“More than anything else in his life, Charles Darwin liked to look at things. He liked to look at things the way the way an artist likes to draw, the way a composer likes to play the piano, the way a cook likes to chop onions: it is the simple root physical activity that makes the other, higher order acts not just possible but pleasurable.”
There are artists in every area of endeavor; and when the art goes out of anything it becomes dreary. We sink back into habit and routine. The possibility of an innovative future fades from our mind’s eye. The quote above from Adam Gopnik’s book “Angels and Ages, A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln and Modern Life” touches on the fact that we all need a, “simple root physical activity” that pleasurably informs the more important things we do in our work.
We all need to have a “craft”, something visceral and tangible we do that lets us patiently observe the ordinary and the awesome things that are going on before our eyes. There are countless ways to let our bodies refresh our thinking processes. Cooking, drawing, playing in meetings with with others work for me. What do you do?
Leave a Reply