The Black Vault

What is mastery? What kind of person wants to be a master? Is mastery as hard to define as quality?

Do you have a Masters degree in Math? In education, a Masters degree in the next level, and there are levels higher, so the process of learning never really ends in any given subject. In trades, Masters are call Master Craftsmen or Journeyman, and are the next level or signify years of knowledge in the trade.

People have an inherent drive to excell, learn, achieve, advance their skill levels in almost everything. Especially if you found something that you really love in life. The term "Your are the Master of your own ship" are words to live by.

On a personal note in my trade of welding, we were the frontier of high tech processes, where if we couldn;t do it, we would invent how we could. We did things even I thought were impossible. You ahve to think outside the box to make it happen, be open to new ideas, and hone in on what makes it work better. Know the process and be able to adjust it for better results. I was always amazed how many people want no more than to go in and out daily for a paycheck, and do the minimum skating through the day. Taking the challenge in anything is the key. You have to want to Master things, suceed and make things happen, have a passion for what you do, and when you light the fire under yourself, great things can happen.

Yes, I have a master's degree. I may someday go back for my PhD.

Why are you asking the question unless I'm misunderstanding mastery? Congradulations, any degree is a big committment to do. My Nephew also has a Masters in Math from UC Davis, but found the political ladder finding a sponser for him to go on to a PHD, was impossible for him. I don't quite understand how that works, but nodody would take him on, because he has Aspergers Syndrome.

I don't consider having a master's degree to mean I have mastery. A PhD, maybe then...over one small specialization.

A Masters degree by definition is certainly a milestone level. Thats something you should be proud of and nobody can ever take that from you, you earned it on your own.

That said, nobody ever really Masters anything, becasue nobody is ever perfect. There is always learning of new things, its a continuous process of evolving. Like all things, we all have our skill levels, and that varies with everyone and every field of endevour. Like you say all fields also have a specialty within them. My world of welding that I think I did pretty well in, was only one specialty within all of welding. We were continually changing, and improving our processes.

greeney2 wrote:A Masters degree by definition is certainly a milestone level. Thats something you should be proud of and nobody can ever take that from you, you earned it on your own.

That said, nobody ever really Masters anything, becasue nobody is ever perfect. There is always learning of new things, its a continuous process of evolving. Like all things, we all have our skill levels, and that varies with everyone and every field of endevour. Like you say all fields also have a specialty within them. My world of welding that I think I did pretty well in, was only one specialty within all of welding. We were continually changing, and improving our processes.

Yes, certainly. When teachers start asking me for advice, then that might qualify for mastery.

I don't teach now and I am writing a document on number, counting, and infinities which might interest a handful of people.

i agree with what Greeny said, i mean they are the Ropes to achieving .
But greeny supposes that,he was amazed how many people want no more than to go in and out daily for a paycheck people what nothing more than to skate through the day and thus to him ,appear to be underachievers maybe ?? well if taht is the line and hook which measures achieving then i disagree .But i am by no means a person who does that myself.I work very hard and i get what you are saying .
What is mastery ? It is the defintion you give it ,i would be a master of nothing had i given an answer or a defintion that suits my terms without considering other peoples descriptions of what they need and what works for them.The terms you give to an idea are at a personal level and are on an individual basis ..
This is of course is if they are perfectly ok with they're actions ,and they do not live this life and subsequencially complain taht it is a problem for them of course .


What is mastery? What kind of person wants to be a master? Is mastery as hard to define as quality?

well it is the same thing .
I think you will automatically master anything you consciously or mistakenly attract to yourself, so if you want this or that and you study obviously you will get to a level ,but is that mastery or quality ? What level is mastery ?

at1

Do you mean will any level achieved ever be enough ? is there always room to ride higher ? You said you have a masters degree but don't consider yourself to be a master .
Well the problem with that line of thinking is ,you basically believe that there is always something more you need other than what you have asked for in your training /teaching /learnings.
And of course you could attain a much higher level if you keep going for it ,but remember you have on average about 80 years to live ,so snap to it !!
But is that just all smoke and mirrors for the mind ?? Do you really need a level higher ,and to which level will be high enough ,the problem i see is the more you know the more questions are unravelled ,it is always the way.
What is mastery?,it is the meaning you give it or you are pleased with .But if you feel that there is a void of knowledge and it seems unattainable at the moment then there is a viscious circle here as what the mind does not know it will consistanlty give an opinion based on what it does know ,which is i don't know ,so that is the answer ..

My sensei was at a meeting and accidentally knocked a cup of coffee off the table. He caught it before it fell.

Someone said something to the effect "you're a master" and he said "a master wouldn't have knocked it off in the first place."


There is always room to ride higher.

at1with0 wrote:My sensei was at a meeting and accidentally knocked a cup of coffee off the table. He caught it before it fell.

Someone said something to the effect "you're a master" and he said "a master wouldn't have knocked it off in the first place."


There is always room to ride higher.

but off course ,a master of such a diploma may not have knocked it over.if he were concerned with such specifics....but a sensai of life could have split difference with accuracy...and as though he meant it !!
in the end the real indiffence is one that is negligible ,it is of no concern to the real sensai who is in the end alive for the purpose of being human ,and not superhuman if he intends it !

The end is dark and light in the middle.......it can never be just left or right and be a general ,it must be in the middle if you are to see the entirety..there is a dichotomy ..a political diffence sets the same constant.

I have this in my head, i hope it makes sense...