When a candidate goes through his initiation into brotherhood , he is taught that the teachings of brotherhood will help him develop as a man, comparing his current state to that of a rough ashlar (unfinished stone), which over a lifetime of learning becomes smoother and squarer, with the ultimate goal of becoming a perfect ashlar (the finished stone).
While reaching a perfect ashlar might be halted by death, the journey itself is more important than anything else. To smooth one’s ashlar, brotherhood provides tools (e.g. the common gavel to knock off small bits of stone, the square to make the edges 90 degrees, etc.), all of which have figurative meanings.
As well as these teachings, brotherhood provides men with like minded brothers who help each other improve, whether by setting a good example, mentoring, assisting in community work or encouraging and helping raise money for charity.
Finally, brotherhood provides its members with support and brotherhood. Once initiated, a brotherhood will find his fellow members treat him like a family member, even if they had never met before. The experience of visiting another lodge for the first time is often very special, as perfect strangers will greet each other warmly and judge each other not on social rank, wealth or title, but on face value.
The secret forms of recognition among the brotherhood go back to the Middle Ages when stonemasons were travelling around Europe constructing great buildings. Being a time before university degrees or trade certificates, craftsmen had no official method of proving their level of ability and experience. The stonemasons therefore came up with words, handshakes and signs in lieu of trade certificates or university degrees.
These forms of recognition enabled employers to hire the level of craftsman they required, meant that the masons got paid to the degree of their skill and ensured that unethical masons couldn’t claim the wages of a higher skilled workman.
Today these secrets are used by brotherhoods to protect and signify the different degrees of learning that members go through. As a brotherhood progresses in his Masonic life he will raise through the three degrees, learning the secret forms of recognition for each degree as he goes.
The official description of brotherhood in old English, which brotherhood still use today, is ‘A peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. ’ Translated into modern text that might read ‘A unique moral code, taught figuratively with the help of imagery.’
There is no dogma in brotherhood, meaning every member is free to understand it's teachings differently. The tools of stonemason as well as other symbols are used to figuratively to teach moral lessons to members with the goal of ‘making good men better.’
For example the workman’s level, used by stonemasons to prove horizontal lines, teaches brotherhood that we as humans are all equal, irrespective of social standing, job, financial state etc – brotherhood meet ‘on the level.’ The square, used to adjust angles of 90 degrees, teaches brotherhood to square their actions – ie if you’re going to do something, do it properly.