The most important aspect of Freemasonry is the "open secret" or plainly recognized truth that there will never be a better world until there are better people in it. Although Freemasonry has a huge fund of esoteric knowledge about higher human development, it can be boiled down to a single statement: "Masonry makes good men better." That statement should always be amplified by at least this much: "Not better than others, but better than themselves-through self-improvement." More broadly, our fraternity makes good men better through self-directed growth in body, mind and spirit, influenced...