C. Fred Kleinknecht, 33°
Sovereign Grand Commander

The Double-headed Eagle is the best-known symbol of the Scottish Rite. It is rich in many meanings, but one of the most important is that the Rite looks both to the past and to the future. This is a particularly important quality for us this month as we leave one millennium and enter another.

Looking to the past is easy to understand and do. Our Masonic tenets and values, based as they are on universal truths, have been proved by countless generations in hundreds of different cultures. They are clear and certain. In contrast, the future is unclear and uncertain. Yet, the Scottish Rite must deal with both the past and the future—if we are to have as bright future as we had an illustrious past.

Basically, we must "futureproof" the Fraternity to insure its health and continuity into the next millennium. But how?

Futureproofing is not like waterproofing. The purpose of water-proofing is to keep the water out of or away from something, to isolate that thing from the elements. Masonry has tried that and proved it doesn't work. We have retreated into the tiled recesses of our Lodges and Temples, closed the doors tightly, and peered out into the world only when someone gave the required number of raps. We tried to futureproof the Craft by isolation and discovered we were isolated.

So how can we futureproof Freemasonry today?

Not by retreating, but by charging.
Not by isolation, but by involvement.
Not by cringing, but by creating.
Not by washing our hands, but by rolling up our sleeves.

Relevant organizations always survive and prosper; irrelevant ones become curious, quirky institutions, little more than sources for fond memories, museum exhibits, and scholarly works. We will futureproof Freemasonry only by asking and answering two questions: 1) What are the needs of today's young man and how will we meet them? 2) What are the needs of society today and how will we meet them?

We will not find the answers to either question by hiding out or by looking only to the past. We must look at the world as it is today and at the future as we can reasonably predict it will be. These are not frightening pictures. The young men of today are no less thoughtful, or less inclined to study, or less devoted to building a good world for themselves and their families than we were and are. They simply express themselves in different terms, distribute their time in different ways, and have different priorities—but they are not less for all that. They still want the things all good Masons have always wanted—because they are the same things, in essence, all good men have always wanted. And society still wants what it has always wanted—freedom from fear, a chance to grow and to be economically secure, an opportunity for each person to develop to his or her full potential.

The challenge, for all of Freemasonry, from the Fraternity's elder statesmen to the newest Entered Apprentice, is to find creative ways to place Masonry square in the midstream of the future. It is your challenge, as much as it is mine. But together, we can succeed.

The eagle looks both ways for a reason, and it looks at all of us.