Tag: travel

Spotlight on Goodwork

I have recently had the pleasure of exploring the life, work, and creative mind of Leonardo Da Vinci, mainly through Walter Isaacson’s biography which I highly recommend and also through Leonardo’s collected writings from his notebooks. Originally, I had wanted to know more about Leonardo because of a vague attraction to the idea of a natural genius, the Renaissance man, as well as the mystery that surrounded him as a figure. Before reading into him, I only knew of a handful of his most famous artworks and very little of his actual life. I will not attempt to reproduce his biography here, though I recommend to anyone who is interested to research him more at your convenience. What I will attempt to put down here is a list of lessons I had gleaned from the man and his life while reading about his endeavors, his beliefs, and his character. I feel these lessons relevant to goodwork and to daily life in general.

Lesson One – genius is comprised of boundless curiosity.

Leonardo was born as an illegitimate son to a prominent notary. Because his father did not recognize him as legitimate, he was not expected to follow him in his trade as a notary. This was quite fortunate, as it gave Leonardo the freedom to indulge in many other interests and paths throughout his life. Perhaps beginning in this way, without a prescribed path, forced him to consider every path as possible. As a young man he explored all of these possibilities with an insatiable curiosity, always attracted to questions of natural science and never satisfied with routine information.

A famously quoted entry in one of his to-do lists was, “Describe the tongue of a woodpecker.” This gives us some insight into the level of detail with which he viewed the mundane, the things which are often taken for granted. Leonardo obsessively studied the nature of water to the point of hyperfixation. His notebook is filled with elaborate drawings of water in various states of motion and he attempted to learn more about the mechanics of water over the course of his life, pursuing many inquiries into the budding science of hydraulics. Einstein, similarly, said that his genius was due mostly to the fact that he “stayed with problems longer.” Not content with initial conclusions or the dismissive attitude of convention, the very curious explore details as far as they will lead them – in Einstein’s case it led him into the subatomic realm. In Leonardo’s case, it led him into a deep exploration of the natural world. They often went further than others in an attempt to understand and as a result they could not easily be understood by others. But in each case, Einstein’s as well as Leonardo’s, it was a great deal owing to curiosity that their genius was so developed and so famous.

Lesson Two – the desire to be useful.

Leonardo wrote in his journal, “The power of my limbs will fail me before the power of being useful.” Such a simple sounding and humble desire, to continue to be of use as long as one can. I would hardly have expected this to come from a genius of the Renaissance, who I had assumed would be intellectual and concerned with theory, hypotheticals, and fantastical daydreaming. And of course, Leonard was well versed in those things. But he also had this drive to bring his creative ideas into reality in order to make things better, even by small degrees.

An entertainer and aspiring engineer, he wanted to bring his intense curiosity and exploration of the natural world back into the world of enjoyment, usefulness, entertainment, and fundamental humanity. This desire is actually one of the main tenets of goodwork as a philosophy, to be of use whenever one can. There is also much to say about what this does with one’s relationship with work and with their community. Often, we can lose ourselves in self-referential and abstract work which we do not see completed to its end. In my experience in manufacturing, I have only ever been part of the assembly and construction of certain products, and only in my limited involvement. Feeling immense joy for the completion of a meaningful project and seeing its benefits conveyed to its recipient, the community, or the world is an unfamiliar territory for a lot of modern jobs. That being said, I do believe there are many opportunities to cultivate a sensation of accomplishment and satisfaction and pursue it as part of the purpose of our lives. Not merely to fulfill our own wishes and ambitions but to aspire to be as useful as we can be to others. And not to be contented with one narrow skill or activity which may be of value, but to explore many facets of ourselves that could have valued and useful applications.

Lesson Three – the multitudes of humanity; jack of all trades, master of none… or one… or two… or…

Leonardo Da Vinci was a polymath, a person of varied and comprehensive learning and skill. As a young man, he was apprenticed to a local Florentine artisan named Verrocchio. Verrocchio was himself a painter, sculptor, and goldsmith, which was not unusual for the time. Many workshops involved interdisciplinary work undertaken by trained artisans who found it natural to combine semi-related pursuits under one roof. As such, Leonardo was trained in the use of many different tools and skills, not only as a painter. This work would benefit him greatly later in life when he found it necessary to build some ingenious tools and machines.

In the modern age, starting before the Industrial Revolution, people found it wonderfully beneficial to specialize in their profession and to pursue specialization to a greater and greater degree. This can accomplish great economic feats and makes for a highly effective and productive civilization. But the drawbacks, seen in extreme specialization, are a kind of a dehumanizing effect in which one becomes just another cog in a mechanized framework. For some focused and dedicated people, specialization is the name of the game and they may become decorated surgeons of one specific organ, deeply passionate intellectuals involved in one area of academics, or the many outliers who distinguish themselves in physical, spiritual, or economic development which others cannot fathom. And for still many others, the development of multiple interests, skills, passions, and accomplishments feels more human, dynamic, and nuanced.

Having multiple interests can, in fact, help the development of each of them more than if someone were to develop a myopic view of their pursuit in a vacuum. Leonardo was one of the first people to investigate human anatomy. He recorded his investigations in many intricate and hauntingly beautiful drawings of the musculature, the skeleton, the brain and nervous system, the heart and circulatory system. His science informed his arts and his arts informed his science. Combining different pursuits may shake something loose which helps your development in an unexpected way. One might catch a glimpse at the underlying principles of existence, just by looking at the world from different viewpoints, first as a painter, then a sculptor, then a scientist, then an engineer. Maybe not those things in particular, but in any case, the multitudes of interests you find it necessary to follow in your life. Whether we explore many paths in our lives or dedicate ourselves to a singular ambition, we can do our best work when we are familiar with many different tools.

Lesson Four – Commitment to life, commitment to mastery.

The irascible genius who neglects the obligations of his daily life in order to achieve greatness is such a popular story in today’s world that it is practically a cliché. Stories of unfettered obsession and of surpassing one’s limitations excite the mind. In Leonardo’s case, his genius was certainly, at times, of the isolating type. But his story is not one of self-sacrifice for the sake of his work but a story of an extremely disciplined and curious man who did his best to muddle through life while entertaining his drive for mastery.

Leonardo wrote in his notebook, “A life profitably employed affords a happy death.” He did not mean profitably employed as merely earning a lot of money throughout one’s life but rather being continuously engaged in work that is beneficial, ambitious, beautiful, and meaningful. At the same time as he was engaged in this work, Leonardo always struggled with his attention to detail and his desire to achieve perfection. This led him to leave many works incomplete, such as St. Jerome in the Desert or the Adoration of the Magi. His aim for perfection also led him to spend so long on commissions that payments were refused or fought over and entire artworks abandoned.

Throughout his life, Leonardo seemed to struggle with a commitment to life and a commitment to mastery. At times, his commitment to perfection prevented him from fulfilling some of those aims that may have been extremely useful and meaningful. At other times, the need to be pragmatic and tactful may have denied him the pleasure of pursuing the perfection he envisioned, spurring him forward. I am sure many of us can relate to this paradox. The obligations and practicality of daily life have us dreaming of a far-off perfection. Our dreams of perfection prevent us from the meaningful work which we could cultivate right here in our daily life. It is a hard lesson that one must learn the hard way, again and again: to balance the commitment we make to life with the commitment we make to mastery.

Lesson Five – The Magic Square; Collaboration and Individual Achievement.

One of Leonardo’s ‘hobbies’ was to do mathematical exercises in his notebooks. There are some geometrical calculations that are ornate and useful, though there are some mathematicians that say that Leonardo did not necessarily provide anything new or valuable to the field of mathematics. It was simply another part of his endless curiosity and his exploration of the world in which he found himself.

One particular mathematical exercise he played with over the years is called a ‘magic square’. These magic squares are grids of numbers that add up to the same value whether you are adding the columns, rows, or the main diagonals. (An example is provided in the image above). I do not think the symbolic and metaphorical quality of these exercises were lost on Leonardo, who enjoyed finding harmonies in a complex system comprised of individual parts.

In fact, the artisan workshops of that age were very much like a magic square, in that collaboration between many individual artists created a harmony that far exceeded any particular individual’s talent. While the products of these workshops were collaborative efforts, it was also important that each individual express themselves exactly as they were, or else the ‘magic square’ would be ruined.

There are many art pieces of magic squares in Europe that are engraved with the phrase “Whatever thou art, act well thy part.” Whatever you are, act well your part. Paired with this image of mathematical harmony, it is a powerful message about the individual being valued, developed, and attaining natural expression, all while collaborating with others in a harmonious way to create something larger than each of them.

There are many extreme views that say that only collective realities exist, or only individuals exist, but they lose the nuance of humanity which Leonardo was well aware of and practiced every day; individual expression is just as much a part of humanity as is connection, communication, and harmony. Imagine if Leonardo’s talent was stifled in order to exalt the artists’ collective workshop. Imagine if Leonardo had never made these valuable connections, or never collaborated with other prominent artists of the time. In either case, we would have been denied the beautiful and transcendent works of a genius, of the archetypal Renaissance man.

Conclusion

After doing a deep dive into the facts of Leonardo’s life, I have come away with many valuable lessons. While this post is by no means intended as a biography of the man himself, I wanted to put down a handful of these lessons in good work (and goodwork!). For anyone who would like an actual biography of Leonardo, I would recommend reading Walter Isaacson’s ‘Leonardo Da Vinci’ as it is so thorough and thought-provoking as well as being an enjoyable read. If you are interested in hearing some of the man’s thoughts themselves, I would recommend checking out a book on his collected works, typically snippets taken from his many codices.

As for me, I want to begin following my curiosity more, I want to dedicate myself to mastery and idealism, I want to embrace and cultivate ideas of the fantastical and purely creative imagination, I want to engage in meaningful and useful work each day, and find a workshop of likeminded artisans to share my passion with. For Leonardo!