The desire to teach

[scottbaird]

Charlie Munger (98 year-old Billionaire Vice President of Berkshire Hathaway) tells this apocryphal story of Mozart:

"A young man came up to Mozart, and said, 'Mozart- I'd like to write symphonies, what's your advice?' to which Mozart replied, 'How old are you?"
"I'm 23', the man said. Mozart replies, 'You're too young to write symphonies."
"And he says 'But Mozart, you were writing symphonies when you were 10 years old!"
"Yes,' Mozart says, 'But I wasn't asking other people how to do it."

I see a strange desire of many new magicians ("new", meaning within their first 5-10 years of being a magician, or even earlier) to teach magic. They either make tutorials on social media, or try to "invent" tricks for the sole purpose of selling them, as opposed to inventing for themselves and performing them.

Where does this desire to teach come from?

I think it's that there's pressure to be like Mozart, or whoever the top talent is at the time.

These youngsters want to run before they can walk. And social media feeds that desire.

But social media is just lies. Social media is full of everyone showing their best invented selves. You don't see overdue bills, zits, drug problems, or crappy apartments posted on the internet for the world to see. Everyone is glamming their lives up. So the impulse is to copy what's on social media so that you look glam too. So we all lie to ourselves and the world.

In the magic world, everyone wants to look like a master of magic. But there are YEARS of growing pains to go through before you even get a little bit masterful with magic. Young people are coming to adulthood right now who have only known a world where social media exists and rules. They see their magic idols teaching original effects, and they think that's what magicians do. But they don't have original effects of their own. So, they become a part of this very inward-facing, self-serving online magic culture. They create tutorials for tricks that aren't theirs, or aren't practiced, or just plainly not that good.

Maybe I'm in a pessimistic mood, but I think magic culture online can be summed up right now as:
40% wannabe niche celebrity ego posts
30% magicians copying magicians
25% product placement for magicians
5% creativity and originality

Anyways,

"You're too young to write symphonies." Mozart said it best.

Before you make your next tutorial, or post your latest creation, ask yourself:

1. What is your motivation to teach this? Is it truly to share knowledge, or just to show that you too know how things work?
2. What qualifies you to teach this? Is it your invention?
3. Have you even mastered this? Are you trying to run before you can walk?
4. Would your time be better spent studying and practicing magic, instead of trying to post to show off and get likes and make yourself feel good for a brief second?

I guess, take this all with a grain of salt. Charlie Munger also tells another story about Mozart:

"What was Mozart's life like? He was probably the greatest musical genius to ever live. But he was bitterly unhappy, and he died young. That's the life of Mozart."

Scott.

 

[Dustrod]

Reminds me of something I was told by someone who has been a leading name in the business for a few decades now.
It stuck with me and I recall it every time I'm tempted to buy a new book or download...
He said that it seems back in his day when a Magician or Mentalist would put out a book, it'd consist of their life's work and it had been tested and adjusted and tested again for years and years and it was literally their life's work put into it.
Now people put out a trick and market it the second they think they come up with it and most of it isn't even original.