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# The Pavement
- URL: https://amasonswork.com/the-checkerboard-or-pavement/
- Published: 2026-03-28T01:46:06.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T16:13:49.000Z
- Description: The foundation of discernment within contrast. Moving across opposites without collapsing into either.
- Author: Brian Mattocks
- Tags: symbol, Foundations, #cta-book

The Pavement — the checkered surface of alternating light and dark — represents the mixed conditions of human existence; it enables movement across opposites and cultivates the discernment to act with integrity in conditions that are never purely one thing.

## The Lenses

- **Intrinsic (Personal):**The mental faculty that recognizes duality within oneself — virtue and vice, strength and weakness — without fragmentation or denial.
- **Extrinsic (Interpersonal):**The relational capacity to hold opposing perspectives simultaneously and work with the tension productively.
- **Integrative (Systemic):**Systems exist in mixed conditions; those that demand purity or uniformity destroy the richness that contrast provides.

## The ARAA Sequence

### Awareness — When to Use This Symbol

When you are trying to resolve all ambiguity, eliminate all shadow, or choose one pole of a genuine tension.

### Reflection — Diagnostic Questions

- What contrast am I standing on?
- What is the light and shadow present here?
- How can I move across this without collapsing it?

### Analysis — Failure Modes

- **Overuse (Binary Fixation):**reducing all complexity to a single dimension, choosing a side and refusing the other.
- **Underuse (Dissolution):**losing all discernment in the claim that everything is mixed, using contrast as permission for any conduct.

### Action — Use It Now

Identify one genuine tension you are experiencing; name both poles without resolving them and act with both present.

## Related Podcast Episodes

- [Hidden Tool #2 - Non-duality moving with and through positive and negative](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/hidden-tool-2-non-duality-moving-with-and-through-positive-and-negative?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [The Master Mason Series – Part III: The Workman and the Work](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/the-master-mason-series-part-iii-the-workman-and-the-work?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [Hidden Tool #1 - Metallic Objects & The Preparing Room](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/hidden-tool-1-metallic-objects-the-preparing-room?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [As Above, So Below: The Principle of Correspondence - A Useful Lens, Not a Fact](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/as-above-so-below-the-principle-of-correspondence-a-useful-lens-not-a-fact?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [Everyone You Know Starts Out as an Imaginary Friend](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/everyone-you-know-starts-out-as-an-imaginary-friend?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [The Compasses — Integration: Noticing Boundaries and Bringing Other Tools to the Work](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/the-compasses-integration-noticing-boundaries-and-bringing-other-tools-to-the-work?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [The Junior Warden: Noticing Before You Numb](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/the-junior-warden-noticing-before-you-numb?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [The right tool for the Job might not be Masonic](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/the-right-tool-for-the-job-might-not-be-masonic?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [Freemasonry and Mental Health: Exploring Symbolism and Support](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/freemasonry-and-mental-health-exploring-symbolism-and-support?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [Smart Problem-Solving in Freemasonry: The Black & White Squares](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/smart-problem-solving-in-freemasonry-the-black-white-squares?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [Identifying the Shadow](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/identifying-the-shadow?ref=amasonswork.com)
- [The Ruffians Within — Episode 3: Uncertainty Disguised as Virtue](https://podcast.amasonswork.com/episodes/the-ruffians-within-episode-3-uncertainty-disguised-as-virtue?ref=amasonswork.com)

[Download: The Pavement Discussion Guide (PDF)](https://amasonswork.com/content/files/2026/05/the-checkerboard-or-pavement-discussion.pdf)