A 2x2 on Skill and Philosophy
Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 09:24PM Liza Bouchard 
This is the result of my insomnia last night, a 2 x 2 grid on Skill and Philosophy. If you've ever watched American Idol (sorry, no, I can't say why I was thinking about American Idol at 2 a.m.) the judges talk about artistry vs. plain old skill. Some of the kids on the show clearly have true artistry, while others just have solid skill.
Co-incidentally this week my yoga teacher, Katie, was talking about the exact same idea. (BTW - if you find yourself in Amherst or Northampton it's totally worth it to check out her class, post here for details.) Anyway, Katie said that yoga can be a mechanical practice (and as a result pretty dry) if you don't have a deeper understanding of why you do it. She herself noted that her strength is the mechanical/skill side and she needed to focus more on the philosophy side. Being the kind of person who can focus entirely on process and forget about the philosophy I could totally related to Katie's message.
So this all got me to thinking...
"How do you know if you just have good solid skills, or if you are a true creator/visionary?"
And what is the difference? This is where Philosophy came into the grid. And how do we chart these differences? Here's how it breaks down:
Skill and Philosophy = A true creator, someone who asks "Why?" and uses their skill to create something new. (On American Idol, these are the people who will become cultural icons, you can actually see the difference).
Skill, No Philosophy = A good practitioner, someone who is mechanical and relies on their skill to get by. They are probably solid at their job and reliable but won't take your breath away. On American Idol, these are the performer who will end up in Las Vegas, probably doing pretty darn well, thank you. But still, not cultural icons.
No Skill, Philosophy = Poet on a rock, okay poets have skill so I am not bashing poets. But this someone who is cerebral and more interested in ideas than goals.
No Skill, No Philopshopy = A child, an amateur, future is wide open.
Okay, well, that's it for now. I am off to find a rock.
Reader Comments (2)
Nice! I had Style vs. Talent and Joy vs. Talent, but yours is deeper.
Hmmmm.... Thinking "Low Skill" and "Low Philosophy" would result in a broader applicability. It is true that a child may have no skill and no philosophy - but there are adults who possess and/or even prefer "low skill" and "low philosophy" perspectives.