Sometimes I just can’t make the connection….
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Notes
The story of Pythagoras discovering connections between math and the physical world, but missing an important aspect of it:
When examining five blacksmith hammers that rang beautifully together, he found that four of them fit a pattern that he could understand (through measurement, etc.). He discarded the fifth hammer, as it did not fit the rules suggested by the others. However, the fifth hammer’s imperfections added “grit and resonance” to the perfection of the other four.
Similarly, Neil Young’s voice (and personality?) was a “fifth hammer” in CSNY.
“The fifth hammer is you, when you choose the practice and trust yourself enough to create.”
Thoughts
I’m not sure where to go with this one. The examples of Pythagoras and Young make perfect sense to me, and I could see using those examples as ways to encourage us to (as another chapter suggested) find our own voice without worrying that it “doesn’t fit”—that not fitting might be the thing that adds grit and resonance.
But “you’re the fifth hammer, when…” feels even more non sequitur than some of the other chapters.
I’m not sure where to go with it. I’ll let it sit for awhile and see if it resonates with other chapters later in the book.
This series is meant to capture my thoughts as I work through Seth Godin’s The Practice. It’s a book with over 200 (very short) chapters, which I hope to work through and, I further hope, to implement over time.
If you’re interested in more of Godin’s ideas, or my thoughts about them, you can check out this collection of posts. Note that if you’re more interested in the former, you should probably get Godin’s book and read it yourself; my notes will be both incomplete and idiosyncratic, and my thoughts will relate to my own experience.
But if my thoughts resonate with you, or if you think I’m just silly, I welcome your comments.