GTM Part 8

Intro

Have another look at the annex to Part 4.  In the section for the mind (the intellect), the guiding principle recommended was to “cultivate the mind”.  To cultivate means “to improve by labour, care or study”. And we are cultivating the mind in the two general areas of our academic or professional training, and in the area of culture.  Academic/professional training generally refers to that field you have entered and in which you either already work and support yourself or else plan to do so.  Culture or cultural formation on the other hand, refers to exposure that helps you appreciate the finer achievements of humanity in other fields usually outside your chosen profession.

Short Exercise 8:

1. Think back to the stuff you typically read (hard/soft copy books, magazines, online articles, IG & Twitter pages you follow, etc.), stuff you watch (movies, series, anime, comedies, documentaries, YouTube videos, etc.) and stuff you listen to (music, podcasts, etc.).
2. Does that stuff – that you’ve consumed in the last week for example – does it expose you to the finer achievements of humanity?
3. Does it expose you to the finer achievements from various other fields or only one or two?

Commentary:

Perhaps the most important advantage of exposure to different fields is that it helps us to learn to view reality from different perspectives (i.e. to avoid narrow-mindedness).  This can be useful for example in problem-solving (e.g. the first successful aircraft was built by underfunded bicycle mechanics, not the state-funded “aeronautical engineers”), it also helps us to understand people better, and so on.

For your cultural formation, therefore, seek books, podcasts, documentaries, etc., that expose you to the great human achievements in literature, medicine, engineering, music, art, dance, technology, philosophy, government, history, mathematics, and so on.

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