In the Third Degree, we learn the true purpose of Freemasonry. We discover that Freemasonry is not just a system of ethics covered in allegories and symbols, but a great adventure, a quest for that which has been lost. The highest truth.

This truth will therefore be made known to us as symbolized in the Third Degree. To know the highest truth, we must not just be taught something, but become something. No one can learn this truth on behalf of someone else. Moreover, no one can teach it.

Therefore, as the initiate embarks on this great adventure, he must pray for himself and walk a difficult and lonely path, where, if he proves worthy, he will know the truth, master himself, and also confront the shadow that awaits every man, before becoming a true Master Mason.