In the Junior Warden's lecture we are told that “The immovable jewels are the tracing board, rough ashler and perfect ashler...they are called immovable jewels because they lie open in the lodge for the brethren to moralize on.”
Two questions come to mind In the first place, isn’t it nonsense to call these two huge stones “jewels”? and secondly, what moral lessons can we possibly draw from them?
The word “ashler” is part of our heritage from the “operative” stonemasons of long ago An ashler wall is one which is composed of rectangular blocks laid in courses. An ashler is a squared stone. A “rough ashler” is a stone as it comes from the quarry, rough hewn to its intended shape but not dressed smooth. A “perfect ashler” is “perfect” in its true sense of the meaning, that is, “brought to completion, finished.
We consider them “jewels” because of their great value - -a value that comes from the moral tendency they display. The rough ashler is the human mind in its original state, rude and uncultivated. The perfect ashler represents the mind improved by culture and civilization.
The two ashlers together represent an example of progress from darkness to light (from the NE to the SE), from ignorance to knowledge, from wickedness to virtue They remind us to keep building and improving on our own temples, to make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge. They remind us of our duty to improve ourselves, and thereby improve the world in which we live.