Study
The Rough and Finished Stone
The rough and finished stone is a teaching image: the rough stone is the untrained person, and the finished stone is the person shaped by study, discipline and service.
The rough and finished stone is a teaching image used in Masonic lectures. The rough stone stands for a person before instruction; the finished stone stands for the same person after study, discipline and service have shaped him.
The image does not suggest that a person is worthless before initiation. Roughness is a condition to be worked, not a fault. The work is internal and continuous, and no member is expected to finish it in a lifetime.
Example: a member criticised for impatience may treat the remark as a point to work on rather than a verdict. Over several months he practises listening before answering, and the change shows in how he speaks in lodge and outside it.