Thursday, July 25, 2013
Renaissance Man
Starting in my mid-20s, I began to hear people call me a modern Renaissance Man. I'd always say, "Thank you," because it always
sounded like a compliment, but I didn't really know what it meant. In the years since, I would occasionally hear that
definition of me and I would thank them, too, since it, again, didn't seem like they were insulting me. Finally, about a year
ago I was having coffee with a friend of mine, David, and, while explaining my new life in New York, he said to me, "Stephen,
you are modern-day Renaissance Man." David isn't one to mince words and is very particular about his vocabulary, so I decided
it was finally time to learn what it actually meant.
It turns out, the technical term is Polymath and is usually used to describe a person whose expertise spans a significant
number of different subject areas, a concept that emerged from the numerous great thinkers of that era who excelled in multiple
fields of the arts and science, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei, and Nicolaus Copernicus (Wikipeida:
Polymath). Though, today, it is more related to a person
who has wide
interests and
is expert in several areas (Webster: Renaissance
Man).
Yes, that would be a fair description of me.
When I've been asked, "What do you like to do?," my list has been some permutation of these actives: mountain biking, rock
climbing, swing dancing, hockey, board gaming, building things, museums, dating, inline skating, traveling, photography,
backpacking/camping, singing, writing... But that's a lot of things!
I've also studied and read (more than lightly or as school course work) about a number of different topics including software
development, astronomy and astrophysics, engineering (particularly aerospace/mechanical) , history (especially Civil War),
philosophy, and music theory. I also keep up with current events as well as read about 5 – 8 Wikipedia pages a day (with many
grains of salt when reading either).
Certainly there must be something that's unique to all of them. I've thought a lot about it in the last year or so. What is
the root of those all of those things?
What I've realized is simple: I liking to get better at things. I like to excel and to do it quickly. The feeling of
accomplishment, of a challenge overcome, a complicated idea learned, something created, is what I seek. Furthermore, the faster
I do it, the better the accomplishment.
Thus, I've trained myself to be a fast learner; to figure things out quickly. So I can get that feeling of getting better at
something faster. I found if I stick with something for too long, I hit a plateau of skills which is hard to break through
without deviating a tremendous amount of time at it. Instead, I could pick up something else that I found interesting and begin
the process of learning and excelling again. And with a never ending list of interesting things to do and learn, I have cycled
through this process over and over.
I wonder if the Renaissance Men of old shared that need; the need to experience everything. What drove their desire to learn,
create, and succeed at so many different things? Did they, too, eventually getting bored or stuck with the knowledge and skill
they attain only to then set off in some new and different direction? Constantly, absorbing the world with unfulfilled
fascination. If so, then, yes, I am a modern day Renaissance Man.
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