📣 TREE 520: Don’t shoot the messenger but maybe rough up their ego a little

Rick Rubin’s book on creativity that I told you about on Friday. Is brilliant and beautiful, as I expected. What I did not expect was that portions of the book would be arranged as poetry, like I do. Or that Rick would write a passage that is basically Consider a Tree. Or that another section would be the central thesis of Getting Ideas.

I was like, Hooray! Rick Rubin and I say the same things about creativity.

Then I was like, That bastard Rick Rubin is saying the same things as me but he gets a best-selling book and all I have is a measly little Substack.

Then I was like, The mighty Rick Rubin has spoken. There’s no point in me carrying on. I should tell everyone to buy his book and shut the FFOREST down.

Then I remembered something St Paul said: ’It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defence of the gospel.The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.’ (Philippians 1:15–18, NIV)

Then I remembered that Jesus said the same thing but with fewer words.

‘“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.”’ (Mark 9:38–40, NIV)

For both Paul and Jesus, the important thing was not who delivered the message but that the message was delivered.

Then I was like, Good work, Rick Rubin. Let’s both keep delivering the message.

What’s more important – that the message gets delivered or that the message gets delivered by you? (Those two little words at the end, ‘by you’, are ego talking.)

Yeah. (Spotify).

If you have a message to deliver, deliver it. It doesn’t matter if someone else already has. The sun has already come up 1.658 trillion times but I don’t hear anyone complaining that today’s sunrise is no good because it’s too much like the one last Thursday.

Grow slowly
Jeff