Oxford Dictionary defines a polymath as “A person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning”. It is a concept that is born out of The Enlightenment idea of The Universal Man or The Renaissance Man. The great thinkers of that time felt that it was a human’s duty to push yourself to be the best that you can be at various endeavors. One should be knowledgeable in social graces, the ways of war, skilled in music, and a writer of poetry and scholarly essays. There were many who embraced this ideal and strove to live by it. Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo are two examples of famous polymaths of their time.
The thing is, they never went away. As time went on, there were others who embraced this ideal. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington Carver, and Sir Isaac Newton are more familiar historical figures who are shining examples. Some more modern examples are Mayim Bialik., Brian May, and Dolph Lundgren. There are tons more examples out there, but that’s not the point of this post. Now, the thing is, the people I have listed are all famous. But you have to remember that there are many out there that we’d never know… these people who are ordinary, yet extraordinary.
Think about the people who you’ve come across in your day to day. How many, be it a mechanic, a mail carrier, or a plumber for example, who along with their professional expertise are also hobby scientists, musicians, or martial artists? Exactly. This is to illustrate the point that we all can embrace that ideal. As I was writing this piece, it made me stop and thing, “how many polymathic people do I know in my daily life?” It surprised me how many I knew who were on that path to explore every avenue that seemed intriguing. It hit me in my chest and, at the same time, inspired me to delve deeper into my interests, to continue to fill my brain… that it is good to love knowledge for it’s own sake.
I could go so much deeper into this subject… it is a subject that is near and dear to me. I think that I’ll just put a bookmark at this point and save it for another post. Seriously, every day I see the rampant dumbing down of us as a people. It kills me how there is so little out there to garner intellectual curiosity, so I am doing my part to be a part of the solution. This is me encouraging all of the readers out there to take a moment to look up something that interested you, but you either didn’t have the time, it felt stupid to look it up, or one of the hundreds of reasons that we use everyday to block us from being extraordinary. Do the opposite, add to your win column today.
