Professionalism Vs. Mastery

Are you a professional or a master? At first glance they may appear to be the same but when we look at their roots and motivation they are not. When we take a look at the word "professional" it is a person who practice a skill for a livelihood.  A "Master" on the other hand is someone who pursues a passion, and develops a great skill  in what they do. Today the problem is that we have to many "pros" and not enough "Masters". A Professional can be driven by purely financial gain. They may not have a love for the art that they practice, they do it because it pays the bills. They may have been forced into their field by life circumstances, they may have showed some natural skill, or just following a family tradition. The key ingredient of a "Master" is missing, the love of the art. It is the love that separates the Master from the professional . It is the love of the "Master" that generates advancement in his or her craft. A "Master" is driven to perfect their skills because of their love, and more than likely is held in the field by this love and would do it without being paid.

Living in a society where the love of money is elevated over all things, then Professionals will rise up, and look at their skill as a simple commodity rather than a gift that is to be shared with the world. Don't get me wrong everyone should be compensated for their skills, but when compensation outshines everything else the art suffers. We get "pros" that are more interested in stacking cash  rather than taking there skill to the highest heights. "Pros" become stuck in old ways of doing things and their sight can be limited by what can produce more income rather what can help more people. Innovation begins to fade as we lose "Masters" and we get stuck in cycles that eventually decay and fall apart because it is the love of the art that moves the craft forward.

The question that those on the Journey need to deal with is are you moving toward "Mastery" or are you simply a "Professional". In Mastery your craft becomes part of your life because you love it and find away to mix it into your every activity. I know this sounds strange in culture where we work hard to save money for vacations so that we can escape our work and in some cases our lives. We are taught that a job is a chain that holds us back, but for those "Masters" out there we know that we were born for our craft and our craft is reborn through us. So work is life, as a matter of fact it ceases being work and becomes something beautiful. You know that you have found your craft, or skill if you could actually work on it for absolutely free. When this path is taken one does not have to look for the money, but the money will find you. Of course their will be hard times, but you will pull through them if you stick to it. 

Find your path and begin your Journey.... become a Master, we have enough Professionals.

Nuff said

Peace & 1hunidyears