The Arts

The arts are an essential part to the psyche and a definite must have to be a complete renaissance man. You don't have to be amazing at drawing, painting, or writing to participate in it just as you don't have to have supreme athleticism to participate in sports. Galileo played the lute and painted, Thomas Jefferson designed furniture and fixture, me for example I write poetry and music. Creativity is essential to grasp and create many concepts, you don't want to be prosaic. Imagination is necessary fro creation and invention. The arts help you train and exercise your mind and use your personal abilities to express. Even though it may not make you famous or make a lot of money, it helps you a lot, and in the end you have something you and others can appreciate. You are able to convey messages and other things better through the arts than many other ways.

So go out and take an art class, pick up your pens, pencils, & brushes, pick up an instrument and find a way to express.

Starry Night

Adam & god

Michaelangelo

Zhang Heng

The Asian Renaissance Man. He had mastered his skills as an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar.

The Seismograph


He lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty. He became the chief astronomer. He is also known for creating the seismograph, hydraulic-powered artillery sphere, pi calculation, shi, universe model, lunar eclipse and solar eclipse theory. His astronomical work is compared to that of Ptolemy. He also documented about 2,500 stars in his star catalogue, he made the first rotating celestial globe.

"The sky is like a hen's egg, and is as round as a crossbow pellet; the Earth is like the yolk of the egg, lying alone at the centre. The sky is large and the Earth small."

This is the 1st stanza of 4 from his poem 4 Stanzas of Sorrow

In Taishan stays my dear sweetheart,
But Liangfu keeps us long apart;
Looking east, I find tears start.
She gives me a sword to my delight;
A jade I give her as requite.
I'm at a loss as she is out of sight;
Why should I trouble myself all night?

Aristotle

A great Greek polymath. Student of Plato, teacher of Alexander the Great. He is most famous as a Greek philosopher, but he wrote about many things like physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology. Teachers and students alike, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle set the foundation for western philosophy. Many things he wrote of kept influencing us throughout time like his views on physical science until Newton came with his theories, but the philosophy is still being studied in all of its essence. He also created the foundation of his logic, his own scientific theory, his physics, research, classification of living things, etc. Most of this survived as the driving force of knowledge until the 19th century.

Giants of Philosophy: Aristotle

Still remembered to this day as great, does Aristotle represent a renaissance man or does a renaissance man represent him?

The Social

Another important factor in being a great Renaissance man is your social life and social skills. You inevitably become a part of your environment so you need to find ways of benefiting your community which in turn can benefit you a lot. They say it's a mans responsibility as a citizen to help his community. Using what your good at makes an easier more efficient way to make your community benefit from you and vice versa. The social life is others, you must see how you benefit others and how others benefit from you. Everyone has a story to tell you must sit down and listen just as they listen to you.

Being social will help you improve on your listening skills and speech skills. Knowing how to speak makes it just as important as what your speaking about. It shows especially in an argument when how you debate becomes more important than what you debate. Your knowledge of society must grow. You realize what's going on locally, nationally, and world wide. You also develop how other people see you and maybe even how you see yourself.

In the end the social is essential to the rest of your well being and something you must always work on improving. You can have every other aspect of life, but if you don't know how to communicate with others, no one besides you will ever know.

The Physical

Physical physique and condition is important to being a well rounded man. Not everyone is a genius or a superb athlete,but doesn't mean you can't try and have a foot in that as well. Being conditioned physically is just as important as being conditioned mentally. Your body is your temple, you must take care of yourself and your health, it's essential. Health is essential to your well being and being a renaissance man. Without the body there wouldn't be the mind. Some people may not be able to work that hard on the body so you must work on personal discipline and control how and what you eat. Benjamin Franklin had a great temperance and they also say Leonardo da Vinci had a great physique throughout his life. By keeping your health you will benefit in other areas in your life. It can help with making you better and motivating yourself, and being healthy and strong just makes you feel better. Feeling better is being better.

Benjamin Franklin

Why is he considered a great polymath? Leading by example. He was a founding father of the United States of America, author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. He found many theories of electricity and created many inventions like bi-focal glasses, lightning rod, glass armonica, etc. He was a deeply virtuous man and rejected any type of corruption. He was a known figure in the Enlightenment. He also lived by 13 virtues that he would try to improve on, one every week. He would say if you improved they way you lived, you would improve the quality of life. He makes a perfect example of a renaissance man with all he does, and how much knowledge he gained and used for the betterment of society. So much more to the story of a true man.

Importance of Balance?

Balance is defined as a state of equilibrium or harmonious arrangement or relation of parts or elements within a whole. I think balance is an important concept of being a polymath. Not to major and minor in two subjects, but to have equal understanding of all subjects. Instead of having 5 people argue their majors in a circle to find a solution, someone with all the knowledge may be able to see a better conclusion by putting everything together. To have balance is to be in the middle of things, see both sides of the story and fight for both sides, understand concepts. Balance between two things can make you better in the sense that you will know how to confront something in a different way to maintain an advantage, and being able to mix things together to create something even better or disapprove of something else. Without the opposite it wouldn't exist so you need both, one to define the other. To have both opposits in one person creates a greater force.