Susan Boyle: A Lesson in Self-Knowledge versus Arrogance

When we truly know that we have a gift of excellence, it safe to say that even the gates of hell will have difficulty prevailing against us.  It was precisely this self-knowledge of her singing ability that Susan Boyle brought to the television show Britain’s Got Talent.  Whilst we were all stunned that she sang so beautifully, Susan Boyle never doubted for a moment that she could sing beautifully.  Indeed, her own words before walking upon the stage were “I am going to make that audience rock”.  listen here: sb-preinterview

What striking words from a frumpy-looking, ever so homely-looking woman.  But that is so only if one supposes that physical appearances have anything at all to do with self-knowledge.  And that, alas, is a very silly view.

Self-knowledge is the realization anchored in experience of what one’s attributes are.  Indeed, it is not possible to have self-knowledge in the absence of experience.  Thus, the knowledge that any of us can speak the language that we speak is not anchored in none other than the wealth of experience that we in fact speaking the language.  Given that wealth of experience in speaking the language that we speak, it would take something akin to akin to a lobotomy for any of us to doubt that we can speak that language. 

Susan Boyle has been singing since the age of 12.  Since she is not now 47-years old, it thus follows that she has been singing for 35 years.  It was with a striking sense of self-knowledge based upon a very clear record of accomplishment that she walked on the stage before audience and the judges of Britain’s Got Talent. 

What separates Susan Boyle from your typical contestant on either American Idol or Britian’s Got Talent is the following.  First of all, under the best of circumstances the typical contestant on one of those shows is a young person who is still in the business of honing her or his talent.  Secondly, the contestant is likely to have very little real talent but only a penchant for imitating someone who has already achieved success in the music industry.  And, ironically, that successful someone whom the contestant is imitating is apt to have much more style than substance.  The truth of the matter is that a most successful entertainer in the music industry need not have much singing talent at all. 

An extraordinarily talent singer will surely entertain us; whereas someone who mightily entertains us with song need not be an extraordinarily talent singer.   

This brings me back to Susan Boyle.  She is an extraordinarily talented singer who indeed truly entertained us in singing “I Dreamed a Dream”.  And precisely what she brought to the moment is the self-knowledge that she has an extraordinary talent for singing.  A careful study of her Britian’s Got Talent YouTube video (viewed by more than 36 million as of 21 April) reveals a person who was extraordinarily at-ease with herself singing.  She no more had doubts about the quality of her voice and its range than she had doubts about whether she was wearing a dress or not.  That, alas, is self-knowledge.

Most of us no doubt failed to see the depth of her self-knowledge because we mistakenly confuse self-knowledge with arrogance.  Susan Boyle is not an arrogant person.

The mark of the arrogant person is not simply that she or h may surpass others with respect to a given skill.  That, in fact, may very well be true.  Rather, the arrogant person delights in drawing attention to the fact that she or he surpasses others in the relevant way.  A remarkably talented person can be extremely unassuming.  To see the person, one would never guess that she or he is so talented in this or that area.  The person does not draw attention to it in any way at all.  Yet, when the person performs the skill in question one witnesses an excellence on display that is second to none.  What is more, one witnesses a breathtaking ease with which the person performs the excellence in question. 

A person who knows that she or he can perform a considerable excellence with breathtaking ease without ever drawing attention to it has, in that regard, a deep, deep sense of self-knowledge.  Susan Boyle walked on the stage with a very deep-, deep sense of self-knowledge regarding her ability to sing. 

People who are know that they are capable of an extraordinary excellence but who are not at all arrogant are rather like gods among us.  For it is typical of the talented to draw attention to themselves in some way or the other—to find a way to remind us of just how good they are.  They can barely yawn without drawing attention to just how wonderful they are.

These remarks help us to better understand why Susan Boyle has made such an incredible positive impact upon so many with her singing of “I Dreamed a Dream”.  The explanation is quite simple and has far less to do with her appearance than is typically supposed: She brought to the moment the kind of self-knowledge and humility that is truly angelic–like.  Her frumpy-looking appearance merely blinded us to the self-knowledge that she displayed from the very start.  In her own words: “I am going to make that audience rock.” 

No one can be effective if she or he is clueless with respect to her or his powers.  Not even angels are the exception to that truth. 

Disclaimer: Of course, we know that a great deal of staging goes on in with talent-reality shows, as Kyle Buchanan has so forcefully reminded us.  After all, there is always an interview involved.  So, it was already known that Susan Boyle could sing, just as it is already known that others cannot sing.  Accordingly, none of this takes away from the reality of actually singing well or poorly before the audience.  Applying to the situation George Orwell’s words from Animal Farm: All pigs are equal, but some are more equal than others.