WEBVTT - How Freemasons Work 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.800 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:07.480 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff You Should Know? 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:16.400 From House Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:19.400 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:24.080 Charles W. Chuck Bryant and uh, that would make this 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:27.640 stuff you should know? Yes, the stuff they don't want 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:33.560 you to know. Addition, yeah, kind of whoa, They're sorry everybody. Um, sorry, Chuck, 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:37.199 we should apologize for cutting in like this. I know 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:39.600 we're gonna we have some important information that we usually 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:41.760 reserve for the end of our show, but we realize 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.159 that some people tune out, so it's at the beginning 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:48.920 this time. Yes, um, we have well we're going to 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:51.919 south By Southwest. We're hoping to write. Yeah, we're we're 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:56.520 up for an interactive panel and um, we need everybody's votes. 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.400 The last chance to vote is today, the day this 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:04.240 comes out, actually tomorrow, it's Friday Friday. All you have 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.280 to do is go to panel Picker dot s x 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:13.200 s W dot com, slash ideas, slash views slash six 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:15.399 eight one seven, I guess it's ours. Yeah, That like 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:17.400 takes you directly to the page where you can vote 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:19.600 on us, and when you try to vote, it'll say, 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.040 oh wait, you got a register and it takes like 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.759 forty seconds to register and they will not spam you. Right, 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.280 So basically, please go register force because we'd love to 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:31.319 have a panel in south By Southwest. It's just cool. 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.200 Want to go and chuck south By Southwest reminds me 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:38.720 of something else that will conclude our national tour, which 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.880 we're kicking off here in Atlanta on October. Yes, we 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:44.120 are having like we did in New York, We're having 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.360 an all star trivia event here in Atlanta oct then 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:51.400 five or six other secret to be named later cities. Right. Yes, 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:53.320 we're gonna be all over the place. We're gonna be 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.800 touring the country playing people in trivia, having a good time. 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.040 It'll be fun. It'll be during the week kind of 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.600 break up that that week day were not any kind 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:05.760 of thing, probably Wednesdays or something. I think over the 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.800 next well up until March. Between now and March, so 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.440 keep an eye out, because um, we actually did spread 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:13.840 it out geographically as much as we could to get 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.240 as many people there as possible. Details will follow and 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:19.560 it's gonna be a lot of fun. Okay, that's it, right. 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:24.760 Uh yeah, back to our regularly scheduled program. Let's avoid 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.200 the whole conspiracy thing. I don't even think we should 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:32.079 bring up any conspiracies. Sorry, it's gonna happen. Yeah, it's 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:34.839 a little a little difficult to talk about Freemasons, which 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:38.920 is what we're talking about today, without talking conspiracy, and 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.720 for good reason too. Um. They are one of the 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:47.120 more secretive orders ever created. What we just talked about, 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.920 Like brick and stone work the whole time. You gotta 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:52.679 get the proper mixture and you gotta get the trial 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.440 just right. I know how to make a mixed mud 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.560 is what it's called mortar. Yeah, it's I can. I 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:00.359 can whip up a pretty good batch of bit. Man, 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:04.760 you built a fire pit, right I did. I've built um, walkways, walls, 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:06.920 all sorts of stuff. I guess you could call me 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.880 a mason, butt chuck. That would be a rough mason, 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:15.400 not a Freemason, which is the big distinction that we'll 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:19.959 get to eventually. Right, But first, let's talk about what's 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.040 going down in Boise, Idaho. Right now, I have no 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:23.880 idea what's going on there. Well, I can tell you 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:28.200 there's a guy named Crispin her Tongue, and he was 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:32.079 summoned to Boise Lodge number two, ancient Free and accepted 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:36.160 Masons of the Grand Lodge of Idaho, basically to explain 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:39.920 himself for going ahead and founding another lodge called the 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:44.680 Practice Lodge, which is considered a modern lodge, and the 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:49.600 brothers at um the Boise Lodge number two wanted to 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:53.840 know why he had done this because it basically flies 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:58.000 in the face of the tenants of Freemasonry, at least 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.880 as far as the York or no Scottish right Mason rigos, 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.040 which I guess is what most American lodges are, right, Yeah, 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:07.440 because they were from England. The Scottish right is England 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:09.120 and the other one is French, right, right, So this 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:12.760 guy's this. The Practice Lodge is aligned with the Grand 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:18.120 Orient of France and basically that they don't require that 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:21.839 there be volume of sacred Law present as part of 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:25.560 the indispensable part of the furniture of the lodge. On quoting. Uh, 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:29.960 this Practice Lodge allows discussion of religion in politics. Yeah, 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:34.320 you're not supposed to do that. No, and um it. 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.840 It doesn't require that members believe in a supreme being, 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:41.240 so he just he's not a Mason. No, he was, 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.239 and he went and founded a practice lodge, a secular lodge. 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:49.000 The guy's a secular humanist. And he was excommunicated, expelled 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.880 from the Boise Lodge number two. Did they burn his bowels? 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:56.600 They didn't because he didn't share any secrets. But this 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:00.120 kind of stuff actually gives you a glimpse of you know, 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:04.240 what the Masons are all about, Chuck so it. They 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.360 are a very secret secret order, but they over time, 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.200 like little things have come out. Um in this article 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:16.200 will reveal the name of God. Um the secret word 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.640 that gets you to like the next level after the 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.280 third degree. There's all sorts of like it's it's the 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.480 least secret secretive order as far as you know, I 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:27.640 would think they would have changed this stuff if you can, 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:29.840 like read these secret passwords on our website. Wouldn't have 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.560 changed it by now? Well, but think about it. I mean, like, 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.360 are you going to change God's name? You can't. It's 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.880 just kind of like and yeah, everything you've heard is true. 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:41.240 This is this is God's names. You're glad you made 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.000 it to the fourth degree. Now, so let's talk about 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.920 the history of the Mason's right. There's a lot of 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:51.680 competing theories of where the Masons came from. Yeah, that 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.680 they range from once we won't talk about as much, 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.440 like ancient druids or the isis Osiris cult in ancient 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:03.240 Egypt to um, my favorite story, and this one I 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:05.880 think holds a little bit of credence for sure because 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:08.919 they still part of their rituals involved the story. So 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.080 it seems like it might be the way or else 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.400 they just selected the story and they're sticking with it. Yeah. 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.200 Maybe so. Uh, way back in the day, King Solomon's 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:20.120 Temple in nine seven b c. Was built in Jerusalem, 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:24.040 and uh, there was a master builder, a master mason 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.760 name here, I'm a beef who claimed to know the 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.200 secret to the temple, because you've gotta have a secret 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:34.000 if you're gonna build a temple or temple. And uh, 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:36.200 three men kidnapped him one day, threaten to kill him 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:38.839 if he didn't reveal the secret. He apparently said, no way, 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.000 I'm not gonna do that, so he was promptly killed. 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:45.600 And then King Solomon heard about this and ordered some 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:47.880 masons and these were Stonemasons at the time. You know, 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:52.640 it's regular Stonemasons was before the whole Freemason thing, right, 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.080 I don't know. Well, that's where I'm going with and uh, 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:58.440 he said bring his body back here and bring back 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.880 the secret of the temple. Did not work. So he says, well, 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:03.839 you know what, I'm gonna establish a new secret. And 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:06.600 here it is, and here it is. It is Maha bone. 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.359 That's the secret. The secret is a word, and the 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:14.440 word mahabone means the grand Lodge door opened. The secret 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.560 um is the password that they used to enter the 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:21.040 third degree of masonry. So if you were thinking, I'd 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:22.880 like to become a Mason, but I want to start 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:24.880 out at the third level. I don't want to become 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:30.640 an apprentice, right, just go ahead and go into a 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.040 Masonic lodge and say maha bone and they'll be like 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:38.480 I would say mahabon a and they would like, uh, yeah, 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.240 you mispronounced it, or you just leave the h out. 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:46.920 It would be like, so, um, that is the that's 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.640 the that's the party line of the Mason's um of 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:57.040 where they came from. Uh. Probably the more likely explanation 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:02.320 is the um boring. Right. I think it's kind of 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.320 interesting though. I like it because most of the teas 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.400 are crossed and the eyes are dotted. But um, in 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:13.360 the Middle Ages, masons were a well, there were two kinds, 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:17.040 like we said, there were rough masons like me just 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:19.880 jerk soon you how to mix mud together and could 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.560 you know, work with stone that was pretty tough to 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:26.160 screw up because they were so big. Or there were 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:33.160 free craft mason's stonemasons or freemasons, um, that worked with 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.800 intricate carvings and soft stone. Free stone is like the 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.680 soft stone that that you can actually carved designs into. 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:44.240 And it took some serious skill, right, So to protect 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:48.760 their wages, to make sure that they were differentiated in 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:53.679 the minds of employers like the church or right, um, 0:08:53.840 --> 0:09:00.400 they they initiated trade guilds, right exactly. Um. These trade 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:05.520 guilds founded lodges where they stored their tools, their secret tools, 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.679 and there they ate and basically hung out together. And 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.640 then after a while they just went the extra mile 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:14.719 and said, you know what, Um, I want to make 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:17.680 sure that there's no rough masons at our at our lodge, 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.640 so we're gonna come up with secret handshakes, passwords, that 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:25.000 kind of stuff. Yeah, and there the Masons were born. Yeah, 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.600 and that that one makes sense too. Uh, And then 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:29.680 we can't talk about any of us without talking about 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.480 the Knights Templar for a second, because we've gotten railed 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:37.160 about the Knights Templar with the Friday thirteenth show. Yeah, 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:41.200 we have, so, for goodness sakes, the Knights Templar is 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:45.320 another theory, and um, the deal there was the Knights Templar. 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:49.960 There were monks that basically guarded a passage from Jaffa 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:54.440 to Jerusalem to protect Christians on their way, and they 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.720 were pretty rough apparently, and they at one point discovered 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:02.280 King Solomon's uh witches in the temple. They're like, there's 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.959 the real secret. Yeah, and it was apparently the biggest, 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:09.000 you know, stock of cash. It was probably just dollar bills, 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.520 is my guests, and they took it all and King Philip, 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.520 what is that the fourth of France said, arrest all 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:18.400 those dudes so I can get their money that they 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.600 just stole. And they were imprisoned and then it's a 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.040 bit of a mystery of what happens. But one theory 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.679 is that after they were released from prison, they went 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:30.760 into hiding and emerged as freemasons later on. Right, That's 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.559 one theory that's just yet another theory. And um, King 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.680 Philip the fourth may or may not have had them 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:43.200 arrested on a Friday. Oh was that the deal? So chuck. Um, 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:48.520 there's a couple of theories and probably the likeliest theory 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:53.959 of where Freemasons came about. Um, we know that modern Freemasons, 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:58.160 we can trace their history pretty pretty well. Yeah. Um. 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.720 Over time, you know, we've got these miss Onic lodges 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:02.480 and they're just kind of hanging out and it's really 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:06.120 like a trade guild. Um, and only what are called 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:12.280 operative Masons could join. Yeah, that's literally people who were Stonemasons, right. Um. 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:16.640 The thing was these these um free stone Masons or 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:21.360 Freemasons kind of fancy themselves. Like I think they cultivated 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:26.000 their intellectualism as if way to further separate themselves from 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.000 rough Masons. And so they started like having discourse at 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:33.559 these lodges and talking and they developed they're so smart, 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:37.120 they developed a philosophy, right. Um. And one of the 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:42.040 one of the big I guess tenets of Freemasonry is 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:46.720 religious tolerance. Right. Yeah. While being they were very liberal 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:51.800 religiously speaking, they didn't like the hardcore Catholic rules and 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.720 later on I think, well, a couple of things happened. 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:59.080 Catholics were for forbidden to join Freemasons at one point 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:00.800 by one of the popes, right, and then I think 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.080 that went away. And then at one point they were 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.040 accused of not allowing Catholics and as a Freemason, but 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:10.200 they said that's not true either, right um. And again 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:12.760 we saw that in that thing that's going down in 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.439 Boise right now that you um that to be like 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.840 as a typical Masonic lodge, you have to have a 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:25.600 sacred volume. But in keeping with that religious tolerance idea um. 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:29.040 There it can be any thing like the Koran. It 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:33.600 can be the the Jewish Old Testament, the Talmud right um, 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:38.520 or the New Testament, the Bible um. But you have 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.679 to believe in a supreme being. That's that's another major 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.400 tenant of freemasonry. Um. The thing is is it wasn't 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.719 necessarily like the Christian God, and the idea of religious 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:53.679 tolerance of believing in what's called the Grand architect um 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:59.280 that definitely jibes with Enlightenment thoughts. So these Masonic lodges 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.679 where like you had to be a Mason who could 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:09.640 carve into stone, started attracting people who were basically tourists, yeah, 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:12.760 like artists and aristocrats. All of a sudden there was 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:15.000 this cool club and they says, well, I want to 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.559 be a Mason because you guys get together and you're 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:20.280 all smart, and you talk about stuff that's neat and secret. 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:24.800 And so they started letting in uh, speculative instead of 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:29.320 operative Freemasons. They started letting in speculative Freemasons, and and 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:33.320 speculative with as a word as a word yes, And 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.440 it became basically like the fraternity gentleman's type of club 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.200 that it is today. Right, that was like the beginnings 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.480 of that gentleman's club is a well, gentleman is the 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:46.520 operative word, because, um, the Freemasons have never allowed women 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:51.719 in except in some very very unique circumstances. Um. There 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:56.720 was one, famously, a woman named Elizabeth Aldworth who was 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:02.000 called eavesdropping on a Masonic um, I guess discussion or whatever, 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:07.600 and um, they found her and said, okay, you can join, 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:09.520 so they inducted her. I think it was one of 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.280 those deals where like, well, gosh, she knows the deal now, right, 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.040 but the the I guess the I don't know if 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:17.520 funny is the right word, but The reason that they 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:22.200 gave for not um admitting women was they were afraid 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:26.720 that women were going to distract the guys from their intellectualism. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.200 Sure's clearly a division of the higher self and the 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:31.440 lower self, and they associated the lower self with women. 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.680 And then secondly, um that women were too gossipy and 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:39.600 would reveal their secrets. Right, and apparently Elizabeth would like 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.280 go around town after that wearing her her Masonic clothes, 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:47.080 her apron, her apron. Really, that's what I heard. I 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:51.640 just told me, like word on the street. Um, chuck, 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:54.640 go ahead, Well, I was just I should mention officially. 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:59.520 In seventy three, their constitution was written by a Scott 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:04.760 Scott his freemason named James Anderson almost at Alexander and 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.320 he uh. This was basically the first official set of 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.040 like laws and rituals and stuff. So that's in place 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:16.560 in right, and five years prior to that, four Masonic 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:20.960 lodges in London combined to form the first Grand Lodge, 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.560 and that tradition has been followed in the States. There's 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.640 typically one Grand Lodge in a state, and you gotta 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.640 answer to that lodge, right, especially if you start a 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:33.640 secular lodge, right, we should mention quickly to though, since 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:37.080 you mentioned the female member, there are a couple of 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:41.080 sort of spinoffs that are all females called one's called 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.400 the Order of the Amaranth and one's called the Order 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.840 of the Eastern Star, and those are for the ladies. 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:50.480 Do you want to get all of Masonic right? So, Chuck, 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:56.160 let's talk about American Freemasonry. Yeah, why not? So like 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:01.000 we said that the whole Enlightenment movement really became fond 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:05.440 of the um ideas of Freemasonry. And you know, there's 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:12.160 there's a lot of um uh conspiracy theory about whether 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.280 or not you know, America was founded by Mason's and yes, 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.400 it indeed was, to which a large degree for sure. 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:21.320 George Washington, you could make a case that he helped 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:26.400 found America. He was a Mason, Benjamin Franklin Mason UM 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.760 and several other guys who signed the Constitution and the 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.720 Declaration of Independence, and ten of them signed the articles officially. 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:36.240 So it's some people say it's one of the miss 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.320 that like everybody that was signed the Constitution was a Mason. 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.480 Not true, no, but enough where that you can't say 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.400 they had a real hand in in shaping the United 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:50.400 States and actually, um, like the dollar bill, the pyramid 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:54.240 with the eye above it is about as Masonic as 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.880 it gets. The Mason's love their symbology. UM. And I 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:01.960 read an explanation in um U S News and World Report, 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.720 which means it's true by a guy who has written 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:11.520 about UM well mysticism in America UH named Mitch Horowitz, right, 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.440 and he basically explained that what this, what the unfinished 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.679 pyramid with the eye floating over it means is you know, 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.560 we are as humans are capable of great acts of 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.479 of engineering and technology, and probably you could extend that 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:30.960 to you know, kindness and generosity, UM. But we couldn't 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:35.679 finish anything unless um it's blessed by Providence, which is 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:39.280 represented by this ie. So it's a hopeful symbol in 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:42.840 that just pyramid will eventually be finished, We will eventually 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:49.320 be successful because Providence winks upon us. That's one explanation. 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.560 I'm sure there's like five million other explanations that include 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:58.400 everything from like the Nazis to um caligula. But that's 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:02.360 that's what I understand. That means in Nazistic khaliyah. That's 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.640 pretty wide range. The point is, though, is that there 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.320 there is a Masonic symbol on our dollar bill. Yeah, 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:11.720 which makes me wonder if the Knights Templar found the 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.959 dollar bills at this Temple of Solomon. Maybe maybe they 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:18.760 got that. That's so that all the singles, they're like, 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.720 let's make it rain all it makes sense. Uh. There's 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.840 also a theory that they were, um, some Masons were 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.680 had actually organized the Boston Tea Party and the French Revolution. Yeah, 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:33.399 at the St. Andrew's Lodge in Boston. And there's a 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:35.520 couple of reasons they point to. One is that they 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:37.919 did not meet the night of the Boston Tea Party, 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:40.240 and then there was some letter t on one of 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.680 their scrolls, and that's sort of been called out as 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.320 maybe there were some there, maybe there weren't. But amazingly, 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:49.960 the Boston Tea Party has still remained a secret to 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:53.760 this day, like all those dudes wore secrecy and with 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:57.560 a dent verification cannot happen at this time. It sounds 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:03.800 pretty Masonic. Yeah, true. So Um, after the American Revolution, 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:09.400 the successful Masonic overthrow of the British rule, Um, basically 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:12.200 the American Mason said, hey, you know we were under 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:19.320 your the purview of the provincial lodge. We gotta go there, 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:21.520 we can't. We gotta make a clean break with everything here, 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:26.200 including masonry. So they formed their own official lodges in 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.680 in the United States and it kind of took off. Um. 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.199 In America. You've got the York right and the Scottish right, 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:35.240 and the York like you said, is French, and the 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:39.359 Scottish Rite follows the English traditions. Um. And apparently the 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:43.320 French tradition is the one that's secular. Uh, Scottish tradition. 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:46.919 You have to have that sacred volume and in a 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.160 belief in a supreme being. Um. And you can't talk 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:54.200 about religion or politics under the Scottish Rite, right. Yeah, 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:56.160 and we had Scottish Rite hospital here too. I never 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:58.000 really thought about that until I read this. Yeah. I 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:00.800 think in the Shriners as well. That's an other example 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:04.440 of UM of their Mason's. Yeah, that was kind of 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:07.479 an offshoot of Mason's that Shriners with their fun little 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:13.800 cars that they drive around in. Um. So, Chuck, let's 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:17.080 talk about religion, right, Okay. A lot of people think 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.840 that it is a that that freemasonry is religion in 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:25.240 and of itself. Probably not true. Yeah, I mean they 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.000 say this is what I don't get. They say that 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:31.720 you have to believe in God under the Scottish Rite. Well, yeah, 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:33.960 that's the first question they ask you when you get in, 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.400 you know, in your little ceremony there. But if you're 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:39.359 if you're following a Scottish rite exactly. But then they also, 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:41.680 on the other hand say, but we're not even allowed 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:45.200 to talk about religion in our meetings, right, So what's 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:48.000 going on there? Um? I don't know. I think it's 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:50.919 probably like one of those things where they just figured 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:54.919 out pretty early on after having held meetings for centuries 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:57.520 that they're like, wow, you just can't bring up religion 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:00.439 and politics. That ticks everybody off. Believe me, don't go 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:06.080 their friend right. They also, um, don't follow the traditional 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:13.679 um Judeo Christian view of God as a supreme being 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:19.120 necessarily because they call God the great architect of the universe, 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:22.000 which actually sounds pretty day is to me a right 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:27.600 good um. But again, you have to believe in God. 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.959 You can't talk about it, but you have to swear 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:36.840 an oath upon a sacred sacred volume right or book 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:39.119 of the sacred Law, which could be a Koran at 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:41.720 the Townward or the New Testament. Yeah, they're kind of 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:44.920 open minded to an extent, as long as you believe 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:47.680 in God, as long as you tell any secrets, because 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:50.560 we'll burn your bowels. Right. So, if you want to 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:54.160 become a Mason, right, and you you have picked up that, 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:57.000 you've said that your bowels maybe burned if you give 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:00.200 away secrets. You've come to terms with that. You want 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:03.080 to enter the brotherhood, what do you do? Well, you 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:06.000 have to be sponsored. You have to fill out your application. 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:09.199 Basically you gotta get two sponsors from the same lodge 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:11.840 to say, you know, to vouch for you. I guess. 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:15.720 Then you're voted on, voted in by a secret ballot. 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:19.480 Um you're asked whether or not you believe in God, 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:22.280 and you have to answer yes. Imagine if you say no, 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:24.919 then they'll just say it's probably isn't the place for you. 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:27.840 Then they'll point you to the French Orient. And you 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:29.440 have to have a little bit of money. I mean, 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:31.119 you don't have to be rich, but you have to 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:34.040 pay the dues and keep your dues up like any club. 0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:37.639 And you're expected to be um philanthropic too. And if 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:39.479 you don't take part in that stuff is probably frowned upon. 0:22:39.520 --> 0:22:41.000 So you gotta have a little bit of money, right, 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:44.840 and um, once you are accepted, you start out as 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:48.520 an inner apprentice and you're initiated, right, Yeah, this is 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.119 this is pretty fun. And they do they they have 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:53.960 to you have to tell the story of the King 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:59.920 Solomon's temple and um, Hiram abiff and and basically you 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:04.159 acted out, you act out this tradition in blindfold, and 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:08.119 then you are you are Hiram a brief or abe 0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:11.880 and you were murdered and you pretend like you're dead 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:15.560 and you're reborn and you're a mason. Now, yeah, I'm 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:18.359 really curious about this, you know, the artistically way they 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:21.520 give you there. Yeah. And and also I can't I 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:23.680 can't get the image of slacks out of my head. 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:26.240 Like there's some guys wearing the clothes that he's wearing 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:30.919 at work, which is doctor's high Yes, slacks, right and 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:35.320 and like a short sleeve button down, acting out that 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:39.399 he's just died and is reborn. I'm hoping that there's 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:42.760 like a robe involved or something. Just kind of sure 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:47.359 dead in any any fashion choices. So that's kind of 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:52.040 you know, it's interesting ritualistic for sure. Uh. Then then 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:54.600 you begin you're your you know, your rise to the top. 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:57.600 Although they say that most Freemasons don't get above like 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:01.240 what like three degrees right out of the thirty there's 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:05.000 thirty three wells in the French tradition. Um, but the 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:09.280 I guess the Scottish right is thirty three degrees of freemasonry. 0:24:09.359 --> 0:24:12.480