Curating Quality Of Experience Through Greatness
In service of this robust instinct, consider submerging yourself in the canon of great works. Read the finest literature, watch the masterpieces of cinema, get up close to the most influential paintings, visit architectural landmarks. There's no standard list; no one has the same measures of greatness. The "canon" is continually changing, across time and space. Nonetheless, exposure to great art provides an invitation. It draws us forward, and opens the doors of possibility. p49-50
... You'll have a more honed sensitivity for recognizing greatness from the books, then from the media. It applies to every choice we make. Not just with art, but with the friends we choose, the conversations we have, even the thoughts we reflect on. All of these aspects affect our ability to distinguish good from very good, very good from great. They help us determine what's worthy of our time and attention. p50
Because there's an endless amount of data available to us, and we have a limited bandwidth to conserve, we might consider carefully curating the quality of what we allow in. p50
The objective is not to learn to mimic greatness, but calibrate our internal meter for greatness. So we can better make the thousands of choices that might ultimately lead to our own great work. p50