To All Presenters:
In ancient Greece a person's creativity was considered to be the direct result of outside influence. Gods, Daemons or Muses held sway over one's ability to sing, play instruments, write or perform. In Rome a person was said to be possessed by Genius - alluding again to an outside spiritual influence. It wasn't until centuries later that our neo-narcissism allowed us to be geniuses ourselves.
The benefit of this spiritual outsourcing is that when Greek stand-up comedians told jokes that bombed, or Roman writers drafted copy that wouldn't sell - they could blame the Gods. This ability to pass the buck empowered them to take risks without fear of personal failure. "It's not me, it's my Muse".
Frankly, this seems like a smashing good idea.
Today if your jokes bomb - your fault. If your book doesn't sell - your fault. As a result people are less willing to be daring lest they fail and subject themselves to ego crushing humiliation. And that's too bad. How many creative concepts never manifest because the thinker is too afraid to share their original idea?
Perhaps we should renew the old philosophies as Rudyard Kipling did, once quoted as saying his creative Daemon abhorred blue ink, so he only ever wrote with the "blackest of blacks".
Or like Nick Cave who at the height of his commercial success declined an MTV Video Music Award saying that such measurement of his creativity might spook his Muse and he couldn't afford to have her abandon him completely.
Presenters - next time you take the floor to pitch a product or communicate a concept, open yourself to the possibility the daring idea you have to make your presentation a true performance comes from something besides yourself. Perhaps this externalization will empower you to act on it.
THE POINT: Your Muse is your inner mentor. Do what your mentor says.
1 comment:
I feel inspired.
I stumbled across your blog today in a random quest for inspiration. My feeling on "passing the buck," as you say, has always been the devil/angel on my shoulder situation. I used to joke that my devil made me do it or it was my guardian angel's urging for me to take a bold step in the right direction. Somewhere along the path, this inner philosophy was lost, I stopped blaming them and started blaming "life", which eventually made me blame yours truly for not allowing my "life" to guide my decision-making properly. I found that I was more prone to allow others to decide the best course and I became much less engaged with my own intuition and decide-ability (if that's even a word). I've been passed up for a promotion twice in the past year. I'm starting to think it's my inability to communicate my ideas effectively. Maybe it's time I started practicing again? After all... change is good, right?
Anyway, you are correct dearest blogger. I've got to let these creative juices flow...
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