To the limit

Advances in any field are made by those who are knowledgeable in that field. For any field to progress, regardless of it being a scientific field, a sport, a business process, an engineering process, a hobby, anything that can be learned and made progress in, it is almost the responsibility of those on which that field seems unchallenging to create, innovate, and revolutionize. Jordan revolutionized basketball because he was so good at it, because it came so naturally to him. Einstein revolutionized and progressed the field of quantum physics because he understood it so well. Tom Cruise makes a great samurai in The Last Samurai which explains how he helps lead that village of samurais against the evil-bad progressive westernizing Japanese.

As much as humans respect these experts, as much as we hold these individuals on a pedestal and as much as we talk about them, the quality that they possess that I in particular am so fascinated with is the philosophical aspect that they seem to be able to incorporate into their particular expertise. Not only are they the best at what they do, but they are able to go above and beyond what they do. This is in part due to their ability to do it with seemingly less effort, and as a result this is portrayed in their more graceful movements, their larger leaps of logic, their faster moving swords, the things that set them apart from the rest. As this comes with less effort, it takes less concentration for them, and it is something that they concern themselves with less. Instead they are able to focus additionally upon how their craft relates to the human spirit, or how it relates to any other aspect of society at large, and can thus make big, bold, broad statements that seem so simple on the surface but contain allusions to the years and years of practice and mastery that their respective abilities have come from. It is through this dogged pursuit, this neverending quest to better themselves, even beyond the current visible limits, that they are able to break the barrier. They go the extra step.

These individuals provide extreme examples of inspiration for us, and with good reason. We should always be willing to go the extra mile. Mayeb you should concern yourself less with whatever your craft is, take a step back, do some introspection, and consider to yourself whether or not you're in the right field. I remember in high school, the dean of my math and sciences center would always tell me "I don't care what you do, as long as you're the best at it." He's absolutely right too, we should always try and do what we're best in.

Now I'm not trying to say by that that we needn't pursue things that we aren't necessarily the best at. I for example am horribly uncoordinated when it comes to team sports, but even I on occasion will go play some basketball, football, etc. As an aside, personally I prefer football because at least I know I'm not the only one who doesn't play it every freaking day, and thus I stand a chance. But we should never try and neglect what we really excel at, we should always try and continue to practice, learn, research, whatever it is that you do to better understand that specific facet of creation.

Finding out what you're good at is a difficult thing at times, especially since not everyone is willing to try new things. I for example recently found out I'm not as bad as I thought I'd be at ping pong, even though that could have just been a cool little lucky streak I had going on. One of the cliches I've spouted a couple times now has been how college is the time of our lives, when we experiment, find ourselves and all that jazz. This is yet another example of that, but trying to find out what we're good at doesn't have to end with college. Go ice skating at 30, even if its your first time trying. Who knows, you could just be the LeBron James of it.

Like I said though, I personally really enjoy hearing the introspection of these experts on their respective fields. It's awesome to understand how these people think that their crafts relate to every day human activity, and it is through these people that human kind truly progresses. It's a gift from God first and foremost for these people to have this talent of course, and again a gift for them to find their niches, and we must remember to be humble when we master our crafts. Anything you do though, due to the best of your ability, and if you're not the best, you should realize that you've got progress to make. Even if you are the best, you still got room to improve. Make it look easy, make your movements graceful, jump higher, and try fighting those scary Samurai-village-leader's-brothers like Tom Cruise. Did I go too far out with that allusion? I'm not quite sure...