} -------
} 
}      RQFC?: No
} RQFC-topic: 
} 
}     Name:: The Reverend Martin Bokx
}    Lodge:: 
} Location:: 
}   Office:: 
}   E-mail:: Support@ksla.nl
}  Message:: Even though I know almost nothing about masonry, I am unpolite eno
 | ugh to want to add a comment: I wasn't impressed with the "essay" about the 
 | secrets about masonry.(//.../Altf/secrets.html). The ultimate reason wy ther
 | e were secrets was because the author prommised to keep them. Thank you for 
 | sharing that.  Comparing sharing ones sex life or anual income with the rest
 |  of the world to sharing secrets of masonry with the rest of the world someh
 | owe didn't strike me as convincing.  If one tries to explain why some things
 |  are kept secret, he or she can at least try to do this seriously.  Met Nede
 | rlandse hoogachting!  M.R.A. Bokx
} 
} ----
} sent by: Support@ksla.nl
} 

As the author of that reply, I must disagree.  In a world where Masons
are perceived to have exclusive and secret access to...

	-- the secrets of the cave found by Christian Rosenkreuz,
	-- the secret maps of Atlantis
	-- all the financial records of the Swiss banks
	-- the US and Russian nuclear launch codes
	-- the Holy Grail
	-- the Trilateral Commission's plot to control the world economy
	-- the Ark of the Covenant
	etc. etc. etc.  (and make no mistake, we are accused of all that
	and more)

...I think it is quite appropriate to have given a short explanation
that 1) our "secrets" are merely our "modes of recognition" based on
historical guild origins, that 2) that our secrets aren't even really
"secret" anymore, since they have been published in so many exposes over
the years, and that 3) even though they aren't secret to the world, we
are obliged to treat them as such nonetheless.

If you found my analogy unconvincing, well, that does not alter the
burden of my argument, nor the fact that I have apparently successfully
communicated to you all of the information I wished to.  Now that you
have the information, you are free to disagree, but you will be doing so
based on personal experience and preferences, not on mis-information --
and that is all I wished to accomplish with the essay.

Thank you for writing.

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Gary L. Dryfoos <dryfoo@mit.edu>      ofc: 617.253-0184 fax: 617.253-8665
| P.O.Box 505, Cambridge, MA 02142      URL: http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/www/
| Master, Mt. Scopus Lodge AF&AM, Malden, Mass.
| P.M. Ocean Lodge AF&AM, Winthrop, Mass. (1988-90, 1991-93)
|    "...one sacred band, or society of Friends and Brothers, among
|     whom no contention should ever exist, save that noble contention,
|     or rather emulation, of who best can work and best agree."
+===========================================================================