In another thread reference was made to favorite degrees. It would be interesting to read the thoughts of other BB on this topic. In most cases the degrees of Blue Lodge must stand at the top of any list.
Then personally
Mark Master: because of the drama and the practical lessons it teaches HRA: because of the beauty and restoration of something that was lost 18° : because, again, of it's beauty, the inspiration it imparts to the KK
I must admit that having been through quite a number of higher degrees, the craft degrees seem to me the most true to the core of Masonry.
Higher degrees seem to have been subject to more fundamental revisions to meet the prejudices of the times, and these days it seems harder to find brethren well-suited to the higher degrees, but that might be a local phenomenon.
I remember my Initiation (20+ years ago) most clearly, I remember the atmosphere, the solemnity, the exhilaration, the wonder of it all.
And strange that I remembered only recently that Freemasonry teaches us how to die! I guess I was caught up so much with trying to figure out the secrets of how to live. But when you think of it, to die in the correct manner one must have learned to live in the correct manner.
Like Paul, I have been through many degrees also and each is wonderful in its own way .. R.Arch (incl the Veils) was most helpful, for me that was the "how" lesson. Encampment taught me "why".
And somehow the How and Why lessons make the 1st Degree an even more joyful experence ... one sees and understands so very much more. It is all there in the very First Degree.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting…trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home -Wordsworth
While I remember my 3rd better than my 1st, it is probably true to say that the 1st is the most important - if well done.
As a tangential example, for various reasons including candidates not showing, I was inducted into 18th 5 times. The 4th time was really quite powerful. The others were not.
