Can any person of average physical and mental capabilities become a "master"?

Average intellect isn't as important as physical gifts. Look at any professional athlete, most of them are pushed through the education system. When I was in college, I knew football players that had booster girls doing their homework. The average NFL player runs out of money. Look at Vince Young, drafted in 06, paid somewhere in the area of 50M, and broke now, and he is not even retired...yet.

I don't think dedication is the answer either, that will yield improved physical skills, possibly at a level much higher than others with similar years of devotion, but it doesn't take you to the next plain.

The people that do get there, and there are few in any given pursuit, get there for another reason. It might be love. Obsessed might be it. Jimi Hendrix, who doesn't do that much for me personally, had the respect of his peer group and those established as "skilled" or "masters" before he became known. More than respect in some cases, clear bewilderment at how he managed to make a guitar do what he wanted.

The road to mastery is like a lover. There is something that compels you to constantly think about it, wonder, "what if this, or that?", and then find out. If feels like your body is missing something when you are not "with" the "lover". Being a master also entails knowing what you are doing to the extent you can explain it. Unfortunately, mastery comes with knowing you can't give anyone an answer. You have to make them figure it out and find what is true for them. Not "truth" as in whatever floats your boat, true as in, this is the only answer.

The road is long, with many a winding road,

That lead us to where, who knows where?

Getting to the end of the road doesn't mean you took the journey if your only thoughts along the way were, "How fckin long is this road, I need to take a leak, get some food, and get some sleep." But there are people that took a winding road, hit a dead end, called it the end of the road, and decide they mastered the road. That's what happens when people of average mental capabilities practice for a long time.

Much depends on what you mean by "capability" and "master". It's not unheard of to find autistic prodigies, or children who can perform seemingly inhuman feats. Steven Hawking is severely physically impaired, yet he is regarded as one of the most important contributors to science that mankind has ever known.

Most of those to whom we commonly regard as "master" began as normal, average persons - average physical and mental capabilities by most people's standards. And so, answering your question considering carefully every word, yes, it is possible that any person of average physical AND mental capability can BECOME a master.

I hate the term "Master" and train under a few 10th and 9th dan who refuse the term master only wanting to be called Sensei. They claim that the true meaning of Sensei is older brother which is more appropriate.

If you are asking if someone of average physical conditions can become a legend then I would point out some of the founders of style who were not the strongest when they started:

Gracie founder of BJJ

Kyan Shorin ryu

Funakoshi Shotokan founder

Nagamine Founder Matsubayashi ryu

Your condradicting yourself. You say average mental ability yet you say extremely dedicated. In order to be extremely dedicated you have to be strong mentally. Either way physical ability is just as important as technique. Technique means nothing if your too slow to land, lack the power to do damage, and if your cardios not in order you'll be too tired to use your skill.

Not the way I define the word.

there are very few living masters.

Anyone may achieve a "master" rank in time, with enough quality training, but to actually "master" a martial art is a very different story.

congrats to Kokoro for being removed from access to the fraud site. Every one will soon be gone from there.

I don't see how anyone of average or higher mental capabilities can believe mastery is even possible to a human. Mastery is the ability to execute a skill perfectly no matter what the situation. Since no human can be perfect mastery is beyond our reach.

I don't say this to put anyone off chasing after mastery, I think that's one of the most noble goals a person can have but I don't believe it's possible.

That depends on your definition of Master.

If your are referring to having a Master's Title my answer is yes. Other than that I don't know if anyone truly becomes a master.

kw both me and pugpaws have never once stated we were masters. prove to use were we stated that

and btw kw thanks for locking me out of that stupid site of yours with no explanation what so ever and for no reason what s ever. proving once again you are a complete @$$.

all you do on here kw is spreed lies and bs. you claim to teach, gee your students must be as stupid as you.

as for the question i have met very few people i would consider masters. and most of them dont like to be refereed to as master.

master to me means someone who has a complete understanding

edit:>

You never sent any messages to my ya account,which is the only one I have access to but can respond because for the last 4 to 5 weeks I have only been using my phone to access the Internet. if you sent 2 or 3 messages I would have received one of them. I have my doubts about you sending even one.

What ever

thanks Jim, Notice hwo they keep all those inactive accounts they have very few active ones over there.

edit:>

i am not running any cage troll profile.

there was only one message you sent me on where which i responded to,

from my phone i have no access to the cage messages, just the site

believe what ever you want

If you have extreme dedication you are already not average.

@KW - That was a low-blow, mate.

@clown(s) - I believe so. There are quite a few individuals out there that were/are very well respected Martial Artists but at one point were either "average" or "below average" in terms of physical ability.