Confronting the Myth With a New Method of Achievement
My friend stopped asking me what was in each box shortly after we started moving things from one hermit shell to the next. Giving him answers like books, watchmaking supplies, typewriters, and more books, it was clear that I had amassed possessions that would not easily fit into a standard U-Haul truck. My friend still teases me on what hobby I will pick up next.
“Dolphin training?” he asked once.
“Well, it would be an experience,” I replied.
Being the romantic type, I often aspired to be a Renaissance person. After all, at their core—man or woman—they are the most cultivated of individuals. I desperately wanted to be considered the life of every party and the center of every circle, as well as fulfill every potential. And now you see the trouble … every trouble.
Piles of books overwhelmed me. They lost the simple pleasure of being chosen and then explored thoroughly. Hobbies felt like arduous chores. Instruments became dusty with disuse. The exhilaration of each new passion quickly died like the one before it when I couldn’t master it in a day. My genius is running out, and my days are wasted, I thought, exhausted.
Eventually, I concluded that—like many romances—the stretch to achieve it only took me farther away. Becoming the total Renaissance person had never really been achievable. The passion for that life is born from the same “fear of missing out” that we always feel. It’s the age-old question of time and choice.
So, in rethinking my previous notion of capturing the Renaissance Spirit attitude in its entirety, I realized it should not be daunting or intimidating. It is not the acquisition or approval of knowledge. Instead, to be renaissance is to be filled with wonder, the insatiable desire for learning, an overall excitement for life, and to feel challenged every day to live fully despite the flood of distractions. It builds character, not accolades. It is and always was meant to be the inspiring ideal itself, never the end.
But how in the hell would I actually come to terms with that?
Acceptance
Like so many other systems, this was the first and most difficult step. I had to admit that I could not be, do or experience everything I wanted. I also had to admit that even if I could, treating each experience like a to-do list would steal the joy from them. Once I could let each day pass without feeling like I hadn’t accomplished enough, relief steadily came to me.
Practicality
This word used to give me a bad taste in my mouth on almost every occasion I heard it. It seemed the perfect word if you want to explain why someone’s dreams are too big—then attempt to let them down easy. It was an adult word that I never liked until I found a better definition for it: usefulness.
I needed to lean into what I loved and what I excelled at. I remembered reading about dharma in one of those many unstable book piles. In essence, it’s the discovery of your special contribution in life and finding its place in the world. Choosing where my time should be spent became an easier task with this direction in mind.
Curiosity
It was never a difficult habit for me to maintain. But it was at this point that I realized curiosity had to mean something more than just wistful impulses. It is an openness; a constant intrigue that makes life fulfilling. Curiosity has to be the joy of merely learning and growing and not the burden of continually pursuing the conquest of knowledge.
Discipline and Practice
This was the hard truth, which of course was always waiting at the end. It is the recursive note that accompanies any new belief. Eventually the practice becomes the method, and with time, the method simply becomes who we are—at least I hope so. There are days when I still spin my wheels, just not so far and so fast.
What I learned here is this: Renaissance people are not just individuals who possess the most acquired knowledge or the largest repertoire of experiences. I believe they are the people open in ways that do not limit their course, and who are not disappointed by the means to journey there. They remain truly present individuals. Fear of time being too short is not a concern for those who live with this frame of mind.
Simply by being alive, we already share in the human condition. Centering on what matters and having curiosity for everything else, we can find the road that leads to our own renaissance and something that we all seek—our time here worthwhile.
