The Apprentice
“Oh Master, what must I do to make a great pot?”
The Master pondered for a moment as if it was the first time he had been asked this question.
“To be worthy of making a great pot you must do 3 things:
“What does it mean to ‘Prepare’, oh Master?”
“Your preparation will bring every life experience to bear. Nothing more, nothing less. It is made of everything you have ever seen, heard, felt, tasted and smelled. It is every deed you have done and every place you have been. It is built of every relationship between you and any person you have met. It is . . .”
“Oh Master, this is already too much. How can someone such as I prepare?”
“To prepare well you must lead a good life that has grown to be in harmony with god and the universe so that you may bring everything of yourself to the moment of making. The true greatness of a pot is held, in part, within the completeness of your preparation.”
“Oh master, your words are full of depths that, as yet, have no meaning to me. Can you tell me how to begin my preparation?”
“You may begin by opening your mind and soul, every sense and every cell of your body to the experience before you. Let that be your teacher. Look within yourself and find a yearning to understand what is right and true. Put yourself in the way of new experiences. Breathe in and savour every hint and nuance of what is going on before you. When you practice make every pot your first and your last. Let your materials and processes and all the people and events around you guide your learning.”
“Oh Master, you speak of the need to ‘Plan’. What does this mean?”
“At the moment you conceive the creation of the pot, so begins your plan. It is everything that links your preparation to your finishing. It is the joy in your heart as you approach the task. It is how you imagine the making. It has everything to do with timing and events including the very movement of the earth beneath your feet. It is the specific details of how you focus every element of your knowledge and learning and spirit to the task at hand. “
“Again, oh Master, your words are beyond my comprehension. Can you be more specific about how I could begin to Plan?”
“Firstly your approach must be selfless, earnest and full of intent. If your heart is true a route to the finish can immediately present itself. Begin by examining every aspect of the materials, processes, places, practices and people. Start with clay and fuel for the kiln for example. Decide how these will be prepared and transported to your place of making and what steps you might go through to make them useful. Decide how your pottery workshop and kiln can be set up, who will help you and how they will contribute to the making. For each element of your planning there will be risks and complexities to consider greater in number than the particles in a mountain of clay.”
“Oh Master, is it even possible for one person to know so much?”
“The odds are stacked in your favour. If you are slightly open in mind and spirit and your intent is earnest then god and the universe will conspire with you to create an average pot with relative ease. It is the making of a great pot which is the focus of our discussion here.”
“And what of the ‘Finish’, oh Master?”
“As you begin the Finish so the pot is made. If the preparation and planning were perfect there would be no need to make the pot.”
“Then why would someone make it?”
“To see the result, of course. You can only know for sure that a great pot could have been made when it is manifest and stands before you”
“So when does the Finish begin and end?”
Finishing begins with the first step of making. Until then all of the planning and preparations have been abstract constructs separate from the pot. To begin making you give some material an identity. In this case a handful of clay you call ‘pot’. You process and alter the materials to add form and function. In this case you are moulding, firing and glazing according to your plan.”
“So finishing will be complete when I call the pot finished?”
“Correct.”
“But Master, I started finishing on my first day without preparation or planning. You put a piece of clay in my hand and I made a pot. How can this be?”
“It is because the beginning of the path is available to all. The universe requires many cycles to achieve greatness. Also, you prepared and planned more than you give yourself credit for. On that first day you got up and came to the pottery, you showed me your open palms and politely said: “Oh Master, please show me”. Although limited, this is how your preparation and planning led to the finish.”
“My pot was not good. . . .”
“The pot you made was functional yet unbalanced in many ways. It had no aspirations of greatness.”
“It was imperfect. . .”
“Yes, although a great pot is unlikely to be perfect”
“So Master, what elevates a pot to greatness?”
“It is a combination of aesthetics and worthiness, both of the pot and those who engage with it. A person might spend many years preparing themselves to recognise greatness. Sometimes reading learned texts can help; although someone who is fully prepared in mind, body and spirit and yet knows nothing about pottery might still recognise greatness in the presence of such a pot. The most wonderful joy for the prepared person is to recognise greatness where none have seen it before. And yet beware learned persons, both past and present, who were unprepared but still added the illusion of greatness to a lesser item by the persuasion of their words”
“Then, oh Master, how will I know if I have made a great pot.”
“Perhaps you will never know. It may be one pot you make in a series of one thousand. The pot may not even become great until after your death.”
“Then, oh Master, why would anyone strive to Prepare for, Plan and Finish a great pot?”
The Master pondered for a moment as if it was the first time he had been asked this question.
“Indeed. Why?”, he answered.
Nick Winter November 2015.
Footnote: I wrote this essay as a personal response to the main concepts studied by new 'Practical Philosophy' students at the School of Economic Science during Year 1.
“Oh Master, what must I do to make a great pot?”
The Master pondered for a moment as if it was the first time he had been asked this question.
“To be worthy of making a great pot you must do 3 things:
- Prepare,
- Plan
- and Finish.”
“What does it mean to ‘Prepare’, oh Master?”
“Your preparation will bring every life experience to bear. Nothing more, nothing less. It is made of everything you have ever seen, heard, felt, tasted and smelled. It is every deed you have done and every place you have been. It is built of every relationship between you and any person you have met. It is . . .”
“Oh Master, this is already too much. How can someone such as I prepare?”
“To prepare well you must lead a good life that has grown to be in harmony with god and the universe so that you may bring everything of yourself to the moment of making. The true greatness of a pot is held, in part, within the completeness of your preparation.”
“Oh master, your words are full of depths that, as yet, have no meaning to me. Can you tell me how to begin my preparation?”
“You may begin by opening your mind and soul, every sense and every cell of your body to the experience before you. Let that be your teacher. Look within yourself and find a yearning to understand what is right and true. Put yourself in the way of new experiences. Breathe in and savour every hint and nuance of what is going on before you. When you practice make every pot your first and your last. Let your materials and processes and all the people and events around you guide your learning.”
“Oh Master, you speak of the need to ‘Plan’. What does this mean?”
“At the moment you conceive the creation of the pot, so begins your plan. It is everything that links your preparation to your finishing. It is the joy in your heart as you approach the task. It is how you imagine the making. It has everything to do with timing and events including the very movement of the earth beneath your feet. It is the specific details of how you focus every element of your knowledge and learning and spirit to the task at hand. “
“Again, oh Master, your words are beyond my comprehension. Can you be more specific about how I could begin to Plan?”
“Firstly your approach must be selfless, earnest and full of intent. If your heart is true a route to the finish can immediately present itself. Begin by examining every aspect of the materials, processes, places, practices and people. Start with clay and fuel for the kiln for example. Decide how these will be prepared and transported to your place of making and what steps you might go through to make them useful. Decide how your pottery workshop and kiln can be set up, who will help you and how they will contribute to the making. For each element of your planning there will be risks and complexities to consider greater in number than the particles in a mountain of clay.”
“Oh Master, is it even possible for one person to know so much?”
“The odds are stacked in your favour. If you are slightly open in mind and spirit and your intent is earnest then god and the universe will conspire with you to create an average pot with relative ease. It is the making of a great pot which is the focus of our discussion here.”
“And what of the ‘Finish’, oh Master?”
“As you begin the Finish so the pot is made. If the preparation and planning were perfect there would be no need to make the pot.”
“Then why would someone make it?”
“To see the result, of course. You can only know for sure that a great pot could have been made when it is manifest and stands before you”
“So when does the Finish begin and end?”
Finishing begins with the first step of making. Until then all of the planning and preparations have been abstract constructs separate from the pot. To begin making you give some material an identity. In this case a handful of clay you call ‘pot’. You process and alter the materials to add form and function. In this case you are moulding, firing and glazing according to your plan.”
“So finishing will be complete when I call the pot finished?”
“Correct.”
“But Master, I started finishing on my first day without preparation or planning. You put a piece of clay in my hand and I made a pot. How can this be?”
“It is because the beginning of the path is available to all. The universe requires many cycles to achieve greatness. Also, you prepared and planned more than you give yourself credit for. On that first day you got up and came to the pottery, you showed me your open palms and politely said: “Oh Master, please show me”. Although limited, this is how your preparation and planning led to the finish.”
“My pot was not good. . . .”
“The pot you made was functional yet unbalanced in many ways. It had no aspirations of greatness.”
“It was imperfect. . .”
“Yes, although a great pot is unlikely to be perfect”
“So Master, what elevates a pot to greatness?”
“It is a combination of aesthetics and worthiness, both of the pot and those who engage with it. A person might spend many years preparing themselves to recognise greatness. Sometimes reading learned texts can help; although someone who is fully prepared in mind, body and spirit and yet knows nothing about pottery might still recognise greatness in the presence of such a pot. The most wonderful joy for the prepared person is to recognise greatness where none have seen it before. And yet beware learned persons, both past and present, who were unprepared but still added the illusion of greatness to a lesser item by the persuasion of their words”
“Then, oh Master, how will I know if I have made a great pot.”
“Perhaps you will never know. It may be one pot you make in a series of one thousand. The pot may not even become great until after your death.”
“Then, oh Master, why would anyone strive to Prepare for, Plan and Finish a great pot?”
The Master pondered for a moment as if it was the first time he had been asked this question.
“Indeed. Why?”, he answered.
Nick Winter November 2015.
Footnote: I wrote this essay as a personal response to the main concepts studied by new 'Practical Philosophy' students at the School of Economic Science during Year 1.