Blog Entry 10/23/21

I wanted to start off this post with two of the most impactful quotes I read this week.

"The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile." -Plato

"The height of a man's success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by self-abandonment." -Da Vinci 

This week, I feel that I was focused a lot more on mastery and the different characteristics that are required to develop it. Eldon Tanner shared two essential attributes on the journey to self-mastery--determining your course and having the willpower to stay on it. Plato shared that mastery starts with yourself, and Da Vinci shares more about how mastery can affect outside success. It made me wonder where I am on my own path to self-mastery as well as mastery. Do I embody a strong and good character? I believe I can. To be honest, questioning how well I am or am becoming a master seems a little overwhelming, but a story shared by George Leonard helped. He spoke of two students enrolled in his martial arts program. One was a proclaimed master that was already prepared to tackle aikido, and the other presented himself as a humble beginner. Long story short, the man who acted as a beginner, was patient, set his course, stuck to it, got comfortable on the plateau and ended up being a better learner and master in the end.
Keeping that story in mind, it helps to know that mastery does not mean immediate perfection. It can mean years and years of patience, hard work, humility and getting used to the plateau. I can work on being a learner now to prepare and become a master. In the words of George Leonard, along the path of mastery, there are no experts, only learners.

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