Upgrading yourself
It all of a sudden occurred to me yesterday that people,
including myself, buy gadgets, cars, clothes, stuff, as an easy replacement to self-improvement.
It is an alternative way to upgrade ourselves, and a much easier one at that. Instead
of becoming smarter
- buy an iPad.
The case is more subtle than that. Let me explain.
Every once in a while I feel an urge to make my computer
faster. In a way making my computer faster makes me faster, makes my life
better. Buying a nice tool, a gadget, improves my life in a way, and improves myself.
I, like everyone else, feel renewed. Instead of making myself better, making
myself faster, I can buy something and feel re-
new-ed. There is one problem – gadgets, stuff, are false
improvements. It is not really self-improvement to buy a new car if the moment
it breaks down then I’m no longer improved. There is a big difference in making
myself better, making myself smarter, or faster, and buying my way to improvement.
Of course improving oneself is much harder to do and takes longer.
Let’s look at the most extreme cases, those of a violinist
or a swordsman, where it gets complicated. To produce exceptional sound from a
violin you need to have a great violin. Getting a Stradivarius will improve
your musical capabilities and your options tremendously. You will sound better,
you will simply have more options of what to do, and no matter how much you
improve yourself on a lesser violin, you won’t be able to produce certain
sounds that a Stradivarius or Guarneri will allow you. (Or, the sounds simply won’t be as nice.)
But then a great violinist can sound great on a lousy
violin, and a Stradivarius will be a waste on the good-but-not-great violinist.
The fact of the matter is that some people can play with a sword on a string
and be extremely moving, while other famous violinists will play on a Guarneri (which
personally I prefer) in a huge concert hall and be boring and empty. The road
to self-improvement is tricky and improving one’s tools can be misleading. It
might often be better to start with a mediocre instrument only to move up than
start with an extremely good one.
An important issue here is that a good violin improves how
others
hear you, it effects your affect on people, but not necessarily who you are as
a musician. It helps you fool people, but not necessarily improves yourself. To
give a counterexample – for pianists playing antique pianos might not always
sound great for other people but it often improves the pianists themselves as
musicians.
Another example is
the swordsman. Here’s a nice scene from Tarantino’s Kill Bill, where the sword
maker is introduced:
Yes, a swordsman needs his or hers sword, they need the
greatest sword possible and as in Uli Baer great example in
post every little bit gives
them an edge, but the confusion of having a great sword and being a great
swordsman can be deadly! Having an improved sword is a very minimal improvement
on your swordsmanship unless you are at the capability of using it. Improve
yourself first of all, then get the sword.
A great bikini does no good if your body is not up to the
task. Yet we all believe in its all capable power to transform us.
Thoughts?
