To recharge from the draining trudge of modern life, I delve into the stories and insights of those who have gone before
Published : 11 Jun 2023, 07:37 PM
There’s an idea called the Renaissance Man.
Think of Da Vinci. Not only was he a painter, but he was also a sculptor, an inventor, and a theorist. His interests were vast and varied and he achieved expertise in many fields.
I like to think I’m half a Renaissance Man – my interests are endless, but I’m no expert on anything.
At times, the present irritates me. As I zig-zag through the heavy traffic of mediocrity, I can feel my cynicism bubble up. But, when it gets to be too much, I dive into the world of history and its fascinating tales. I turn to the future and its exciting possibilities. I find Zen in being the Indiana Jones of the memories and fantasies of people through the ages.
A SINGLE LEVER
Archimedes once said, “Give me a firm place to stand and a lever and I can move the Earth.” It infuriated me.
I was about 14 when I heard the story of Archimedes moving a ship using a single rope. King Hiero II had built the magnificent craft as a gift to Ptolemaic Egypt, but it was too heavy to move to the water. The dictator summoned Archimedes, who boasted of moving the world itself, and challenged him with the task.
The brilliant inventor put together a complex rig of pulleys and cranks. Then, he calmly walked to the shore, sat on a rock, and tugged on a rope. To the surprise of all, the ship began moving towards the ocean.
The story boggled my mind. It pushed me to consider the meaning of freeing myself from conventional thought. It taught me to learn by unlearning.
LIVING IN BAD FAITH
Jean-Paul Sartre, the writer and philosopher, said that people who accepted how things were and rejected investigating alternative paths as those who ‘who live in bad faith’.
In the essay Being and Nothingness, he describes a waiter who is so preoccupied with his job that he thinks of himself as a server first and a free human being second. Sartre, a fervent Marxist, emphasised the true limit to someone’s freedom was money. As such, people used financial need as justification for their fear and unwillingness to consider a different path in life.
Sartre was enraged by the idea and held capitalism responsible, calling it a machine that forced people into dehumanising work to buy things they didn’t need. He believed this pursuit of worldly possessions prevented people from being free.
I think of the little prince who stands on a planet with nothing but a rose and a fox friend. Of Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Of Van Gogh, Jibananda, and Manik. People who seem to have so little, but are truly free.
DADA AND DECONSTRUCTION
In 1952, John Cage wrote ‘4′33′′’, one of the most controversial pieces of music in history. It consists of eight minutes of rest. A musician steps up to the stage, but they never press a key or play a note.
When it was first performed, some members of the audience stormed out of the theatre. But, an insightful few could hear the coughs of the people, the squeaky seats, the footsteps rushing out. Cage wanted a piece that was about ‘the absence of planned sounds’, composed of whatever was happening when the piece was ‘played’.
Did the audience understand his concept? Perhaps not. But there are times when I am strictly against ‘understanding art’. I find it vacuous and vulgar to catalogue art as if it is a checklist. When we try so hard to pin down the exact meaning that we forget to truly feel it.
MASTER OF NONE
Some see my broad palette of interests as a bad thing. They think I flit from infatuation to obsession with no clear progress and no true goals. That I should focus my energy and drill down on something specific. Specialise so I can improve my productivity. Perhaps, they say, a jack of all trades is master of none.
But what a boring way to live life. To confine ourselves to a narrow range of feeling and possibility just to get ahead in the rat race. I’m reminded of Whitman:
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
This article is part of Stripe, bdnews24.com's special publication focusing on culture and society from a youth perspective.