Book of the Humanist
The geniuses of the Italian Renaissance and of the Enlightenment were humanists, rather than specialists. In the great ages of China, from the T'ang down to the Republic, that country was run by humanists. The new study of Whole-Earth systems is made by humanists who are just as empirical and concrete and anti-metaphysical as scientists.
The humanist's goal is to know everything worth knowing about everything. His understanding goes beyond knowledge, however, to wisdom, which is a matter of perspective and balance and harmony, a personal synthesis of knowledge and appreciation which gives weight and significance to personal opinions about things-as-a-whole and of particular things from this holistic point of view.
The humanist will provide the secular half of the center in the age to come.
The Tao Teh | Math | Sophistry | History