It All Starts with a Kernel

The Lessons of Monty Python

I am going to assume anyone reading this familiar with Monty Python. If you are not you are probably too young, sheltered and or need to seriously get a life. Sunday afternoon and on IFC is a marathon of Monty Python interviews from the six hour documentary. My husband is watching it and I am half listening.





One of the things that did hit me about the interviews was the exorbitant amount of chaos surrounding the brilliance of these legendary comedians. Once again it got me thinking, and I realized that most successful, or brilliant moments are ofter times surrounded in chaos. Could it be said that brilliance produces chaos or chaos produces brilliance? Now there are certainly plenty of examples of brilliance without chaos, but if you think about it. These instances are few and far between.





Are we able to think clearly when surrounded by mess because chaos is inherent in all our minds, even those of the great writers and thinkers... - Clive James, Novelist, poet and essayist.





I remember the tales of the making of Jaws and the shark that refused to work. Which in the end, as Spielberg stated, made the movie what it is. NOT seeing the shark made it the film classic it is today. One of the characteristics of truly brilliant people is disorganization. Einstein is the most popular example but, there is also JK Rowling, Mozart, Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, just to name a few.





I know that for whatever reason when I work, I perform better amidst the chaos. Under a deadline when the stack of projects is too many to count. When I write, the flow is easier when my life is chaotic. Perhaps it is the absence of thought or over thought that allows the spark of brilliance?





"If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?"