The Elusiveness of Skill-Mastery

It is in the belief that we’ve mastered something that we forfeit our mastery or shot at mastery.

The Japanese always struck me as a people who understood this best with a close second being the Russians.

The famous Jiro sushi and its subsequent documentary, “Jiro dreams of sushi,” displays a modern example of what is alive and well in Japanese culture in the metaphoric of blacksmithing the greatest swords in the world. Jiro was seeking mastery far passed his clear greatest of all time status as a sushi chef. He talks of not having a devoted practice of a skill towards mastery being a waste of a man’s life. I couldn’t agree more.

If one were to watch Japanese acting, it is so simple yet so strikingly powerful. The Honored Priest is a perfect example of this.

Miyamoto Musashi is the greatest single combatant of all time, and his writings on the metaphysics of combat in the Book of Five Rings come from “the void” in understanding that despite his mastery, the perfection of swordplay is beyond his understanding in the void.

This is an understanding by Japanese masters that the simplest movements, the smallest adjustments are the most vital. It is the fine folding of steel, packing it tighter and tighter in pursuit of a blade that can split atoms. To have an eye that can see someone cut fish, swing a sword, speak a line, or craft a sword and be enraged by its flaws that the common man would be dumbfounded in attempting to understand.

This is the only real way to exist.

Our life of prayer is no different. To believe that we have mastered prayer is to fall into despondency and a worldly death.

How tightly can you pray? How much can you focus on the thought of bowing before Christ and asking for mercy? How tightly can you grip on the Faith to never lose awareness and sight of the narrow path at hand? How vigilant can you be in detaching from the self, to die to yourself?

The Japanese have a small Orthodox community I wish to see. The nexus of this culture and the Faith must be a marvel to witness in praxis.