Conductor and teacher Benjamin Zander recently gave a great interview to Zsolt Bognár on “The Art of Possibility” (also a great book). Here’s an excerpt that I loved and I want to share with everyone:
Escaping the Downward Spiral
How do we get ourselves out of the downward spiral? That’s a great question. The truth is, it can happen instantaneously. And it can happen to anybody, at any time. The downward spiral is everywhere, it never goes away. You can be quite sure of that.
Do you know when the downward spiral ends? When you die. Okay, it’s one of the only nice things about dying, finally, that goes away.
I always drew a design on the blackboard when I came into class on Friday afternoons. We were having tea, and I would go to the board and sketch this image.
On one side was the downward spiral. On the other, radiating possibility. Sometimes I called it the upward spiral.
The point about these two is that they represent the struggle of life. This is the issue of whether we are winning or losing, failing or succeeding. The downward spiral is where fear lies – people in competition, looking over their shoulders, anxiously wondering. It’s a state of mind that most people live in.
This is also the side where people have ambitions for wealth, fame, and power. That’s the dominant narrative here.
But on the side of radiating possibility, none of those things have any place. This is about community, sharing, inclusiveness, joy, and love. This is where the shining eyes are. And this…this is the secret to the whole thing.