Developed taste and humility

To be amazed at the imposing sculpture of Michelangelo’s Moses, or after hearing something by Bach, to ask yourself – with no possibility of answers – how a man could conceive such a music, are very special situations but they do not cease to have much of normality. Now, when the exaltation caused by the work achieved by others moves us to try to emulate them, then the question begins to be different. When in the construction we perceive, at the same time there is something that pushes us and calls us to possess it by making us say “I want to do things like this”, the thing vibrates with another frequency.

Here, the one who took on this intimate vibration and decided to try to develop that which taste asks of him, will find himself, sooner or later, with the very first lesson: it is not easy at all. As the difficulties progress, so much so that there comes a point where the most frequent thing is to think about leaving the company, because the distance between what you are trying to achieve and what you are actually achieving does not seem to diminish, the burden becomes as great as a weed and, many times, you do not have the support you would like.

In this first lesson the one who really suffers is the ego that, you see, for the first time appears as an undeniable character with whom it is necessary to establish a serious and harmonious relationship if you want to progress. If the apprentice reaches the necessary agreements with his ego, then it will be possible for him to assume just that, his role as an apprentice, so that he will have no qualms about receiving criticism – all criticism is constructive, for the one who wants to grow, of course -, comments, and any kind of help he may receive along the way from anyone else.

In this first lesson there is also a filter that separates those who seek art from those who simply seek to enhance their ego. There is someone who wants to play music for the pleasure of doing it, and there is someone who wants to be heard, recognized for doing it; there is a difference between both objectives, which are not excluded, be careful. But, let’s say that those who seek art for the pleasure of achieving it, for the sake of developing their taste, are more willing to listen to advice on how to achieve it than those who primarily seek to make their names shine. They tend to go the furthest, always, those who best capitalize on all the suggestions.

For those who are developing their taste, everything is useful, and any mistake they make, no matter who it comes from, is a help. As you will understand, the one who has a developed taste of higher level, has necessarily had to go through a course of high humility, which is what allows him to take advantage of any teaching, as well as to value and understand both his own work and that of others, independently of any external judgment. In this scenario, how could it surprise us that the people who get angry when a mistake is made are those who do not have a developed taste?