“Become what thou art!”
I am of the opinion that we all have a number of personal resonances (talents?) that if discovered give great emphasis to our life’s satisfaction. Those individuals who discover and exploit such a personal resonance can find great self-satisfaction. If that particular resonance strikes a social resonance then the accompanying social display of appreciation can add to the personal satisfaction to the individual.
Few individuals discover and display a talent, a personal resonance that can truly excite public appreciation. Those who do display such a resonance are truly rewarded. However, I am not particularly interested in those few but I am interested in considering all the rest of us who have resonances (talents?) and especially all those that remain undiscovered by us.
It seems that society and all its institutions are focused upon making everyone of us efficient producers and consumers. Nothing prepares us for self-discovery when such discovery is not supportive of a drive to produce and consume. I think that most social pressure from birth to death is directed at the drive to make us effective producers and consumers.
I chose to use the word “resonance†rather than talent because I think our sense of the meaning of the word “talent†will distort the point I wish to make. “Talent†is such a ‘produce and consume’ word. In fact we have little vocabulary available when discussing what I mean.
At mid-life when our career ambitions dim and our family are cared for is the time that is available to us to begin to de-emphasize the world of ‘production and consumption’ and begin exploring the world of the intellect directed as an end-in-itself’. Our intellects have been so totally directed as a means to an end that we will have some difficulty thinking of knowledge, understanding, and other talents that are considered as an end-in-itself. I include talent in art and music, these are as important to the individual and to the community as are any other.
Our first encounter with resonance, as the word is normally used, might have been when we first discovered on the playground swing that a little energy directed in synchronization with the swing’s resonant frequency would produce outstanding movement. What a marvelous discovery. We might make similar marvelous discoveries if we decide against all that we have learned in the past; that the intellect can be used as an end-in-it-self.
I do not know how to focus attention on the components that make up a talent. I think that a person who understood such things could help us better comprehend the essence of this what I call resonance.
I think that we all could serve our self by seeking such things in our self. What do you think about this matter?