In the First Degree, the Student worked on the perfection and cleansing of his Body. The "cleansing" in the First Degree is not just moral purity, which is taken for granted, but rather a liberation from the delusion of the senses.

Without this liberation, it is impossible to climb the mountain of enlightenment, and without it, a person remains with the veil over their eyes, walking in darkness. Others refer to it as "discernment," or the power or insight to distinguish between the real and the unreal, without which life is a valley of illusions.

The First Degree of Freemasonry seeks to guide the person, as a moral entity, from the otherworldly life of the senses to their true life.