I used to think the same thing. Eh.. Who cares about some fraternal order of builders that don't even build anything anymore.... until I read this book: http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/amm/index.htm (I read a paperback of the actual book). This wasn't as much of an ah ha moment as when I watched the TED videos of James H Kunstler and Mark Lakeman, and saw how architecture controls a society and affects it's symbolism.