Why should we be afraid when we find ourselves saying more than we know? That must happen to us, if we are to become useful instruments. Some have written like that, some have painted like that, some have simply acted like that. Then we must understand the meaning of what has been said or written or acted through us. And so we grow and make it really our own.
– Rodney Collin
This quote seems to resonate with the way I think about ranking in the traditional arts. Most of us rarely feel ‘ready’ for whatever the next level or rank is, however if we push through anyway we often find ourselves on a new plateau where things look different. We then have a clearer sense of the work we must to do in order to live up to and become something more than we were before.