When love and skill work together, part 2

When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. — John Ruskin, author and art critic

Yesterday, thinking about this quote, I said that we all have the love — that that’s a given.

But, later, I thought of a particular kind of person that you see a lot in the “here’s how to do music better” space. Particularly on YouTube. There’s a kind of guy making those videos — it’s always a guy — who doesn’t seem to have much love at all. A person for whom the excitement of the thing is not in the expression of love, but in having something technical to know more about than other people (particularly women). Being the expert. Domination. Power.

So, in the case of that person, it’s exactly the reverse as what I was thinking about yesterday. A lot of people in this situation have a high level of technical skill, great gear, etc. — but they don’t have the love.

And in their case, they won’t be able to make a masterpiece until they’ve leveled up their humility and their empathy. Until they’re in a place where they can truly love something for what it is and what it represents and what it wants to be — not for what they can do to it.

You can’t give away something you don’t have — jamie