The Bottle

Inside each of us is a small, steadfastly capped bottle filled with a magic oil. It is easy to find, but difficult to search for. Its essence is imperative to work of the highest caliber. The oil must be applied generously for any lasting effect. It enriches when dissolved in equal parts of form and content, but alights when combined alone with either a technique or a subject matter. The oil favors no medium, age, or education. It coats silver molecules as readily as brush bristles. It is as alive in the sciences as it is in the arts, but the oil evaporates quickly when consumed by commerce.

Many complain that they have no such bottle, or that they have never experienced the warmth of its contents. Perhaps they have not learned how to break its seal. Some finally do open the bottle, but mystified by the contents, reveal its magic to no one.

Some mistake the oil of others' bottles for their own. These plagiarists superficially search for the bottle but never manage to penetrate their outer rind of learned responses.

In haste to test its contents, some spill its total potency immediately upon uncapping. These creators are brilliant in youth, however after the initial detonation their output is dry and derivative.

Finding the bottle requires patience and insight. Opening the bottle and applying the oil must be practiced. Revealing more than a glimpse of the contents is impossible - the oil is visible only to our selves.