Practicing Life-as-a-Craft
Is life just a collection of random experiences, or can life be mastered as a learned craft?
“We are always making and remaking ourselves.
Each day we add something here, remove something there.
Whether we perform the task with skill or not, is evident in the result.”
— The Anonymous Craftsperson
Life is an ancient journey. For some, it is a journey measured by the time that passes between the twin events of birth and death.
For others, it is a timeless, never ending road into eternity. However long, whether finite or infinite, at one time or another many of us have wondered what to make of our lives.
For a lot of people life was never taught as a — “take it apart and put it back together” system of identifiable parts. Each one fitting into the big well oiled machinery of the universe.
Life is just experienced — like a balancing act. From balancing the checkbook to balancing the spiritual and emotional needs of ourselves and the lives of those around us.
Looking back from our vantage point across time as adults, many of us realize that our parents didn’t have a “system” for teaching us life any more than we have one for ourselves and our children.
It is no surprise then, that a great many of us find ourselves ‘flying through life’ by the seat of our pants, without much needed skills, and a map to guide us.
We have learned that to successfully navigate the journey of life requires the application of learned skills. It is rarely the result of bad or blind luck. But which skills exactly? And what is the plan for the journey?
Life-as-a-Craft
To practice the whole of ‘life-as-a-craft’, the way a craftsperson mindfully practices a trade like textile weaving, medicine, or carpentry, requires that the myriad activities of the ‘craft-of-life’ be systematically organized, managed, taught and learned similar to the ways in which we organize, manage, teach and practice our trades, occupations and professions.
The Five Elements
The Five Elements, is the organizing structure for approaching ‘life’, as a learned, managed craft. It is a guide for anyone to learn and practice any subject in the ‘craft-of-life’, as part of an integrated practice, compared to the all too common experience of ‘life’, as a random collection of seemingly unrelated experiences.
Life-as-a-Craft, is based on the principles used in master workshops across the world; progressively teaching the knowledge of a particular ‘craft’, and measuring the development of one’s skills in the craft, to achieve proficiency as a craftsperson in the given trade, profession or occupation.
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