What Do I Have To Know?

A son asked his father: "What do I have to know how to do besides play flatted thirds and sevenths to be a rock guitarist?"
"Nothing." he replied. 

Later the lad asked his father: "What do I have to know how to do besides be critical to be a man-of-god?"
"Nothing." he replied. 

The boy still later asked his father: "What do I have to know how to do besides make dire predictions to be a politician?"
"Nothing." he replied. 

And after that the son asked his father: "What do I have to know how to do besides whine to be a poet?"
"Nothing." he replied.

Finally, the lad came to his father and asked: "So what do I have to know how to do besides ‘nothing’ that I do not already know how to do to be able to do anything in particular in the non-physical world?"
And the elder just smiled and shrugged. 

J.