DAY FORTY TWO

Some questions about 'Mastery'.

What is mastery? Is its achievement something one can decide for oneself or must it be recognised or vailidated externally? 
 
Are there different levels of mastery? Can we award coloured belts like in martial arts? 
 
Is it an end state or somewhere on a continuum that has novice at one end and master at the other? Can it ever be acheived or are we looking at a lifelong process and practice?

 

I'm sure I could go on in this vein without too much difficulty. The question comes to me having seen the title of a YouTube video which says something along the lines, "How to be a Master Knitter - follow my journey".

In fact that immediately raises another question: Can one follow another's journey to mastery or is it a road that at least in its later stages one must travel alone?

Which leads to: Are there reliable signposts or is it a journey without maps?

This rather assumes that the person in whose steps you are following is a master in any case. This might not be certain. There may be some dispute. These things can be subjective. Does that all mean in the final analysis you have to be your own master, first and foremost?

Sorry for all the questions. 

There are some areas in life where the intention is to provide at least some of the answers for you. I'm thinking of those professions which have extensive and rigorous curricula, examinations, and finally some award conferred by an approved body. These at least attest to someone who has started on, or has been suitably prepared to start upon, the first stages of the journey towards mastery though they are far from that yet. Indeed the award of a first degree or other qualification is - somewhat at odds with how the possessors of such things often think of themselves - merely a signal that someone has a long way to go if they really want to be considered fully qualified, much of that long way to go being achieved with experience and work of ever greater scope, complexity and sophistication.Without that progression individuals may in fact spend a lifetime in further study and practice without ever being accorded the title master in their particular walk of life.

Saying this reminds of the idea that one can experience seven years of life, or one year of life seven times over.

When I first came across that it was intended to suggest that some people are a bit dull, or risk averse, preferring the (alleged) safety of routine and doing the same things in the same way. The idea was offered as something of an accusation of such people and drew some shade in comparison with their more risk-loving and variety-satisfying neighbours.

But in thinking of mastery there is something of a paradox here. It is routine and repetition and practice of the same thing over and over which seems to open the path towards mastery; the idea of 10,000 hours practice has become a familiar one.* Only when the fundamentals have been learned in such ways can the future master branch out and start to take on the broader range, bigger challenges, larger problems which they are expected to solve, and to some degree must solve if they are to be considered masters. In fact mastery is often taken to mean that problems will be foreseen and dealt with before they even arise. There is a sense of ease embodied in this notion of mastery.

In other ways mastery can be seen as not a question of ever greater complexity, but just the opposite - ever greater refinement and simplicity. In this scenario the master is someone who can do simple things, or apparently simple things, sublimely well, with a grace and effortlessness that leaves beginners scratching or shaking their heads in wonder and admiration. This is a very strong element in Zen and in many oriental arts and craft practices.

Fortunately most of us are not that interested in mastery, I would say. We are happy to feel competent, or to have the confidence to make the kinds of things we want to make without too much concern. So I passed on the knitting master's journey.

Onwards...wonderingly.

 

* It would appear as with many such pop-psychology/self-improvement how-to type phenomena, the data supporting the idea of  '10,000 hours' doesn't really stand up to scrutiny. Acheivement and mastery turns out to be a whole lot more complex.



Picture Credit: Sadarama, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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