A former boss of mine used to tell this story: “A man came upon a construction site where three people were working. He asked the first, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am laying bricks.” He asked the second, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am building a wall.” As he approached the third, he heard him humming a tune as he worked, and asked, “What are you doing?” The man stood, looked up at the sky, and smiled, “I am building a cathedral!”

I have always found this story quite inspiring. It sort of explains why two people doing the same job might approach it very differently—one sees it as just laying another brick whereas another might be motivated by some sort of vision that is hard to relay to another, if they don’t have the same inner perception. You can tell a person something is a rose but you can’t make them perceive its beauty, can you? Perhaps that’s what Nietzsche meant when he said, “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”