A Polymath Mind

“People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

When I was in high school, I was fascinated by the writers known as the transendentalists. To me to be a “writing movement” with ideas that formed an actually historical blip was amazing and I grew to enjoy RA Emmerson’s work. He ennoyed education as well as has an interesting, and I think unique view of the world and religion. I think it would have been interesting to talk with him for an evening. He had many thoughts directed at what makes a person a better person, as well as insights such as this one about a person’s character. I think he was on the mark here.

“A common error in thinking about primary care is to see it as entry-level medicine…and, because of this, rudimentary medicine — for mostly (say) the common cold and imaginary illnesses. This is a false notion. Everyone knows, however, that knowing when you don’t know require sophisticated knowledge…From the perspective of training physicians and the knowledge bases required for adequate performance, the higher we go on the scale of a specialist training, the less complex medical problems become.” Eric J. Cassell, MD

Man I love that quote! Very well put!

It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t.
It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not.
— James Gordon

I thought this was an insightful comment, as we all try to change ourselves, influence others, etc etc. There is a definitely a timing to everything.

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.
Hippocrates, Regimen in Health

“People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I thought this was awesome:
The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of matter and of the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.
– Andre Malraux

Not that I think we’re in a prison, but it is amazing what we can conjure within our souls, if we’re just a product of random generation….not eternal creation.