2717: The Value of the Craftsman's Guild

As I sit before my iPad sharing just a few thought, I'd love to believe that I am sharing something revolutionary, that you will hop up after reading with a combination of wonder and life changing epiphany. Today, I know that is not true. Monks and philosophers and even common craftsmen of days past knew all of the truth I am trying to show you. They might laugh at the need I feel to even share this. This method of success was so weaves into their culture, they might find in strange to have to be explained. They knew they needed each other. We pretend we don't. We pretend that God designed us to be self sufficient or maybe need only him. This means ignoring some his basic instruction and denying the power he grants us in our friends and family.

When you enter the blacksmith's shop you stand in a replica of what is one of the last vestiges from the time of guilds. You see the heavy bearded man, with archaic shade waiting the rod of iron he has in the fire as he uses his foot to pump the bellows, He's watching for the indicators which tell him it is hot enough, ready for the anvil, the indicators his master taught him. When it is ready, he shows it to the younger man beside him. He ignores the intruders from the 21st Century. My family and I.

He is sharing knowledge, which has been passed from blacksmith to blacksmith for longer than people have been writing about it. In another setting, his apprentice might have take notes, but here he just listens and watches and nods his head indicating he understands. The maser blacksmith moves from before the furnace to the anvil, where he picks up his hammer. He quickly explains the order of the strikes before he begins. Wham, wham, wham. The younger man looks ready to try his hand, but he is still learning.

I consider how in this day and age, in this appear of information, it is hard to image the value of this relationship. They don't talk about the guild laws, which would have limited who the blacksmith could apprentice and allow prosecution of the apprentice if he quit. They don't talk about the secretive nature of even the order of the strikes, because it might be the edge that got you hired. This generational knowledge and trade secrets. This was the lifeblood of a whole class of people in nearly every nation. These were the people that got, good work done.

From ancient times craftsman would form associations with other craftsman and they would meet in halls or workshops. In India these were know as shreni, in Ptolemaic Egypt, they were koinon, Rome had collegia and China had hanghai. They formed between glassblowers, iron workers, theatre troops and masons. They formed not to hold the building in which they met, but because of the power they collectively had together. They could get the work done, train others in their trade and masters could learn from one another as technology evolved. The internet might give us the information, but it does not give you other critical part of this, the relationships.

One other thing the burly blacksmith and his young apprentice don't talk about is the loss of guild value, which came into play when they began to exhibit rent-seeking behaviors. Rent seeking behavior is one of the enemies productivity. At a corporate level it can be resting on your reputation and developing a kind of entitlement, or building a genuine monoply based on geograpgy, as opposed to skill. This is what guilds did. They manipulated the environment for gain, as opposed to focusing on improvement of their craft and craftsman. Ultimately this lead to their downfall when individual with ambition, not connected to the gulf broke off.

Rent seeking behavior doesn't only exist at the group or corporate level, it can also exist at the individual level. You probably see it everyday. In it's worse form it is the person that believe simply by being them other own them something. A more common, but in some ways no less deadly form, is the employee who has a certain unique skill and attempt to leverage it rather than do a good job. On a personal level, it is rent seeking when we stop trying, but expect other to be thankful for what we have done, as opposed to what we are doing. The guilds early on fought rent seeking on both a corporate and individual level. They earned their keep by being productive, not protective. Perhaps this would be too political for Greenfield Village.

I consider the purity of what is going on in this training and I am reminded of Proverbs 27:17, Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Just as the iron is shifting from being a simple rod into a useful tool, so is the apprentice. With every strike, he is teaching another how to do that same strike. God has an expectation we will refine each other, help each other to be useful. There is real power in understanding this. You can not do it on your own. You are not intended to. The solo path is not on ungodly, but it is flawed.

A select group of great people of history have been given the title Polymath. This group includes Leonardo daVinci, Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Newton and Albert Schweitzer, to name just a few. Each of these men excelled in multiple disciplines, to the point it warps even our idea of genius. While 600 years separates the first from the last, they share a surprising number of things about the way they worked. It begs the question, how did these men get so much done? Didn't ther ambition run out? I'm certain it did at times, but they kept a secret weapon nearby. They each had someone who was a mentor and also served as a mentor to someone else. They joined societies to keep themselves surrounded by intelligent ambitious people. Lastly, they kept a workshop or workspace where people could gather and discuss. We might know the names of these men, but they were not isolated islands. They understood the real power of the craftsman's Guild, which is one man encouraging another onto greater things.