Hey there my fellow creatures of the night!
I know that no one really reads my stuff and that most of you are bored out of your mind already. So considering I'm pretty much writing for myself and that my blog is really more like a diary than anything else, I have decided to write an article about a person and a subject that are very interesting to me.
I know most of you jumped from your seats when you read the title of my latest blog. And you're right. If I had read this same blog 8 months ago I probably would have discarded it immediately, but now, after all I've been through and after all I have read and seen about the person who's going to be the subject of this essay, I have completely changed my mind.
Yes, I know that comparing Schwarzenegger to Da Vinci is nothing less than a sacrilege, and I know that I am probably insulting everyone who has ever even heard the word "culture", but this comparison arises as a reflection of contemporary society.
There is no denying that the world has dumbed down considerably since the creation of massive media and ever since "normal people" (people who lack the necessary skills that were once required for someone to become famous or well known - nowadays anyone can open a blog and be known-) received the power to become famous, REAL culture as we once knew it, has disappeared. Past idols such a Beethoven, Michelangelo, Marx and Shakespeare have been replaced by people like Britney Spears, Dr. Phil, Stephen King, and Jenna Jameson (not to say anything about their virtuosities or performances, but let's face it, they can't be compared to the great minds and artists of the past). Culture as we once knew it is no longer, and as a consequence, this dumbing down of the general population has also brought a dumbing down of heroes and idles.
Da Vinci was a Universal Man, A Polymath, a Renaissance man, a man who was able to do everything and excelled in various different fractions of hummanity. A unique man that will never be replaced or even rivaled.
No doubt, people like Da Vinci are very scarce (to say the least), and the last recorded real polymath died in 1965. Dr. Albert Schweitzer from Alsace was a real modern day Da Vinci with a very large list of achievements and areas of excellence: Philosopher (known for his reverence of life), Theologist, Preacher and ordained minister (who was also one of the best known Theorists on the life of Christ), Writer, Physician (Specialized in Tropical Medicine), Virtuose Concert Organist and Composer (Expert on the music of Bach), Hummanitarian (he lived in Africa for decades helping the locals and won the Nobel Peace Prize because of his efforts), and the list goes on. But Dr. Schweitzer (who by the way is a distant cousin of Jean Paul Sartre) died in 1965, and since then culture has dumbed down to such an extent that we no longer have such great men present in our culture. The great writers and philosophers are dying off, and few (if any) are surfacing. Polymaths like Da Vinci and Sartre have disappeared almost completely, and today, our heroes are limited to pop culture icons and mediocre "men of letters".
While searching for the world's greatest minds in current times however (a modern polymath), I have only come across one man that fills in the role and the title. And this man, believe it or not, is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I know what many of you are thinking (maybe not, maybe I'm the only one reading this)... and yes, his position as Governator is kind of Kitsch and his speeches sound more like those given by a stand-up comedian than a poltician, but nevertheless I find that Mr. Schwarzenegger is not only a unique human being, but he is one of the greatest people of our time (again a reflection of contemporary society) and a real modern day Da Vinci.
According to Webster's Dictionary, a Polymath is a person who excels in a wide variety of fields. Da Vinci did, Aristotle did, Schweitzer did... and Schwarzenegger did too.
Arnold is World Wide bodybuilding champion who won the world premier bodybuilding contest Mr. Olympia no less than 7 times (that's 1 area he excels in), he is a world known action film star who has won a golden globe for best actor (area 2), a world known politician who currently governs the state of California (area 3) and could possibly become president of the United States in the Future and is also a well known entrepreneur and investor who has multiplied his money many times through several key investments -one of which is the Planet Hollywood Restaurant Chain- (area 4).
So yes, Arnold excels in 4 different areas, which automatically makes him a real Polymath (he's also a film director and producer and has written several books on bodybuilding, if that helps). I know he's not like Da Vinci and will never ever come even remotely close to that, but given the circumstances and the times we live in, he's as close to a polymath as we're ever going to get.
“The epoch is a reflection of its people.”
Let's face it... the man does have a lot of merit and we should celebrate him for it.
That is all.
Happy Hunting,
"I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me."
The WikiVampire
I know that no one really reads my stuff and that most of you are bored out of your mind already. So considering I'm pretty much writing for myself and that my blog is really more like a diary than anything else, I have decided to write an article about a person and a subject that are very interesting to me.
I know most of you jumped from your seats when you read the title of my latest blog. And you're right. If I had read this same blog 8 months ago I probably would have discarded it immediately, but now, after all I've been through and after all I have read and seen about the person who's going to be the subject of this essay, I have completely changed my mind.
Yes, I know that comparing Schwarzenegger to Da Vinci is nothing less than a sacrilege, and I know that I am probably insulting everyone who has ever even heard the word "culture", but this comparison arises as a reflection of contemporary society.
There is no denying that the world has dumbed down considerably since the creation of massive media and ever since "normal people" (people who lack the necessary skills that were once required for someone to become famous or well known - nowadays anyone can open a blog and be known-) received the power to become famous, REAL culture as we once knew it, has disappeared. Past idols such a Beethoven, Michelangelo, Marx and Shakespeare have been replaced by people like Britney Spears, Dr. Phil, Stephen King, and Jenna Jameson (not to say anything about their virtuosities or performances, but let's face it, they can't be compared to the great minds and artists of the past). Culture as we once knew it is no longer, and as a consequence, this dumbing down of the general population has also brought a dumbing down of heroes and idles.
Da Vinci was a Universal Man, A Polymath, a Renaissance man, a man who was able to do everything and excelled in various different fractions of hummanity. A unique man that will never be replaced or even rivaled.
No doubt, people like Da Vinci are very scarce (to say the least), and the last recorded real polymath died in 1965. Dr. Albert Schweitzer from Alsace was a real modern day Da Vinci with a very large list of achievements and areas of excellence: Philosopher (known for his reverence of life), Theologist, Preacher and ordained minister (who was also one of the best known Theorists on the life of Christ), Writer, Physician (Specialized in Tropical Medicine), Virtuose Concert Organist and Composer (Expert on the music of Bach), Hummanitarian (he lived in Africa for decades helping the locals and won the Nobel Peace Prize because of his efforts), and the list goes on. But Dr. Schweitzer (who by the way is a distant cousin of Jean Paul Sartre) died in 1965, and since then culture has dumbed down to such an extent that we no longer have such great men present in our culture. The great writers and philosophers are dying off, and few (if any) are surfacing. Polymaths like Da Vinci and Sartre have disappeared almost completely, and today, our heroes are limited to pop culture icons and mediocre "men of letters".
While searching for the world's greatest minds in current times however (a modern polymath), I have only come across one man that fills in the role and the title. And this man, believe it or not, is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I know what many of you are thinking (maybe not, maybe I'm the only one reading this)... and yes, his position as Governator is kind of Kitsch and his speeches sound more like those given by a stand-up comedian than a poltician, but nevertheless I find that Mr. Schwarzenegger is not only a unique human being, but he is one of the greatest people of our time (again a reflection of contemporary society) and a real modern day Da Vinci.
According to Webster's Dictionary, a Polymath is a person who excels in a wide variety of fields. Da Vinci did, Aristotle did, Schweitzer did... and Schwarzenegger did too.
Arnold is World Wide bodybuilding champion who won the world premier bodybuilding contest Mr. Olympia no less than 7 times (that's 1 area he excels in), he is a world known action film star who has won a golden globe for best actor (area 2), a world known politician who currently governs the state of California (area 3) and could possibly become president of the United States in the Future and is also a well known entrepreneur and investor who has multiplied his money many times through several key investments -one of which is the Planet Hollywood Restaurant Chain- (area 4).
So yes, Arnold excels in 4 different areas, which automatically makes him a real Polymath (he's also a film director and producer and has written several books on bodybuilding, if that helps). I know he's not like Da Vinci and will never ever come even remotely close to that, but given the circumstances and the times we live in, he's as close to a polymath as we're ever going to get.
“The epoch is a reflection of its people.”
Let's face it... the man does have a lot of merit and we should celebrate him for it.
That is all.
Happy Hunting,
"I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me."
The WikiVampire
1 comment:
Could it be that we are at the tail end of a new renaissance - one that started in the sixties (or even the roaring twenties?)
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