Universal Man – 1966 Editorial

The return of the universal man

March 27, 1966

Every age has its heroes and geniuses.

Some of these prominent personalities flash but briefly across the historical firmament.

But some are universal men whose accomplishments transform people’s lives beyond their communities and beyond their time.

Society today yearns for the return of the universal man. The restlessness of the human spirit is worldwide. All peoples seek the meaning of life and its place in civilization.

Whether it is nationalism in Africa, industrialism in the East, freedom in the Iron Curtain countries, or racial struggles in the United States, the winds of change are gathering strength. Conditions demand captains who can navigate all seas.

Such men are found in this nation today; they may not be aware of their universal capacity, they may be reluctant to participate in the struggle. However, the needs of their fellow men and their posterity demand that universal men step forward.

The term “universal man” was first applied to Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, the giants of the giants during the period of history that we know as the Renaissance.

The Renaissance lasted 300 years, from the 14th to the 16th century. It was a “rebirth” the dawn of a new golden age of creativity.

Da Vinci and Michelangelo typified the type of men who brought us from the Middle Ages to the modern world as we know it today.

They had the four C’s of the human spirit that made universal man understand and follow:

• CURIOSITY
• CREATIVITY
• CRAFTS
• CONSIDERATION

The Renaissance was characterized by its interest in man and ethics. It was accompanied by a huge burst of individual creativity in. literature, painting, sculpture, architecture and science.

It was a historical miracle that interrupted the ordinary course of evolution, a sudden advance and acceleration of new ideas, an event that we are experiencing again today.

The geniuses who possessed the four Cs that pushed them to positions of acclaim are now the great names of Western civilization: Petrarch, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci, Boccaccio, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Rabelais, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Erasmus .

These men were extremely curious about the world, but above all about the nature of man.

There was an ardent search of classical literature and archeology for clues about the beginnings of man; and of science and philosophy as to its destiny.

The universal man had broad interests. He struggled to know something about everything, as he was not sure where he would find the key to open a maze of doors that confined the human spirit.

This curiosity sparked an era of discovery. Columbus, Magellan and Vasco Da Gama found unknown lands in unknown seas. It was the beginning of a long road to internationalism that is still in its painful early stages today.

Curiosity, aided by creative ability, also inspired the invention of the telescope, the microscope, printing, and gunpowder. We can debate the merits of these technological advances, but there is no doubt that they profoundly transformed our lives.

The creative urge to speak universally ushered in our great body of vernacular literature. For the first time, the authors wrote for the common man, in the language of the market. Fiction was born with the sole purpose of giving pleasure to reading. Shakespeare transformed drama into a new art form.

Painters and sculptors, architects and craftsmen, all were consumed by the fire of creativity. Art evolved for the sake of beauty. Pleasant proportions and colors were applied to everything from swords to palaces.

Pride in craftsmanship was the hallmark of the universal man. Not only did he study and design new works, but he dedicated himself to making his own tools and carrying his own mortar.

Michelangelo mined the marble for his magnificent Pieta and ground his own pigments for the ceiling paintings in the Sistine Chapel.

Such versatility in workmanship led to a cross-fertilization of ideas – skill in various fields. Thus, Da Vinci was able to create the Mona Lisa and the first war tank from the same fertile mind. He designed flying machines, water filtration plants, and sonatas with equal ease.

What brought all these driving forces together was the fourth C of universal man: consideration.

Consideration for the other man. This was the beginning of the humanist movement – of individualism – of the transcendent value of a single person.

The vestiges of feudalism, dogmatism, reliance on authority in spiritual and scientific matters, censorship of thought, religious intolerance, and commercial and commercial restrictions came under the attack of humanism.

The concept of courtesy was born. And respect for femininity. The moral qualities of honesty, loyalty, and consideration for others were planted in our culture.

The universal man was tolerant of the shortcomings of other men, acknowledging his own. He listened to the ideas and opinions of others seriously as he looked for ways to adapt all the good he could find into a larger whole.

For the first time, the universal man discovered his social conscience. He created the institutions of hospitals, orphanages and houses for the poor. He came to believe that although he was not his brother’s keeper, he was his brother’s helper.

Before the energies of the Renaissance were absorbed by the imperial wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, the ideal of a universal man was firmly established: knowledgeable, versatile, capable, helpful.

Concern, practical help Universal man’s mark

(Last week: In every golden age of civilization, opinion leaders have been “universal men,” those who possess the four “Cs” of curiosity, creativity, dexterity, and consideration for others.)

A new flowering of individualism, and a resurgence of universal man, occurred in the 18th century, a period we call the Age of Enlightenment.

He popularized a rationalistic and scientific approach to social, political, economic and religious problems.

Once again, he was recognized for his intellectual curiosity, his flexibility to adopt new ideas, his participation, and his service to society at large.

Once again, he spoke across national borders to people around the world.

Their names shine brightly on the pages of history: Voltaire, David Hume, Tom Paine, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Turgot, Alexander Pope, Kant, Goethe, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Madison.

The political heritage of present-day France and the United States, and the idea of ​​a republican and representative government everywhere, is the daughter of the universal men of the eighteenth century.

Today, in the 20th century, dissatisfactions with the old order are re-emerging. The human spirit that has been repressed for too long by a world Depression, two World Wars and totalitarian ideologies, fights for a Renaissance.

Humanism and individualism are on the march once again. Authority is challenged, old values ​​are doubted.

The discovery of new worlds has moved from the high seas to outer space.

Atomic energy has made gunpowder obsolete. Television and computers have given communication a new dimension.

Even the concepts of service have changed.

Is universal man a fifth wheel in a welfare state, a socialist state, a communist state?

Have Social Security, socialized medicine, and the United Foundation eliminated the need for personal charity?

Have automation, specialization, and the megalopolis stifled individualism?

Is God dead, LSD a new path to spiritual excitement, and sex a substitute for creativity?

Have selfishness, fast money, discrimination and violence replaced humanism?

The answers to these questions are a resounding NO.

Precisely because the individual is lost in our modern society, the need for universal men is urgent.

We have too many special advocates guiding us through blind channels. The universal men of our age are still avant-garde.

Others must step forward to share the responsibility and satisfaction of constructive participation.

Each person owes it to himself and to his society to further develop his four universal Cs. There is fun and satisfaction in doing it.

Be curious about everything. Buy a telescope. Read the great books. Go to a political rally. Visit a ghetto. Join a discussion group. Trip. Wait for council meetings. Hosting a foreign exchange student.

Develop your creative instincts. Take art lessons. Study photography. Go to concerts. Learn to play the banjo. Join the church choir. Build a birdhouse. Polish stones. Plant a garden. Lead a Boy Scout troop.

Acquire new craft skills outside of your own calling. Disarm and reassemble an alarm clock. To go skiing. Learn to navigate. Tie the flies off the trout. Join a toast club. Make pottery. Start dancing in a quadrille. Play billiards Practice karate. Fix toys for disabled children.

The first three Cs of universal man, however, are only exercises that reinforce his individualism and “tune him in” to the aspirations of others.

It teaches you through activity and participation to recognize the primary drive of the human spirit in its particular place and time. It helps you determine what is the truth and what is the pretense, what is the responsibility and what is the bully.

In short, consideration for others is the greatest contribution that Universal Man can make to society.

We all have the potential for universality. The heroes of yesteryear were products of their time. The question is, do we have the motivation to share our concern for the world’s impoverished, disillusioned, and under-educated? More particularly, can we help others in a practical and unpretentious way, leaving aside emotions and personal recognition?

We have enough bleeding hearts lamenting and pounding on the chest, not enough concerned citizens in general to collaborate with their abilities and influence to make meaningful changes within the framework of reality.

We can shape our world for ourselves and future generations if we participate constructively in solving the problems of our day. Our inaction will allow the mob of society to suppress us.

• The challenges were never clearer.
• The potential satisfaction is never greater.
• The place to start is here.
• The time to start is now.