Who's Ritual is it? - Part II (See previous)
Our Ritual embodies the philosophy that forms our Brotherhood and is the basic grounding of our Fraternity. The words, the symbols and their meanings, the tokens and signs, even the placement of items and the order they are exemplified all should build to a mystical revelation of the bond between us.
The Ritual should change rarely and slowly and with much soul searching. It should be even harder to change than a constitution. It should not be left to the whim of a group of people without accountability to the membership and altered cavalierly to fit the needs of the member development scheme du jour.
If, as seems to be inevitable, we are in the process of recreating what it means to be a member of a fraternity then of course the Ritual must be altered to accommodate the change. That does not mean it should be divested of every mystical symbol simply because they are hard to understand or may 'look bad' or "it takes too long". It should not be broken into parts just because you have to do something after each "challenge" stage.
The Initiation Ritual could very well be structured to work in a 3-tiered manner. We already have a model, in fact. For those of you who came in late I would remind you that several of our founders were Freemasons. The Freemason's "Blue Lodge" Ritual is a series of three degrees, from Entered Apprentice, to Fellow Craft, to Master Mason, at which time one is "as much a Mason as you will ever be". (The higher degrees are more for learning and understanding than secret initiation.) The Masonic model in its current form has served that Fraternity well at least since 1717, and much longer according to which origin story you believe.
It is a sad indictment that a fraternity founded by Freemasons has so few of them in leadership positions. Perhaps if our leaders were more familiar with the concept of a fraternal organization we would have a stronger mystical context to the brotherhood. As things are today, we seem to be working from a business plan better suited to producing MBA candidates than a vital brotherhood. "What profiteth a man if he gain the whole world but lose his own soul?"
Brotherhood is our "Core Business", not "building leaders". We must never forget that. A corporation that moves away from its core business is in danger of losing strategic focus and losing market share.
The Fraternity as a body should make it clear that we do not want the ground to move under our feet without the full participation of the membership. And by membership I mean ALL members including Alumni as well as Undergraduates, Volunteers as well as Paid Staff. We need a Ritual Committee made up of members who are well versed in the power of rituals - clergy, Freemasons, academics, or volunteers with strong Chapter experience. That committee would make recommendations which must be ratified by the Fraternity as a whole. That is the only way such fundamental changes should be made. Change will be slow - it should be. If the current leadership cannot accept that mandate then we need new leadership.
I am Diogenes and I approved this message.
