Description

The difference between success and mastery can be understood as related to the difference between worldly virtues and eulogy virtues. Our acts (behaviors, doings) are the subject matter of both success and mastery. Acts are preceded by causes and followed by consequences. The "what" of an act is the content that a full temporal description of it would have, whereas the "how" of an act is what remains when it is abstracted from its causal precedents and consequences. In other words, the "what" of an act is in time, whereas the "how" of an act is not in time. Some would say that the "what" is external and the "how" is internal. Both success and mastery are valuable. However, mastery is more valuable than success. Unfortunately, our culture puts far greater emphasis on success than on mastery. A chief purpose of this book is to correct that imbalance.