Thoughts from a few years ago...

I would like to come up with a working definition of “polymath” so I’ll have a standard to judge by. How will we know if we’re approaching this goal? I know it’s a long journey, more than a destination, but wouldn’t it be fun to work out how we would be different when we’d traveled far along that road? Maybe we could pick paragons, people who lived this virtue to an extraordinary degree, and write about the kind of people they were. I’m thinking of a Rene Descartes or a Richard Feynman. Any thoughts or paragon nominations?

I want to create a mind that is disciplined, capable of sustained argument, steeped in the best ideas, and constantly generating new ones. I want to join the conversation of the ages and spend my life in the pursuit of knowledge.

My strongest character traits center on learning and curiosity. There is nothing I enjoy more than applying my brain to difficult tasks and learning about the world around me in intricate detail. I feel charged to use this gift in the service of my society.

I want to spend many hours over the next years immersed in the best ideas of the past two-thousand years. I want to use my mind in a synthetic way, adding original ideas to the conversation. I’d like to become a popularizer of science and philosophy. I don’t think the joy of investigating the world should be held captive by rich old white men. I love museums, libraries, gardens, and science centers and I want to help build more of them.

I plan on pursuing education to the highest level I can manage over the course of my life. I want to earn at least one advanced degree in the social sciences or the humanities. I can see myself writing prolifically. I plan to spend many hours shaping my ideas and feelings into prose. I want to develop a rigorous, poetic writing style and use it to explore the nooks and crevices of the mind and of nature.

I will always approach my work with the spirit of an explorer. I will try my best to use my skills of analysis and observation to improve my work every day. I will work eagerly in my field, taking great care with my work, and treating it as a trust. I will always search for intellectual possibilities in my daily work and nurture my curious nature.

I want to take on major learning projects and stick with them until they bear fruit. I will attempt to master bodies of knowledge in a systematic, but passionate way. I will start, perhaps, with the analytic tradition in Western philosophy and work my way back to the ancients. Can I read everything? I will try, working my way through hundreds of major works of literature, philosophy, drama, and poetry over the course of my lifetime. I will then weave what I’ve learn into my interactions with my students, with my professional audience, and with the public. I will learn because I LOVE to learn. I will learn for the joy of mastering new ideas. I will learn for the exhilaration of scaling intellectual mountains, to stand and look out across the world.

...from USE MY GIFTS of intelligence and curiosity to serve others

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