Masontry

I know thy self and I die daily, I was born perfect, a piece of pure lambskin, (baby at birth) emblem of purity, five points of fellowship, which we enter relations with the world( five senses) with soul and body making the perfect number (7 God's blessed #) from the west man thinks he originated in this world but we all come from the east, you are in a state of darkness in the west, you enter it a blind helpless babe, each of us has come from that mystical east, the source of all light and life, man is a sevenfold being( most cherished of of all God's creations) my first degree is a decree of self discipline and purification(neophyte stage) moral perfection and spiritual consciousness, my second degree is fellow craft personal development requiring the most profound knowledge of the mental and physical side of ones nature,( turning a rough ashler into a perfect square) the third degree a perfect cube must pass through the metamorphosis of the cross, complete self-sacrifice and self-crucifixion state of utter helplessnes only a divine hand from the throne above with a "lions grip" regenerates the soul to union with itself in an embrace of reconciliation and atonement, Hiram Abiff a story to symbolize these teachings, he is now lord of himself, the true master mason, he has passed through the 3 degrees of purifying and self-perfecting, squared, leveled and harmonized his triple nature of body, soul, and spirit, he also wears the triple cross, it's philosophy is that this temporal world is the antipodes of another and more real world from which we originally came and to which we may accelerate our return by such a course of self-knowledge and self-discipline.