The Artisan Soul by Erwin Raphael McManus

Author:Erwin Raphael McManus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

5

Craft

The Elegance of Workmanship

Mozart found his genius at an early age. His full name was Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, but because of his profound talent, he is known to the world simply as Mozart. There may be no name more famous among composers than Mozart. By the age of five, he was already composing and performing at a level that most of us could only aspire to in a lifetime. By seventeen, he was serving as the court musician in Salzburg. By his early twenties, he was refining the greatest pieces the world would ever know. Some people find “it” early, and what they find is a treasure to the world. It is hard to imagine that Mozart composed over six hundred works, most of which would be considered masterpieces by the time he was thirty-five. Then again, he didn’t live to see his thirty-sixth birthday.

More often than not, when we think of talent or genius, we envisage people who are both prodigies and prodigious. This is even truer today. In competitive cosmopolitan areas, we find parents putting their children in pre-pre-pre-schools by the age of two. In fact, there are some places where you can ensure your child has a distinct advantage by starting training at six months. Partly, this reflects parents’ deep commitment to giving their child the best chance for success. Partly, it is parents’ ever-present hope of releasing a child’s inner Mozart.

If our parents were unsuccessful in unleashing the genius within us, we may find ourselves spending the rest of our lives in search of our inner Bobby Fischer. He was perhaps the greatest chess master ever. At thirteen, he won what became known as the game of the century. Starting at fourteen, he played in eight U.S. championships, winning each by at least a point. At fifteen and a half, he became the youngest grand master in the world. Before he could drive or legally buy alcohol, he had achieved the only perfect score in the history of the U.S. championship.

Like Mozart, Bobby Fischer accomplished his greatest feats before the age of thirty-five. Everything after that point was downhill. Though the lives of these individuals are inspiring, if not overwhelming, they reinforce a mythology of greatness that produces a false idea of how greatness is achieved. This mythology of greatness is reinforced by the popular heroes of our time. Whether we look to icons like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods or celebrate the extraordinary achievements by the likes of Michael Phelps and Gabby Douglas, the idea that greatness comes at an early age or not at all is reinforced in our cultural psyche. The fact that Michael Phelps broke a world record in the two-hundred-meter butterfly at the age of fifteen years and nine months, then retired as the greatest Olympian of all time at twenty-seven only makes it more painful for us underachievers. It is inspiring and debilitating at the same time. Gabby Douglas became the first African-American to ever win Olympic gold in women’s gymnastics.

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