Q&A with Worshipful Brother Andrew Hammer
Interview by Ian E. Laurelin
I was honored to sit down with Worshipful Brother Andrew Hammer, Master of Alba Lodge, No. 222 in Washington, D.C., to discuss his inspiring book, Observing the Craft. As the number one book in Fraternal Review's, Top Masonic Books of the New Millennium poll, it might be said that Observing the Craft is among the most important books in contemporary Masonic education. It is certainly a must-read for all Freemasons, including those newly made and those seeking to restore and protect Freemasonry's greatness.
Q: Were you surprised to learn that this was the number one book on Fraternal Review's Top Masonic Books of the New Millennium list?
A: Very much so. This book has been a journey, and I can't quite believe it ended up number one. I would never have expected that to be the case. When we started with this book, I never expected it to sell more than a hundred copies. So this has been a journey of unexpected proportions, and one of them is to receive this kind of distinction from the readers of Fraternal Review.
Q. Why do you think this book has resonated so well?
A. I guess it’s because the book expresses things that so many Masons think, but are not willing to say. At least, that’s what so many Brothers have said to me. There's nothing particularly new in the book. I'm not really expressing anything that hasn't been said, quite possibly better, by other authors before me. But it just seems to have come at a time when Brothers were connecting with the message that was sent out through the book.
Q. What is the most surprising feedback that you've received since publishing the book?
A. Honestly, that the book was as well-received as it has been. I would never have imagined that it would become as popular as it has; it continues to sell all over the world, every week. It was utterly inconceivable to me that it could ever have been as impactful as it seems to have been.
In the beginning, I didn't seek reviews for the book when it came out, almost as something of a test for myself, to see if anybody would even notice it. And over the years, I've turned down opportunities from the non-Masonic world to further promote the book in the media. And yet, it continues to sell. So, I have to say that the book's success is still the most surprising thing.
Q. How did the original manuscript develop, and how did the book come to be?
A. Oftentimes people ask me what motivated me to write the book in the first place. Unfortunately, the answer is always the same one: my utter dissatisfaction with my own Masonic experience. I have to say, in all honesty, that if I had initially found myself in a Lodge that was delivering everything that I thought Masonry had promised, I might never have written the book in the first place. It’s sort of like going to a restaurant; if you have a wonderful dining experience at a restaurant, you’re going to say “That was a great dinner!”, and leave it at that.
On the other hand, if it’s not that kind of experience, you’re going to start thinking about all the things that should have been done; the way the food was prepared, the way it was brought out, how you were treated by the waitstaff, and then if one is so inclined, you might start noting how that restaurant is supposed to be serving its patrons. So, had I not had the experience that I did, I might never have written anything at all. I might have been quite happy, and left it at that. That was the sole motivation that started me writing about Freemasonry.
When I came to the Craft, I did a good bit of research before I knocked on the door of a Lodge. I was aware, generally, of what Masonry was and what I believed it was intended to be. So when I found that it was considerably different than what I thought should have been offered, or what Freemasonry promises, that degree of difference was enough to make me start asking questions. There was a sense that the things I felt were not right should be put right, or at least expressed in some way. So much happens in the Craft; if you study the history of Freemasonry, you find that this is an ailment that has plagued us from the very beginning. We don't deliver what we promise to so many men.
Q. Were there challenges that you faced leading up to publishing this book?
A. Well, the immediate challenge was knowing what not to put in the book. In other words, much of what was taken out of the book was taken out in the interest of focusing directly on those points I felt were most essential to helping Masons understand how the Craft had developed, what was being missed, or perhaps what was lost over the years. There were a few things that I took out just for the sake of keeping an eye on the ball. Those things later ended up in PDFs, which I’ve made available online through the book's website.
My intention was to put together a concise book that would speak somewhat generally, and leave the specifics up to the reader to discover on their own. But after the book came out, it became clear to me that some Brothers wanted more of those specifics, and that's when I managed to rework some of those notes and put them online.
Q. Do you believe that every Mason should read this book?
A. Well, I wrote it in the hope that people would read it. I think every author of anything, anyone who sits down to make a creative work of any kind, wants as many people who are willing to indulge the author in sitting down and reading it. So I guess that the answer is yes; although it sounds like a rather bold thing to say about one's work.
What I would like the reader to understand is that it is possible for Masons to realize the promise that Freemasonry makes to us, on both the spiritual and empirical level. That it’s possible for any Lodge to create a Masonic experience that, on the one hand, might be seen as exceptional, but on the other hand is nothing more (or less) than what Masonic history tells us it can and should be. I think I would like, at least, for a Brother to open his mind to what is being expressed in the book.
Q. What advice or instruction would you have if a Brother intends to seek further light but doesn't attend a traditional observance lodge?
A. Well, the first thing I have to say is that I don't subscribe to the notion of a "traditional observance" Lodge. I don't use that term. One of the funny things that happened over the years is that people will come to me using that term, and I always point out (I believe it's on page 125 of the paperback) that there is no such thing as “Traditional Observance.” I try to stay away from that term, in particular, because it proves problematic on many different levels.
We begin having discussions about what “traditional” means, whether we were referring to Tradition with a capital T, and whether we are referring to ourselves as Traditionalists with a capital T. All those things mean something entirely different. And I understand that perhaps the vast majority of Masons have no idea what those terms might imply, and therefore might be unaffected or even disinterested in those distinctions. But I think the distinction is extremely important because there are some things that we find in a capital T Traditionalism, that we may discover are not only incompatible with how we wish to understand Freemasonry, but even how we live in today's world.
Q. So maybe a way to reframe that question would be what direction do you have for a Brother who wants to better “observe the Craft”?
A. My primary concern is that we build strong Lodges. If Masons observe the concepts presented in this book and find ways to do so carefully, and hopefully consensually— I mean, there is no guarantee that you will do this consensually, but hopefully, you can do it consensually... certainly, it's better to do it that way— then the natural result will be Lodges that become self-sufficient and strongly bonded in terms of their Brotherhood.
Now, that's not to say that doing any of this is easy, but I do believe and have experienced, that if a Lodge is able build this kind of consciousness, and operate in this way, the changes you can create are carried on, from Brother to Brother, as new men are made Masons in your Lodge. And if the ideas are studied, and due diligence is given to them, then one finds that they are passed on to those new Brothers, as well as required of any Mason who might wish to join your Lodge.
Q. How might a Lodge leader apply this methodology to create a positive and lasting change within his Lodge, or district, in straightforward, practical terms?
A. I dare say in almost every way imaginable. So what we're talking about is everything from how a Lodge approaches its ritual to simply cleaning up the place. In essence, what I think the book addresses broadly is an attention to detail, which involves both the details of the visible appearance of the temple, and the work of the Lodge. Things like decorum, lighting, music, regalia, how carefully the Lodge works as a unit, even how the Lodge dines together.
And then there are the invisible details, things like who is the fit and proper persons to join the Lodge? How carefully are we guarding the West Gate? What kind of initiatic experience are we giving to a properly vetted candidate? And in turn, how that experience affects our understanding of our own Masonic journey.
Q. Have you encountered Lodges that can balance and prioritize both the social aspect and the philosophical aspect of our Craft?
A. I think so. I've encountered Lodges that are attempting to do that, and they do it in different proportions. But it has to be said that the Lodges that I'm interested in are those Lodges that focus primarily on the philosophical aspect of the Craft. This is because the Brethren are coming together through a common philosophical interest, or through a common vision for the Lodge, which then forms the basis of their social identity, or their social interactions as a lodge.
So I'm drawing this distinction; when we normally talk about social Lodges, we're talking about lodges that are involved perhaps in the community, that do many different things with friends and family and non-Masons. That's not the world I travel in, because my interests are building the social networks through the common philosophical links first. And then, that forms the basis of those social things that the Lodge may or may not do with family or others.
Have I seen, more directly, Lodges do a good job of both? I would say “yes” because I have to give those Lodges credit for trying to do both well, and here I have to say that I'm talking very much about my own personal preference.
It's not really my role to judge a Lodge that's decided, "okay, we're going to try to adopt all of the philosophical points of an observant lodge, whilst at the same time keeping the pancake breakfast." I mean, if they do that, if they're happy with doing that, it's not my place to say that they shouldn't be happy doing that. I'm not a pancake breakfast guy, but I've been to pancake breakfasts and enjoyed quite a few. The social element is nice. My personal preference is a lot less social and much more philosophical. Freemasonry, I believe, is about the individual work that one does. It's not meant to be a social or service club type of institution.
Q. What would you like readers to learn or take away from this book?
A. To understand that it is possible for us to realize what Masonry promises us. So what does Masonry promise us? I think it promises us an institution, a place, a fraternity, where we can seriously contemplate a journey of self-awareness or self-development, where we can take time from our busy lives to discover, at least in a Masonic sense, more about who we are and why we're here.
We are in the midst of the busyness of the modern world, perhaps Masonry is a respite where each man can walk a common journey. All of us have gone through the same essential ritual path, but yet for each man, it's a discovery that he makes on his own; the symbolism relates to him in his own way. So we share a common path, but individually. And I say this because Brethren really need to take out of the Masonic experience that this is one way in which we discover ourselves; and take the time to contemplate the deeper meaning of our own existence, and how that aligns with the Great Architect.
Q. Is the book more helpful to a newly made Master Mason, or to those who have worked in the Craft for many years?
A. I wouldn't say that it's more helpful to one than the other. I mean, in terms of the message of the book, I've seen the message be helpful to both in different ways. So, for the new Mason, I think it helps provide an orientation as to what he should expect from Freemasonry. Perhaps it helps him to keep his focus on what's important in the Craft, and to sustain his commitment to the symbolic Lodge, and keep that commitment foremost in his mind.
But for the older Mason, perhaps it's an affirmation of what they have always thought, or what they always wanted the Craft to be, or what they always believed it was about. This may help them to work in their Lodge to try to achieve some of the things that I mentioned in the book. I think that all Masons, young or old, if they're looking for a quality-based fraternity, can find something useful in the message that comes out of the book.
Q. You've emphasized "quality over quantity" in the book; why is this important?
A. Well, I don't think that, in philosophical or spiritual endeavors, quantity has ever served either of them very well. What you're talking about is purely based in quality, in my view. Quantity is that thing by which we seek to prove consistency or validity, when we have nothing else to speak to the validity of a thing. However, quality is what we start out within Freemasonry.
For example, the essence of the rituals, both speculative and operative, is that, if it's not quality work, it is not good and square work. I can bring a million stones to a building site, but if they're not laid correctly, I will never have a building. Or if I do, it won't be one that can last more than a few hours or a few days. So, quality always should supersede quantity in measuring our life's experiences and the work that we do on a daily basis.
Q. Did you have any personal insights while working on the book?
A. If I did, they had to do with understanding that Masonry is very much like any other human discipline or institution. We don't escape being human when we become Masons. One of the things that I've said for years, and I say to Brothers who ask questions like this, is to insert any term you wish into the following sentence – be it Capitalist, Socialist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or Masons – “Masons do not behave the way Masons expect Masons to behave.” Perhaps that sentence may strike some as cynical, but for me, it's a leveling tool that always brings me into a reality check.
Now I've been interested in things like Freemasonry since I was a child. That was where my mind went... that’s neither good nor bad, up or down, that's just where my mind was; I was contemplating these kinds of disciplines. The takeaways that I had [after becoming a Mason] were the same ones I mentioned initially, which was that something here was not the way it was supposed to be. And I could do two things at that point.
I could walk away, because I had, and still do have, a very busy life full of things that interest me and keep me busy. Or, I could ask questions, and try to discover what brought us to a place where what I thought was going to happen didn't happen in the way I read that it should have happened. As it turns out, the more you read, the more you start peeling that onion, you realize—again, there's nothing new in this—Freemasonry has dealt with these vexing issues since the very beginning of Speculative Freemasonry. One of the reasons the Grand Lodge of London was put together in 1717 was to deal with the indiscriminate mongering of degrees in dockyard pubs.
You find William Preston complaining in very harsh language about the state of the Craft in the 1770s. You find this being expressed once again, in America, in the 1830s and 1840s, after the Morgan Affair. You see it is said once again in the 1870s, by men like Andrew MacBride. So we've always been struggling with ourselves – I don't want to believe that this is a Sisyphus-like struggle.
I think there is an end for those of us who seek that end. But the Craft as a whole, as a human institution, is constantly struggling with the reality that these kinds of institutions — institutions of principle and ideas — are created precisely because we, as human beings, are not perfect. We don't impress ourselves on a daily basis. So we have to create institutions like this, to continually teach us how we should be, and to what we should aspire. That is the promise of the Craft, and it remains just as strong as it ever was. It is an aspirational system that gives us an opportunity, if we dare to take it, to realize the very best in ourselves.
Q. You once shared with us that you were asked by a Brother who was new to the Craft, and he asked you if there were more degrees above the 33rd. Your response: "Yes, there are. There are the three degrees that he started with, and they are all higher than all the others combined." You went on to say: "He should go back and actually learn them." Now, is this the same advice you would give today to that same Brother?
A. Absolutely! I firmly believe, as I've stated in the book, that Masonry can be done to its completion within the symbolic Lodge, the Blue Lodge. The fact that we have other appendant bodies, other orders that have their own stories, or even that our own Lodges don't engage in this degree of education or realization, does not disprove my contention that everything that can be found in the Craft can be found within the symbolic Lodge.
To say anything else than that, is to say that a Lodge is in itself inadequate as a transmitter of ultimate knowledge. And once you've said that, I think you're calling the entire Masonic endeavor into question. We do not give enough attention to the three degrees of the Lodge. We have trained ourselves— perhaps it's an aspect of our consumerist society— to attain more and more things, because the more things we attain—here again, quantity—if I have more things, if I have more ranks, then naturally that equates to more and more intelligence. That’s an external measure of something that is intrinsic, an internal process.
The lessons that I find in the three degrees of Masonry are ongoing; they renew themselves. And every week, every month, I find something new in the various rituals of the three degrees of the Symbolic Lodge. That takes me further. It takes me to a place that I wasn't before, or it gives me something to think about that I hadn't thought about before. A lifetime is meant to be invested in those three degrees. This is dealt with in the most controversial chapter in the book.
The other stories came about because of the natural lack, that occurred in generation after generation, to give due diligence to the lessons that are there to be taught in these craft degrees; the third of which is called the high and sublime degree. The degree about which we each have told Masons, for generations, that there is nothing more or higher than this; there is nothing greater than this. So, if we've said that it's a matter of international Masonic doctrine, there is nothing higher than the Third Degree, then the question is glaring. It's staring us right in the face: what is it that we've missed when we leave that port to search for other shores?
And these are not my words; please, read Preston's Illustrations of Masonry. He says it much better and much more harshly than anything I've said, focusing on these other things rather than focusing on the lessons that may be taught in the symbolic Lodge. You can teach 60-year Masons lessons on the First Degree, I promise you, things that they haven't yet come across. I encounter it constantly because none of us knows everything there is to know about the Craft Degrees.
So, we must engage ourselves in continual learning about how things are done here and why. Are we sure that our rituals are as sacrosanct as some would have us believe that they are? When we start unfolding that story, once again, we find that Masonry is a progressive science, and that is the kind of challenge, the kind of intellectual challenge, that I enjoy, and would propose that we are all meant to enjoy.
Q. What is the Masonic Restoration Foundation, or MRF?
A. I think the best way to define it is to say that it's an organization of like-minded Masons who are dedicated to studying and promulgating the best practices we can bring to the Masonic Lodge experience. We speak of restoration, not because we think that our way is the only way of doing things, or that everything else is broken, but because we believe that there was an intention behind what our founding Brothers in speculative Masonry were trying to do when they began to build their Lodges in the 18th and even 17th centuries.
That intention was that Freemasonry was something to be taken with the utmost seriousness, in terms of intellectual growth, spiritual development, and the quest for light and knowledge. So in that sense, I think that what we would seek to do, is to restore the Craft, in our own very small way, to that sense of purpose and solemnity of practice that we feel was very clearly intended, even if not always traditionally practiced.
Q. In what ways does this book support the mission of the Masonic Restoration Foundation?
A. The Masonic Restoration Foundation has its own statement of guiding principles and guidelines; if anything, perhaps Observing the Craft offers a sympathetic text in relation to the values of the MRF, in terms of the strong focus on the symbolic Lodge and maximizing the Lodge experience. As I said before, much was left unsaid in Observing the Craft, because the intention of the book was to speak very clearly and concisely to the principles that support an observant Lodge. So, I think the book is in concert with the ideas of the MRF, which is, very simply put, to encourage those Lodges that are seeking that path of restoration toward a very considered, determined, educationally-based experience; to assist Brothers in any way that we can to realize those goals for themselves.
Everything is there on the website, masonicrestorationfoundation.org. It precisely outlines what the MRF is and what it does. One of the things about the Foundation is that there isn't anything that we really do, other than hold - and attempt to share - these ideas with the Brethren who are on that same path. Our vision is to try to strengthen Lodges in whatever way those Lodges find useful.
But, of course, as a Foundation, we are not a Grand Lodge. We don't seek to be a Grand Lodge. We can't instruct or tell Lodges to do one single thing. For two reasons: one, because we're not a Grand Lodge; and two, because Lodges will do whatever they wish. In any case, they always have, and they always will. That's part of the undeniable and verifiable history of Freemasonry. Its support system is that network of knowing that there are others walking a similar path in whatever way they do. I think that's probably the strongest aspect of the MRF.
Q. So what's next? What projects are on the horizon for you?
A. The thing that I'm most busy with at the moment is the further building of our new Lodge in Washington, D.C. That's Alba Lodge No. 222. This is a Lodge that is seeking, at the moment, to work the MacBride ritual of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. And if we are able to do that, we would only be the 10th Lodge in the world to work that ritual since its inception in 1870. There are a few reasons why that's the case.
It is a more voluminous ritual. It gives a lot more of the work to the different officers of the Lodge. It's not an easy ritual to perform; but it is, in my own opinion, probably the most beautiful English language ritual in existence. So we created Lodge Alba, which is the name of Scotland in Scots Gaelic; and the motto of the Lodge is also in Scots Gaelic—Beus agus Tost— which translates simply to "virtue and silence" - one of the oldest, if not the oldest Masonic motto in existence.
Q. Worshipful Brother, Andrew Hammer, thank you for your time, your dedication, and the many contributions that you've made and continue to make to our Craft.
A. Thank you very much, Brother Ian, and thank you so much again to the readers of Fraternal Review.
To hear the full interview with Wor. Bro. Andrew Hammer, please visit Fraternal Review's podcast available on all major listening platforms.