The secret of growth...

Prince Wen Hu's cook was carving up an ox. Every touch of his hand, every heave of his shoulder, every step of his foot, every thrust of his knee, with the slicing and parting of the flesh, and the zinging of the knife- all was in perfect rhythm...

Prince Wen Hui remarked,"How wonderfully have you mastered your art."

The cook laid down his knife and said, "What your servant really cares for is Tao, which goes beyond mere art. When I first began to cut up oxen, I saw nothing but oxen. After three years of practicing, I no longer saw the ox as a whole. I now work with my spirit, not with my eyes. My senses stop functioning and my spirit takes over. I follow the natural grain, letting the knife find its way through the many hidden openings, taking advantage of what is there, never touching a ligament or a tendon, much less a main joint.

"A good cook changes his knife once a year because he cuts, while a mediocre cook has to change his every month because he hacks. I've had this knife of mine for nineteen years and have cut up thousands of oxen with it, and yet the edge is as if it were fresh from the grindstone. There are spaces between the joints. The blade of the knife has no thickness. That which has no thickness has plenty of room to pass through these spaces. Therefore, after nineteen years, my blade is as sharp as ever. However, when I come to a difficulty, I size up the joint, look carefully, and work slowly. Then with a very slight movement of the knife, I cut the whole ox wide open. It falls apart like a clod of earth, crumbling to the ground. I stand there with the knife in my hand, looking about me with a feeling of accomplishment and delight. Then I wipe the knife clean and put it away."

"Well done!" said the Prince. "From the words of my cook, I have learned the secret of growth."

Source: Gia-fu Feng, Jane English, Chuang-tsu. Inner Chapters. New York, Random House 1974, p. 55.

There is a thing that can happen when you are thoroughly engaged in the task at hand. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a book dedicated to the experience described by Chuang-tsu. The same experience has also been described as being in the "zone." Most craftsmen and artists know that space. In it, time stands still. You have to work to arrive in the zone, but once there, it pulls you in and invites your return, but the development of an ever increasing level of skill is the price of admission. At some point you awaken to see the wonderful work you have accomplished. People will ask how you did it. It is just as the cook describes. Csikszentmihalyi's book is a popular one because anyone who has ever worked hard for something has encountered the "flow" experience at some point and can relate.