| Return of The Universal ManMarch 27, | | | | Renaissance were absorbed by the imperial |
| 1966Every age has its heroes and its | | | | wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, the |
| geniuses.Some of these outstanding | | | | ideal of a universal man - knowledgeable, |
| personalities flash but briefly through the | | | | versatile, capable, helpful - was firmly |
| historical firmament.But a few are universal | | | | established.Concern, Practical Help Mark of |
| men whose achievements transform the lives of | | | | Universal Man(Last Week: In every golden age |
| people beyond their communities and beyond | | | | of civilization the opinion leaders have been |
| their times.Society today yearns for the | | | | "universal men" - those possessing the four |
| return of the universal man. Unrest of the | | | | "Cs" of curiosity, creativity, craftsmanship |
| human spirit is world wide. All peoples are | | | | and consideration for others.)A new flowering |
| seeking the meaning of life and their places | | | | of individualism and a re-emergence of the |
| in civilization.Whether it's nationalism in | | | | universal man, occurred in the 18th century |
| Africa, industrialism in the Orient, freedom | | | | --- a period we call the Age of |
| in the Iron Curtain countries, or racial | | | | Enlightenment.He popularized a rationalistic |
| strife in the United States - the winds of | | | | and scientific approach to social, political, |
| change are reaching gale strength. Conditions | | | | economic and religious issues.Again, he was |
| demand captains who can sail in all seas.Such | | | | recognized by his intellectual curiosity, his |
| men are in this nation today - perhaps not | | | | flexibility of adopting new ideas, his |
| aware of their universal ability, perhaps | | | | involvement in and service to society at |
| reluctant to participate in the struggle. | | | | large.Again, he spoke across national |
| Yet, the needs of their fellow men and their | | | | boundaries to people everywhere.Their names |
| posterity call for the universal men to step | | | | shine brightly from the pages of history - |
| forward.The term "universal man" was first | | | | Voltaire, David Hume, Tom Paine, Montesquieu, |
| applied to Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo | | | | Rousseau, Turgot, Alexander Pope, Kant, |
| - the giants of giants during the period of | | | | Goethe, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, |
| history we know as the Renaissance.The | | | | Thomas Jefferson, Madison.The political |
| Renaissance lasted 300 years - from the 14th | | | | heritage of present day France and the United |
| to the 16th centuries. It was a "rebirth" the | | | | States - and the idea of republican, |
| dawn of a new golden age of creativity.Da | | | | representative government everywhere - is the |
| Vinci and Michelangelo typified the kind of | | | | child of the universal men of the 18th |
| men who led us from the Dark Ages into the | | | | century.Today, in the 20th century, |
| modern world as we know it today.They had the | | | | dissatisfactions with the old order are |
| four Cs of the human spirit which made the | | | | flaring anew. The human spirit which has been |
| universal man understood and | | | | too long repressed by a worldwide Depression, |
| followed:CURIOSITYCREATIVITYCRAFTSMANSHIPCONS | | | | two World Wars and totalitarian ideologies, |
| IDERATIONThe Renaissance was characterized by | | | | struggles for a Renaissance.Humanism and |
| its interest in man and ethics. It was | | | | individualism is on the march once again. |
| accompanied by a great outburst of individual | | | | Authority is challenged, old values |
| creativity in. literature, painting, | | | | doubted.Discovery of new worlds has moved |
| sculpture, architecture and science.It was an | | | | from the high seas to outer space.Atomic |
| historical miracle interrupting the ordinary | | | | energy has made gun powder obsolete. |
| course of evolution - a sudden break-through | | | | Television and computers have given |
| and acceleration of new ideas - an event we | | | | communication a new dimension.Even the |
| are again experiencing today.The geniuses who | | | | concepts of service have changed.Is the |
| possessed the four Cs that thrust them into | | | | universal man a fifth wheel in a welfare |
| positions of acclaim are now the great names | | | | state, a socialist state, a communist |
| of Western Civilization - Petrarch, | | | | state?Has Social Security, socialized |
| Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci, | | | | medicine and the United Foundation eliminated |
| Boccaccio, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, | | | | the need for personal charity?Has automation, |
| Rabelais, Shakespeare, Cervantes, | | | | specialization, and megalopolis stifled |
| Erasmus.These men were enormously curious | | | | individualism?Is God dead, LSD a new path to |
| about the world, but most particularly about | | | | spiritual emotion, and sex a substitute for |
| the nature of man.There was an ardent search | | | | creativity?Has selfishness, the fast buck, |
| of classical literature and of archeology for | | | | discrimination and violence replaced |
| clues to man's beginning; and of science and | | | | humanism?The answers to these questions are a |
| philosophy as to his destination.The | | | | resounding NO.Precisely because the |
| universal man had broad interests. He strived | | | | individual is lost in our modern society, the |
| to know something about everything as he was | | | | need for universal men is urgent.We have too |
| not sure just where he would find the key to | | | | many special pleaders guiding us up blind |
| unlock a maze of doors confining the human | | | | channels. The universal men of our age are |
| spirit.This curiosity sparked an age of | | | | yet but a vanguard.Others must step forward |
| discovery. Columbus, Magellan, and Vasco Da | | | | to share the responsibility and satisfaction |
| Gama found unknown lands across unknown seas. | | | | of constructive involvement.Every person owes |
| It was the beginning of the long drive to | | | | it to himself and his society to develop |
| internationalism still in its early, painful | | | | further his universal four Cs. There is fun |
| stages today.Curiosity, aided by creative | | | | and satisfaction in doing so.Get curious |
| ability, also inspired the invention of the | | | | about everything. Buy a telescope. Read the |
| telescope, the microscope, printing and gun | | | | Great Books. Go to a political rally. Visit a |
| powder. We may debate the merits of these | | | | ghetto. Join a discussion group. Travel. |
| technological advances but there is no doubt | | | | Attend Council meetings. Host a foreign |
| they profoundly transformed our lives.The | | | | exchange student.Develop your creative |
| creative urge to speak universally brought | | | | instincts. Take art lessons. Study |
| the start of our great body of vernacular | | | | photography. Go to concerts. Learn to play |
| literature. For the first time authors wrote | | | | the banjo. Join the church choir. Build a |
| for the common man, in the language of the | | | | bird house. Polish stones. Plant a garden. |
| market place. Fiction was born for the sole | | | | Lead a Boy Scout troop.Acquire new craft |
| purpose of giving pleasure in reading. | | | | skills outside your own vocation. Take apart |
| Shakespeare shaped drama into a new art | | | | and reassemble an alarm clock. Go skiing. |
| form.Painters and sculptors, architects and | | | | Learn to sail. Tie trout flies. Join a |
| craftsmen -- all were consumed with the fire | | | | toastmaster's club. Make pottery. Take up |
| of creativity. Art evolved for the pure sake | | | | square dancing. Play billiards. Practice |
| of beauty. Pleasing proportions and colors | | | | karate. Fix toys for invalid children.The |
| were applied to everything from swords to | | | | first three Cs of the universal man, however, |
| palaces.Pride in craftsmanship was the hall | | | | are only exercises which strengthen his |
| mark of the universal man. He not only | | | | individualism and "tunes him in" to the |
| studied, and designed new works but set about | | | | aspirations of others.It teaches him through |
| to make his own tools and carry his own | | | | activity and involvement to recognize the |
| mortar.Michelangelo quarried the marble for | | | | main thrust of the human spirit at his |
| his magnificent Pieta, and ground his own | | | | particular place and time. It helps him |
| pigments for the paintings on the ceiling of | | | | determine what is truth and what is pretense |
| the Sistine Chapel.Such versatility in | | | | - what is responsibility and what is |
| workmanship led to a cross-fertilization of | | | | hoodlumism.In short, consideration for others |
| ideas - skill in several fields. Thus, Da | | | | is the ultimate contribution the Universal |
| Vinci could create the Mona Lisa and the | | | | Man can make to society.All of us have the |
| first war tank from the same fertile mind. He | | | | potential of universality. The heroes of old |
| de-signed flying machines, water filtration | | | | were products of their times. The question |
| plants and sonatas with equal ease.The thing | | | | is, have we the motivation to share our |
| that brought all these driving forces | | | | concern with the impoverished, the |
| together was the fourth C of the universal | | | | disillusioned and the undereducated of the |
| man - consideration.Consideration for the | | | | world? Most particularly, can we help others |
| other man. This was the beginning of the | | | | in an unassuming and practical manner - |
| humanist movement - of individualism - of the | | | | putting emotion and personal recognition |
| transcendent worth of a single person.Falling | | | | entirely aside?We have enough bleeding hearts |
| under the attack of humanism were the | | | | who wail and beat themselves on the chest - |
| remnants of feudalism, dogmatism, reliance on | | | | not enough broadly concerned citizens to |
| authority in spiritual and scientific | | | | pitch in with their skills and influence to |
| matters, censorship of thought, religious | | | | make meaningful changes within the framework |
| intolerance and restrictions of trade and | | | | of reality.We can shape our world for |
| commerce.The concept of courtesy was born. | | | | ourselves and future generations by taking a |
| And respect for womanhood. The moral | | | | constructive part in solving the problems of |
| qualities of honesty, loyalty and | | | | our day. Our inaction will allow the riff |
| consideration for others were planted in our | | | | raft of society to suppress us.The challenges |
| culture.The universal man was tolerant of the | | | | were never clearer.The potential satisfaction |
| shortcomings of other men, recognizing his | | | | never greater.The place to start is here.The |
| own. He listened to the ideas and opinions of | | | | time to start is now.Lindsey Williams is a |
| others seriously as he sought ways of | | | | Sun columnist who can be contacted |
| adapting all the good he could find into a | | | | at:Website: with several hundred of Lin's |
| larger whole.For the first time, the | | | | Editorial & At Large articles written over 40 |
| universal man discovered his social | | | | years.Also featured in its entirety is Lin's |
| consciousness. He created the institutions of | | | | groundbreaking book "Boldly Onward," that |
| hospitals, orphanages and poor houses. He | | | | critically analyzes and develops theories |
| came to believe that although he was not his | | | | about the original Spanish explorers of |
| brother's keeper, he was his brother's | | | | America. |
| helpmate.Before the energies of the | | | | |