The Ashlars

 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 Masons, to do. This work is to make ourselves better, by Masonic standards. By Masonic standards I mean making ourselves better men. We do this, in my view, by working on body, mind and spirit. The body by taking care of the temple the GAOTU has given us. Eating a healthy and nutritious diet and engaging in daily physical activity, but also by attempting to chip away at some bad habits that we as men of reason know are bad for us. The mind, or our WM, our thinking and feeling selves, the hands on the steering wheel. We talk of this aspect of our trinity by doing what we were taught in the second degree, by making daily advancements in Masonic knowledge. The seven liberal arts and sciences; arithmetic, geometry, rhetoric, music, astronomy, logic and grammar, gives a brother a way to study the world around him, to contemplate his findings and relay them to others. However, there are other fields of study that we can engage in that give us an understanding of the world around us, including the knowledge or ourselves. By taking honest looks at our beliefs and actions and setting them against the standards taught to us by the Craft. With this daily study we provide our minds with knowledge to allow them to make better judgements and guide us through a good life. The spirit, in my opinion, is the spark of creation held safely in the sanctum sanctorum. It is that part, given to us by the GAOTU that will never die. We work on this part of ourselves by following the moral lessons taught in the first degree, by being good men. Also by connecting with that spark and allowing it to shine, through introspection, meditation, and creation. 

The perfect ashlar is, as ritual teaches, used for the expert craftsman to try and adjust his tools upon. These tools we then use to work on our rough ashlars and bring them closer to perfection. The perfection, being a standard to follow, must be the lessons taught by the Craft and by our spiritual teachers. These instructions being, for us, of reverence should be used to adjust our tools (ideals) to keep our work of perfecting our ashlars honest and reasonable.

I originally thought that the perfect ashlar was what we were striving towards and that at some future period, after many years of work this rough ashlar that I started my journey with would be completed. At this point I would be able to put my feet up in some imagined, exotic resort and rest easy. However; I heard a brother make a speech during a visit to another Lodge, he mentioned that we would never attain this state of perfection while here on the mortal coil and that our piece of stone would need constant work. I contemplated this for some time. I remembered a lesson I was taught on my path as a martial artist. I asked a sensei why some people continued to come to the dojo to learn the same old stuff year after year. I had heard stories of old masters attending training, working and teaching until they were no longer physically able to do so and wondered why. He told me that knowing how to throw a punch and being able to perform that punch with absolute perfection are two different things. He also said that technical perfection in its purest sense is the goal that drives a lot of martial artists to keep throwing that same old punch night after night.

Be well,

Bro. Mike Doucette