A recent article* posed a tongue in cheek question: With all the talk about self-driving cars, why hasn’t the autonomous concept been applied to more areas?

The author whimsically proposed a self-playing guitar since he’d never been able to master the instrument himself, despite years of trying. With such a technological advancement, he marveled, the owner could “pretend to be a talented guitarist while the machine handles the real work and musicianship.”

Sounds pretty amazing, right? But does it also pretty much miss the point?

The joy of guitar playing lies in being able to coax music from a wooden box with strings. In other words, the reward lies in mastery, i.e., developing the ability to press different strings and strum certain ways to create things we call songs.

Sure you could get some nice songs from an autonomous guitar, but at that point, why not just click a song on Spotify?

Mastery and the New Eating Culture Maybe you’re seeing a parallel to the realm of the kitchen?

For the last six decades, we have increasingly outsourced the intimate act of feeding our bodies. We’ve embraced autonomously-made meals, reveling in their convenience.

Little did we realize what we lost in that bargain. Along with our health there were many more less-obvious losses, like the opportunity for mastery.

Mastery isn’t a word that gets a lot of press these days as our technology wizards keep trying to autonomize more and more aspects of our lives. I often joke about how there will soon be some service or device we can employ to experience fun for us!

However, it’s worth stopping to consider the deep feeling of satisfaction and the self-esteem that come from being able to do things that take perseverance, knowledge and creativity.  They allow us to exercise several defining characteristics of being human, like thinking, figuring things out and getting good at them!

The humble act of meal making offers an ever-unfolding opportunity to master such things as:

• What do our bodies need as we progress through the decades?
• What foods address these needs and keep us at our best health?
• How can we work with the seasons to our advantage?
• Where can we find quality ingredients?
• How can we combine them simply to make wholesome dishes?
• How can we easily spice foods so they sing to our souls as well as our bodies?

Mastery is a lifelong pursuit. Don’t be bashful about starting small, then gradually opening the window to more learning and creativity. Finally, stop long enough to appreciate the evolution of your mastery and feel the deep reward that comes from taking control of what goes in your body so you can take control of your health.

*More Autonomous Devices? Sign Me Up, Joe Queenan, WSJ Dec. 30-31, 2023, p. C6