a person breaks through his own limits for a short moment and then knows himself in unity with the universe where in humanity lives”.
Insights that claim 'truth' are inept, and dogmas are obstructive and irritating.
The conviction that 'what unites people ' in concept and ambition far surpass that which divides. And even if the differences between people are small, they are at least captivating and interesting.
Has Freemasonry changed my life?
After some hesitation : yes!
Not because my initiation revealed any wonderful new insights, and thus revealed a new view of life and my fellow man.
But changed because the thoughts and feelings that I already had discovered a wider framework and foundation.
I have associates that ask themselves the same essential questions about life as I do and they wrestle just as much with the answers.
Shared distress is a halved distress and shared joy is double joy.
And what has it cost you?
Time and attention. The investment costs can not be considered separately from the benefits, not even for those that suffer for all those masonic activities of spouse or father.
If, because of the impressions and insights discovered in the lodge, you decide to leave your job, should that be calculated as a cost or benefit? That happened to me about 20 years ago and looking back I can only decide that it was a judicious decision
The offers of 'dare to reflect' are further exceeded by the advantages of the same “sapere aude'!
Everybody – lodge or order officer or not- is disappointed from time to time that the practical application of high ideals is not always easy, even for Freemasons. But these costs are also spiritual revenues in terms of brotherhood and self-development.
Does Freemasonry, with it traditions, fit in these modern times.
If I had had any doubt at all about that, then I would not have been a candidate for my current function.
I think that during nearly 300 years of organised freemasonry man has not actually changed, and that is just as true for “la condition humaine”, the limitations that he has to live with. Evolution is not so fast, even though we appear to have forgotten this, in this time of technological advances. The crucial questions of human existence have remained the same and our desire to be aware of our place in the universe and our relationship to our fellow-travellers is just as important.
The method of human tolerance via initiation is found in every culture and epoch. Precisely the “rite de passage “ in a playful, not dogmatic way as fits the freemasonry- makes our traditions substantially wear resistant.
The only thing that could under mine these nearly timeless values is a excessive one sided emphasis on forms and usages in combination with a decreasing realisation of the deeper cultural background thereof.
And also the second arrow of freemasonry – the humaine and freedom loving concepts that we received principally from the illumination- remain unchanged and actual. Just when those convictions are joined with readiness to look in the mirror, to look at our own convictions with a critical eye, then we can speak of an attitude that is too often missing in our society.
Perhaps freemasonry has the principal task to speak against the fashions and hypes of the the day, or at least to hold them to the light in our lodges. The contribution to a society in which the people stay and communicate is perfect for Freemasons.
What are your principal aims as Grand master.
To strengthen the order and the lodges as meeting places for people and ideas. A forum where all serious human convictions are welcome ….....and also be the subject of a brotherly exchange of thoughts . Work places that are frequented by not only people with a strong conviction or belief but also people that have had to accept that they do not know.
I consider one of my most important tasks is to offer and maintain space for diversity. I prefer an Order in diversity.
Our strength lies in a human and liberal way of interacting with the diversity of insights and concepts and definitely not an enforced uniformity thereof.
A better notion of the cultural philosophical background of the masonic 'game', achieved through attention to cultivation and education in a very wide meaning. Contributions to the self development of the brothers, by supplying them with the tools, but without defining any a uniform instruction in their usage … nor even a a fixed same sounding interpretation.
Such an improved insight makes it easier for the individual mason easier to explain to outsiders what makes freemasonry so valuable to us and why it could be an attractive spiritual home for themselves.
No mater how devoted we are to our system, we should never think that Freemasonry has the only wisdom, not even in masonic business.
The same brotherly and masonic attitude to other masonic organisations is applied, even when we don't have diplomatic relationships.
Harmony and Order in lodges is a necessary, but not only, condition for the best results of our masonic work, if that is working on our personal “rough ashlar' or as a participant in society
Let us not just concentrate on self development as a purely personal aim but continually ask the question 'in what manner can that development help us to benefit our fellow man
I don't think that we will escape, even if we wanted to, from letting the questions of the 20th century into our lodges, to stand in the centre of society . A conscientious comparison of social questions to our basic principals is needed, unlike unilateral collective decisions in the name of the Order or lodge.
Willem S. Meijer
Grootmeester