Maxi Gorynski makes the argument that the high literacy from earlier times encouraged ambition

John Donne was not known for his intolerable sexiness but for being such a hellcat meme-minter at the pulpit.

The above, may be the best “on-line” sentence I’ve read.

When Hugo wandered off into thick tangential considerations of niche subjects like Gothic architecture, the public didn’t scrunch its nose and go and read something simpler or more focused; instead, they took his lead and developed a passion for Gothic architecture themselves.

Interesting how the French didn’t want to simplify Hugo’s work, but instead further develop their understanding of Gothic architecture.

How was the passion for Gothic Architecture demonstrated at that time?

In summary, what a lack of ambient access to high literacy has to do with ambition: Provides people fewer tools for the processing and composition of complex thought, and fails to keep the mind adequately nourished with new impressions and syntheses that are conducive to high-ambition; and because works of high literacy are themselves conceived in ambition, the lack of opportunity to be regularly immersed in them deprives one of a sense of everyday communion with what is excellent.

I appreciate Maxi Gorynski‘s essay format. Each section presents a clear summary to solidify the point.

Read his essay On a Lack of Ambition full here.

H/T Marginal Revolution