Originally Posted by
lawson-stone
There is a famous process of moral and spiritual growth that is documented in many writings, the most well known being Paul Ricoeur in, I think, The Symbolism of Evil. Put in a spiritual or religious context, the idea is we start out with Naivete. We accept that our speech and thoughts about matters of good, evil, god, etc. are directly connected. We speak of them the same way, and with the same certainty, as we speak of objects in the world. But then as we reflect, analyze, question, and ponder, we reach a second stage, Critical Awareness. Now we know how loose the connection is between our thoughts and words, on the one hand, and the things we speak of or think about, on the other. We say "god" now and realize we actually don't know what or who god is. We speak of good and evil, but realize "compared to what?" and "Where did I get my notions of good and evil?" There opens then a distance between us and the very beliefs and values we once spoke of so freely and easily, so directly. But then as we continue on that road, we realize that even our critique is naive! Our analysis and critique are just as ultimately uninformed and uncertain as our original naive beliefs! What if there really is good, evil, god, etc? At this point it becomes possible to enter the Second Naivete. We return to many of our original beliefs, statements, and ideas, and we believe they do in some genuine way point to things that are real, but we have a certain distance, a certain... humility... in doing so. We believe, but all the while, we know our unbelief.
I think this happens in many, if not most domains. Being in love, for example. Or Mark Twain for example--he spoke so romantically about the life of the river-boat pilot, until he trained to become one. Then he realized how dangerous it is. Every swirl in the river that he thought beautiful now he knows might conceal a sand bar or other hazard to his vessel and passengers. He actually says nobody who really knows the river would ever want to be a riverboat pilot. BUT... he is writing this in retirement beside the river, admiring the boats as they go up and down the river, and loving the river about which he wrote for his entire life. You can see the 3 stages right there.
So many music? We start out all feeling, intuition, ears and (some) chops. But to grow, we have to learn, analyze, critique, and struggle. Soon we become distanced from the very things we love about this music. But continuing on the search, the journey, one day we realize that all those slogans about "learn you theory then forget that shit and just play" were true, but only true of the "third stage" where you have have done your homework, stepped back from your own playing a thousand times, pondered just giving up, but always coming back. Then one day you realize that you have been playing mainly from intuition and interaction with what you're hearing, but with all that learning and pain behind it, driving it.
Anyhow, something to ponder. Or roll your eyes at, or just laugh out loud can call BS.
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