The RAM is part of the HRA here in NSW and we are told it nearly became the 3rd degree.I now quote Rt Ex Comp AR Wall on this:
"It could well have been the ritual of the 3rd degree because it, like the legend of HAB, tells of death and destruction, attempts to recover from the death and destruction and a life eternal. Complete the RAM degree and you have just revised the Maters Masons degree".
"The Biblical story of Noah tells of death and destruction( caused by that great flood) of a search, almost by an aimless wondering through the flood waters, of unsuccessful attempts to overcome the destruction ( by the dispatch by Noah of the doves who returned so many times with no greenery) and finally the return to life when a dove returned with a sprig of accica and the eventual grounding of the ark on Mt Ararat.This degree goes one step further than the craft 3rd degree and illustrates everlasting life by the spreading of the children of Noah to all corners of the world".
" How ever could two stories, so different on the surface, be so alike when the true story, hidden by the allegorical nature of masonic stories, is discovered, unless they set out to tell the same hidden truth".
So Brethren, do you agree or not, I would like to hear your views