C. Fred Kleinknecht, 33°
Sovereign Grand Commander

In Freemasonry, it is important to have the right Resistance to Change.

What is your "RC factor"? Your "Resistance to Change"? Change is threatening, and we all seek safety. What has been done before is a safe harbor. Why leave it? The open sea can be rough. Yet without venturing out, no journey is completed. Too many Masons, I fear, automatically reject any change. It is a knee-jerk reaction. They fall back on old ideas about the immutable tenets of our Craft intoning "It is not in the power of any man, or any body of men, to make innovations in the body of Masonry" as if it were some kind of magical spell to protect against change. Yes, there are changeless principles and guidelines. Masonry's ideals of Charity, Relief, and Truth are universal and timeless. Yet when the Resistance to Change—any change—is too high, nothing happens.

On the other side of the coin, change for the sake of change is as bad as rejecting all change. Some Brethren will grasp at any alleged solution to Freemasonry's problems. They jump on whatever "horse" is offered and ride off in all directions at once. Then they burn out when the immediate changes they seek don't occur. Thus, when the Resistance to Change factor is too low, nothing happens either.

In electricity, resistance is "the opposition offered by a body or substance to the passage through it of a steady electric current." If the resistance is right, the heating element warms, the light illuminates, the appliance works. If the resistance is too high or too low, nothing works. The energy can't get through to do its job or it gets through too strongly and burns out the circuit, light, or appliance. Thus, in physics as in Freemasonry, it is important to have the right Resistance to Change, to let the energy of our members flow at the proper rate and have its good effect.

Let's take accelerated or one-day classes as an example. Some Brethren are dead-set against them. They harp on traditions lost and the supposed superficiality of the Masonic bonding and education accomplished by such classes. Other Brethren embrace the quicker-class concept so completely that nothing is considered but adding to the membership numbers of the Lodge or Temple. Clearly, one Resistance to Change is so high it fails to recognize sound statistics that men who go through accelerated classes are as likely to be involved, interested Brethren as men who go through classes in the longer traditional manner. As clearly, the other Resistance to Change is so low it guarantees even good men will drop out of Freemasonry, and quickly, because Masonry's value has not been made evident to them.

The proper Resistance to Change is to recognize all the factors that make some form of shortened, modified classes a possible solution. Most men today just do not have the time to devote to the customary process involved in becoming a Master Mason, Scottish or York Rite Mason, or Shriner. Nor do they have the memorization skills of past generations. Yet they have the same needs and desires as all previous and present Brethren. They want fraternal fellowship, knowledge of Freemasonry, and a means of involving themselves and their families in activities that assist them while helping others.

The key, the proper "Resistance to Change," might very well be accelerated and enhanced classes but classes that bond the Brother to the Craft after his initiation, as well as during his Degree work, by means of sincere fellowship, continued Masonic education, and meaningful, interesting programs. Many Lodges and Temples are developing exactly such programs for new members as well as all members. Senior Brethren need as much attention as new initiates. We all have to get something of value out of Freemasonry, and in the time we can make available, if we are to stay in the Fraternity.

What is your "Resistance to Change" and that of your Lodge or Temple? Are you willing to implement new methods of Degree work, consider fresh programs, and listen to recent as well as senior members? Are you willing to do what is needed to make Freemasonry a vital force in your life and in the lives of all members and our communities? If so, your "Resistance to Change" is just right, and the illumination Freemasonry provides all men will burn brightly well into this new century!