Three Things I Have Learned about Freemasonry (& Life) Since I Started the Square & Compass Podcast

In February 2020, I started the Square & Compass Podcast. Our first episode featured W. Bro. Michel Brassard.

Since that time, I have been honoured to interview (literal) rocket scientists, heritage preservationists, ghost hunters, soldiers, and truly distinguished Masons.

I have reviewed original architectural blue-prints (from 1921), connected with Masons near and far, reviewed heritage documents, and grown within the craft.

The podcast is available on YouTube, Podbean, Spotify, Apple (ITunes), and Google Podcasts.

As a year has passed since its start, now seems like a good time to review (just) some of what I have learned about Freemasonry, and life, by facilitating the Square & Compass Podcast.

1-No Such Thing as an Overnight Success

I can’t lie-when I started the podcast I had visions of thousands of subscribers, millions of views, and (potentially) millions of dollars. Intellectually, I knew this vision was highly dubious. Emotionally, I hoped it to be true.

One year in, I am at 531 YouTube subscribers and single digit followers everywhere else. My views hover in the low thousands (per month) and I am far from monetizing. I have three Patrons (one of which is my father), Suffice it to say, this is not the type of thing for which one should quit his job.

Yet, I will continue producing content and hoping for that elusive “viral hit,” all while knowing intellectually that success is about more than a viral hit or even viral hits-success takes time.

This lesson is applicable to Freemasonry. As Freemasonry’s numbers continue to decline, many Freemasons hold out hope for a “quick” turnaround, where numbers will rise and Lodges will fill over night.

While that is what I hope for emotionally, intellectually I know there will be no overnight success or quick fix. Freemasonry’s decline has gone-on for decades; Freemasonry’s growth will take decades also.

Luckily-it is worth the work; and the wait.

2-Freemasonry’s Challenges are Universal

I have had the chance to interview Masons at the local, national, and international level.

In all of these interviews, I have been struck by how similar the challenges faced by these Masons (and their Masonic Lodges and Temples) are.

The universality of these problems are strangely comforting, in that it indicates the solutions should be universal also.

One benefit of the podcasting (and social media in general) format, is that it will hopefully allow the successes from one lodge/jurisdiction to be communicated within other lodges/jurisdictions.

This lesson is also very applicable to life; too often we consider our problems it be unique to ourselves. We forget that many others are likely experiencing similar problems and, as such, may have solutions which we can attempt.

3 — There is Always Something to Learn

The benefit of a podcast format is that a long-form conversation always offers the chance to learn something new-and it almost always makes good on that chance!

It is easy to think, when you have spent as many hours and years in Masonic meetings as I have, that you have learned all you can about Freemasonry.

The Square & Compass Podcast has disabused me of that thought.

The Square & Compass Podcast has also allowed me to consider Masonry in a new light; for that I am very grateful!

Is there an area in your life, within which you have become complacent, within which think you have learned all you can? If that is the case, I would encourage you to reach out to others, and take the time to consider it in a new light.

You will be grateful too!