“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.” —Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love
Welcome to the Renaissance Humans Newsletter. The Renaissance (“rebirth,” in French) spanned from the 14th to the 17th century and marked a period of cultural, artistic, and intellectual renewal in Europe. A Renaissance Human fosters character, curiosity, and creativity in a journey of never-ending learning. They cultivate Mind, Body, and Spirit, in service of Community, and oriented to the Transcendentals.
When we speak of Renaissance Humans, Da Vinci is the gold standard. The platonic ideal. Everyone was crazy for Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code for a bit, leading to a new subgenre of historical mystery thrillers. Leonardo even got a spicy Starz show:
In Think Like Da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day, Michael J. Gelb aims to unlock the reader's potential for genius by emulating the principles by which Leonardo da Vinci lived. Gelb distills the essence of Leonardo's approach to life and learning into seven key principles that anyone can apply to their own life to nurture creativity, innovation, and excellence. Briefly, these are:
Curiosità: An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.
Dimostrazione: A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
Sensazione: The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.
Sfumato: A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
Arte/Scienza: The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination. "Whole-brain" thinking.
Corporalità: The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.
Connessione: A recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena. Systems thinking.
Below are the seven domains in a bit more detail.
1. Curiosità: An Insatiably Curious Approach to Life and an Unrelenting Quest for Continuous Learning
Leonardo focused on the search for truth and beauty— 2/3 of the Transcendentals.
Curiosita is asking questions, questions to get at the source of things, then search intensely for answers. Recommendations to foster your Curiosita:
Keep a journal or notebook.
Stream of consciousness writing.
Continuous learning.
Solve problems with the right questions.
Work on a theme.
Contemplation.
Gelb advises penning 100 questions that you’re curious about, and picking the top 10. These become your “power 10” and should guide you in reflecting on where you should put your focus. This technique is useful in different domains of your life— Work, Family, Health, etc. The questions are important, not the answers.
(Obligatory Latin Rabbit Hole): Contemplate is defined by Webster as “to look at with continued attention, to meditate on.” It is from the Latin contemplari, which means “to mark out a temple” (Con= With, Templum= Temple), or “to gaze attentively.”
Gelb recommends going back to very simple, Socratic style questions— “Why is the Sky Blue?” or as my four year old just blew me away1 with— “Where does wind come from?”
Find an ideal hobby, one that you both enjoy and contributes to your development as a good human. He recommends finding a good coach and paying them in advance for ten lessons. This way you remove many of the common obstacles and excuses to learning.
2. Dimostrazione: A Commitment to Test Knowledge through Experience, Persistence, and a Willingness to Learn from Mistakes.
First-hand experience, especially failures, are the best way to test and improve existing practices, develop know-how, and independent thinking. Da Vinci dissected human bodies and animal corpses to learn anatomy. He challenged his own beliefs, assumptions, preconceptions and knowledge, and constantly examined his own work.
Da Vinci was proud of being a uomo senza lettere (“Man without letters2”) and discepolo della esperienza (“Disciple of experience”). He sought to go straight to nature, to imitate no others, and to question authority and assumptions.
Recommended Exercise: Spend an hour thinking about the seven most influential experiences of your life, and write one sentence about what you learned from each.
Gelb asks us to dig into what we believe, and why we believe it. He recommends choosing topics from human nature, ethics, politics, sexuality, the meaning of life, parenting, history, religion, and medicine, and ask yourself:
How did I form this idea?
How firmly do I believe it?
Why do I maintain it?
What would make me change my belief?
Which of my beliefs inspire the strongest emotion?
Examine media (books, internet, television, radio, newspapers) and other humans (family, teachers, friends, bosses, associates, physicians) to locate the sources of your views.
He recommends exploring key adverse events and failures in your life in a similar fashion to glean insights.
Gelb crafted a series of affirmations with Dr. Dale Schusterman to speak aloud daily:
Relationships
I feel willing to allow another person into my heart.
I feel curious what I might change in myself that would help my partner.
I feel the difference between my father and my husband (mother/wife).
I honor the feminine/masculine nature in my partner.
Spirituality
My connection to the divine (God, Higher Self, Buddha, etc) is my top priority (say this while visualizing work, relationships, money, expectations, parents, stressful events from the past, etc)
I feel the presence of the divine within me.
In my heart, I feel a divine will working in my life.
I acknowledge the lessons my soul needs to learn from (say the name of a person or experience).
Money
I feel the difference between my desires and my needs.
I feel curious how to allow abundance to enter my life.
I feel worthy of abundance in my life.
I acknowledge that abundance already exists in my life.
Learning
The brilliance of my mind manifests in ways that surprise me.
I acknowledge my ability to learn intuitively.
I feel curious how to (solve this problem, learn this subject).
I trust the knowledge to be here when I need it.
Career
I feel worthy in my contribution to the world.
I feel connected to my inner strength when others view my work.
I feel curious how to manifest my inner purpose in the world.
I feel willing to manifest my inner purpose in the world.
Joy of Life
I feel joy within myself in all situations (say this as you visualize a stressful situation).
I feel deserving of happiness.
I feel joy in the happiness of others.
My joy and happiness come from within me.
Self-Actualization
I trust my inner self.
I feel the presence of the divine within me.
I allow myself to feel my feelings.
I acknowledge my feelings about myself.
Learn from Anti-Role Models: Pick people who have made mistakes you’d like to avoid. How can you learn from them?
In Parenting: Build your children’s self-confidence by helping them succeed in learning. Break tasks down into smaller steps so they get a few small successes rather than a large failure. Give them unconditional love!
In Work: Leaders point to a failure to heed their own experience as a prime cause of their worst decisions— inability to read people, size up situations, and forming the wrong perceptions.
3. Sensazione: The Continual Refinement of the Senses, Especially Sight, as the Means to Enliven Experience
“All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions” – Leonardo Da Vinci
The five senses – sight, sound, touch, taste and smell – are doorways to experience. The book details ways to improve each of our senses and merge them for enhanced results (Synesthesia). Da Vinci believed the secrets of Dimostrazione is revealed through senses.
“The five senses are ministers of soul” – Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonard reflected sadly that most humans “look without seeing, listen without hearing, touch without feeling, eat without tasting, move without awareness, inhale without noting fragrance, and talk without thinking.”
Tips for developing active listening:
Listening for patterns of tension and release.
Viewing the sound through the elements of earth, water, air, and fire.
Learning to discern between music types and genres.
Listening for emotion.
Listening for cultural and historical imprints.
With touch, he recommends feeling objects blindfolded and going into nature to explore the contours of objects.
According to Gelb, it is with Synesthesia, the merging of the senses, great artistic and scientific geniuses distinguish themselves. Some of his recommendations:
Draw music.
Make sounds of color.
Sculpt a piece of music.
Transpose a visual artist to music, and vice versa as a thought experiment.
Create your own Maestro Studio (She Shed, Man Cave):
Good lighting— Natural or non-UV.
Sound— Quality sound system, playing Jazz or Classical (Or that sweet, sweet Synthwave).
Aesthetics— Inspiring art, green plants, flowers.
Furniture— Comfortable couch or chairs, flip charts/dry erase board for ideation.
Feng Shui— Get right with it.
Air— Not too hot, not too cold. Aromas, Incense, Candles.
4. Sfumato: Literally “Going up in Smoke”, Willingness to Embrace Ambiguity, Paradox, & Uncertainty
As you apply the first 3 principles, you will run into the unknown. With a high tolerance for ambiguity, you can meet this unknown with equanimity. Meaning “smoked off” or “blurred,” Sfumato asks us sit in the mystery that is reality, to befriend it.
“That painter who has no doubt will achieve little” – Da Vinci
Seek to understand your current comfortable level with ambiguity. Gelb recommends rating yourself on a scale of 1-10. With practice, you can increase your tolerance. You need to dive into the deep waters in order to thrive with ambiguity and overcome anxiety.
List several situations from your life where ambiguity has been present. Describe the feeling in your body and how it made you feel. Are your battles with ambiguity becoming worse or better? Does your ambiguity equal anxiety for you?
Think of the saddest moments in your life and the moments that have filled you with most joy. What is the relationship between these two states? Da Vinci wrote that ‘the highest happiness becomes unhappiness,’ do you agree with this? Do you think any person can be 100% happy all of the time?
List strengths and weaknesses, moments of humility and pride. What similarities are there? Are they related?
Note significant changes you have observed in your lifetime. Did these changes change your life in a positive or negative way?
“Greatest geniuses sometimes accomplish more when they work less” – Da Vinci
5. Arte/Scienza: The Development of the Balance between Science & Art, Logic & Imagination, “Whole-Brain” Thinking
Leonardo was a student of both the sciences and the arts. He also gave birth to the modern ideas of “brainstorming” and “creative thinking”, and developed “mind mapping” – a problem solving method that combines our brains holistically.
Da Vinci was a “whole-brain” thinker. The cerebral cortex of the brain is divided into two hemispheres— right and left. According to Nobel prize winning scientist Professor Roger Sperry, the left hemisphere processes logical and analytical thinking, whereas the right hemisphere processes imaginative, creative and bigger picture thinking. Gelb recommends mind mapping as a way to balance the hemispheres.3
Five rules for mind mapping:
Begin with a symbol or a picture at the center, representing your topic.
Write the key words associated with it.
Connect with lines from your central image.
Use colors, pictures, and codes for better association with each keyword.
Create more branches from initial keywords.
6. Corporalita: The Cultivation of Grace, Ambidexterity, Fitness, and Poise
Da Vinci performed at his best because of great fitness. He exercised constantly (e.g. walking, riding, swimming, fencing), was a vegetarian, and cultivated the use of both sides of his body.
Many of the great geniuses throughout history had physical strength, agility, vitality, and grace— Da Vinci was no exception.
Health according to Da Vinci:
Avoid grievous moods and be aware of anger.
Rest well and stay cheerful.
Exercise moderately.
Pay attention to your diet.
Eat only when you are hungry and not when you are simply bored.
Do not walk around with your head lowered— physical stature is important.
Eat simply.
If you are not visiting the toilet regularly, then you should be!
Even in his day, people would look to physicians to cure their souls. “Every man wishes to make money to give to the doctors, destroyers of life: they therefore ought to be rich… Shun physicians because their drugs are a kind of alchemy, he who takes medicine is ill-advised.” Da Vinci sees the importance in fitness and physical exercise to overall health.
Gelb highlights strength training, aerobic conditioning and flexibility exercises as key areas. “A healthy diet and aerobic, strength and flexibility training are key elements in achieving and maintaining well-being.”
7. Connessione: A Recognition of & Appreciation for the Interconnectedness of all Things & Phenomena. Systems Thinking
We live in an age of specialization. Specialization of professions, sports positions, and hobbies. Gelb’s book outlines several exercises you can employ to develop such a perspective.
Da Vinci discovered the world around him created interconnected patterns. “Swimming in water teaches men how birds fly upon the air. Swimming illustrates the method of flying and shows that the largest weight finds most resistance in the air.” Gelb asks his readers to contemplate themselves in relation to their families:
What role does each person play?
How are the roles interdependent?
What are the benefits of the distribution of family roles? What are costs?
What happens to the dynamics under stress?
What patterns have been handed down over generations?
What outside forces effect the dynamics?
How do the patters you have formed in your family affect the way you participate in other groups?
Currere Certamen Tuum
Had to slide in a dad joke.
No higher education degree.
The brain hemisphere debate is contentious at times. See the work of Dr. Iain McGilchrist for more.
I love the bit on fitness:
"Even in his day, people would look to physicians to cure their souls. “Every man wishes to make money to give to the doctors, destroyers of life: they therefore ought to be rich… Shun physicians because their drugs are a kind of alchemy, he who takes medicine is ill-advised.” Da Vinci sees the importance in fitness and physical exercise to overall health."
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and while in general I share Leo's distaste for docs, I've tried to refine my bias.
Western medicine excels at reacting to contact: Broken arm? solved. Heart attack? fixed. In my opinion, it struggles with treating causes or thinking about health holistically, though, rather than simply responding to symptoms, and the system frequently looks very profit focused. It often seems to disdain cheap or natural remedies and instead prefer newer (and more expensive) options. I suspect this is what Da Vinci was opposed to.
I think what Da Vinci is recommending is a more holistic approach to health that is driven by listening to our bodies and living in a manner that's conducive to good health. I try to do that, but it's increasingly clear to me as I age that I'm not always sure how to achieve 'health.' This has led me to talking to experts to fill the gaps in my knowledge. Maybe Da Vinci would disagree with me, but I don't think we should always discount the 'men of letters.' Sometimes our own observations lead us in directions that are counter to where we want to be.
Instead, I think we take experts' recommendations as one more data point to use in our own efforts to figure out how to live. The trick, as Da Vinci points out elsewhere, is figuring out how to synthesize all of the seemingly unrelated information into a comprehensive understanding of fitness and a plan to achieve it, and then to leverage that fitness into increased capability elsewhere in life.
Or maybe I'm just another dude giving money away to quacks and snake oil salesmen. That's certainly possible too!