your right...that's how music should be played, but there's is a process you go through to get to that point. It's like being in a race, and that state of nirvana being the finish line. Now if you cheat, and try to take a short cut, it will definitely show up in your playing...which is how I felt about the author of that books playing. If all novice musicians followed the Zen Guitar ritual there would be nothing but EMO bands and free form jazz quartets roaming the earth.