'This page has been approved by the United Grand Lodge of England’

KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT COCHIN LODGE SEMINAR

ON 4^TH JUNE ‘05

THEME : WHITHER DIRECTING OUR COURSE?

We have been here, in this part of the World, as a Masonic body for almost three hundred years, and have evolved as a fraternity through imperial wars, wars of independence and other disturbances with our ancient landmarks and usages, intact. Yet in the last decade or so, the changes that we have witnessed and continue to witness, in our social environment, would seem to have been monumental enough to change our very life styles. Time has taken the place of Money as a prime resource, which is the competitive element in fashioning our lives and what we do with them.

Obviously I’m addressing the middle classes from whom we derive our membership, and therefore our course has to be directed through the expectations of that class, although our actions as Masons may impinge upon a wider public.

The changes that are taking place, affect family life, and relationships, the make-up of the country’s demographic profile, with 70 million or a good 7% of the population being Senior Citizens, and a large and youthful segment still being represented.

In the time allotted, I can only highlight a few trends that will affect our course, enough I hope to provoke further thought and related action to keep our fraternity in relevant focus to the developing needs of our fraternity, and indeed of society at large, which we seek to serve.

Our first concern should be to study our ritual with a view not merely to commit to memory and subsequent verbal extrusion, but to transform the words, the exhortations and obligations propounded in them to action on the ground – and even to a way of living.

So our most important and immediate focus should be on our Brotherhood, and Relief. What is the changing nature, of the fraternity – its demographics, what are its needs today, and what should be our response to them?

Let’s take our aging population first – people are living longer, thanks to improvements in medical management and hygiene. The safety nets that other countries provide in the nature of their social security schemes are absent in our country. We used to enjoy a joint family system which offered some protection to the elderly but changing social circumstances have militated against this system. In a manner of speaking and ironically, our fraternity has to return to its original moorings, when hundreds of years ago, Masons took care of their own.

It is in this context that we have proposed and support, the Cornwallis Home Project, as well as the Masons’ Welfare Fund both seeking to address the problems of aging, and providing a social security net.

Likewise, let’s address the membership potential from the most suitable sources bearing in mind certain singular features of our English fraternity here. It is well known now that we cannot consecrate new Lodges in India of our Constitution in terms of our constitutional obligations to the G.L.I. Therefore our 18 Lodges in the District must remain at that number with perhaps a maximum number (of an outside limit of 100 per Lodge) of 1800 Masons. We already have a single membership number of 1000 approx. which means we can increase our tally by about 800 new members in all. There are already a couple of Lodges whose number exceeds 100 so they need to consider perhaps a freeze on membership. What these statistics tell us is that we have to discount numbers in favour of quality, and that we are not really in competition for members to the detriment of any other body which addresses the same potential class of members.

Next look at this potential class a bit more closely and you may find the professional categories being more representative of the more recent occupations, and perhaps also more from the Service Sector. In the Information Technology Sector, potential exists not only in terms of quality but in terms of inclination and income, for charity and active relief efforts. However, for this class and indeed for all our potential members, TIME is the scarce resource, which we need constantly to address as a concern in terms of our own Meeting schedules, duration etc. Besides, to this class, involvement of nuclear families in their time-share is of paramount importance. What will our fraternity have to offer to satisfy this need?

As in many other sectors, both social and economic, our geographical region has considerable growth potential for Freemasons, far ahead of the West where the membership, by and large, is ageing and declining. Our average age of candidates and members already bear very favourable comparison to the West. Therefore there is no reason to leave the East and go to the West in search of any secrets of this nature.

In addressing this youthful potential, our emphasis on the moral law, and ethical behaviour would have an appeal. All the more important, therefore to practise what we preach, and to show that Brotherhood, Relief and Truth are all principles enacted in our work-a-day life.

Ethical practices are now being increasingly called for, in Corporate Governance norms, even in B. School curricula – we have had to re-discover our moral moorings which in the last few decades have been rather lost, or at best uncertain.

We are already in a knowledge society, and perhaps a large membership potential could lie amongst those involved in knowledge-based industry and services. Most practitioners and students of Management are now agreed that there is more to intelligence than just one dimensional competence – that there are about eight different categories of intelligence – analytical, artistic, spatial, numerate, emotional etc.

Amongst these, much valued now is the possession of emotional intelligence, the ability to control ones’ own emotions, and to understand the feelings and emotions of others, to be able through that understanding to get one’s co-workers to perform to the best of their individual capabilities. The cultivation of emotional intelligence, delivers maturity. I would submit that a close study and practice of our Masonic precepts can only aid this valuable quality, and should be attraction enough to those endowed with it. Again, our practice of our rituals in effect will enhance this receptivity while contrarily our disregard of them in practise will have the opposite effect. Humanity and Humane-ness are the watch words and motivational factors in this millennium.

It has been observed over the years that any policy or principle has to be reinforced by behaviour, which is the level at which good notions become active and noticed.

Our relief activities have to be focused on the needs of our changing society, some of which I have touched upon above, and have to serve neglected areas of social welfare, but first as always comes our own fraternity.

Our Lodges and Chapters should through Masonic education elaborate upon the underlying themes of our precepts, rituals and practices to make them relevant to the aspiring Mason, so that he feels that the precious time he gives to the fraternity is amply rewarded in a daily advancement of knowledge, and in a gradual progression towards achieving wisdom.

The ancient landmarks remain and will continue to be with us as guides to our progress, but the course that freemasons takes will take us through the different windings of our mortal life, ultimately and hopefully arriving somewhere near TRUTH which is the ultimate goal that we all seek.

Before closing, I would like to commend Lodge Cochin and all its Brethren for the example they have shown in the recent Tsunami-relief projects. They have shown Charity in action, and therefore I thank them, the Past Masters, the W.M., Wor. Bro. Mathew Verghese, Wor. Bro. Royce Kurien, and all the Brethren for their initiative and contributions. In addition organising this seminar has given us all an opportunity to inter-act at a fraternity level. May the GAOTU continue to keep you committed in action to the cause of relief and humanity.

To end on a personal note, it was one of my predecessors R.W. Bro. Sir Archibald Campbell, who caused this Lodge Cochin to be consecrated, and whose name my own Mother Lodge proudly bears. He was a Ruler who thought well into the future, foresaw the advent of independence, and indeed in a way prepared our Masonic District for the future. Sir Archibald has been my own beacon light and therefore it gives me added pleasure to be here with a Lodge which was another of his endowments to this District.