THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR. . .

This year’s Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Bob Dylan ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.’  The folks who want to present Bob with this award are a bit frustrated for they are unable to locate him.  If they were able to do so then Bob Dylan would not be Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan is an Artist.  This means, among other things, that he does not seek ‘perfection.’  As an artist he also lives on the edge – perhaps this is where he is now hiding out, on the edge.  Here is Bob in his own words:

Daltrey, Townshend, McCartney, the Beach Boys, Elton, Billy Joel.  They made perfect records, so they have to play them perfectly…exactly the way people remember them.  My records were never perfect.  So there is no point in trying to duplicate them.  Anyway, I’m no mainstream artist. 

 …I guess most of my influences could be thought of as eccentric.  Mass media had no overwhelming reach so I was drawn to the traveling performers passing through.  The side show performers – the bluegrass singer…the Bearded Lady, the half-man half-woman, the deformed and the bent…the fire-eaters, the teachers preachers, the blues singers.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  I got close to some of these people.  I learned dignity from them.  Freedom too.  Civil rights, human rights.  How to stay within yourself. 

The interviewer the reminded Bob Dylan, “But you’ve sold over a hundred million records.”

Dylan’s answer gets to the heart of what it means to be an artist: “Yeah I know. It’s a mystery to me too.”

Avoiding the trap of ‘defect-free’ is not easy to think about for us (think: most of us in the United States) who have been trained in the search for perfection since pre-school.  The ‘true’ artists embraced the mystery of our innate genius.  The ‘true’ artists understand that there is no map – all are surveyors of the road less traveled.

Some wise person (‘Anonymous’ is his/her name – the most quoted person in the world) once noted: If it wasn’t a mystery, it would be easy.  If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth much.

How many of us spend our day attempting to avoid making a mistake?  It seems that we are searching to be ‘defect-free’ (think: ‘Blameless’).  Our education has taught us that the goal of any test is to get 100 percent.  No errors.  No mistakes.

How many of us when reading someone’s resume or essay or letter or email find ourselves focusing on the one typo?  When we respond to the person how often do we first mention the one typo?

Most organizations hire for perfect, manage for perfect, measure for perfect and reward for perfect.  So, gentle reader, why are we so surprised that folks then spend inordinate amounts of time trying to be perfect (or seeking to be ‘blameless’)?

Bob Dylan reminds us, over and over, that: Art is never defect-free.  Things that are remarkable never meet spec, because that would make them un-remarkable – And, they would not be worth thinking about nor talking about.  Bob Dylan remains remarkable for he does not ‘meet spec’ – he is a living definition of ‘Artist’ and he continues to be worth talking about.