In Lodge we are shown two ashlars. One that is rough cut and one with clean lines and nicely polished. We are told that the rough cut stone represents us as we are and the perfect one represents a goal. We are to make daily marks on our ashlars, attempting to bring it closer to the example of perfection. An ashlar is a piece of stone, quarried and refined, usually cuboid, but not always, which has been cut precisely to fit into a particular structure or to coincide with a specific architectural plan. The ashlar was quarried and arrived on the work site as a rough cut stone, or rough ashlar, which was brought to a fine finish by the stone Masons on site. The apprentices would have been given stones that were not as complicated. The intricate work would have been completed by the more experienced craftsmen.  In ritual we are taught that the rough ashlar is for the Entered Apprentice to mark and indent upon, i.e. chip away at. I see this symbol as the work we are called, as Mas...