Lughnasa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Honey Extraction Moon<\/p>\n
Kate and I had a conversation the other day about talent.\u00a0 Two of her sisters make their living playing classical violin.\u00a0 They have talent.\u00a0 A lot of it.\u00a0 BJ went to Julliard and Sarah to Curtis, both academies for topflight talent.\u00a0 They both graduated and have been able to work using their training.\u00a0 BJ makes a living as a classical musician in New York City, the hotspot for classical music today in the same way Vienna was at one time in Austria.\u00a0 Sarah teaches violin and does the occasional solo spot with orchestras of the second tier.<\/p>\n
Kate and I had\/have above average intelligence and have been able to work making use of\u00a0 those gifts, Kate in pediatrics and me in various religious, political and artistic positions.<\/p>\n
Even so, in all four of our cases, we had enough talent to peer over the transom into the gifted realm, but not enough to participate in it.\u00a0 This is a ruling contradiction of life, no matter what your level of talent, wealth or status, there is always someone more talented, more gifted, wealthier and higher up the status ladder.\u00a0 Always.\u00a0 Even if you’re Itzhak Perlman or Bill Gates or Merrill Streep, you have to contend with Paganini, Andrew Carnegie or Sarah Bernhardt.\u00a0 History can always serve up an exemplar who achieved more, acted better or accumulated more wealth than thou.<\/p>\n
This problem cannot be solved by saying don’t peek, don’t stand on the chair and try to see into the room where the door closed before you.\u00a0 No, we all peek because we can’t help it.\u00a0 We imagine, fantasize, try to pull ourselves up a little bit, maybe we can squeeze through, even if it’s only to the room where the jobs pay $15.00.\u00a0 Or maybe to the room where the cool kids are.\u00a0 Or the ones with enough food.\u00a0 Or the Noble Prize.\u00a0 Or authors with books on the NYT bestseller list.<\/p>\n
Here is the one and true solution.\u00a0 Know thyself.\u00a0 Work within yourSelf, demanding from that Self the best it has.\u00a0 Not the best it wishes it had, not the best others seem to have, but the best Self you have.\u00a0 In this way you offer the world that unique gift, you.<\/p>\n
This solution also solves the problem of transom peeking.\u00a0 You will still wonder, fantasize perhaps, what might have been, but you will not be driven to either envy or despair because you have as much as work as you can handle already.\u00a0 Being you.<\/p>\n
Neither does this mean that you settle for mediocrity, less than the person you have the Self to become.\u00a0 One of the most negative aspects of envy or despair is the demotivation it produces.\u00a0 The, if I can’t be like her, or him, then I just won’t bother path.<\/p>\n
No, your path, the ancient trail that you must walk is this:\u00a0 know your Self and follow its lead, only that ancient trail can lead you to the gift only you can offer the rest of us.<\/p>\n
Humanity needs all the gifts of the whole species.<\/p>\n
We have enormous challenges today.\u00a0 Climate change.\u00a0 Hunger.\u00a0 Religious and racial discrimination.\u00a0 Wars.\u00a0 Economic ups and downs.\u00a0 We cannot afford to leave the talents and vision of even one woman, one ethnicity, one age to waste.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lughnasa\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Honey Extraction Moon Kate and I had a conversation the other day about talent.\u00a0 Two of her sisters make their living playing classical violin.\u00a0 They have talent.\u00a0 A lot of it.\u00a0 BJ went to Julliard and Sarah to Curtis, both academies for topflight talent.\u00a0 They both graduated and have been able to work … Continue reading Gifts and Talents<\/span>