Technicians, Artists and Alchemists

Chances are your work falls into one of three categories:

The Technician.
The technician is precise, focused and determined.  They are masters of their trade, know the details and the connections.  Their depth of understanding is profound and inspiring.  Ask a technician a question and he will give you an answer backed with experience and reasoning.  Technicians are very straight forward and matter of fact.

The Artist.
Artists are masters of their craft who are generous by nature.  They use their trade to make an impact in people's lives.  They are visionaries, leaders, ruckus makers.  The artist isn't in it for the status or power, they are in it because they see an opportunity to impact change and they are willing to step into the void.  

The Alchemist.
Alchemists are enigmatic artists.  You find them in strange circles, unfit places, unseemly professions.  Alchemists are masters of change and transformation.  Their art doesn't make sense to us, often times we don't see it or even believe it to be true.  Their art is lived, worked over.  They do the same thing day in and day out, perfectly content to keep plodding along, yet timelessly free and relaxed.  The enigma of the alchemist doesn't lie within them, it lies within us.

Technicians are too focused on the mechanics of their own practice.
Artists are too focused on the result and ensuing benefit.
Alchemists are free of attachment and the eight worldly concerns.  For them, the result is the path. 

Constant wonder.

The answer is not that important to the astronomer.  They have questions, lot of them actually, but the answers to those questions lead to more questions so there is a constant state of wonder.

The answer is not that important to the meditator either.  They also have lots of questions, but the answers to those questions lead to more questions resulting in a constant state of wonder.

Wonder and fascination fuel passion.  Amateurs are passionate.  Passionate amateurs become experts, masters in their trade.

The astronomer starts out by looking up at the clear night sky with amazement and wondering, "What is all of that?"
The meditator starts out by looking inside at a clear mind with amazement and wondering, "What is this?"

The difficult part.

The difficult part of having a spiritual practice is not the practice itself; that is a joy and a blessing.  The hard part is figuring out how to included everything else, how to integrate the practice with the rest of your life.

The hard part is not trying to exclude resistance, problems, pain and defeat from your practice.

In order to overcome the hard part, you need an example; fortunately or unfortunately, you need to be that example.  To be the example, you'll need a strong practice; one that allows you to bring all negative situations and problems onto your path.

To be the example, you will need to master your practice.