It was fall, the day I cranked up my Bearcat Shredder and munched and ground up my large pile of pruned branches and twigs to a pulp. I am old and feeble and have Rheumatoid arthritis but with my tool as an extension of me I am mighty. I am Marlboro Man employing a machine in a rugged activity that my forefathers at my age could have only dreamt about. I eventually ran out of gas at the same time as the Bearcat so we both called it a day.
We all have tools that can be an extension of our arm, hand , leg or brain or also senses that make us explorers, visionaries, artists and rugged adventurers. Whoever said, " It's not what you do, but who you are." was not telling the whole story. We are creatures of our tools.
In the olden days my father would watch my mother cut slices from her bread loaf. She exerted pressure,forcing the knife heavily on the loaf rather than deftly sawing at the loaf with light force. To be fair, she was always in a hurry. Her slices always ended up being crushed to an inch high. My father would look at us and intone, " Let the tool do the work." Good advice!
When the first primate or the first crow used the first tool to do a job that they had previously used an arm or a beak to do, they began the process of advancing to a new identity that separated one from another. The artistry displayed by the operator of the excavator is astounding, who with his hand and foot working harmoniously together can accurately pick up either a small pebble or a one ton rock with his bucket. The machine has become part of the body. With time and skill the tool incorporates into the organism so there is no space in between the two. There is an area on the gyrus for the tool.
Whether the golf club, the hockey stick, the brush, the egg whisk, the ivory keys, the strings, the chalice, the pottery wheel or the scalpel, when you have arrived at that golden moment when you are one with your tool you will no longer see yourself apart from it.
We all have tools that can be an extension of our arm, hand , leg or brain or also senses that make us explorers, visionaries, artists and rugged adventurers. Whoever said, " It's not what you do, but who you are." was not telling the whole story. We are creatures of our tools.
In the olden days my father would watch my mother cut slices from her bread loaf. She exerted pressure,forcing the knife heavily on the loaf rather than deftly sawing at the loaf with light force. To be fair, she was always in a hurry. Her slices always ended up being crushed to an inch high. My father would look at us and intone, " Let the tool do the work." Good advice!
When the first primate or the first crow used the first tool to do a job that they had previously used an arm or a beak to do, they began the process of advancing to a new identity that separated one from another. The artistry displayed by the operator of the excavator is astounding, who with his hand and foot working harmoniously together can accurately pick up either a small pebble or a one ton rock with his bucket. The machine has become part of the body. With time and skill the tool incorporates into the organism so there is no space in between the two. There is an area on the gyrus for the tool.
Whether the golf club, the hockey stick, the brush, the egg whisk, the ivory keys, the strings, the chalice, the pottery wheel or the scalpel, when you have arrived at that golden moment when you are one with your tool you will no longer see yourself apart from it.
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