The Dabbler

One topic that inevitably follows upon any discussion of the virtues of generalization over specialization, or vice versa, is the Generalist's 'dangerous' tendency to become a 'dabbler'.  In other words, an aspiring renaissance man invariably runs the risk of becoming a 'jack of all trades, but master of none'.  This latter labeling generally holds a negative connotation, in that this person would have a very thin layer of knowledge in any given field - probably just enough to get himself into trouble.  The Dabbler flits from one point of interest to another, learning only enough of the basic tenets of any given discipline to impress a potential mistress at a cocktail party for an evening.

This is a valid criticism, and one not to be taken lightly.  This is a definite pitfall to be avoided on your way to becoming a renaissance man.  Generalists, by their nature, are saddled with the curse of impatience.  They are perpetually seduced by 'the new'.  It should be noted that very few people can learn enough about something within a few weeks or months to be considered proficient in that subject in any way, and generally anything substantial worth learning will take the average man several years of study to become even passably 'good'.  Obviously, if one were setting out to 'master' some discipline, it could take him a lifetime.

However, it should be noted that this 'curse' of being perpetually drawn to new things is also the Generalist's greatest attribute.  It is the person who isn't perpetually drawn to something new who becomes comfortably smoke-stacked into specialization and (potentially) looks back upon the lost decades of his life with some regret in the end at the things not done.  Sure, the specialist has 'mastered' the art of selling widgets to the wary, but has he ever felt the tingling wash of indescribable emotion as he stood on stage and blew his gleaming horn into a writhing, cheering crowd as they chanted his name?  Of course not; he had to be at the office in the morning.  Has he ever thrown his meager savings into a barely sea-worthy sloop, embarking on a journey around the world and finding the woman of his dreams in a small port stop in Belize, all because he wanted to learn to be a proficient sailor?  Are you kidding?  There are quotas to be met in widgets.  You can't take that kind of time off and expect to stay at the 'top of your game' in widget sales, my friends.

Some people argue that generalism is dead.  It has been stated that in this day and age you MUST specialize to be proficient enough in any given field to 'make your mark'.  I would submit that that depends on what the goal is.  What is the mark?  If you would like to be a Nobel prize winning scientist - if that is truly your goal in life - then yes, it is probably a good idea to specialize.  It is no longer the early 1800s, when these fields were in their relative youth compared to where they are now.  The fields of science and mathematics are old and much explored, and you will need to devote your time heavily to specific aspects of those fields in order to be 'taken seriously' by the entrenched, specialized community of scientists and mathematicians.  Would you like to be a rich man?  Well then, unless you are very lucky, you will probably need to specialize in business and learn to wring every penny out of every widget.  Expect to spend 80 hours a week or so doing something like that.

However, if your goal is to live a fulfilled life, if your goal is to be happy, if your goal is to look back and say, "I did that," with satisfaction when you are 70, then the renaissance man lifestyle is for you.  Since when did the renaissance man need to be famous for something?  Since when did he need to discover some breakthrough in science?  Sure there are famous renaissance men out there, but not every renaissance man needs to be Leonardo da Vinci.  You don't need to be Miles Davis to blow a good horn.  You don't need to be an America's Cup winner to be a good sailor.  These are modern contrivances that seek to deter a man from generalization and accept his presumed fate that if he will succeed, he will succumb to specialization.  Cast off the specialist mantra, renaissance man!  Learn to sail if you wish!  Learn to blow your horn!

My point is, yes, you need to be wary of spending too much time doing too little of anything in particular.  That is not renaissance man living; that is just laziness.  You do need to earn proficiency in many of the fields that you explore.  You must be 'good' at things.  It is not enough to dabble with this or that.  You can't look back upon your life at 70 and say, "Well, I tried some things."  If you want to play an instrument, learn the instrument.  If you want to learn to sail, learn to sail.  But here's the thing: if you decide that music just isn't your thing and you'd rather learn to paint... do it!  Don't stick with something you don't like just because you don't want to be labeled a dabbler.  Worse yet, don't be frightened off of the generalist path before even venturing down it for fear of lacking 'the proper amount' of devotion.  When you find something you like, stick with it and become proficient.  When, four or five years down the road you'd like to learn something else, learn something else!  Do that for a lifetime and you will have been proficient at nearly a dozen excellent things.

Remember, renaissance man, you don't need to change the world, changing your world is enough.        

How To Become A Renaissance Man

It is Memorial Day today, which for those of you who don't know, is the day that Americans memorialize members of the United States Armed Services who have given the ultimate gift to their country: their lives.  This 'holiday' was originally instituted as a kind of reparation to begin the healing after our own Civil War, but has grown to encompass all of our storied military conflicts.  Today I am not only reminded of the undeniably admirable qualities of those men and women, but also once again of my own personal inadequacies.  I am, and will likely always be, somewhat sheepishly humbled when pondering the sacrifices of these commendable human beings.

This has also brought me to thinking of the preponderance of military men who are also renaissance men.  I once held the somewhat uninformed and perhaps prevailing notion that military jocks are mostly brawn but lacking in brains.  Obviously, this is a generalization which although possibly spreads its roots in truth, is an incorrect one perhaps half of the time, which is no good or useful generalization at all.  Many of the military men I've met in my life are thoughtful, sophisticated, worldly, and wise, not to mention pure bad-asses.  When you think about it, the military services are a breeding ground for renaissance men.  Not only do they train a man in the art of warfare, all the while keeping him in peak physical condition, but also they force a man to experience the world in his travels, often picking up multiple languages and sophistications along the way.  They also educate a man thoroughly in other disciplines, either while at the Academy, or later through the G.I. bill.  In fact, one almost couldn't help becoming a renaissance man as a modern-day soldier, unless of course one really was all brawn and no brains.

Which brings me to today's post, the purpose of which is to generally outline the ways in which a man can attain 'renaissance man' status.  This will be mostly in the form of a list which I will no doubt expand upon in later posts, but for now, and with limited long-winded explanation, here it is:

The Renaissance Man's Guide to Becoming a Renaissance Man:

1. Don't Be An Egotistical Douche-Bag.  Number one for a reason.  This is perhaps the most important rule.  No one likes a braggart, no matter what your accomplishments.  Learn as much as you can, but don't be the asshole who wants to talk about all the great things you can do all the time.  Use your knowledge and skills appropriately and at the appropriate time, with as little personal fanfare as possible, and accept compliments gracefully.
2. Never Stop Learning.  Number two for a reason.  Every day is an opportunity to learn something new or hone an existing skill set.  Don't let a day pass without learning something new.
3. Learn An Art.  Art comes in many forms.  Some renaissance men will try their hand at many art forms, and be successful with at least one or two of them.  Music, painting, chain-saw wood carving... whatever.  Just learn to express yourself through an artistic medium somehow.
4. Learn To Build Things.  A renaissance man is good with his hands, in more ways than one.  Learn to be 'handy'.  Learn how things are constructed and how things work mechanically.  If something breaks, try to fix it yourself.  Learn how to use a hammer, drill, and screwdriver.  Build something for the hell of it.  
5. Stay Active.  Renaissance men of old were not only great minds, but great bodies as well.  You do not have to be a professional athlete or a modern-day warrior to accomplish this rule, however.  Simply get out and keep your body in relatively good shape.  How you do that is completely up to you.  Hit the gym on a somewhat regular basis.  Take up hiking or climbing.  Join a local sports team.  The co-ed ones can be particularly rewarding.
6. Learn English.  English is without a doubt the most important language spoken on this planet at this moment in time (don't be the guy who argues that point with me - I will make fun of you).  For those of you who already speak English, learn to speak it well.  This is a skill that is quickly becoming extinct.  Learn to become a good orator.  Learn how to be persuasive and humorous with language.  While you are at it, learn to write in complete, grammatically correct sentences.  Also, learn to spell, or at least become proficient with the spell-check.  You might have the most interesting and profound things to say, but if they are misspelled or written like a grade-schooler, you will not be taken seriously.
7. Learn Another Language.  It does not matter which one.  Even Latin can be surprisingly useful, although it might be hard to find other people with which to have a conversation if you do choose Latin.  After you've learned another language, learn another one.
8. Learn To Be A Better Lover.  You think this is unimportant and does not belong in this list?  You have a lot to learn, young man.  Learning to be a better lover is a lifelong journey that contains a myriad rewards.  Be a man.  A complete one.  
9. Read.  And not just this blog (or any other blog for that matter).   Read classic literature.  Read the classic philosophers.  But, don't just read.  Think about what you are reading and analyze thoroughly.  These are classics for a reason.
10. Learn About Math And/Or The Sciences.  You do not need to be a brilliant mathematician or scientist to be a renaissance man, but it sure would help.  Learn how to figure out how tall that tree is over there without taking a tape measure to the top of it.  Learn who Pythagoras is and why he's important.  It's a good place to start.  At the very least, learn how to subtract, add, multiply, and divide without a calculator, and what element Fe represents on the periodic table, for Pete's sake.
11. Learn About The World.  Not just geography.  Learn about the rest of the people in the world.  Learn about the religions and cultural practices in countries other than your own.  While you're at it, learn about your own country and the religions and cultural practices in it.  Learn to be respectful of and even admire the differences between yourself and the rest of the world.
12. Learn History.  Don't just learn about history.  Learn from history.  Take care not to do the stupid things other people have done in the past.  There are plenty of examples.
13. Learn About Politics.  Learn about the different political systems.  And not just the demagogic misrepresentations that your own political leaders express in reference to their own system and the others.  Actually read some information written by the founders of other systems as well as your own, and learn about the advantages and/or pitfalls of each.  If you think you live within the greatest political system ever created, and that there will never be a better one, you are very likely not thinking broadly enough.
14. Learn To Be A Gentleman.  Be a confident man.  Don't act like a woman.  But, obtain a gentleness about your expression of manliness.  You don't always have to be the bad-ass.  Aggression is inappropriate in almost all endeavors, except of course boxing, warfare, and driving in traffic.
15. Learn To Appreciate Fine Things.  These are humankind's greatest accomplishments.  Someone strove to achieve greatness in some form or another, and in some cases succeeded.  Fine art, fine food, great literature, superb athleticism, a brilliant equation.  These are the examples toward which the renaissance man endeavors.  How will you know how to be great without knowing and appreciating what greatness is?  Learn and appreciate all things excellent, and strive to achieve excellence yourself.

This is by no means an all-inclusive or mutually exclusive list.  Each item is worthy of exploration and expansion.  The road to becoming a renaissance man is never-ending with many detours and forks along the way, and even some potholes and.... OK enough with the road metaphor, but you get the point.

As usual, I welcome the two or three people out there who might actually read this blog to leave your comments, questions, and/or diatribes.

Why The Blog?

An existential question, to be sure.  More specifically, why start a blog dedicated to the renaissance man in particular?  There are a couple of reasons for this, apart from a certain amount of egoism, narcissism, and solipsism on my own part (the true source of all blogs, without a doubt).

For one, I find renaissance men to be interesting people.  As I stated in the original post, they are generally the most interesting, eclectic people I've ever met.  They are typically the kind of men to go to for advice with every-day life issues, and when they attain a certain amount of age, are usually considered 'wise' or 'sage'.  Historically, some of the greatest, most interesting men who ever lived were notable renaissance men: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Pascal, to name a few.  Also, renaissance men tend to get laid.  A lot.  And everyone knows that sex makes for good blogging.  But, probably the foremost reason for starting a blog dedicated to the renaissance man ideal is my firm belief that our modern tendency to specialize is making it harder and harder for this 'theory of being' to thrive, or even survive, which will eventually lead to the destruction of civilization in a fiery firepit of hell.

Or, it will be very boring.

One of the two.

Anyway, the conscious idea of the 'renaissance man' originated during the renaissance period (big surprise), although the term was first used much later (early 20th century).  I'll spare you the boring history lesson about who coined it first, etc, but the idea, during that period of time, was that a man should be 'a complete man', which generally necessitated that a man attempt to excel at as many fields as he possibly could in a lifetime.  In particular, emphasis was placed on sport and/or warfare, the sciences, literature, the arts, linguistics, theology, and philosophy, not necessarily in any particular order.  The idea probably grew from the Knighthood ideal, and the view that an 'educated' knight was a gentleman, warrior, and a scholar.  Prior to the Renaissance period, other great thinkers (notably the early Greek philosophers), purported that an ideal man should be proficient in many things, and those men were deemed 'polymaths'.

Regardless of where or why it began, it was and is still, without a doubt, the greatest of idealistic notions relating to the betterment of the male human animal.  To be 'all encompassing'.  To be 'well rounded'.  The incessant and insatiable quest for knowledge and skill.  The proverbial and symbolic 'Search for the Holy Grail'.  The Quest which is, of course, inherently doomed to failure, since no man can ever attain perfection in all things.  To some degree the renaissance man accepts the fact that he will never reach the 'ultimate goal'.  He accepts, in fact, that there might never have been a true goal in the first place.  The Holy Grail will never be found, even if it does exist.  But, the journey to find it elevates the man more than the object itself, which, as any renaissance man will tell you, was the whole point of the journey in the first place.

Nothing to me is sadder than the man who paid good money for his MBA, stuck in a cubicle or corner office for 40 years, pushing some papers around for a company that produces nothing in particular, living vicariously through his television set at home, just so he can retire comfortably in a motorhome bound for Arizona when he's at death's door.  We live in a day and age where schools are no longer teaching music and/or the arts.  High school students are pressed to take early college credit courses on their way to becoming 'productive' members of society.  Gone are the wood shop, the drama club, and the band room.  Talented athletes are pressed more and more to focus on one sport alone, and with all-consuming intensity, to the derailment of their overall physical and mental education.  Higher learning institutions are pressing students to declare majors early, and putting most of the available educational dollars into 'valuable' degree programs, such as Business, Law, and Medicine, at the expense of disciplines such as Philosophy, Art, and History.  Worse yet, we have been duped into believing that the surest path to 'success' is a 'marketable' college degree.  All around us we are deafened by the cacophony of the snare drums and cymbals of the 'specialists' to the drowning out of the triangles, wood blocks, and cowbells of the 'generalists'.

It is time to make a revolution of sorts.  It is time to bring back the ideal of generalization.  To appreciate what we already know intuitively: that a man can be better at one thing when he is knowledgeable about many.  It is  the mixing of disciplines that spurs innovation.  It is the drawing from a multitude of experiences that makes a man wise, not the studying of one thing for a lifetime.  It is my intent to provide a forum here that will hopefully lead to a sanctuary and outlet for renaissance men throughout the blogoshpere (along with the women who love them, want to love them, or want desperately to be loved by them), and to help prime and cultivate the next generation of renaissance men.  My hope is that you, web community of self-proclaimed renaissance men, latent renaissance men, repressed renaissance men, and renaissance men in training, will help me in this endeavor.  I welcome your comments, stories, diatribes, and/or suggestions.

Defining The Renaissance Man

Before I delve into the blogosphere on a mission dedicated to the ideal of the renaissance man, I suppose it would be apropos to begin by defining exactly what a renaissance man is.  Easy, you say?  Perhaps.  But, since my simple Google search uncovered many varied and contradictory ideas of what a renaissance man could and/or should be, I will start this journey with my own definition, which for the purposes of this blog is really the only one that matters.

So, probably, since this is in fact a world wide web medium, the best place to start would be the web's go-to source for all information that is worth knowing: Wikipedia. Unfortunately, the Wikipedia definition is somewhat disappointing, since it wants you to re-direct to the polymath page. And, as you no doubt have now read after following that nicely-placed link right there, a polymath, defined by the Wik, is 'a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas'.

OK, well, I guess my definition of a renaissance man would not significantly stray from that, except that of course a true renaissance man would need to wear a frilly collar pretty much at all times, along with a feathered cap, just for effect.

But truly, there is a connotation underlying the ideal of the renaissance man that emphasizes an overall 'well-roundedness'.  Expertise in a significant number of subject areas, sure, but the subject areas must also be significantly different, or even at odds, with one another.  An artist who also happens to be a canny inventor, for instance.  Or, a man gifted in politics who is also a formidable scientist.

I recently read an online magazine's take on some 'modern' renaissance men, and was struck by the fact that there were many 'renaissance men' listed who were no doubt brilliant people, but were actually just brilliant scientists who happened to be brilliant at a couple of different fields of science.  Worthy of respect, certainly, but not exactly what I would call renaissance men.

Also, any conversation related to renaissance men inevitably produces the 'genius' paradigm.  In other words, in order to be a true renaissance man, one must be gifted to the point of genius in several unrelated fields.  Not only do I disagree with this, but I actually think it goes against the model of what a true renaissance man is.  You see, renaissance men are inevitably drawn, for better or worse, to several fields out of a drive to learn something new, not to 'master' any one thing in particular.  This drive, in fact, makes it difficult or even impossible to be 'the leading expert' in any particular field of study.  Certainly there were, historically, geniuses who were also renaissance men.  Leonardo da Vinci probably being foremost among them.  But, far more common, and possibly more admirable in my view, is the man who learns enough about a subject to be relatively proficient, and who knows he's no expert in that subject, but moves on to something else when that no longer pulls his chain.  These 'everyday' renaissance men have always been the most interesting people to me.  These are the men whose storied lives read like the pages of a novel, or even several novels with different leads.

In short: The most interesting men in the World.