I've written many times before that no one who visits this blog should consider me a Taoist sage. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I am no sage -- in fact, I'm far, far from it. I do have a knack for seeing things -- sometimes things that others don't see -- but I certainly don't come anywhere close to leading the type of life I write and philosophize about.
In some ways, you could consider me the Walter Alston of Taoism. Alston was a successful major league baseball manager of the Dodgers for over 20 years. While his teams won the National League pennant seven times during his tenure, Alston's own major league career wasn't anything to write home about.
He played in one -- that's right, one -- major league game. He struck out on three pitches and committed an error on one of two fielding chances. In essence, he wasn't a very good player, but how he could coach others to be successful!!
The most successful coaches and managers in sports (I'm sure this applies in other disciplines as well) were, by and large, not very successful athletes. Current St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa hit only .199 during his major league career. NFL Hall of Famer Vince Lombardi was a superb coach, yet never made first team on his college squad. Red Auerbach, who led the NBA's Boston Celtics to numerous championships as a coach and team executive, never played professional basketball!
Conversely, few of the most successful athletes in their sport proved to be very good managers or coaches. Two of the best all-time hitters in baseball history -- Ty Cobb and Ted Williams -- were only so-so managers. Arguably the greatest hockey player ever to lace on skates, Wayne Gretzky has a losing records as a coach!
For the most part, it seems to be that the people who intuitively know how to practice their craft or discipline are not very good at communicating this skill set to others. They can live it in their own lives, but they can't really share it. Conversely, the people who are more adept at sharing this kind of knowledge aren't very good at employing it themselves!!
I fall squarely in this latter category.
In some ways, you could consider me the Walter Alston of Taoism. Alston was a successful major league baseball manager of the Dodgers for over 20 years. While his teams won the National League pennant seven times during his tenure, Alston's own major league career wasn't anything to write home about.
He played in one -- that's right, one -- major league game. He struck out on three pitches and committed an error on one of two fielding chances. In essence, he wasn't a very good player, but how he could coach others to be successful!!
The most successful coaches and managers in sports (I'm sure this applies in other disciplines as well) were, by and large, not very successful athletes. Current St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa hit only .199 during his major league career. NFL Hall of Famer Vince Lombardi was a superb coach, yet never made first team on his college squad. Red Auerbach, who led the NBA's Boston Celtics to numerous championships as a coach and team executive, never played professional basketball!
Conversely, few of the most successful athletes in their sport proved to be very good managers or coaches. Two of the best all-time hitters in baseball history -- Ty Cobb and Ted Williams -- were only so-so managers. Arguably the greatest hockey player ever to lace on skates, Wayne Gretzky has a losing records as a coach!
For the most part, it seems to be that the people who intuitively know how to practice their craft or discipline are not very good at communicating this skill set to others. They can live it in their own lives, but they can't really share it. Conversely, the people who are more adept at sharing this kind of knowledge aren't very good at employing it themselves!!
I fall squarely in this latter category.
"I do have a knack for seeing things -- sometimes things that others don't see --"
ReplyDeleteLol :)
That was amusing.
Seeing things that aren't even there, too.
I had an interesting thought about that:
Tao te Ching is so very special - and long-lived - exactly because it has a way of being seen differently every time you return to it.
If it looks the same every time: you are not moving.
Interpreting what it says for anyone other than yourself is a doomed excercise. It never says the same thing twice. And that is how it should be.
I was lucky to have found only three verses that made no sense to me.
Years later, they all make sense.
Magic. Pure magic!