HITTING A ROCK WITH A STICK

I know that I have talked about the Sigur Ros film,Heima a few times before, but I was watching it again the other day in a meeting here and was really struck by one of the scenes. If you haven’t seen it (I highly recommend it, by the way), there is this scene where we watch a musician walking around a huge pile of volcanic rocks. Every few steps he picks up a rock and hits it with a stick, then pauses to listen to the tone it makes. After he’s gathered enough of the right rocks he creates this amazing, earthy, xylophone.

Then I started thinking…I want to be the kind of person that can find music in a rock.

But how is it that a piece of slate protruding from the ground…something so seemingly dead, can become instantly alive…given new purpose?  Perspective and Purpose.

I see a rock. He sees possiblity. I hear the thump of a stick on a rock. He hears music. I don’t think of picking up a rock at all. He insists.

And you see, the note was always there. It was simply waiting for someone to come along and release it. However, someone had to walk up to this rock and think to purposefully hit it with a stick expecting something to happen.

Creativity does not come out of nowhere. It does not come from nothing. You must be willing to look at your world in a way you didn’t the day before and you must be willing to do so with purpose.

Sometimes you have to hit a rock with a stick.