‘… you might miss the talent to
write, paint or compose, but everyone has been given the gift of being creative
with their own life. In that perspective we are all called to become an artist,
to give an unique shape to our lives, to make it something beautiful.’
In their book about the thematic
of Mastery (Meesterschap) Paul Donders and Chris Sommer open with this Francis
Schaeffer quote. A quote that made me recall a similar thought, one of Abraham
Herschl regarding the human being: ‘To be human, is to become human’…
Where Schaeffer is talking
about ‘giving an unique shape to our lives, to make it something beautiful’, I
am thinking of a certain triad: ‘truth, goodness, and beauty’. A wholeness that
lies within the word ‘tov’ (good). The word the creator spoke after creating
this cosmic piece of art in which we all live. Donders and Sommer have outlined
the growing-process ‘from a student to a master (and the artist). In this blog
I will try to put an emphasis on the integration of these various
growing-phases with the various phases of ‘the process of becoming a human’.
The term ‘Mastery’, for me,
is strongly connected with the history of the ‘Guilds’, of the patronage,
companions, and masters. A time of rock solid craftsmanship, made possible by
oceans of time, expertise, focus, respect for materials, love for the product,
and – perhaps most importantly – a deep respect for the customer and for the
status of the trade!
My grandfather was a ‘House
and Ornamental-painter’, characterized by the smell of linseed oil, paint fumes
and cigar smoke. My other grandfather was a countryside physician, with his own
pharmacy and his own carriage. After he changed his horse and carriage for an automobile,
the car actually was brought to him by a mechanic from the Opel-dealer in
Amsterdam, who then staid for a week to help his client to get familiar with
the new product! Both of my grandfathers where masters, and they lived in a
world where there still was a strong connection between the ‘student’ and ‘companion’,
supplier and customer, price and quality of the product, supply and demand…
Nostalgic? Dreaming of long
lost better days? Longing for an imperturbable and traditional rhythm? ‘Do
not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask
such questions.’ Ecclesiastes 7:10. The century of our grandfathers is in
the past for good. We are faced with new, often great challenges. On that note –
I define intelligence as the art of creating solutions for new problems. And in
this perspective our time offers a great range of challenges for the
intelligent artists to work with. At the same time the life of the conservative
romantic can get quite harsh. However, past, present or future: our common
human desire for coherence, reliability, the good, the true, the clear, or in
other words for love is unchanged.
‘Love strives for quality’,
love searches for ‘mastery’. Noncommittal attitude, carelessness and negligence
are flowing automatically to the lowest point: mediocre junk. Love, on the
other hand, endeavors and finds its way to the top. To put is in the words of
the apostles: ‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is
noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.’
Philippians 4:8. Art-historian Prof. Rookmaker once used exactly the same phrase
to explain the relationship between belief and artistry to a young artist.
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