At hand

One might be tempted to say obsession is never a good thing, but I think that’s shortsighted. An obsession with finding the shortest possible path between you and your art, or your vocation, is an obsession grounded in your telos, a noble fixation if there ever was one.

I’ve been obsessive enough to build a palette of tools that allow me to flick a switch and in under five seconds, have a live amp (with headphones) and wondrous sounds at my fingertips with an instrument I love to play. There is no friction between me and that music, save the joyous struggle of techniques and refinement.

Writing, I want to claim, isn’t that easy. Maybe if I took to ink and paper more often it would be. But there is enough of a lag between thought and execution that it stifles me. Or so I want to claim. Perhaps immediacy is what I need to cultivate. Have the dreaded weapon at hand.