Below is an excerpt from a blog entry from Steven Pressfield, the author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Gates of Fire, and others. The full article may be read here.
... Which brings us to what, to me, is the highest plane of creative endeavor–doing it as a practice.
A practice isn’t pursued for money. It’s not an ego trip. Humility is a prime virtue in entering upon a practice.
But a practice is not for cream puffs. A practice requires fierce intention and the relentless commitment of a warrior. A practice needs killer instinct.
A practice is spiritual. Its technique is to use a simple physical act or skill as an avenue to access the higher aspects of the self. In Hatha yoga, the various poses are meant to take us beyond our bodies, into our breath and ultimately into a state of consciousness where we’re present in our flesh but are, at the same time, looking on from a higher, more detached plane. That’s the payoff (beyond easing our aching backs).
Practices take place within a sacred space. When we enter our martial arts dojo, we dress in traditional garb that shows respect for the discipline and its history, for our instructors and for our fellow students; we take off our shoes; we bow to the sensei. We’re quiet. We turn off our iPhones. We stop texting.
The great part about a practice is it can be learned. There’s a syllabus. It’s not a mystery. The teacher starts us at Square One. He guides us. We practice; we get better. Our understanding deepens over time. We had thought, when we started, that we were teaching the calligraphy brush to do what we want, but now we see that the brush is teaching us. It’s teaching us patience. It’s humbling our ego. We finally produce a masterpiece and our instructor throws it into the fire. We’re learning. The end is nothing. The act is everything.
The practice is everything.
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