I'd have to agree that Newton was the most influential...It's hard to justify that Gutenberg isn't on the list but I'd like to throw curve at you. Yersinia Pestis, the plague bacterium. Of course it killed millions over several pandemic episodes but by drastically reducing the population gave rise to the elevation of the common man as a resource for labor. The Renaissance owes much to the chaotic impact of this contagion and the Enlightenment sprouted it's seeds in the rich soil of the newly minted worthiness of the somewhat empowered everyman
Forgive me, but when you mention explorers, my mind turns toward those who choose to emigrate. No one leaves the comforts of home, family, and familiar way of life unless they have to. It is a desperation for survival, not always knowledge or fortune that drives exploration. These are the people who have had the greatest impact on our history, most of them anonymously. I have had the great fortune to have met such people throughout my lifetime. They should be honored, too.
Yes, it’s certainly good to chart one’s course. To do so implies that we’ve reached an awareness that it is ours to chart and that we have choice beyond that of other’s (parental, and then later others) expectations of us and beyond inertia or fate. Then as we meet the weather of our life, which in large regard should be welcome as creative and revealing forces most likely , we can consciously discover and invent our lives and our selves. Dreaming and envisioning destinations certainly expands the terrain of possible discovery, and likely it’s really an iterative charting if we are truest to ourselves that will yield our best results because most of what we see as a glimmer from afar won’t be quite what we expected—and what’s the fun in checking a bunch of boxes before we call it a life? Perhaps being helped to notice earlier on that it is iterative discovery is healthy, so we don’t feel too surprised when things might not be what they’re cracked up to be—disillusionment can be a detour in it’s own. It has value, but perhaps more force than it should because of normative reinforcement of expectations. Perhaps it’s better to have more initial reinforcement that we may need to forge our own paths or find ways to navigate past mirages and sirens, etc. to what might actually be truest to the intentions of our initial charted destinations.
A Persian colleague came to the US for his PhD, and it was 7 years before he could visit his parents back home. Which reminded me of how the great epics from India but also the Greek, had their protagonists exiled for years. Exploration is also a journey of self-discovery. Perhaps they are not leaving their homes but returning.
My perfect "rest day" is always a no make-up day where I get to wear jeans, a sweat shirt and hiking shoes and head out into nature. A day when I can walk up and down wooded hills, around ponds, along a lake shore or through a meadow. And I walk at a leisurely pace stopping to gaze at the smallest wonder of nature or looking high up to see an eagle soaring over its nest. It could be the white bones of a deer who didn't make it through winter, a snake making its way along the side of my walking path, the sweet orange blossom- like scent of early spring blooming Witch Hazel trees or the sound of moving water falling over rocks in a stream. It's all good and it leaves me renewed believing all is well with the world.
No, I think Jesus without a doubt. At one point most of the civilized world was Christian. Our calendar is a result of His life, and religious beliefs influence and affect people's core, more than scientific/external realities. I think the spiritual will always be more profound than the material, as the spiritual is eternal.
I'd have to agree that Newton was the most influential...It's hard to justify that Gutenberg isn't on the list but I'd like to throw curve at you. Yersinia Pestis, the plague bacterium. Of course it killed millions over several pandemic episodes but by drastically reducing the population gave rise to the elevation of the common man as a resource for labor. The Renaissance owes much to the chaotic impact of this contagion and the Enlightenment sprouted it's seeds in the rich soil of the newly minted worthiness of the somewhat empowered everyman
Forgive me, but when you mention explorers, my mind turns toward those who choose to emigrate. No one leaves the comforts of home, family, and familiar way of life unless they have to. It is a desperation for survival, not always knowledge or fortune that drives exploration. These are the people who have had the greatest impact on our history, most of them anonymously. I have had the great fortune to have met such people throughout my lifetime. They should be honored, too.
Fundamental emotions of desire fulfillment and trust in oneself are common in all the persons in pursuit of discovery -to know more of the known.
Yes, it’s certainly good to chart one’s course. To do so implies that we’ve reached an awareness that it is ours to chart and that we have choice beyond that of other’s (parental, and then later others) expectations of us and beyond inertia or fate. Then as we meet the weather of our life, which in large regard should be welcome as creative and revealing forces most likely , we can consciously discover and invent our lives and our selves. Dreaming and envisioning destinations certainly expands the terrain of possible discovery, and likely it’s really an iterative charting if we are truest to ourselves that will yield our best results because most of what we see as a glimmer from afar won’t be quite what we expected—and what’s the fun in checking a bunch of boxes before we call it a life? Perhaps being helped to notice earlier on that it is iterative discovery is healthy, so we don’t feel too surprised when things might not be what they’re cracked up to be—disillusionment can be a detour in it’s own. It has value, but perhaps more force than it should because of normative reinforcement of expectations. Perhaps it’s better to have more initial reinforcement that we may need to forge our own paths or find ways to navigate past mirages and sirens, etc. to what might actually be truest to the intentions of our initial charted destinations.
A Persian colleague came to the US for his PhD, and it was 7 years before he could visit his parents back home. Which reminded me of how the great epics from India but also the Greek, had their protagonists exiled for years. Exploration is also a journey of self-discovery. Perhaps they are not leaving their homes but returning.
The idea that Alexander saved Greek culture for future generations
My perfect "rest day" is always a no make-up day where I get to wear jeans, a sweat shirt and hiking shoes and head out into nature. A day when I can walk up and down wooded hills, around ponds, along a lake shore or through a meadow. And I walk at a leisurely pace stopping to gaze at the smallest wonder of nature or looking high up to see an eagle soaring over its nest. It could be the white bones of a deer who didn't make it through winter, a snake making its way along the side of my walking path, the sweet orange blossom- like scent of early spring blooming Witch Hazel trees or the sound of moving water falling over rocks in a stream. It's all good and it leaves me renewed believing all is well with the world.
No, I think Jesus without a doubt. At one point most of the civilized world was Christian. Our calendar is a result of His life, and religious beliefs influence and affect people's core, more than scientific/external realities. I think the spiritual will always be more profound than the material, as the spiritual is eternal.