“The athletes of the mind, like those of the playing field, must be prepared for privations, long training, a sometimes superhuman tenacity. We must give ourselves from the heart, if the truth is to give itself to us. Truth serves only its slaves” ~ A.G. Sertillanges
Today was the first day of school, and I must say I was excited. I know it sounds strange to hear a graduate student say such things. However, during the just-ended break, I reaffirmed a position that emboldened me to make a statement that one may otherwise consider outrageous.
I remember reading that the cure to restlesness was to work when we work and to play when we play. During the very early days of the break, I came up with an elaborate plan of how I would spend time preparing for some courses I was scheduled to take in the Spring semester and some other general personal development goals. After careful consideration, I decided that I needed to rest, given just how much the just-ended semester had pushed me. And I did just that; I changed my plans to incorporate as many stress-free activities as possible. I emphasize stress-free because some of the activities we engage in during periods meant for resting are just as stressful, if not more stressful, than the stress we get from work.
There is time to work, and there is time to play, and we do ourselves and our work justice by making sure that we do what we are doing when we think we are doing it. In a Dostoyevskian way, it is about not lying to yourself, and in a Napoleonic manner, it is about ensuring that the lack of focus is never one of the reasons we lost a battle.
After doing all that, the break is over, school has resumed, and I feel as fresh as a pumpkin (I don’t know that pumpkins are always fresh, but you get the point). Now is the time to work, and we shall work.
Over the years, I have traditionally read one of two books before I get off my rest periods. Cal Newport is the author I have re-read most during these periods. This time, however, I elected to re-view Richard Hamming’s classic talk, You and Your Research, and A.G. Sertillanges’ The Intellectual Life. I figured out that my schooling was undergoing a period of qualitative growth, and those were the right tools to prepare for a new challenge.
I am starting a new position as a Research Assistant at CyLab Africa, and I want to start seeing ways to contribute to knowledge. So yes, hard work as always, but with a novel ambition that the work is of remarkable quality and is a seed that may one day grow into a General Sherman Tree.
I have learned from reading Dostoyevsky the idea of keeping a paragraph of phrase as a way of leaning into an entire philosophy. And so, I will share paragraphs I am keeping with me from my pre-semester reading.
From Sertillanges, I am taking away the idea that in trying to do good work, one should not rely solely on the excellent appraisal of the work done as motivation.
“Your only resource is to work far from the world, as indifferent to its judgements as you are ready to serve it. It is perhaps best if it rejects you and obliges you to fall on yourself and deepen yourself. On this, Sertillanges reminds us that Edgar Allan Poe’s paid him more precisely because he wrote better than other writers.” Which probably came as a result of his work being harder to appreciate and consequently unable to sell well.
From Hamming, on whom I am more focused, I take so much that I can only leave screenshots.
- Be convinced of the importance of the work you are doing.
Come to think of it, if you do not believe that the work you are doing is important, or that there is some potential that it yields something significant, then why are you doing it? The same applies to your ability to do the said work. If you do not believe you are up to the task, then you may very well be right.
- Maintain a desire for excellence.
Simple, always do good work. I often argue that the worst way to go through life is to not always give your best. Embrace adversity and challenge, and use it as a motivation to set the mark for what defines you. Seneca went as far as arguing that no man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity, for her is not permitted to prove himself. Remember what I said about A.G. Sertillanges and the need to be indifferent to the judgement of the world? Yes, you are not here to prove yourself to anyone apart from yourself. You are not here to seek glory, but to do the sort of things that gives you a certain self-confidence that will only leave you when you go six feet down.
- Have some drive.
To quote Sertillanges again, “The athletes of the mind, like those of the playing field, must be prepared for privations, long training, a sometimes superhuman tenacity. We must give ourselves from the heart, if the truth is to give itself to us. Truth serves only its slaves.”
- Be able to assert opposing ideas.
I know this sounds like a call to be confused into perpetuity. It is quite far from that. The idea is that you should be able to stronly believe an idea, but also be reasonable to appreciate valid criticism of that idea. Do not be dogmatic about science, and perhaps, as some will argue, any other thing. I really like it when Bertrand Russell says that the goal of science is not to establish immutable truths and dogmas, but, by means of successive approximations, without claiming that at any stage final and complete accuracy has been achieved.
I hope that this will be a wonderful semester, I know it will.
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