A point was made that regularity meant a direct lineage. I pointed out that was false. and it is.
Nice try. However you appear to be making things up to suit your purposes. That point was made in Reply #5. The discussion had moved on and, in your Reply #19, there was no mention of that earlier point and, although mistaken, it did fit with the discussion as it stood.
B.T.W., the notions of "Regularity" and "Recognition" intersect to the extent that each G.L. decides what is "Regular" from its perspective. Therefore, while the point was limited (there is always more to regularity than lineage), it was not necessarily false. Consider Bro. Karen Kidd's excellent paper, "I am Regular".
Perhaps realisation is but one step on a long journey
Agreed, with emphasis on the "long journey." It may even happen coincidentally when you pick-up your mail, but I wouldn't count on it (except perhaps the realisation of having been duped).
Last Edit: May 28, 2011 13:22:51 GMT 9.5 by Deleted
Surely we can simplify things. So long as a Lodge is part of an established Grand Lodge structure, observes the Ancient Landmarks, and entrusts the appropriate secrets to its candidates with each degree conferred, who has the right to say it is irregular?
A particular Grand Lodge may decide to arrogate to itself the task of deciding which Lodges and Grand Lodges it condescends to consider regular or otherwise; that doesn't make it right, neither does it take into account the fact that many see Masonry as belonging to T.G.A.O.T.U., not to any human authority. In which case is a Grand Lodge that makes such a judgment claiming to know the mind of T.G.A.O.T.U.?
No doubt the Ancient Landmarks are central but the actual identification is problematic:
"The concept of Masonic Landmarks appears in Masonic regulations as early as 1723, and seems to be adopted from the regulations of operative masonic guilds. In 1858, Albert G. Mackey attempted to set down 25 Landmarks. In 1863, George Oliver published a Freemason's Treasury in which he listed 40 Landmarks. A number of American Grand Lodges have attempted the task of enumerating the Landmarks; numbers differing from West Virginia (7) and New Jersey (10) to Nevada (39) and Kentucky (54)." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry#Landmarks
In one of the degrees the overseers are commissioned to inspect the work of the Brothers where all regular pieces are accepo bted te incorporated into the building of the Temple. It is acceptable because the work is compared with an existing blueprint and found to follow all the specifications. Only the piece that we may call irregular, originally rejected by the builders, can save the day.
The Recording Angels are the beings whose bodies are the various planes of existence. Thus (almost) every emotional event on/in the Earth leaves a trail in the body of the planetary Lord of the Waters (astral plane). That entity therefore feels the discomfort of damage in its body and presses for resolution. Resolution may be by entities other than those that caused the damage.
I suspect that the inadequacy of the overseers is much closer to the human level.