Be Like Mozart

And Embrace Your Own Path

Clintavo @clintavo

A man asked Mozart how to write a symphony. Mozart replied, “You’re too young to write a symphony. The man said, “You were writing symphonies when you were 10, and I’m 21.” Mozart said, “Yes, but I didn’t run around asking people how to do it.”.

[source]

“Self-help” is an interesting term, isn’t it?

Think about all the books in the “self help” section of a bookstore. The irony is, if we were truly engaging in self help - we wouldn’t need any of those books.

A “self help” book might help you, but it’s not self help.

When you read such books, you’re not turning inward, to your self, for help, you’re turning to what someone else has done for guidance. You’re looking for a formula.

We all confuse external techniques, paths, guidelines, and formulas for the thing itself. And lest you think I’m judging, I’m as guilty of it as anyone.

The man in the tweet went to Mozart wanting a formula, he wanted to learn, he wanted yet another “self help” technique in his goal to write a symphony. But even if Mozart had tried to help him, the man would have failed to achieve his potential.

There is no guideline, no technique, no formula that a master can give you that will achieve your goal for you.

In fact, the thing that makes a “master” great, is the very thing that they cannot teach you. There is a reality that exists beyond words, and a master has only the limited subset of reality known as “words” and “concepts” to teach.

This phenomenon is what makes reading about Zen, meditation, and spirituality so maddening. Nobody can give you a ten step program to God, to the Creator, to Consciousness….to Happiness. In the end, you can read all you want, but you still have to find your own unique way there.

There is no way to happiness - happiness is the way.

Thich Nhat Hanh

That’s a beautiful, maddening, quote. But, in my limited experience, it’s true. I’ve meditated, I’ve been “mindful”, I’ve read book after book. I’ve tried many things, to “fix” and “achieve.” And I have friends who’ve tried even more. But everything we’ve all tried are just formulas.

The times I’ve been truly happy….just happen. I found my own way there. But I couldn’t give you the formula. And you couldn’t give me your formula. You just do it.

As I said, a master cannot truly show you the way, he can only give you a formula.

But, as soon as you try to follow the formula, you will be imprisoned by the technique and not find the way to truth on your own.

So, while formulas may be helpful, for some, to get started, they do carry that danger.

For that reason, all formulas must eventually be left behind if you are to find your own path to truth.

As long as you are following a formula for happiness you will not truly find it in a lasting way.

But, amazingly, despite that, happiness is always there, at all times, for all of us to simply reach out and grab in our own unique way.

Don’t Worry. Be Happy.

Clintavo