James Elkins on craft as a 'state of mindfulness'

Craft suggests pottery and carpentry, and other kinds of making, but the craft ethic extends beyond the skilled use of our hands. Craft is a way of thinking, an attitude of mind, a way of relating to any set of constraining materials, a relation of materials, skill to mind in a way so a particular person becomes known for the quality found in their use of materials. Craft is both skill and mind-set, making and doing. Craft is a state of mindfulness and a way of being.

Craftsmanship as a frame of mind (mind-set, attitude) is not fixed, or given, or inevitable, but a kind of character, a learned disposition, a habit formed over time. It can be learned. An attitude can be molded, formed, shaped (in the same fashion that we work with physical materials).

James Elkins, 'Practical Moral Philosophy for Lawyers: Imagining What We Do as Craft'

This and the previous quote come from a handout that my friend Anthony McCann used for one of his workshops on Crafting Gentleness.

Carla Needleman on 'the craft of being human'

The laws of craft and the teachings of any particular real craft run parallel to the craft of being human. The craft teaches precisely through bypassing the self-indulgent speculative part of the mind that would rather think about working than work. The craft provides experience. I can learn through the order of experiences. The craft will lead me if I am able to put aside my impatience and follow.

Carla Needleman, 'The Work of Craft' (1979)