Are You a Renaissance Soul and Do You Have Any Tips for One?

[lamp]

A renaissance soul is somebody who is so diverse that he gets into multiple and different areas and develops a variety of skill sets. Though, for the people on the outside it looks like they're wasting their time and are never able to settle down. Back in the renaissance era getting into multiple areas was a must (ala Leaonardo DaVinci), but nowadays society rather has the attitude of "choose something you like and stick to it" as in "specialize yourself and be an expert".

Renaissance souls get labeled as "jack of all traits and a master of none", day dreamer, or a person with ADHD never able to focus on one thing.

 

I recently turned 25 and I still really haven't found my career mission. In the hope to get clearer about this problem I bought the book "The Renaissance Soul" where I learned that people like me were standard and even a must in the renaissance era but nowadays they rather get bashed by society, which does not mean that there's no place for them in society it's rather the opposite.

 

A little bit about me, I was interested in computer and internet very early on since age 13, I picked up an HTML book when I was 14, by 15 I got into graphic design, and later on I learned CSS and PHP. Though I never really wanted to specialize myself, I never wanted to become a full time programmer, nor did I want to become a graphic designer. After the internet business became serious business I learned the first time what an Internet Entrepreneur does and that's where I thought that this could be something for me. It's a job where you necessarily have to be an all rounder with a diverse set of skills. What I didn't mention is I've also researched business a lot, I know how to negotiate deals, I know about contracts, and I know the process of building businesses. The job internet entrepreneur was a chance to combine everything together, my design skills, programming skills and my knowledge business, if I would need advanced design or programming I'd work with people specialized in those areas and I'd be able to communicate with them in their own language.

 

So, everything looks fine so far, if there wasn't one thing, and that is the secret scientist in me. While learning all the skills above I've also dealt with scientific topics, I've watched many documentary movies, I've researched psychology A LOT (to a point that real psychology graduates said I wouldn't learn much new if I'd study psychology). I'm naturally drawn to existential questions, be it social psychology, the evolution, cultural differences, population questions, understanding men and women, and many other life questions.

 

Dealing with my internet interests simply takes acquiring a lot of skills, you choose something that you want to learn, then you pick out some books and then you simply put the time in. It just takes time until I've acquired the skills that I want to acquire, it is not really challenging on an intellectual level like science does it to me. Science is really challenging me intellectually and I really like getting really deep into life questions.

 

What I learned from the above mentioned book that I bought is that I do not need to find that ONE thing I want to specialize myself (a mistake that I initially wanted to do), I rather need to find a way to combine all my passions.

 

I could either become an internet entrepreneur as a career and deal with science on the side, or I could combine both passions. For example I thought of creating a science social media tool similar to Digg and co, I know they have a science tag but I think it's not enough, I think a social media tool with all the famous science sub-categories would get adopted better for scientific articles. Or I thought of having a blog and writing about my thoughts and findings. I could as well imagine a website like www.philosophersnotes.com

 

I think I've already answered my own question, though if you have any suggestions, they're greatly welcomed.

 

I do realize now that I don't have to end up with a low paying job at the lower ladder of the hierarchy just because I'm not a crack or expert in one area, may diverse set of skills and knowledge can indeed lead me to a high income earner provided I simply find a way to combine everything together.

 

 

I'm wondering if people on here are renaissance souls as well or if you're all singular people like the math or physics crack, and if you belong to the former, how do you manage to combine you passions in your career mission?

[Marat]

I'm a true Renaissance person, since I have degrees in several different fields and still can't quite make up my mind what I want to do when I grow up -- even though I'm now middle-aged. The problem with trying to develop a complex and varied mind is that you can only fill the truck with so many turnips before they start to fall off, so your knowledge does not accumulate as you might like, since any fields you stop using, even for a while, tend to fade from memory. Still, I hope that having once learned a variety of different things somehow percolates through the store of my consciousness knowledge at a subconscious level so that it informs and deepens what I understand about everything.

 

The goal of being a Renaissance person is not an easy one to pursue in the modern world, which puts so much emphasis on specializing and excelling in one single field and pays people well only if they do that. In my case I had a small private income that allowed me to chart my life according to my own interests rather than according to the demands of capitalism, but even without that, if you are willing to give up some level of prosperity to pursue your intellectual tastes your dream should still be possible. The name, 'Renaissance person,' already gives away the central problem, which is that this is a type of intellect which has not been valued or easy to support for the last 500 years.

[lamp]

Man I'm glad there are other people and I'm not alone with this. I believe that it's a gift to be multi-talented but sometimes I second-question myself if it's a curse.

 

The problem I'm experiencing is that I'm parted into two different worlds, one is the IT world I'm totally into web-development and am now learning to program PHP, working on a niche website while also developing a Wordpress theme. The other side in me is the guy who is deeply interested into life questions and psychology - what is the meaning of life, how does the human mind work, cultural questions etc.

 

I'm 25 and haven't studied anything yet, I'm planning on going to college soon and I'm not quite sure how I should manage to combine my focal points. I don't want to give up this computer world, because that would mean that all the years I invested into it would be for nothing, at the same time I'd like to pursue my desire about life questions. I would like to study psychology, I'm not sure if I should study computer science as well, because I mainly wanted to become an Internet Entrepreneur not necessarily a specialized programmer (I have also quite good skills in business and finances). Neuroscience and sociology are other types of areas I'm interested in.

 

I feel as if I'm a scientist and business man in one. Though as of now I'm pursuing web-development much more than my science interests, I think I should just start a blog and ramble about some theories and see how I like embracing the scientist in me.

Edited April 8, 2011 by chaseman

[jimmydasaint]

I admire and respect Renaissance souls and generalists. IMO specialisation in Science has led to the obsession of talented individuals with the minutiae of scientific phenomena with precious few generalists willing to pull together disparate threads of knowledge across scientific, and non-scientific disciplines. For example, a scientist studying origins and development of language would be forced to read in a metacognitive manner rather than sticking to one field.

 

I personally know nothing about anything and would rather be a hippy soul. I have several ambitions as a middle-aged man:

1) Ride a Harley Davidson Screaming Eagle along the Great Wall of China and the West Coast of America,

2) Spend a season herding reindeer in Mongolia and

3) Try my hand at a bit of ice -road trucking

 

However, I am well aware of male menopause and just wonder...

 

However, chaseman, have you considered Artificial Intelligence research. Keep your IT business ticking over and also combine science, neurology and computer technology in one neat package?

[Marat]

It seems as though the Renaissance man in this case is lucky, since society has already marked out several fields where his existing interests in information technology and psychology overlap. Artificial intelligence has been suggested, and neurobiology, and psychobiology all seem like probable areas of interest. Try reading one of Ned Block's books to see if you find this field interesting.

 

It is also important to note that going to university may change your whole range of interests in surprising ways.