Freemason is not the person who wants to be. It is not for anyone to proclaim as regular freemason that becomes one. It is one organization to arrogate itself be part of Freemasonry, that it is part of it, really. It is one organization to presume or express to be regular that it is.A Freemason needs to be recognized as such by his brothers - all Freemasons. A Freemason is a regular freemason if it is recognized, as such, by regular Freemasons. A Obedience, a Grand Lodge or a Grand Orient, is regular if it is recognized by the regular Powers of Freemasonry.
The act that identifies, accepts, proclaims, a Lodge or a Great Lodge or a Grand Orient as regular is its recognition. [...]
The be a regular freemason is hard.To be recognized as regular freemason involves the continuous and relentless enforcement of the rules of regularity, always, at all times and circumstances. And subordinate to the scrutiny of its peers on that continuous and effective compliance.
It is not regular who says it is, but just who is recognized, as such, by the Freemasons and the regular Obediences. Hence the need for rules, principles of recognition. Hence the necessity of recognition - even if this dislikes those who are nor recognized as regular freemason![...]
Rui Bandeira in the site of the Grande Legal Lodge of Portugal [Regular]
