Old wine, new bottles, no duh!

by Blair Warren

I saw it again today – an Amazon.com reviewer complaining that a new book held no new ideas.  He then trashed the author and the book for a lack of originality.  This is a common complaint and a common response.  It is also a naïve one.  Here’s why…

The search for new ideas is based on the assumption that, if we aren’t satisfied in our lives, our old ideas must not be enough.  We must find new ones to give us the advantage we seek.  Makes sense, right?  Absolutely.  But that doesn’t make it true.

Take a moment and think of some of the most profound lessons you’ve ever learned.  Really, take a minute and do this.  If you’re like most people, you’ll discover that they’re centered around concepts such as honesty, responsibility, hard work, faith, and so on.  Right?  Right.

Now, ask yourself, when these ideas really “sunk in” for you, were they new?  Hardly.  These were ideas our parents tried to teach us at home and our instructors tried to teach us in school, not once, but over and over again.  But did we listen?  Maybe, maybe not.  But the more important question is, did we learn?  No.  That’s why the lessons seem so profound now; they have finally sunk in and have become our own.  Only then do ideas become profound.

This is what so many of us are missing.  As long as we look for the “new” at the expense of the “old”, we’re in for a bumpy ride.  And worse, we’re going to blame it on those who justly peddle the tried and true.  This is what leads so many writers and teachers to “dress up” old ideas – it’s not because they’re too lazy to discover new ideas; it’s because they’re too smart to give up on the old ones.

Posted on Sunday, June 12, 2005 at 07:55 AM

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