The first degree lecture tells us that the E- A- degree is intended symbolically to represent the entrance of man into the world in which he is afterwards to become a living and thinking factor. It is not until the ( ?) receives the second degree lecture that he is told of the second of the two great Ps – one on the left of the entrance of the T – and one on the right, and he learns of the W-S, consisting of three, five and seven steps.
Symbolically, he leaves the outer world of ignorance and darkness when he passes those Ps and begins his Masonic life by ascending the first three steps of the W -So. In all three degrees the (?) is instructed how to advance to the altar. These steps are full of symbolism.
In the first degree, the (?) is instructed to advance to the altar by three irregular steps of about 15, 12 and 9 inches respectively. Later he is told that these steps were necessarily irregular, he not knowing where he was going. To the thoughtful Mason, these three steps have great depth of meaning.