The Art & Science of Skillful Living ®

LIFECRAFT ®

Companion User's Guide

PART SIX
Your Family and LIFECRAFT

There are many ways in which the practice of LIFECRAFT and the use of the LIFECRAFT Life Planner can be introduced to and managed by your family. This Guide offers you an approach for introducing LIFECRAFT into your life and the life of your family. There are many factors which will influence the speed and acceptance with which you will be able to successfully introduce the practice of LIFECRAFT into your life and the life of your family. For example, the age of your children, your lifestyle, available time, and areas of need. The following guidelines will help you to get started.

Life As A Craft

While the Five Elements of LIFECRAFT and the subjects contained within them can certainly be taught and learned without any reference to the idea of life as a craft, or conducting oneself as a craftsperson, it is the pursuit of craftsmanship which makes the LIFECRAFT approach unique.

LIFECRAFT is not purely an "intellectual science" nor purely an emotional or intuitive expression of "life as art." LIFECRAFT recognizes the skill and beauty, the art and science inherent in craftsmanship as the guiding principle for modeling one's actions and the way in which one organizes and manages the world within and without.

Thus, for LIFECRAFT to be an applied system and not simply a quaint metaphor, you must decide whether or not you seriously accept the basic premise of LIFECRAFT -- the idea that life can be practiced as a well defined and managed craft.

Pursue Craftsmanship

Once you have committed to the view that life is a learned craft, you must begin the process of becoming a craftsperson by committing to practice craftsmanship in your life and your actions. To begin, review the definitions of "craftsperson" and craftsmanship found in this guide. Consider the meanings in the definitions offered in the Glossary contained in this Guide.

Understand what it is you are committing yourself to. Anchor craftsmanship inside your mind, then open yourself to experience the works of superior craftsmanship. All the books in the world cannot duplicate the experience of direct contact with the fruits of superior craftsmanship; the works themselves.

First, alone by yourself, then as a guide together with your family, look at, touch, smell, taste and listen to the works of superior craftsmanship which surround us. Experience them and talk about them together. Describe what you see and feel the deeper you look at a beautifully crafted automobile, an outstanding motion picture, an intricate piece of jewelry, an inspired performance, a magnificent landscape, cloudscape, sunset and stars, or the ultimate masterpiece; a superbly crafted life lived to its fullest and an inspiration to future generations of practitioners.

The principle of this exercise is to become well acquainted with the difference between true craftsmanship and imitation "fake" craftsmanship or worse ... mediocre - indifferent workmanship. This is the foundation of LIFECRAFT; to know what craftsmanship is, and what it isn't.

It is the knowledge, the acceptance and the application of craftsmanship which will be the significant determining factor whether or not an individual's life will be crafted (by him or herself and others,) into a unique, genuine work of art beautifully displayed and cared for, or whether it will be just another assembly line production model -- a cheap imitation look alike. Or worse, a rotting shell in the junkyards of life.

Craftsmanship therefore, is not attained by reading the pages of this Guide or the LIFECRAFT Life Planner. It is attained through action shared with everyone through the tangible evidence of craftwork. Thus, the essence of the true craftsperson is in the pride of giving to the world; "a work which speaks for itself."

Seek out great works of craftsmanship and there you will find nestled among the curves and the textures, in the aromas, in the colors, and the tones, lessons prepared with painstaking care by great teachers; each one worth more than 10,000 words. It is there in the evidence of their work. The work speaks for itself to reveal the invisible craftsperson. This is the secret of LIFECRAFT.

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship for many crafts lasts anywhere from three to seven years. During this time as described earlier in this Guide, the apprentice is schooled in all the elements of the craft, and measured for proficiency before being "let loose" to practice; to begin their Journeywork.

The young LIFECRAFT apprentice can begin a formally structured curriculum at age 12 to 14 to coincide with the time they will begin to consider ideas regarding a future livelihood. By formally structured we mean that the apprentice becomes increasingly more responsible for dedicated study of the subjects contained within your family's LIFECRAFT Life Planner.

However, there are many LIFECRAFT subjects which you will find perfectly suitable for introducing and practicing with family members at a much younger age for example, Personal Hygiene, Basic Table Manners and Primary Safety Rules. But children are still too young to be expected to take on the full responsibilities of apprenticeship. There will be plenty of time for that at the appointed time. While they are children, let them be children. When they become young men and women, let them put away childish things.

LIFECRAFT Time

If your Family has regular meetings or family gatherings you may wish to incorporate LIFECRAFT subjects into those times to develop the subjects which you will keep in your LIFECRAFT Life Planner.

LIFECRAFT Family Activities

Almost all of the subjects contained within the LIFECRAFT Life Planner are family based activities which the family can do together as a family.

Welcome To Our Family

A document entitled: Welcome To Our Family can be found in the "toolbox" section Element V of LIFECRAFT Life Planner. It was designed to be used to help you "break the ice" to introduce LIFECRAFT into your family. Possibly as part of a ritual occasion to mark a new chapter in the life of your Family.

Suggestion: Make one copy of the document as is or modified to your liking for each member of your family and read it together aloud to one another. The depth of the meaning of the words and the feelings that will be shared in this moment will be in direct proportion to your sincerity with one another. Once it is read, sign each others copy as a pledge of commitment to each other as members of the family letting each member keep a copy for themselves.

Go Forward to Part VII

User's Guide - Companion to the Life Planner

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