Confidence Over Charisma
What is the most important practice necessary to preserve Freemasonry for the future generations?
To me, it’s how well we protect the West Gate. Lowering our Masonic standards may increase our numbers today, but it will certainly dilute our once great reputation and cause irreparable harm to our gentle craft.
Such an ominous warning has been heard countless times. What I find to be missing from this Masonic passing bell is any discussion about what guarding the West Gate really entails. How does one ensure that the only the right men are elected to receive the degrees of Masonry?
Having served on numerous investigating committees and drawing from my experience as a trained investigator, I have developed some best practices to pass along. Primarily, listen to your gut instinct. It is never wrong. You may think this is a bold statement, but please let me continue. I am convinced that my gut instinct has kept me alive on more than one occasion, I trust it implicitly and so do some who are close to me. I believe it is always accurate, but my interpretation of what it’s telling is not. The accuracy of my interpretation hovers in the 90% range and above. When you learn to listen with the least amount of bias possible, consider all hints and clues, such as body language and idiosyncrasies in behaviors and inconsistencies between words and actions (no matter how subtle), your gut will guide you faithfully.
A huge red flag for me is the over-abundance of charisma by the subject.
Charisma was originally used in a Christian context to refer to a gift, or a power bestowed upon an individual by the Holy Spirit. It comes from the noun: charis, meaning grace. Now we use the word to refer to social grace rather than in the divine sense. I will wager that you can identify a leader of some sort who exudes charisma. Does that trait alone make them a great leader? These types of leaders can easily gain support. Consider for a moment that job applicant who relies on charisma. She may shine in a job interview. Charisma without confidence in one’s ability does not make for a good leader or the best choice for that position at work.
In this context, confidence is a belief or conviction in a person’s abilities. A certainty in one’s personal ability to succeed, even in the face of adversity. As I navigate the many investigations that I conduct both professionally and in Masonry. I stand in vigilance to detect the imbalance of charisma over confidence. It is tempting to be blinded by those who have mastered the application of charisma. It shows up for me most often as a gut feeling of too good to be true. Once detected, asking probing questions to gauge a person’s depth of knowledge about whatever it is that they speak so eloquently will quickly reveal whether they are demonstrating confidence in the topic or are masquerading behind charisma. We only have one chance at the West Gate to repel that man who is not right, or simply may be not wrong for our Lodge. A recommendation for a candidate to receive the degrees of Masonry should be solely based on how they will excel as a Mason and advance the Craft. Not just the premise that we could not find anything wrong with the candidate. With every petition we should settle for no less than an articulatable reason this man will make a great Mason before granting a recommendation.
How well can you discern confidence over charisma?