As a man enters into the doors of Freemasonry, a vast world is opened to him that would take several lifetimes to fully comprehend. Sadly however, people tend to be attached more to the degree numbers than what is actually taught. This is especially true of those who are opposed to Freemasonry, who ignorantly surmise that if a 3rd Degree Master Mason is bad then a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Mason must be the incarnation of evil.

General Albert Pike (pictured) was the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite for thirty-two years, and was responsible for completely revitalizing Scottish Rite Masonry from 1859 to 1891. A great philosopher, it is said that he “found Freemasonry in a cabin, and left it in a temple.”. Thought often maligned by anti-Masons, his words carry a great deal of power even to this day.

I ran across the following quote that Brother Pike delivered in a speech entitled “Address of the President” that I think speaks volumes. As Freemasons, we often try to make clear that there is no higher degree than that of Master Mason, or the “3rd Degree”. Although the 3 degrees of the Blue Lodge (or “Blue Degrees”) are the essence of Masonry while the “higher” ones are appendant bodies, this often falls on deaf ears as uninformed Masons rush through the Blue Lodge and into the Scottish Rite in the hopes that somehow the elusive 33rd Degree will be theirs. It also is ignored by anti-Masons and conspiracy theorists, who desperately cling to the notion that the “great secrets” are hidden in the 33rd Degree.

Albert Pike himself so eloquently states:

But, whatever else we may be, we are all Master Masons, and we all owe to the Masonry of the Blue Degrees our first and paramount allegiance. No man is without offence, who makes these Degrees mere stepping-stones by which to ascend to what he deems a higher level. If he does so, he is not worthy to wear the decorations of the Degrees to which he supposes himself to have ascended.

Sounds to me like Brother Pike has it right on the mark.