the raw materials are not as important as knowing how to use them. even if they have been hard to get, they are not yet something, but merely what allows the possibility for something to be done. they are of course indispensable, but insignificant if not given a proper form, or irrelevant if given a useless one. it would be like having all the ingredients to make a cake. these are nearly inedible materials that you wouldn’t try to eat by themselves. and even if you tried, the experience of having a just-baked cake is nothing comparable to having a cup of flour, then a couple of raw eggs, then some sugar etc. what you ingest might be technically the same, but a cake is something that, once tried, becomes a single item for you, for you never think of it as a ‘mixed-and-baked flour, eggs, milk etc’. it becomes a manageable entity that has a place in, not only your diet, but your life. the question is, what guides the cook as he makes the cake from this raw ingredients?