What does it mean, to be apprentice to a master? I am apprentice to Owl. Alan becomes apprentice to Wizard. Even Wizard himself was once apprenticed to his master.
 
We know it means being a learner. But in earlier society, everyone who wanted to learn a trade, usually a craft, became an apprentice. He often went to live with the master. He was subject to the master’s direction, as he was young and would learn not only the craft, but also how the master lived as a productive adult. So apprenticeship laid foundations for a new, grown-up identity.
 
I suspect most apprentices find surprises along the way. I have.
 
One kind of surprise began to happen soon after Owl accepted my application to apprentice with him. Owl would ask me to do something for which he would give no reason, no matter how much I pleaded. I found that quite strange, for Owl really likes to think and so do I. After the first couple times though, I quit useless begging for reasons and, since there seemed to be nothing else to do, I began to observe what happened in myself when I was required to do something without a reason.
 
First, there was big resistance. I didn’t like not “understanding” what was happening and my tasks seemed arbitrary. But since I loved and honored Owl, I slowly let go of the resistance and simply acted as Owl directed. Then I began to notice something new arising inside me: in the midst of the inner argument between “I don’t want to” and “Yes, I will,” a feeling that I liked, but couldn’t name. It was quite tiny at first. I became an explorer inside. I tried to see what the task was asking of me. What would it teach me? How did I have to be in order to learn? Often something I didn’t recognize as part of myself would appear and help. Surprise!
 
As this process happened over and over again, I realized that to be able to learn from Owl, even though I often wasn’t clear about what I wanted, I must take direction, not resist, and use the experience itself as a teacher. What it taught me was what is inside me already, but unrecognized or ignored. Something new would enter my awareness. It became an adventure. Not easy always.
 
As I began to write this, it occurred to me to ask Owl to tell me now about this process. Did he know what he was doing when he refused me reasons for actions?
 
Owl said, “Of course, dear apprentice. What you become is far more important than what you do. But the doing is the means to it, the bridge. And you, like I used to, love the thinking so much that you often neglect to take the actions necessary for your own becoming. So by obeying, like a good apprentice, you act. Then you discover for yourself the results that are accessible within you.”
 
Oh, wisdom—Owl’s special province.