About mastery

17 May, 2026

Estimated reading time: about 4 scrolls including 2-4 Wikipedia entries or Google searches.

Above: an interactive frame on the way to the beach at Setúbal, Portugal. Credit: photo by yours truly taken in June 2025 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

About mastery

Mastery often seems to lie in the eyes of the beholder. Like the picture of the physical interactive frame above, mastery is something one can look through, rest inside, and pass through if one is so inclined. Mastery is what you make of it. Beyond sheer perception and interpretation, mastery is also related to a practical understanding of what you can do with any object or material (i.e. its 'affordance'), and how well you can do that. Dictionary.com associates the term mastery with such notions as understanding, skill, expertise, and superiority. In short: knowing your onions, or making it seem that you do without shedding a tear.

Mastery therefore seems related to expertise. However, expertise can be defined by circumstances, as in whoever else happens to be in the same room - including elephants (white, grey, made of china, or otherwise). Expertise can also arise from collective intelligence, as in the collaborative ability of otherwise myopic participants to identify the compound pachydermic qualities of the beast in question. Such as the HS2 rail project, finding the cause of a leaking roof, or fixing a bug.

Mastery can also be a noble thing to pursue in and of itself, as in a form of 'dignity'. There is perhaps no better treatment of the topic than the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro: The Remains of the Day. The film is good too (starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Christopher Reeve amongst others), but the novel is far superior in both the depth and breadth of how dignity is elucidated in light of everything else that makes life worth living.

Expertise may also be the by-product of recollecting epic mistakes. One may decide to speak to both Cassandra and Pandora (and whoever else whose knowledge might be relevant for a particular set of circumstances) before making any rash decision based on antiquated assumptions and/or chimerical charts. Hence the sui-generis slogan: "fast and slow thinking" for a balanced regimen and more predictable glucose levels. Pro tip: eating fruit or drinking diluted cider vinegar may aid with preparing digestion shortly before substantial meals. So, get those creative, enzymatic juices flowing before committing to epic delivery.

Creative activation enables to address situations more effectively. Progressive forms of (strategic) town planning seem to deal with so-called 'wicked' problems by means of proactively thinking (and doing) outside the (black) box. Expert strategists often avoid off-the-shelf solutions because astute marketing often belies a short shelf-life, whereby quick fixes too often turn out to be glorified dust magnets or even greater evils if implemented. Or as Bengt Flyvbjerg wrote on the topic of expertise in placemaking: the sum of many varied case studies constitutes the invaluable experience that invariably trumps the rigid rules of thumb imparted in reference text books. Beyond the standard 'it depends' answer, expertise is both the product of, and basis for, a lived understanding of context and what could be done about it. New Urbanism, and variations thereof, often works because walkability, well-functioning public transport, people-centred buildings and streetscapes, as well as quality local amenities are typically popular by demand, although knowing how to combine these fundamental elements precisely will vary from place to place. Expertise in town planning also famously requires collaboration between people with surprisingly conflicting interests. "Yes!", "No!" and "Definitely maybe" are rather common stances, also known as "YIMBY", "NIMBY" and 'the planning process', respectively. Getting to "Yes" is often much harder than it seems. Not to mention that large and mega projects have an uncanny capacity to spiral out of accepted budget proportions. Going against the grain can also help save taxpayers' money in the long run while still aiming for excellence.

Money can also be central to upscaling mastery. The globalised economic context provides a complex canvas for creative-destructive bubble baths (remember the 'Bubble Bobble' video game?). Some million pound/dollar/euro questions include:

• Can you get paid for cultivating honest mastery?
• Do you really need to churn out piece after piece of diluted, hollowed out 'content' to barrel-funnel the digital algo?
• Which areas of life, work and/or creativity do you really want to master as a profession, side hustle, and/or just something you do in your sparsely distributed spare time?

Acute competition and the need for speed may also turn the most benevolent creators into fire-breathing dragons. From Charles Dickens to Hayao Miyazaki, a lifetime of bold creation may come with many personal sacrifices. How will you take the stress, if you become a slave to your muse? When will you reach the end of the (creative factory) line? Listening to Metallica's 'The End of the Line' may help elucidate at least some of these pecuniary and otherwise material considerations.

"Hooked into this deceiver
Need more and more
Into the endless fever
Need more and more

New consequence machine
Burn through all your gasoline
Asylum overtime, never mind
You've reached the end of the line"

(From the Metallica album Death Magnetic, released in 2008 produced by Rick Rubin)

Timeless artefacts also take time to craft, which often requires plenty of deliberate practice. The journalistic end-all-be-all of 10,000 hours is not necessarily an accurate count of what it takes -- nor are outliers or linchpins or purple cows or rainbow unicorns, however useful these popular concepts might be in understanding how some things come about or perform when diamond light shines through the other side of the moon. It might rather be as they say in Yorkshire:

"Where there is muck, there is brass".

Time is not strictly part of the equation, but remains a given, and should definitely not be taken for granted.

In the final analysis, absolute mastery requires no overt introduction. It speaks quietly for itself. The proof is in the pudding.

In the meantime, we all naturally develop a deep appreciation of craftsmanship as a first step toward emulating that which we admire and inspires us toward 'a higher ground' -- to paraphrase the musical polymath Stevie Wonder. Inspiration and emulation can unfold notwithstanding whatever else is happening in the universe that is solely beyond our control to trade with our personal conscience. As one much bolder than I summed it up:

"A man's got to know his limitations."

That countless manifestations of mastery have survived greed and destruction in the form of art, engineering, architecture, clothing, cultivated plants, etc., remains a testimony to the timeless fortitude and faith of humanity.

Craft also comes in many different forms. Curation itself appears to be treated as a noble craft in places like Japan -- not to mention art galleries throughout the world, or carefully looped samples in electronic music, or commonplaces and scrapbooks on many creators' desks. So who can draw the line in the sand between an expert creator and consumer? On either side of that thin mineral line to be washed away by the tides, does deep appreciation have to be all consuming? And do acts of creation have to cost the Earth?

At last, creative mastery ultimately becomes independent, if not potentially subversive, even while staying true to its roots. The novel by Kazuo Ishiguro's 'An Artist of the Floating World' (1986) explores how artistic endeavours can become potentially subversive in light of our teachers' differing expectations, politicised mass media, and personal conscience. Direct master-to-pupil transmission has long been established in secular as well as spiritual traditions and domains around the world. From architecture to traditional music, there are countless examples of mastery taking a life of its own once the pupil has become a master in their own right. A pupil who is mature enough in their mastery may branch off into leading their own activity by building upon and honouring what they learned from their master. As a result, tradition and innovation need not be antagonistic. This is also the basis for the 'Signifying Monkey' -- or honouring your sources and influences by directly citing them. The creation of something that somehow seems new is really an active conversation between what came before (continuity) and continuous change (how things never cease to manifest become something else).

To end with a call to action⚡ Keep on creating your very own 'minimum lovable products' intentionally. MLPs are all the rage at the moment. They can be tastefully appropriated by inspired artists (including engineers, teachers etc.), however benign the endeavour might seem at first.

Going further (exploring different shades of mastery)

🎵 'Nice Work If You Can Get It' from the Gershwin songbook, as sung by Ella Fitzgerald, or the instrumental version by Thelonious Monk.

📃'Paterson' an extended poem by William Carlos Williams written over several decades. 🎥See also the eponymous film by Jim Jarmusch.

📖 'The Remains of the Day' an acclaimed novel by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) about dignity, excellence, and infinite shades of appeasement.

📖 'Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture' book by Tim Ingold including how master builders designed cathedrals, and how subsequent generations embellished them, while some famous modern architects blamed their wealthy clients for leaking flat roofs.

🎨 The creativity trilogy by Austin Kleon: 'Steal Like An Artist', 'Show Your Work' and 'Keep Going', with the fourth/quadratic instalment released in June 2026: 'Don't Call It Art'

👔 'Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style' book by David W Marx about how curation, emulation and creative transformation of Americana clothing by specific individuals led to a celebration of craftsmanship driven by commercial opportunism.

🎵 The album 'Death Magnetic' by Metallica, for an honest reality check, as and when needed.

🏗️ 'How Big Things Get Done' book by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner (2023).

👾 Peters, B. G. (2007). What is so wicked about wicked problems? A conceptual analysis and a research program. Policy and Society, 36 (3), 385–396. https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2017.1361633 -- for an introduction to 'wicked problems'.

🥷🏻 Flyvbjerg, B. (2004). Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Sosiologisk tidsskrift, 12(2), 117–142. https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN1504-2928-2004-02-02 -- about why and how expertise arises from the sum of many varied case studies.