“ Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”
~ George Herbert
What are the tools for your trade? Whatever it is that you do, what do you do it with? What’s the relationship between the task at hand and the implements that accomplish it?
Everything you do begins with a thought, usually progressing first to words and then to action. Your brain is the prime mover, but there’s only so much you can accomplish just by thinking about it, (unless you happen to have the magical power to declassified documents with your mind, but that’s a different story).
In general, action follows intention. You decide to do some thing and then you go about getting it done. Your hands alone can accomplish a great deal but when they reach their limit it’s time to make tools. We humans have been making and using them for a heck of a long time!
Fire-sticks, spearheads, and the like date back to ancient history, but putting archaeology aside, here’s a trivia question for you: What’s the oldest tool known to man that’s still in use today in the same form as it was invented?
That would be the plumb bob. You know, that pointy thing that looks like a top that hangs on the end of a string. Apparently builders started using that simple implement over 4000 years ago and have yet to come up with a better way of aligning structures to this day.
But as you probably might surmise, tools don’t have to be things. Writers use words, dancers create movements, teachers develop practices. A tool can just as easily be a conceptual framework rather than a sharpened piece of steel.
The point is, whatever your tools may be, you do well to keep them clean, organized, handy, and ready to use. The old adage ‘sharpen the saw’ can be taken both literally and metaphorically.
“Always be Knolling” is the 8th of 10 Bullets, a short film made by artist Tom Sachs. Required viewing for all team members at his New York studio, this humorous and useful piece from the ‘Working to Code’ movie series is well worth 21 minutes of your time. It will give you a fresh perspective on the use of your tools and a good chuckle at the same time.
You may not be the ‘sharpest tool in the shed’, but don’t let that stop you. No matter what you’re raising, from tomatoes to consciousness, keeping your tools in tip-top shape will serve you well!
Much love till next week!
M+
Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine
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