I’ve been pondering the value of credentialing and validation for someone to get recognized for mastery in action, but have personally not chased either; preferring instead to practice practical skills and to experiment with lived experience.
And I’m still relatively content about this. Because I have freedom in my field1. But honestly, this is pretty challenging.
So, I see how credentials like degrees, authoring books, and (perhaps) follower count, are valuable when you also would also like to get your work to third parties – for the sake of greater positive impact and carrying on in your efforts.
What higher education can do beautifully is introduce, label, and/or validate a person in circles who may benefit from recognizing and following another intellectual pizan2.
So what if someone learned nearly everything they do now by observation, A/B testing, and reflection on results in ways that did not prioritize Values like; Title, Pedigree, Clubs, Work Circles, Fame, Networks or Designations – what should they do to get their work out to an appropriate audience?
What if a person feels more like a outlaw than a cowboy in their approach to their work – precisely so they could roam free outside the bounds of any profession? What if they’ve worked (ironically and meta-presently for dollars) in the field of marketing, and they are kind of done with the ruse that money matters more than mastery?
Credentialing can speak not only to the skill-level of accomplishing the job at hand (and don’t we all actually just learn any job, on the job?), but also to how consciously attuned the person is to the ancient themes, traditions, and intellectual and spiritual thought of masters in many fields.
And if they do this reverent and cognitive work with verve, they may even be able to push the work itself a little further into new territory…
Because mastery comes partly, and critically, from LINEAGE, and it happens whether or not there is a degree or recognition.
P.S. This is an extraordinary gift carried by many ordinary people.
Lineage of a master can be picked up and propagated by reading, questioning, thinking and sharing their work through your unique perspective and gifts. Also via crediting, which is something I shall try to do better in coming posts. (Although my favorites are mentioned over and over in post after post after post after post and art after art, if you look).
This is what I appreciate most in life-long learner kin.3
For instance, while anyone can learn how to bang a nail into wood, then over time grow their skill into fine woodworking, but they may never ascend to recognized mastery without some articulation of the work of the masters of building, architecture and construction…
Or, they may ascend and keep it to themselves.
Or maybe, they really need some other masters-in-training to email once in a while.
And this is why academics are helpful; they are gate keepers, sometimes. And ideally gate openers all the time. I’m not actually sure that’s the case though. Sometimes academics are thieves.
I love talking about Da Vinci and how an inventive, experimental mind may approach life, and what they’d discover. I love studying the lives and works of master artists across disciplines, not only putting digital brush to screen.
Academic circles are handy for gaining recognition, sure, by peers who say by degree – “yes, you have a right to actually speak about this.”
But I know you never actually need someone else’s validation to speak about what you know. Your love of the ideas and love of those you share it with is your critical credential. And it is well noted and appreciated.
So do you NEED a formal education to gain this type of mastery? The kind that recognizes we all stand on the shoulders of giants and cite their influence while demonstrating by skill that the bearer can bring down the knowledge and turn it into form?
“Nah.” As my brother4 would say without further explanation.
- Perhaps though, I’m still tilling my field or riding free outside any field (what I’m aiming for anyway) ↩︎
- Pizan is a family term my family sometimes uses to mean “friend” or “friendly thinker.” In other words, one who understands. Here’s an internet definition that also captures the meaning ↩︎
- Huge shout out to my new favorite thinker and podcaster: Stephen West of Philosophize This! ↩︎
- In my glossary, my brother Henry is the Grand Frugali ↩︎
