Your World Is As Big As You Make It.

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

Haruki Murakami

One of my biggest causes of procrastination when I write is when I head over to Wikipedia to look up more information about a concept. Yes, I know that Wikipedia is not a completely trustworthy source of information, but I am not going to condemn the good because of the perfect. But I digress. The reason I call Wikipedia my greatest source of procrastination is how easily a simple search turns into 20 open tabs and at least 3 hours of just browsing information.

Am I surprised? Not really. As a kid I would grab an encyclopedia (to the younger readers, this is how old people used to find information, google it up.) and just flip through it. That was my first glimpse of the largeness of the world. I learned of the Far East, and the Not So Far West. I learned of Ancient History and of Modernity. I would “travel” all over the world, and even across time and space with every book, with every entry, and I learned just how small my world was when compared to how big the world really is. And as the saying goes, a mind expanded by knowledge can never shrink back.

People assume education is what you get at school or college. Sure, we get taught about history and science at school. We are taught about art and music (or used to before the school system gutted some of those programs). But consider just how much attention you paid to your teachers, especially those teachers you didn’t like. The reality of education and knowledge is not based on what classes you take or what degree you reach or what certification you achieve. Truthfully, those are just pieces of paper you place on a wall stating that you attended classes and learned to pass tests.

Some will assume that self-education and knowledge for knowledge’s sense is a waste of time, viewing ideas different from their own as something to be crushed. I fear these people, as they already decided that personal ignorance is an acceptable way to live and will attack anyone who thinks differently just to support their personal insecurities.

Education and knowledge is what you experience and what you learn, not out of necessity, but out of genuine interest. We no longer live in a world limited by our access to a library or even a book, as today the world’s knowledge is at our fingertips. And yet some only chose to read what they already agree with, what other liked minded people recommend. We limit the information we receive, only accepting what will not offend or challenge our world.

Mark Twain once said “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” The same applies to knowledge.

You have to avoid conscientiously and willfully limiting your world, creating your own borders and limitations. Read books that challenge you, books smaller men would ban or censor. You don’t have to take any of them as true, and don’t even have to agree with them. What you do have to do is try and understand them, where they come from, what ideas and cultures lead to them. And as a result your world will grow. You have to broaden your horizon, as wide as the world itself. And when it has reached this width and extent, realize that the universe is limitless.

What’s your problem?

The art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it.

Georg Cantor

This is the story of one of the most important lessons I ever learned, as it defined the very nature of how I look at the world. Many years ago I had the challenge of doing my thesis project. The topic of the thesis is irrelevant to the post, but how my mentor handled it is not. I wanted to do a specific topic, something that interested me since I began my studies. I viewed my thesis as the culmination of all my preparation, the end goal of a long road. As soon as I submitted my topic of interested, my mentor just looked at me and said something that I did not understand at that moment.

That’s not a problem.

He said nothing else. For the next few weeks I would rework the concept, looking for that elusive “go-ahead” from my mentor, and every time the answer was the same. Days turned to Weeks and Weeks to Months. Every day he saw me as he walked down the halls, he would just point at me and ask me point blank, “What is your problem?” Every day I would reply with a new version of a previously submitted idea, a new topic, a new concept. And every day he would just reply “That is not a problem”, and walk away. This torment lasted for the entire semester. I finally broke down, accused him of being of not helping me out, and just went into one of the worst rants I have done in my life. He smiled, beaming with pride. Was he actually happy to have broken me?

He asked me if I had a headache. Perplexed and confused with his question, I answered that I did. He pulled out a bottle of aspirin and placed it in front of me.

Here. Now, does this solve your problem or your symptom?

I froze for about a minute, the longest minute in my life. Part of me wanted to shove that bottle down his throat, but another part just went into an automatic overdriven analysis. I swear to this day, someone places a spotlight on the man while playing background monastic opera music as what he was trying to tell me finally made sense...

I was so focused on looking to justify the project that I wanted, that I was looking for whatever gave me the conclusion that I already had. I was researching what was convenient to me.  I was looking at the short and simple solution for a symptom that I never cared about looking at what was behind it, what caused it. It took me a while to refocus, to take all the information that I had and truly understand what was there. My thesis changed into something completely different than what I originally wanted. The change wasn’t because my interests changed but because my mind broadened.

We think that every question has just one answer, never realizing that it might be we are asking the wrong question to begin with. We focus on what is right in front of us, and forget to look for what is underneath the surface. No one is right or wrong. No one has a monopoly on the truth. Learn to read between the lines. And when looking at a person or a situation, always remember to ask one simple question that will make dealing with it a lot easier,

What’s your problem?

Look Past the Moon. The Dangers of Having Goals.

I have been in the revenge business so long; now that it’s over I do not know what to do with the rest of my life.

Inigo Montoya

So many stories are told of the single mindedness of Vengeance; movies where the action hero how must avenge something, anything, and that becomes his all-consuming goal. And the movie conveniently ends in the same right when he achieves his goal, as he kills the main bad guy, topples the evil corporation, frees the slaves, and “wins the damsel.” (Not going to comment on the “wins the damsel.” There is enough material in that aspect to make an independent post on the subject.) Cut to him riding into the sunset, queue credits.

This is the guys version of “happily ever after.” And just like “happily ever after,” it’s a load of cr…., an absolute LIE!

These stories focus on a specific time-frame, where what happens before or after have little if no consequence to the story. The reality is there IS an ever after, the repercussions of the grand victory, a constant continuation of the story. And when your focus your life on achieving a rather specific goal, no matter what it is, you risk three very real dangers.

The first danger of having an all-consuming goal is nothing you do will be viewed as valuable. Unless the final goal is reached, everything else is irrelevant, no matter how much good, or how well you do. Nothing will satisfy you. You will never be able to view how much you have traveled, as you focus on how much further you must go. And if you never get to achieve it, you will view your life as wasted.

The second danger is actually being able to achieve your goal. There is a dreaded sense of emptiness that comes from not having a target goal after you have spent part of your life with an all-consuming goal. What then? Look for the next challenge?

The third danger is usually the one least considered, and actually the most dangerous of all. When all your focus is placed on a pinpoint aspect, you will miss everything else around you. And that is where the value of life is really located, in the surprise, in finding the amazing in the random.

So, should you just float aimlessly though life? No. Have a north to guide you, and learn to navigate within this north. Set a goal, but not as a target. Bruce Lee said that “a goal is not always meant to be reached; it often serves simply as something to aim at.” Set a goal as a general direction, and learn to read the winds. Let life guide you within that direction. You will reach the stars if you don’t limit yourself to the moon. 

Don’t Fear Becoming a Dangerous Man.

The most dangerous man … is the man who is able to think things out ... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.

H. L. Mencken

If you look over my articles, I avoid as much as possible establishing rules to follow or even guidelines. Many of the different concepts presented are up to personal interpretation. At best I can give people warnings based on my own mistakes (which have been plenty) or point them to a general direction based on my own path (again, based on my experience, read as the plenty of mistakes mentioned before). Why? Wouldn’t it be easier just to tell you what to do and how to act? Shouldn’t explanations like “Because I say so” and “We have always done it that way” be enough?

NO!

Question everything and everyone, including yourself. Read, think, analyze, and come to your own conclusion. There is a reason for everything, even if that reason is not evident or apparent. Learn to think outside the box. Way to many times people don’t understand a problem because they are actually asking the wrong questions or confusing results with problems.

Be wary of gut feelings and emotional reaction as well as “convenient” analysis, for both are there only to excuse and justify behavior. People tend to react emotionally, assuming that their “heart” is always right. If this is true, emotional manipulations and heartbreak would never be. Also the “convenient” analysis is just as dangerous. You know, the bullshit reasons you use to justify doing the wrong thing.

And accept that you can and will be wrong in your decisions. You will make mistakes and you will have to reconsider previous comments and actions. There is nothing wrong with this. It’s called growth. This attitude and acceptance will keep you humble, but will give you limitless confidence at the same time. When you’re not afraid to be wrong, you can dare to do anything. 

And with that confidence comes empowerment; the ability to challenge every idea and notion that gets regurgitated thoughtlessly by every group of sheep and line followers out there. This empowerment will give you the courage to stand when everyone else is sitting down. It will open your eyes to the truth behind the mysteries of life, letting you conquer what you didn’t even know was there. And it will give you the most dangerous gift that you will have to endure, Personal Liberty, as you realize how hard it is to deal with and how much it will elate you. 

Just remember what Oscar Wilde said, “An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”

The importance of the Polymathist and the rise of the Modern Renaissance Man.

Our culture has kind of let the concept of the Renaissance Man die out. We don't really tell the kids that it's okay to bounce around the world, work odd jobs, and do six different things.

Ronan Farrow

As we move through the world, we have to wonder one of the greatest mysteries of the modern era, one that is challenging social thinkers today. What is that question?

Why are there so many small minded and selfish people around?

Yes, I know I just disappointed many with such a simple comment, but the reality is small-mindedness seems to be an epidemic. It is the core reason for ignorance, racism, sexism, and almost every other –ism. And that got me thinking, why? What is it within today’s society that promotes this idea, and what is it that those who are not petty have in common?

You might think it’s a question of having values or virtues or even character. Not really. Most petty men are convinced that they have values and character. And who are we to question that believe. Their problem is how their world is too small. Their mentality usually is “If it doesn’t affect me, it’s not a problem.” But again, why has this mentality grown? Can we not just google the effects of a problem, review the reactions of people, or even discuss our opinions with anyone, anywhere?

Because society, as it is now, has created a paradox of specialists and polymathists. 

Society tells people they need to train and to focus in learning more and more about their chosen subject, and that’s how they will succeed. The end result is we have people who know a lot about very little. It creates a contracting mentality, where people focus only on what affects them. “A man trained only with a hammer will treat everything like a nail.”

I am sorry to tell you this but specialization, like the person who refuses to travel, promotes small mindedness and selfishness.

We have to learn to view the vast world of topics we live in, the vast variety of people. We must be willing to view the “Big Picture.” It’s not that they learn a little bit of everything, but rather a lot about everything. They just choose not to specialize in a single topic. These are the Polymathists, the correct term for Renaissance Men. 

A polymath (Greek: "having learned much") is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas; such a person is known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. The term is often used to describe those great thinkers of the Renaissance and the Golden Age of Islam, each of whom excelled at several fields in science and the arts.

The idea of the polymath best described as “a man can do all things if he will." If man is limitless in their capacity for development, why are we so willing to build walls we cannot climb? Why do we limit ourselves? Why do we say we are geeks, and disdain anything outside that circle of knowledge? Why will the jock avoid the arts or the artist avoid science? We need to learn about everything to develop our body, our mind and our spirit. We must become worldly, or more so, universal.

The easiest cop-out is to think of yourself incapable of reaching such levels. But honestly, there is no easier time to aim for such ambitions. The world's knowledge is at your fingertips. I leave you with the following quote from Robert A. Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.