Tools and the Maker

We humans contain greatness...A spark of the divine, but it is with tools that we find the keys to unlock those doors of potential and enter into tactile fruition. Some of these tools are education and ideas, however I’m exploring the idea of a tangible tool and how its fusion with the intangible elements of our personality result in a physical manifestation. How the concrete nature of an object can materialize our soulish yearnings. After all, isn’t art thought and emotion you can touch, see and hear? But we need paint brushes and chisels, forges and anvils. In this existence there is immaterial reality, those lofty Ideas and concepts that make us human, but we are so drawn to and dependent upon the material. Trees and food, mountains and sunsets, oceans and touch. We know the two worlds of ideas and materials are linked. Tools help us bring this intuition to a palpable satisfaction. Like a magic wand we point at our goal, our concentration of skill, will and inspiration pour through our tools and what did not exist is now present, ready to be examined and appreciated by its maker and the world.

It’s magic

While watching The Deathly Hollows, a thrilling admiration anchors my attention on a courageous Harry Potter. Despite the vertigo of fear, he challenges the condensed powers of evil. Lifting novice hands his gifted wizardry and deep purpose crackle and leap through that magic wand. That wand made of a single phoenix feather encased in elder wood. The wand which he chose, yet also chose Harry… eluding to the principle I’m attempting to grasp. All that inner gifting and latent power infused in our endearing Harry. His destined greatness expressed in fits and spurts of unbound potential. No doubt that inner mountain of destiny needed nothing to see it realized, yet as everything in this universe has a path, a conduit, so all of Mr. Potters deep purpose bottle necked and flowed..... through his wand. It seems counter intuitive that so great a reservoir of life, power, and duty should squeeze through such a humble instrument. Harrys wand had no name, it was simply Harry’s wand. It was the primary tool from which all his talents and hard work were manifest. It was an extension of himself. It was in a sense, Harry himself.

The shared soul....the relationship

I’m persuaded that the Japanese people for thousands of years have been above all others fixated on the transcendent beauty of the material world, believing that objects made or otherwise could be steeped with life from its maker, user, or admirer...and vise versa. This proposed phenomenon was embraced by the austerely disciplined and beautifully bloodied Samurai. They killed for a lifestyle and through this lifestyle they could not deny the fragile state of life, embracing its transience. They took in all the beauty they could, a gorgeous feast of savoring all that is special and sacred. They called this life "The Way of the Warrior”...Bushido. The practical system found within this philosophy, the system which facilitated such dangerous beauty, is know as “The Way of the Sword”...Kenjutsu. Coupled with the sword smiths superior craftsmanship and hundreds of disciplined feudal years, the great tool of Kenjutsu was forged…the Katana. This unique and deadly sword often was stamped with a number under the hilt which told of how many stacked corpses it could pass through in one strike. This was a quality control feature of the smiths. A good sword could cleave through 5. So many lives taken by the Katana yet so many lives lived well because of its impending strike. The Samurai determined its arching path by wielding its balanced perfection, yet the shape, weight and length determined how it should be wielded. A tremendous bond occurred, a fusion to the nervous system and way of life. These people lived and died by those elegant blades, and they believed that the sacred instrument contained their very soul. It was indeed an extension of themselves and by it they could accomplish far more than without it. It was their primary tool, and became synonymous with the warriors themselves and their greatness.

An inherited power

Bridging the fixed gulf between the minds powerful imagination and its creative result, tools are found. These tools can become part of us and we part of them. With them we expand our being, experiences, and influence. A relationship is birthed and often we infuse great value into these inanimate objects…even the objects that are made by tools. These objects can sometimes be passed down through generations and with them the memory and power of their former owners. These talismans are a material link to the past. Something we can hold, examine and feel the tangible weight, clothing the accomplishments of our predecessors with reality and calling us to a similar greatness.