So, quoting from Jonny Baker's blog again as he writes ..
one of the terms i came across in the gift that i love is wise blindness. it is in a quotation hyde uses from rainer maria rilke. it's getting at the idea that when we create if we get too analytical we'll lose the giftedness of what we are doing. i guess the most obvious case of this is when a performer suddenly becomes self conscious and tongue tied in front of an audience. this actually applies in lots of areas of life - standing back and being analytical robs the moment of its magic. there's a great folk tale that hyde tells...
a brief entry in a mid nineteenth century collection of english fairy tales tells of a devonshire man to whom the fairies had given an inexhaustible barrel of ale. year after year the liquor ran freely . then one day the man's maid, curious to know the cause of this extraordinary power removed the cork from the bung hole and looked into the cask. it was full of cobwebs. when the spigot next was turned the ale ceased to flow.
in other words the gift is lost in self consciousness. this isn't to say that there isn't a place for analytical thought. but the creative moment isn't it. wise blindness also applies to the sense that poetry or a song or an idea comes to use from beyond ourselves, from god or whatever it is we believe is beyond us. best just to receive it as a gift. i actually think this is the best approach to the whole of life - life's a gift. the planet is a gift. friends are a gift. family are a gift. live out of gratitude. faithless say it better actually in the track i want more
...hills to climb sights to see seas to cross
friends to make hands to shake the world is yours
foods to taste sounds to hear love to feel
seeds to sow things to know fish to reel
space to quiz stones to lift
life's a gift...
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