“To win the game is great. To play the game is greater. To love the game is greatest of all.”— Bob O’Connor
The highest levels of mastery come not from playing the game but becoming one with the game. The dancer is the dance, the poem writes itself. “I am one with the Force, the Force is with me” as Chirrut Imwe intoned while dodging blaster fire and eliminating Storm Troopers.
Those who seek the highest level of mastery are not playing a game but living it, breathing it. The love of the game (or art of any form) infuses them and becomes part of the person on the deepest level of their being. One with the Art, the Art is with me.
The highest levels of mastery are those exhibited by old masters that continue to learn, to practice, to create. Because they still crave the knowledge, the excitement of learning and improving even if they are the best there is in their field. Because they can get better, and do so out of pure joy in doing what they do: loving the game of life.