When you do something from your heart – whole heartedly as in – its the best possible version of yourself. Whether its cooking, building, painting, creating… and it seems to be purest whenever you’re not doing it with the notion of impressing others, or with the idea that you want to become famous. I’ve had this happen to me. I’ll play a game of chess with someone… and win the game so well, that they are blown away… they marvel out loud at my skill as a chess player. And they say, “…you oughta be a professional chess player.” They are being truthful in their emotions, you think? I think so. There might be some exaggeration in their words, all be it unknowing. The Chess masters are so FAR beyond my mediocre ability, and I know it, cuz I’ve read books on the subject of Chess. The game fascinates me. Its not a game of luck. The only luck involved is who gets to move first. White moves first. So who chooses white, in theory, is already in the advantage. Gaining the advantage back again, when you have to play Black, that’s also where skill comes in. So, they un-do the luck by having tournaments, where each player takes a turn at being white.
Same can be said after I cook a great meal. I’m a good cook. But as soon as I invite over a bunch of people, like you do when there’s a special occasion… Thanks Giving, or Christmas, Easter, a Birthday Dinner… more times than not I fail miserably. The psychology of it might just be as simple as this. When you’re cooking, with your whole heart, for the art of it, not to be seen, or known, and your whole concentration is on the end result, the good meal… there’s poetry there.
Those words by Schopenhauer come to mind. He was a German philosopher who was born in 1788 and died in 1860. I read his “Studies in Pessimism” There’s various versions out there.
He explains here what I would struggle for a long time to express:
“If a man does a thing unconsciously, it costs him no trouble; but if he tries to do it by taking trouble, he fails. This applies to the origin of those fundamental ideas which form the pith and marrow of all genuine work. Only that which is innate is genuine and will hold water; and every man who wants to achieve something whether practical life, in literature, or in art, must follow the rules without knowing them.”
Studies in Pessimism Arthur Schopenhauer
My ability to communicate is a spiritual gift. Its a calling. Its what God has made me for. I’ve spent my whole life doing it, in one way or another. My writing is but one aspect of this. My vocation in life ended up being a very different one. The Apostle Paul was a tent maker, who preached the gospel? Or was a he a preacher, who made tents to fund his ministry? He did this, he says:
Take a look at this scripture,
Before long Paul left Athens and went on to Corinth where he found a Jew called Aquila, a native of Pontus. This man had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had issued a decree that all Jews should leave Rome. He went to see them in their house and because they practiced the same trade as himself he stayed with them. They all worked together, for their trade was tent-making. Every Sabbath Paul used to speak in the synagogue trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks….
Acts 18:1-6 J B Phillips
Paul discusses his reasons for not living off of the gifts of his followers in 1 Corinthians 9.
Running Down Vimy 