That which is
permanent,
unchanging, and
unchangeable. Keep in mind that stone is not a medium of true
permanence, no, nothing is. While perhaps the
Ten Commandments were carved into stone by
God, relayed through Moses to the
Hebrews, and thereafter into the foundations of society, forever
unchanging (depending on your theology :) very little is truly carved into stone. If you believe that anything you do will ever be permanent, it'd be wise to ruminate upon the poem '
Ozymandias of Egypt' by
Percy Bysshe Shelley (noded under
Ozymandias).
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: -- Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear --
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.