Joseph L. Shell Daylight Lodge No. 837

      Masonry is a fraternal union of all good men of every race and every religious faith, working together for the benefit of the human race.  It is a fraternity or brotherhood of men - not a religious society - based on the belief that each person can make a difference with a responsibility to help make the world a better place.  Freemasonry encourages good men to become better by promoting a life dedicated to high ideals, community service, and benevolence.

        Freemasonry is the first oldest and the largest fraternal organization in the world.  Freemasonry dated back many centuries to stonemasons who built castles and cathedrals of Europe in the Middle Ages.  Their working tools, ideals and the structure of their exclusive society during those ages are still used symbolically in today's Freemasonry.  Temporary buildings called 'lodges' were built next to the cathedrals, and the Masons used them to meet, receive their wages, plan their work, train new apprentices, and socialize.  The actual practices and procedures observed worldwide were formalized with the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717; and by 1731, Masonry had spread to the American colonies.  The Grand Lodge of California was established in Sacramento in 1850 during the height of the California gold rush.

WHAT DO FREEMASONS DO?

        The mission of Masons in California is brotherhood, community involvement, and self-improvement through education, family values, moral standards, and charity.  As Masons, we lead by example, give back to our communities and support numerous Masonic philanthropies.  We invest in children, our neighbors, and our future.

        Masons are deeply involved in helping people.  Their compassion for others manifests itself in many ways, from housing neglected and abused children to helping seniors remain independent.  Charity is at the heart of most Masonic activities.  Masons contributed more than two million dollars everyday in charitable causes to aid individuals who are sick, aged, or destitute, or whose physical, emotional, and psychological needs are not being met.  The vast majority of Masonic philanthropies assist people who are not Masons.  The Scottish Rite Masons maintain and operates the Childhood Language Disorder Clinic, Centers and Programs.  The Shriners Hospitals for Children treat burned and orthopaedically impaired children world wide, and there is never a fee for treatment.

 PRINCIPAL TENETS OF MASONRY

        Freemasonry tends to be strictly obedient to its precepts.  It is an organization formed and existing on the basic tenet of Brotherly Love, Relief of the distressed, and Truth in all things.  These tenets are ethical principles acceptable to all good men everywhere.  It teaches the universality of men and, it teaches tolerance of all mankind.

SO, WHENCE CAME MASONRY?

      We should not be concerned with tracing the evolution of Masonry.  Rather, we should first consider basic factors, the urge and the beginning of the urge that causes men to seek understanding.

      This striving for an understanding of things hidden and not fully comprehensible has existed in all recorded time; in all religions and philosophies, and in all races, savage and civilized.

      One of the oldest Masonic manuscripts was written about 1410 A.D. and copies from an earlier document of about 1390.  As to the origin of Masonry it indicates that Jabal, of the eight generation from Adam, was the first man to discover geometry, which is Masonry.

      The urge for greater understanding of the unknown resulted in the "Ancient Mysteries" and in "initiation."  The Ancient Mysteries had secret ceremonies.  These ceremonies were sometimes divided into parts: some being more secret and admitting only those who had been accepted and had passed certain tests.  Other parts were often public, held on festival dates, and the people are allowed to see certain sacred objects.

    Admission to the more secret Mysteries was often by rigorous tests and trials.  This was known as initiation.  Relatively few attained this privilege.  "Man were called, but few chosen."

      These Mysteries were the universities of ancient times.  Philosophy and sciences occupied the attention of the best minds.  They were always exoteric in character.  Allegory and symbolism were used extensively.  Initiation emphasized purity, humility, trial, loss and recovery.

      The Mysteries were practiced in Egypt, where the legend of Osiris was taught; Persia, where the God Mythras was worshipped; Greece, where the Eleusinian Mysteries were practiced; and in nearly all other places.

      The great thinkers of the past: Plato, Pythagoras and Moses, to name but three of many, are said to have been initiated in the Mysteries.  Their teachings have been handed down through the centuries.  W. L. Wilmshurst in "The Meaning of Masonry" says, "I am acquainted with an Egyptian ceremonial system some 5000 years old, which taught precisely the same things as Masonry does, but in the terms of shipbuilding instead of the terms of architecture."

      Masonry lays no claim to an unbroken line of descent from the Ancient Mysteries, though Masonry does employ much of the symbolism and legend of the Ancient Masters in ceremonies embracing essentials used to exemplify the necessity of work, that fair wages should be paid, that the worker should render faithful service to his employer, that the workers should render mutual aid to each other, the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.

        For more information regarding Freemasonry, of who we are and what we do...you are welcome to visit any Lodges within your area or visit the Grand Lodge of California website at www.freemason.org.