The Polymath: Unlocking the Power of Human Versatility

by Waqas Ahmed

  In America, which developed a similar higher education system to that of Britain, Charles Sanders Pierce, professor and philosopher of mathematics, chemistry, meteorology, economics, logic, history and linguistics, was dubbed by his peers ‘the most original and versatile of American philosophers.’ He was one of the last of the polymathic philosophers, as philosophy itself had since become increasingly fragmented and specialised as a discipline. With the rise of machine computers, interdisciplinary thinking and teaching became the domain of the social and technological sciences. In this context, Herbert Simon held multiple academic professorships in subjects as diverse as political science, economics, sociology, cognitive psychology and computer science. He made marked contributions to each of these subjects in their own right. He was professor of political science, wrote a groundbreaking treatise on cognitive decision-making, became a pioneer in the study of artificial intelligence, made contributions to library science and pedagogy and won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1978.

  Mystics

  Rudolf Steiner was a philosopher and scientist who became the natural science editor at the Goethian Archives. His greatest contribution was his remarkable synthesis of science, philosophy and spirituality. He implemented his ideas — which became known as anthroposophy — in multiple spheres of life.

  He founded a system of organic agriculture (biodynamic) which has become widespread today in the practice of organic farming. His work in medicine led to the development of a broad range of complementary medications and supportive artistic and biographic therapies. As an architect he designed 17 buildings, two of which are considered to be architectural masterpieces. He was also a painter whose work influenced Joseph Beuys and other modern artists and a dramatist who wrote four significant plays and devised an acting system that is known to have influenced the famous Russian director Mikhail Chekhov.

  To propagate anthroposophical ideas, he set up the Waldorf Schools — a network of schools designed to educate children in a more holistic fashion. He became a prominent political activist during the interwar period (he wrote Toward Social Renewal, which became an international bestseller) and his growing social influence put him at loggerheads with Hitler, who tried (unsuccessfully) to discredit him. Steiner’s polymathy is further demonstrated in his posthumous legacy. In addition to art, architecture, agriculture, education, philosophy and medicine, his ideas have continued to influence fields such as banking and politics.

  Steiner is far from the only mystic to have made a multidimensional impact on the world. Jonathan Black’s thesis in his groundbreaking Secret History of the World is that a certain esoteric knowledge binds many of the greatest minds in history. Interestingly, many of those highlighted by him as mystics — Muhammad, da Vinci, Bernini, Carroll, Cicero, Voltaire, Copernicus, Franklin, Edison, Bacon, Goethe, Imhotep, Leibniz, Newton, Pythagoras and Tolstoy — each excelled in multiple (seemingly unrelated) fields and in doing so, made history. They were polymaths. Some of the greatest metaphysicians and spiritual leaders — inspired by the need to acquire, connect and pose questions on various forms of knowledge in order to better understand the divine reality — have tended to have the most polymathic minds.

  Some of the most influential mystics in world history have been those who understood the physical world as deeply as the metaphysical. They pursued theology as much as philosophy. Mystics tend to have a holistic approach to life and thought, seeing the world as interconnected and emanating from the same source. They do not regard the exploration of alien fields as transgressions. They see a unity in everything.

  One of humankind’s first major spiritual traditions, Hinduism, is undoubtedly an example of this. It is manifest in Abhinavagupta, the tenth-century Indian mystic who wrote plays, hymns and poems, composed music and wrote on aestheticism, yoga and theology. He ultimately brought together his works to create an encyclopaedia (Tantra̅lok) of the Hindu philosophy of Shaivism. This approach, according to Rabindranath Tagore, ‘penetrated to that depth of living thought where diverse currents of human wisdom unite in a luminous synthesis.’ The sixteenth-century Assamese spiritual philosopher and sage known as the Mahapurush (Great One) Srimanta Sankardev constructed a dam (which still exists) to protect the Assamese from severe flooding. But he is better known for transforming Assamese culture as a musician in the genre of Tansen who could ‘make the leaves drop down from trees by the vibrations of his raga-songs.’ As a poet he was known as the Kalidasa of his day, a dramatist and playwright who became one of the pioneers of open-air theatre. His contribution to the visual arts includes the magnificent Vrindavani Vastra tapestry. After establishing himself as a singer, musician, painter and dancer in 1920s Paris, Frenchman Alain Daniélou would become one of the world’s greatest all-round Western Indologists who translated the Kama Sutra, wrote the History of India, was appointed by Tagore as director of his music school, popularised Indian classical music in the West and, by virtue of several books on Yoga and Shivite philosophy, became a celebrated spiritual authority in the Hindu tradition.

  Buddhism too has its fair share of influential polymathic mystics. Zanabazar, a descendant of Genghis Khan, was a statesman and Buddhist priest who supported Qing sovereignty over Mongolia. He is known in the West as the ‘Mongolian Michelangelo,’ not only because he was one of the country’s most celebrated sculptors (his gilded bronze Buddha statues are considered national treasures) but also because he had a tremendous influence over the region’s art, architecture and music (he composed several devotional songs). As a scholar, he wrote extensively on medicine, astronomy and philology but is best known as a spiritualist for his reforms and propagation of Mongolian Buddhism. The nineteenth-century Tibetan monk Jamgön Ju Mipham, referred to as a Mahapandita (the great man) is celebrated for having mastered the 10 sciences: the arts and crafts (bzo), health science (gso ba), language (sgra), logico-epistemology (tshad-ma), soteriology (nang don), poetry (snyan ngag), lexicology (mngon brjod), prosody (sdeb sbyor), dramaturgy (zlos gar) and astrology (dkar rtsis). His knowledge and synthesis of these disparate domains allowed him to make a pioneering contribution to Buddhist Nyingma philosophy. After an extraordinarily diverse career as a soldier, public official, lawyer and agriculturist, American Henry Steel Olcott travelled to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in the late nineteenth century to explore the tenets of Buddhism, where he would become a religious icon, ‘the White Buddhist.’ He built several Buddhist schools, some of which are prestigious colleges today. On a wider level, together with Madame Blavatsky, he founded the Theosophical Society, which became a powerful movement for the propagation of esoteric philosophy in the late nineteenth century.

  Judaism has a long history of philosophy and spirituality, but perhaps the greatest Jewish polymaths thrived during the Islamic civilisation of Al-Andalus. Abraham Ibn Ezra, a rabbi living in Muslim Spain during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, was a noted exegist as well as one of the most respected figures in the history of Jewish philosophy. He was also a celebrated poet in the Arabic Muwashshah style, and a collection of his poems were later translated and published by Leon Weinberger. Moreover, he wrote seven treatises on astrology, seven on Hebrew grammar and three important mathematical works that played a major role in importing Indian numerical systems into Europe. Similarly, in eleventh-century Spain, theologian Moses Maimonides produced numerous medical treatises, wrote a critique of astrology and produced important philosophical works, mainly on logic, culminating in his polymathic treatise Guide to the Perplexed.

  The mystical tradition in Christianity really gained currency during the time of Hildegard de Bingen, who rose to prominence in the eleventh century initially as a nun and theologian. She was inspired by ‘visions’ to produce over 100 letters, 72 songs, 70 poems and 9 books on a variety of topics. She was a distinguished poet, philosopher and composer, who also wrote a series of important botanical and medicinal texts. Elected as a Magistra by her fellow nuns, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg and Eibingen an
d advocated women’s rights in the church. Thomas Aquinas, the thirteenth-century Christian mystic and monk, is known to have acquired all of the known knowledge of his time, using it to formulate the progressive Christian philosophy which subsequently influenced countless Renaissance and Enlightenment scholars. More recently, priest Pavel Florensky described by his biographer as ‘Russia’s unknown da Vinci,’ founded the radical Christian Struggle Union before transforming himself into a philosopher and mystic. He wrote The Pillar and Ground of the Truth, a multidisciplinary exploration of mathematics and mysticism. He also became a prominent art critic, having studied the theory and history of art and published important works on ancient Russian art. His early background in mathematics led him to explore the sciences, and he published works on dielectrics and electrodynamics and later a ground-breaking thesis Imaginary Numbers in Geometry — a geometrical interpretation of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, which attempts to explain the compatibility of religion and science. As a chemist he also conducted research into the production of iodine and agar in prison before being executed by a Soviet establishment that persecuted religious dissidents.

  Mysticism in Islam is best manifested in the Sufi tradition. Tenth-century Persian mystic Al Ghazali is indisputably one of the most widely respected Sufis of all time. His reputation comes not only from the demonstration of a far-reaching knowledge of the natural sciences, theology, mysticism, Western philosophy, grammar and law (among other fields), but more importantly from his ability to synthesise that knowledge in support of his philosophical conclusions as set out in his magnum opus Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences). In the thirteenth century, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi was an Islamic mystic who established the illumination school of Islamic philosophy. He was a theologian who wrote commentaries on the Qur’an, a grammarian who wrote on Arabic syntax and rhetoric and a jurist who served as a judge and wrote a treatise on the law. As a scientist he wrote a commentary on Ibn Sina’s Kolliyet as well as a work on leprosy, developed his master’s work on geometry, explored the possibility of heliocentrism and worked on the astronomical tables. His magnum opus, The Pearly Crown, included all aspects of natural, moral and political philosophy. But Shirazi was not only an intellectual. A contemporary of Rumi, he was also a poet and musician. He was an accomplished Rubab player — and a master at chess.

  Humans are both rational and spiritual animals, but whatever the primary inclination, knowledge (whether worldly or esoteric) is always a constant pursuit. In fact both rational and mystical means have often been used simultaneously towards this aim, sometimes (and some claim more effectively) together. Ancient Greek philosophers pursued a range of questions with the use of both logos (logic) and knosis (mysticism), with the Socratic Dialogues being a prime example of rational enquiry that led to an altered state of consciousness. Buddhism, traditionally known for its mystical and moral essence, also encourages the pursuit of truth through critical thinking using the Ka̅la̅ma Sutta, or the ‘Buddha’s Charter of Inquiry.’ Islam highlights both the heart (alb) and the mind (akl) as tools to obtain knowledge. One of the core premises of Hindu philosophy is that we want to know. Indeed knowledge is one of the four main paths towards God (jnana yoga), the others being love, work and psycho-physical training.

  Explorers

  Supported by the Royal Geographical Society, nineteenth-century adventurer Richard Francis Burton underwent various breakthrough expeditions including making the Hajj pilgrimage in disguise as a South Asian pilgrim, discovering the great lakes of the Somali Country and Congo and searching for the ultimate source of the Nile. He wrote numerous accounts of his travels including Wit and Wisdom from West Africa, A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah and First Footsteps in East Africa. As a result of his extensive travels, linguistic talent and cultural intrigue, Burton became one of the greatest polyglots of the nineteenth century, reportedly conversant in 40 languages and dialects ranging from Greek and Urdu to Swahili and Hebrew. He used his language skills to translate the Kama Sutra from Hindi and the Arabian Nights from Arabic.

  Burton’s career as a commissioned explorer was sandwiched by careers as a soldier and diplomat towards the beginning and end of his life. But he was also a prolific writer who, in addition to his travel chronicles and translations of Oriental and Renaissance literature, wrote anthropological theses and poetry including the famous Kasidah and erotic works such as The Perfumed Garden. Furthermore, he was an expert fencer and falconer and wrote treatises on both. ‘No man can be all things at once, no matter how hard he tries’ his biographer Byron Farewell wrote, “but no man tried harder than Richard Francis Burton.’

  All exploration is born out of curiosity. Monarchs, societies and companies have commissioned expeditions for their own interests. For the explorer on that expedition, however, the motivation is simply the prospect of discovery. They are not looking for something specific. They are just looking. And when they discover, they want to continue discovering something new. This is why many explorers over history have been fundamentally polymathic.

  The first great English polymathic explorer Walter Raleigh typified the English Renaissance Man of the Elizabethan court. Remembered chiefly as the Queen’s charmer, he was in fact — at various points in his life — a poet, explorer, soldier, historian, politician, merchant, spy and a writer on numerous subjects. And then as the British empire was established and expanded during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, more and more scholar-adventurers used their multiple talents to explore different cultures. James Atkinson was a Superintending Surgeon of the Army of the Indus in Bengal where he was awarded the Order of the Dooranee Empire. He was also a trained and talented artist who chronicled his military expeditions through a series of impressive sketches and paintings of Afghanistan and the Punjab, which he later published. Moreover, several of his works, including a self-portrait, are still exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

  Atkinson was also editor of the Calcutta Gazette, one of the earliest English language newspapers in India and became the editor of the new Government Gazette and later Superintendent of the Press. As a scholar and linguist, he became proficient in oriental languages and later served as Deputy Professor of Persian at Fort William College. He was the first to translate Firdausi’s classic epic Sha Nameh into English prose and verse, for which he won the gold medal of the Oriental Translation Fund. In the same year he published Customs and Manners of the Women of Persia, and their domestic superstitions, translated from the original Persian manuscript, as well as several other translations of Persian classics such as Laili and Majnun and Makhzan ul Asrar, the Treasury of Secrets. He was also a gifted poet in his own right who published his first work at the age of 21, a romance called Rodolpho.

  Aside from anthropological, artistic and linguistic interests, one of the great drivers of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century exploration was science. Alexander von Humboldt is considered one of the greatest scholar-adventurers and all-round naturalists in modern history. Known as the ‘last great scientific generalist,’ and one of the ‘greatest unifying thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,’ he actually made substantial contributions to various natural sciences including botany, geology, anthropology, oceanography, zoology and anatomy. His main explorations were in Latin America, through which he travelled extensively over a five-year period and in Russia, where he underwent a 9,000-mile exploratory trek. His scientific work during his travels was compiled and published in an enormous set of volumes over twenty one years, most notably his five-volume work, Kosmos (1845), which attempted to unify the various branches of scientific knowledge. A keen linguist, he also studied the languages of the various regions he travelled to.

  English explorer Francis Galton was one of a handful of scientists who travelled extensively around the world rather than conducting their studies in situ. He even wrote a bestseller, The Art of Travel. He used his observations in different cultu
ral and geographic environments to draw insights into — and make extraordinary breakthroughs in — many scientific disciplines including meteorology (the anticyclone and the first popular weather maps), statistics (regression and correlation), psychology (synaesthesia), biology (the nature and mechanism of heredity) and forensics (fingerprints). Galton was a pioneer of a growing eugenics movement in Britain that attempted to use science to prove the intellectual superiority of the white Caucasian race.

  The beginning of the twentieth century saw the birth of multilateralism and the formation of the League of Nations. A new breed of ‘global statesman’ began to emerge. Norway, as with other Scandinavian countries, won a reputation as a diplomatically neutral country. This might be why Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen was appointed the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of displaced victims of the First World War and related conflicts. Among the initiatives he introduced was the ‘Nansen passport’ for stateless individuals, a certificate recognised by more than 50 countries. But prior to this, he led an exceptionally diverse life as an athlete, zoologist, neurologist, oceanographer, historian, travel writer, Arctic explorer and diplomat. At 18 he broke the world one-mile skating record, and the following year won the national cross-country skiing championship, a feat he would repeat on 11 subsequent occasions.