A silent click…
Words 57 · RF@80 Series.
Photo: King Crimson. Novemeber 11th. 2000. 9.30 Club, Washingtong, USA.
Sitting, reading, and saluting the hour, suddenly: an insight into my personal Blind Spot. I have known my Blind Spot for years, so this enables me to put an extra wing mirror on the wing mirror of the wing mirror. Then, perhaps I won’t bump into things quite as much, or (mixing metaphors) trip over myself. This morning’s insight concerned the “why” of this Blind Spot, and how it got to be crystallised that way. Wonderful.
In Guitar Craft this insight would be referred to as a Point Of Seeing. There is a silent click and one finds that one knows. There is a particular kind of resonance involved which is very different to A Bright Idea, which is often accompanied by excitement, or arousal, or an investment in the agreement / acceptance by others of This Lofty Notion Of Mine. The Point Of Seeing, in contrast, is accompanied by a sense of elation.
A point of seeing is direct, instantaneous (a book might be written on creative time, and probably already has been) and substantial. Substantiality is the inverse of materiality: the greater the subtlety, the greater the reality (let’s assume we agree to what reality might be). A proviso: this is no way denigrates or qualifies the necessity of materiality (as in an unhealthy asceticism of body-denial). In the point of seeing we connect with / to the subject / object of our contemplation / reflection, and touch its nature. There are degrees, qualities and intensities of “touching”; which simply says that there are degrees, qualities and intensities of seeing; and this implies, also of being seen.
Discrimination is needed to differentiate between A Bright Idea and A Point Of Seeing. Bright Ideas can be delusional, and lead aspirants to adopt wildly unrealistic life-aims that, in their turn, generate waves of repercussions in the aspirants’ daily lives. These “delusional repercussions” may take years to still and settle. One Bright Idea I often meet is “I have to be a professional musician – even though I can’t play my instrument to any degree of competence, have no experience and can’t get anyone to listen to me”.
[Excerpt from RF’s King Crimson Touring Diary - August 18th. 2000]
I'm currently writing a book that has been bouncing around inside my head for years. This is a pretty accurate description of the sort of thing that happens when I'm writing my diary and wondering how to resolve some issue or express some notion in it. When this happens it is marked with a joyous FUCK YES immediately thereafter
Which is a shame because I quite like Yes.
Someone once said that an idea is something that owns you, rather than something you own.
Artists seem to be blessed with ideas (muse?) and can often act on them without the benefit of tools or their technical mastery.
A professional musician on the other hand may have mastered the use of his tools, or instruments, and yet, lack bright ideas. Making him a tradesman of sorts.
In the music biz, Does the IDEA far outweigh the proficiency with the tool?
To have been blessed with the idea AND mastery of one’s particular Tools, would be a blessing indeed, and these artists/technicians often rise to the top I think.
Just thinking out loud. Cheers.