Masonic Humility as Servant Leadership

(From the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines)

Since time immemorial, Masonic lodges have a unique governance structure in that all power and authority during a Masonic term is vested in the Worshipful Master (see Art. XI of our Masonic Ordinances). A lesson often overlooked is that such a set-up also highlights the total and complete loss of such power and authority as one finishes his term and becomes a past master. The near absolute discretion provided by the Brethren of the Lodge to he who sits in the East and the total withdrawal of such when one ceases to hold the Oriental Chair of King Solomon serves to establish the perspective one must have in the position. Namely, that the Office of Worshipful Master must foremost be viewed as a position of trust and service for one’s Brethren, as against a privilege to be enjoyed. Such a perspective is known in the Craft as the concept of Masonic Humility. In the discipline of leadership studies, it has come to be classified as “Servant Leadership”.

A Freemason’s commitment to accept such perspective as one’s own, as demonstrated each time one takes the Obligation respectively in the three degrees of our liturgy, must be done willingly and with full understanding of its nature. It is for this reason that an explicit assurance is provided by the Worshipful Master to the candidate before taking the Obligation in each of the three degrees that his making such will expressly NOT “interfere” with the duties a Freemason owes to God, his country, his neighbor, or himself as such “appertains to Freemasonry alone”.

As the candidate should discover after his raising, the certainty of such assurance by the Worshipful Master is premised on the notion that the perspective and commitment one invests as he undertakes his own lifelong journey towards Masonic Light will never contradict one’s duties in each of those four spheres. In our own Philippine context, this is best demonstrated when we strive to fulfill the four key duties of the office of citizen:

  • The Duty of National Allegiance. We should not treat our citizenship as a status with benefits or privileges (i.e. like how many countries our passport can get us into without a visa) but as an honor to be cherished. In short, we must prove that we deserve our citizenship. In truly exceptional circumstances, this can involve genuinely heroic leadership such as the examples of Brothers Jose Rizal and Jose Abad Santos.
  • The Duty of Informed Governance. In line with our Masonic virtue of Charity (“Agape”) as explained above, we should always facilitate understanding before advocacy, as well as promote the meaningful participation of everyone in public and private governance processes.
  • The Duty of Community Service. Again, also in line with our Masonic virtue of Charity (“Agape”), we should actively contribute to our community in the various ways open to us.
  • The Duty of Individual Diligence. In contrast to the first civic duty that emphasizes the real possibility of heroic leadership, this duty highlights the continuing necessity of QUIET leadership; or exercising one’s daily judgment deliberately in an ethical, informed, and positive manner.