bod
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UGLE - MM (London), MMM RAM(Middx), OSM (London)
Posts: 1,296
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Post by bod on Aug 3, 2007 18:58:55 GMT
3 5 7 9 years?
What do you feel is the optimum time, in years, someone should have been a master mason before they take the chair?
Does your constitution stipulate a period?
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Post by waynecowley on Aug 3, 2007 19:50:46 GMT
Difficult one - I did it in 6½ years (similar to a number of my perambulating circle of Masters - most of who were initiated with a year or so of each other)
I suppose, as with most things, it depends on the Brother concerned - some are ready after 5 years - others are not ready after 10 or more
Wayne
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Post by wayseer on Aug 4, 2007 0:18:40 GMT
It's not a matter of years - it's a matter of will. Will the new WM have the skills to lead his Lodge? Has the new WM an appropriate agenda for taking the Lodge forward? Does he recognise the individual skills and attributes of his Brethren? Does he know what it really means to be a WM? These are more important than serving some sort of time period.
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jmd
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fourhares.com
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Post by jmd on Aug 4, 2007 10:08:27 GMT
Seven. And if the Brother does not have all the administrative and leadership skills that one ideally develops, then it is up to the Lodge to provide the appropriate support, if possible.
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Post by maat on Aug 5, 2007 22:50:43 GMT
Seven or more with us also.
Maat
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Post by sascrunch on Aug 7, 2007 14:24:23 GMT
Obviously it would be ideal for the individual to sit through all seven main chairs, but in Colorado, at least, it certainly isn't manditory. And, many Lodges aren't active enough to be able to do that. I think that according to our Book of Constitutions, the only requirement to sit in the East is to have already been a Warden, which means a minimum of 2 years, in the worst case scenario. -Loran
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Post by keith on Aug 8, 2007 0:22:17 GMT
I think three thousand, five hundred and seventy-nine years is going a teensy bit overboard!
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jmd
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Post by jmd on Aug 8, 2007 9:32:08 GMT
(unless one postulates the time of one's first initiation in a past life approximately three thousand five hundred and forty years ago )
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Post by penfold on Aug 8, 2007 13:22:13 GMT
And multiply by the number you first thought of in your inital incarnation...
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imakegarb
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One wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie
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Post by imakegarb on Aug 8, 2007 13:57:38 GMT
There's Bro. Keith! ;D
So, how long do you think a body ought to wait before becoming RWM?
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Post by 2 BOWL CAIN on Aug 8, 2007 15:56:03 GMT
I was rasied a MM in sept of 2001 Installed as WM of the Lodge Decemebr of 2004.... I feel I did an above average job but I know I can do a better job second time around.....
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Post by maat on Aug 8, 2007 22:34:46 GMT
I was rasied a MM in sept of 2001 Installed as WM of the Lodge Decemebr of 2004.... I feel I did an above average job but I know I can do a better job second time around..... Don't we all - and isn't that the wonder of it ... A sign of growth through experience. (Well maybe not all - ever notice how many leave a year or two after being Master of their Lodge? Been there, there done that, you think?) Maat
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Post by keith on Aug 8, 2007 23:45:46 GMT
Probably not so much a matter of waiting but developing oneself en route to the Chair as you progress through the various Lodge Offices. It's all training, growth and experience.
Experience is what enables you to recognise the mistake when you make it again.
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Post by wayseer on Aug 9, 2007 1:35:07 GMT
I think the question on time is a furphy - that there is some some of unwritten agenda to make as many PMs as possible in the shortest period of time. The question then arises - what does a Lodge do with all those PMs? Most of them leave or sort of evaporate from the scene. I think that there should be a two year period in each of the offices of the Lodge commencing at IG and leaving off at the IMP. The ritual would probably improve if nothing else.
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Post by mike on Aug 9, 2007 10:32:23 GMT
I tend, generally, to agree with wayseer, although I would say the "rush" is in everything from getting Masons to making them MMs to getting them through the Chair and into dark blue.
I personally think it is time to encourage our members to think and read more about Freemasonry and to go through the degrees and Offices properly. I would rather hear people talking about how they "worked" through rather than "went" through. Then once through the Chair to start thinking about how they can help the new candidates and the Lodge rather than how quickly they can swap aprons.
Me personally, I attained the Chair in 8 years but that was because I missed out on JD.
M
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bod
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UGLE - MM (London), MMM RAM(Middx), OSM (London)
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Post by bod on Aug 9, 2007 11:01:10 GMT
The idea of 2 years in each office appeals, as brandt said, I know I could make a better job of it second time round, and I would feel much better prepared to take the chair. Wayseer, look back over several decades and you will find it was not uncommon for progression tot he chair to be a much more lengthy process than it used to be, I think the rush is a by product of the numbers being less than they are, its not down to some conspiracy (honest!) I also think that those post war decades with the increase in membership actually had a slightly de-railing effect on freemasonry - so many members wanting to join and go through meant that most lodges became de facto degree conveyer belts, pushing people through and progressing them up the line. I think it is time to review our MO and see how it can be improved, this is something that individuals can influence in their lodges, introducing a lecture evening to the diary so that one of the meetings isn't a degree ceremony, and such like helps to slow things down and improve masonic education.
Just my opinioni of course!
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Post by lauderdale on Aug 9, 2007 11:04:26 GMT
I agree and I really do not like the idea of "Three Meeting MMs". Thankfully in LDH we have stipulated minimum periods between the Degrees and the Candidate does have to learn and understand their Obligation in the previous Degree and has to prepare and read a Paper , what we term a Piece of Architecture on some aspect of that Degree before they request "An Increase in Wages" that being to take the next Degree.
Bro Mike, I managed to reach the Chair in 7 years filling all the Offices from IG to SW before being Installed in the Chair in Oct 1995. Any shorter period would have been too short in my case.
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Post by waynecowley on Aug 9, 2007 11:39:05 GMT
I agree and I really do not like the idea of "Three Meeting MMs". I have to agree with you there, and I say that as a "Three Meeting MM" In hindsight, I was woefully unprepared - I could hardly salute in the first 2 degrees properly and had only attended one meeting outside my own lodge in the 9 weeks it took between initiation and raising Wayne
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ruffashlar
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Lodge Milncroft No. 1515 (GLoS), Govanhill Royal Arch Chapter 523 (S.G.R.A.C.S.)
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Post by ruffashlar on Aug 9, 2007 14:22:13 GMT
Three, five, seven, nine, on a double white line Motorway sun coming up with the morning light ...If the new Master Elect isn't old enough to remember this mouldy oldie, he has to go a-a-all the way back to the start of the queue. But that's the Scots Constitution for you ;D
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bod
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UGLE - MM (London), MMM RAM(Middx), OSM (London)
Posts: 1,296
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Post by bod on Aug 9, 2007 14:28:58 GMT
And if he has the original 12" remix on vinyl is he a shoe-in for GM then? ?
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