SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | A well-known musician was in town last fall, and part of the buzz around his tour was a journalist's account of his career, based on interviews with the musicians who have recorded or toured with him. He was, and is, single-mindedly focused on "the words," his lyrics and music. He carries papers with him which he is always working on, said several of the musicians.

"I never saw him stop to eat," commented one. There was, apparently, little small talk or wasted time.

That's focus. It's how we hear Pablo Picasso described, and such focus is certainly key to any high-achieving political leader.

It's easy to believe that to accomplish anything great -- and who doesn't harbour an urge to greatness? -- a person must be intensely focused, to the exclusion of social graces, sometimes, and certainly to the exclusion of having a normal, neighbourly and family life.

I've heard a radio skit in which Socrates is berated by his wife for not bringing in a decent living, for ignoring his family, for spending his time in the town agora "talking." Painters, writers, poets, the martial arts, every sport imaginable, they all require concentration for success, and although it doesn't guarantee success, hard work seems indispensable to it.

Today we see this focus as essential. "Have a happy family!" isn't in the cards. All successful recording stars, writers and artists, athletes and science researchers have messed up families, we're sure.

However among us ordinary mortals, most of us aren't single-minded geniuses. Most women prize themselves as great multi-taskers. They get hired for that skill, and make their way up the ladder of life, balancing breast-feeding with climbing that ladder. We really don't want idiot savants or artistic geniuses around us, even though we claim to admire them at a distance.

Many of us have changed careers, lost marriages, traveled on second-class buses in foreign lands; we've raised horses, maybe, or apples; sold meat or fruit; transported it, processed it, and advertised it. We've made and lost money, collected books, drawings, and most certainly we've lost our innocence along the way of all this. We learned a bit about the world, here and there, maybe every six months or so -- or so it seemed. There are so many teaching events within our reach, within our curiosity's reach, for curiosity is the big thing for the diffused life, just as focus is for the focused life of the great.

We have to unbutton our curiosity to benefit from the life of constant change and growth and complexity. Input is our word here, not output. Most of us are great artists in the creation of our own lives.

Consider that for the focused musician who was just here last November, his music -- which to him is his entire focus -- is but a sliver of the experience of the rest of us. The music is a very intense sliver, certainly, and the very intensity of it explains our ongoing longing for the focused life - even though we're not convinced such focus is very rewarding at all.

Artists, politicians, and musicians are driven; for the rest of us, our lives are nothing but diffuse.

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Copyright © 2009 Fred Ryan/Log Cabin Chronicles/01.09