Posts
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From Magicians to Technicians
For me, this year was great in terms of learning new things. I’ve read a lot, from philosophy to psychology, from how to play theatre to how to communicate better. I’ve read business books about sales and marketing and stuff about mixing music with an equalizer. And so forth.
And whenever possible, sometimes at night, I tinkered around with these new skills. And a very nice thing happened.
Let me say it like this: Let’s say we take the song “Still D.R.E.”. It’s possible to learn a little bit about music, say about bars and beats and about a couple piano chords, and actually copy that piano part. Add some equalizer mixing and it’s possible to make it sound almost identical.
What happens? Dr. DRE is no longer a magician, because now we have peeked into his craft, and we see and suddenly understand what he is, basically, doing. (And this only increases my respect for him. The man mastered a craft after all. And still keeps mastering it.)
Of course I know that from my own craft. I am a software engineer, after all. I can tell you how an operating system or a CPU works in detail. So it shouldn’t suprise me that there is a technique to what DRE does, as well. But the unknown, at least to me, is always mysterious.
There’s a sentiment I believe, that goes like this: It’s a pity that humanity advances so fast. We are deleting all the magic in the world with science.
(Some?) Psychologists also say: Getting rid of delusions about life makes man depressive. Or shizophrenic.
But no, I believe there is enjoyment and virtue in studying crafts, nature and, perhaps most importantly, ourselves.
If you don’t believe me, try to play that piano part from “Still D.R.E.” yourself.
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Thinking and Intuition
I am primarily an intuitive person, a thinker second. Thinkers confused me for a long time.
They always want to hear reasons for decisions taken. “Because it feels good” or “I vibe with that” are answers they cannot accept. But once I realized the difference between feel first, think second and think first, feel second (if at all), it became much easier. And communicating with them on their terms improved my own thinking.
Because here is the catch with being intuitive: It’s usually a very good thing, answer come very quickly and the insights can be quite comprehensive and deep, all within milliseconds. But sometimes, and that’s the problem, the perspective is completely wrong. Important details are not known and holes in reasoning are overlooked. The answers are false and actions off target.
That’s why I believe that intuitive people must develop their thinking.
Now I can’t say I am a great thinker, just because I found out about this. But I believe I am improving. I think the combination of “expert at intuition” and “competent thinker” is very powerful.
But it takes work to develop things that don’t come as naturally.
For what it’s worth, the most important step for me was to realize that other people think differently on a very fundamental level. That was crucial.
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The Invisible Walls
Sometimes I have to do something. There is no way in hell to not do it. It can be a stupid litte thing, but from time to time, usually when I do not want to do that thing, I see the invisible chains that bind me. They are values, priorities, aversions, a feeling of responsibility, the result of a pro-contra evaluation. That sort of thing. They steer me clearly and the action is not optional.
There’s another kind of thing. It appears to me as invisible walls. They come in two varieties.
Variety one is a limitation, something I cannot do. There’s data missing, I don’t have the manual. The options then are: Abort and learn, or just abort, because it’s no use.
Another kind of invisible wall is that there’s a direction that seems like it’s walkable, but it’s not entirely clear if there is something there. Maybe this is about potential. Is there a mountain to climb? If there is, I cannot see it. It’s transparent. I might be at the base of it or further up. Or maybe already on top. Impossible to decide. Perhaps there is no mountain. Instead it’s just a feeling that there might be one.
It’s a little frustrating.
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Depth
Sometimes I feel very shallow. An idea comes and there’s just nothing attached to it. It’s random. Something I’ve heard somewhere. It just happens to fit. I think it and that’s that.
Sometimes it’s the opposite. Thinking about nothing in particular suddenly the realization occurs that there is depth to everything. Especially to the parts that are invisible. It goes way way back, back in time almost, and way way down, very deep somewhere.
But perhaps it’s just the result of too little sleep.
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Jack of All Trades Master of None
I have to come to terms with a certain lack of focus in my life.
One month something interests me, the month after it’s something else. In January I am intro producing music, in February I work the HAM radio. In March I work on an app to get it into the app store. In April I trade the stock market.
I believe there’s some medical term for it, and probably medication, too. But I I don’t think it’s an illness at all so I reject any treatment. It’s just how some of us are wired. (I assume I share these traits with 5-10% of the world population so there are a lot of us.)
So what to do with it? Doesn’t everyone recommend we focus?
Walk 20 steps in one direction instead of 1 step in 20 directions.
.. they say.
And it seems right.
But I believe it’s just fine as long as certain conditions in my life are met.
For one there is at least one thing I do very well, which is my profession. I am good with computers. I have studied the theory and I’m an experienced practitioner.
Another thing is that I keep coming back to the same topics. Deepening them further each time. So it’s not like I have a bouquet of 100 interests, its more 5 to 10 main ones. A year may look like this: Music, Stock Market, Motorcycle, Music, App, Stock Market.
Another thing I have decided for myself is that I don’t want to dabble. I want to make things right. If I do music, I study music theory and I, for example, play the piano off sheet music. If I make an app I make sure it’s programmed well.
One of my favorite ideas for life is this:
Given two choices, pick the more difficult one.
Because it ensures growth.
Then there are other rules like: Invest your money, stay clear of debts, put people and relationships first and so forth.
Ok, so to summarize: I do not think changing interests is a medical problem and I strictly disagree with the medication culture that seems to be present in the United States for example. I do believe I still haven’t found what Germans call “der Weisheit letzter Schluss”, the final verdict, on this subject. I do believe certain core values, when present, will always keep life more on less on track towards my goals.
As I am typing this I realize that I have more to say (= more to discover) on this subject but I am running out of time and need to finish this post now.
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