My first response to Picasso’s Bull has always been, “I could do that.”
Well, of course.
It’s a rusty bicycle seat and handlebars stuck together. So in that sense, the answer is simple. The only difference between us is that he did it, and I didn’t. That’s it.
But the answer is not just simple. It’s also profound.
What was it exactly? More importantly, I want figure out how this applies to me. This thin line between go and stop, commit and reject. Or how about between trial and success? How close might I really be?
When I get myself into this – my personal “Picasso Exercise”, I drill in and down, trying to figure out if there is more to figure out. And within a few seconds, I know that it has nothing to do with the artist or the sculpture. All the questions start to come, and my curiosity at the simplicity – and the complexity – of it. “Why didn’t I think of that?” It’s clear that it has nothing to do with the sculpture. It has to do with me.
It has everything to do with me.
What made him think of it? Why did he do it? Did he make any money from it? Was he trying to “say something” with it? Did he do it simply because he thought of it, and because he could? Was it a “why-why not” thing?
What’s the difference between you and anyone else?
Maybe not that much, maybe everything. But consider this: What did it really take for Picasso to create Head of a Bull ? Really. No Really.
We need to consider what makes up that seemingly fine line of difference between stalling and executing. Is this really just a matter of doing it, whatever it is? I’ve heard many say, “Don’t think too much, just do it.” Is there a gap between you and where you want to be? Between what you’re doing and what you want to do? How wide is it? What is it exactly that you and I have to muster to close the gap? What is it that is within me, that drives me to… …or holds me back from…?
When leading our country in the great vision of going to the moon, President Kennedy said, “… we choose to go to the moon…and do the others things – not because they are easy, but because they are hard…”
So – was Picasso’s Bull easy? Or was it hard? Take a moment – go back and look at it. Study it for a moment.
What is it inside of us that propels us? Inspires us? Or simply delivers us to a place where and when we decide to do the thing – whatever it is?
Don’t answer these questions too quickly.
It is impossible for me to conclude anything else but this: It is for me to simply decide. That which I want to do, or what I should do – I can choose to do. And it may not be that simple. We are complex after all. There’s a lot going on “in there”. But this one thing I know: It is up to me.
I am not done with this bull-thing yet. Perhaps I won’t be for a long time. Perhaps maybe never completely.
I’d like to know what you think.