What archetype are you?

There's an Arabian proverb that goes:

"He who knows not and knows not he knows not: he is a fool - shun him. He who knows not and knows he knows not: he is simple - teach him. He who knows and knows not he knows: he is asleep - wake him. He who knows and knows he knows: he is wise - follow him."

There's also a "conscious competence theory" developed by Dr. Abraham Maslow. There are four stages of learning involved, which go like this:

1. Unconscious Incompetence (not knowing you don't know)
2. Conscious Incompetence (knowing you don't know)
3. Conscious Competence (you know, but it takes effort)
4. Unconscious Competence (second nature)

No matter how much you may like to ignore the first stage, we all start out as "fools". We didn't know the history of taiko nor the people that have made taiko what it is today. We wanted to play taiko, for whatever reasons - it was exciting, empowering, mysterious, and awesome all at once!

It's not easy to make it to the second stage, because you wind up climbing the first peak in triumph only to realize that it's not a peak, it's a merely a boulder and the real mountain range looms ahead of you. The realization of how much there is to know can be staggering! How do you strike effectively? How do you project energy? How do you fit into the style of your group? Who taught your teacher(s)? How many other groups are out there?

Most of us make it to the third stage, but it's certainly never easy to tell when it happens. Some things are easier now, but to put them all together still takes effort. It's like having a tabletop full of oiled frogs - you have to balance your time between keeping the ones in place there and chasing down the ones that hop away.

And the last stage isn't really the last stage. Here are the teachers in the taiko world, whether just within their own group(s) or to the taiko community as well. They have at least one skill that comes second nature to them, and hopefully have put time into the "hows" and "whys" of that skill to actively teach it to others. In other words, the some of the frogs are predictable. ;)

The biggest mistake an artist can make is to think that this journey is a one-way, or even a linear trip. Even the "wise" ones are still "fools"! There are so many levels of different skills in one taiko player that any of us can easily be all four archetypes at once. The trick? No trick - simply never stop once you realize you've started!