If you haven't seen Star Wars by now, I have to question your parents' devotion to you and whether you had a childhood at all. (This is my way of telling you there's spoilers.)

Anyway...

In the first Star Wars film (I refuse to retroactively call it A New Hope), Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrifices himself facing former pupil Darth Vader, allowing Luke Skywalker and his friends to escape the Death Star. In Star Wars lore, the master in Jedi master owes more to a Jedi Knight taking on an apprentice and showing him or her the ways of the light side of the Force.

The word mastery denotes control and supreme knowledge. It connotes having a thorough command of a subject or process, something "one could do in their sleep."

Last month, I had some time with a good friend Earl Livings, who himself is a writing teacher and fiction author. I had shown him the fourth draft of a short story I'd written back in January. He gave me some praise; however the markings, corrections, and suggestions told me I was a long way from "mastering" anything.

Was Obi-Wan really a master? Or was he in the process of learning too? He made a few blunders by withholding from Luke the true nature of his father.

Of course, failure is always feedback. Each red line through my prose is another step towards "mastery," though attainment of such a state may always be another step ahead, no matter how far I travel. I don't feel that the skills that comprise one's profession requires complete "mastery" as there is always more to learn.

I always fear the person who says they are complete in their knowledge; as this is rarely mastery at all.

Do you feel like you need to "master" subjects or skills? Or are you always a work in progress, like me?

Let me know in the comments below.