The graded approach — outer court, hall of columns, sanctuary — was architecture before it was allegory. Kemet (ancient Egypt) built the pattern that later Crafts inherited as symbol.
Long before any lodge room was furnished, the pattern of initiation was cut in stone. A candidate in Kemet (ancient Egypt) did not enter the sanctuary from the street; he passed a pylon, crossed an open court, walked a hall of columns whose light narrowed as he advanced, and only then stood in the dark inner room where the Neter was kept.
That sequence was not decoration. It was curriculum. Each court corresponded to a grade of instruction and a standard of conduct, and no one moved inward faster than his character allowed.
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