The Instrument and the Song
El Instrumento y la Canción
A question about whether the effortlessness of flow is something already present within us or something we must cultivate through practice.
The Instrument and the Song
A question about whether the effortlessness of flow is something already present within us or something we must cultivate through practice.
I really enjoyed that conversation. Going off what you were saying about this flow state, this effortlessness that you probably experience quite clearly: is this something that's already happening within us even though we don't realize it, and the mind just seems to be constantly throwing a stick in the wheel? Or is it something that we realize ourselves into? Is it something that we notice, that this effortlessness is already here?
It's both and neither, but there are two dimensions to it. One is that, yes, at the deepest level, this is what is always happening, and we simply don't notice it. But then there is another, more relative level: because we don't notice it, it isn't happening in the most free and flowing way. The more we recognize it, the more we are able to operate from what you could call wisdom activating our movement, our way of living.
You can approach it from both angles, which is the "growing up" and the "waking up." From one angle, we work on how to flow better, how to function better, how to make choices better. Like a musician trying to get better at their instrument, we work on the instrument of our body-mind, learning how to play it better. But the music is the song that we play through that instrument of body-mind. At that level, we do begin as beginners, and we get better as we master the instrument.
But at another level, there is the effortlessness that is ultimately what is here always. And the more we can recognize that, the easier it is to learn and operate and function from wisdom.
So the way I'm visualizing it is that it's like practice, the same as with an instrument. The more you practice, stumble through it, hit the wrong keys, then do it again the next day, sleep on it, do it again, you get into this groove where it just feels natural, like anything else in life.
Growing up and waking up
Yes, but it depends on what you mean by practice. That's why there is the other side. If by practice you mean sitting and repeating the same thing you've been doing every day, you're not going to learn and grow as fast. You're not going to master the instrument that way.
But if practice includes what the waking-up work points to, then by understanding what you are not, by recognizing our true nature more and more, what we do when we are functioning or practicing comes from a much deeper, wiser place. And so the learning happens much faster.
Giftedness and presence
This is why there is always that level of giftedness in a musician that varies depending on the person. When you see musicians who are learning and getting better so fast and so young, it is because they are approaching the learning and the instrument from a much wiser, much more disidentified place. It isn't just the technical side; it's the whole of musicianship at every level, including the technical.
It may happen that they are only able to do this at the instrument, and in the rest of their lives they are not living from wisdom. But in the practice, they are in presence. In the performance, they are in presence, more and more deeply. That is why it has both sides.
The finesse. Okay, thank you.