“Because more complex and intense intellectual efforts mean a fuller and richer life.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
This quotation from Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. can be interpreted in multiple ways. Some may look at this from a functional viewpoint, arguing that ‘intense intellectual efforts’ lead to better decision making, or at least to better understanding, resulting in a measurable increase in personal happiness. However, the ‘fuller and richer life’ he describes could instead be the intrinsic joy of understanding and participating in the flow of ideas. As Aquinas said, ‘it is clear that people who give themselves to the contemplation of truth are the happiest a person in this life can be, happiness consists primarily in intellectual contemplation’. By exploring Wendell’s statement we can start to unpick what he means and discover how we can apply this to our own personal betterment.
Let us first look at the clearest and most instructional part of this quotation, ‘intellectual effort’. This is the action that Wendell Holmes is telling us we should do in order to facilitate the ‘fuller and richer life’ he describes, and so it is worth considering his parameters in detail. ‘Intellectual’ is perhaps the most straightforward part of the quotation and it tells us that the ‘effort’ should be in the mind. What is particularly interesting in this case is that Wendell Holmes Jr. offers no further directives on the specific genre of intellectual activity. Clearly, it is not the content of the effort that is important, but the action of intellectual effort itself. This is further emphasised through Wendell’s use of the word ‘effort’. By using this word rather than something more ephemeral like ‘thought’, we are implicitly being called to engage with the system, not just think. In other words, effort is a force. Not only does this show that ‘intellectual efforts’ should be thought of as a kind of continuous, active work, rather than an object in stasis, but it also helps elucidate the impact of ‘effort’. Namely, that it is a kind of power that can therefore catalyse change. In saying so, WHJ is pointing out that there is an inherent benefit to performing the act of intellectual effort. Beyond the obvious, functional benefits of efficiency, knowledge acquisition is the essential fact that the action of hard, intellectual work is valuable in and of itself. While this might seem somewhat strange – to disconnect the action from the outcome – this position is immediately obvious to anyone who has picked up the crossword in the morning, instinctively understanding that the action itself brings pleasure and the secondary benefits – pride, bragging to your colleagues – are just that, secondary.
While we are not told the precise kind of ‘intellectual effort’ to undertake, Wendell does assert that this effort should be ‘complex and intense’. These terms help us understand what we should be looking for when we move to engage in ‘intellectual effort’. Starting with ‘complex’, there are two important meanings we can tease out from this word. The first is the suggestion of difference and/or multiplicity. Something that is ‘complex’ contains lots of different parts that must be journeyed through; defining the question, collating evidence, testing hypotheses, finding and discarding thoughts and so on. This is structural variation. There is also the potential for infinite difference within each stage, meaning that no truly ‘complex’ task can be repeated; either the details of the problem will be different or the time and/or space will be. The other element of the word ‘complex’ to consider is the idea of interconnectivity. Think of a housing complex, or in science terminology where ‘complex’ is used to describe the result of interconnected objects, like atoms or DNA strands. This second element of the word’s meaning can be traced back to its root. ‘Complectere’, from Latin, means ‘to embrace’ and later, ‘to plait’. This is important because it shows that complexity is a extrapolative (as opposed to additive) process. In other words, the interweaving of the various ‘strands’ or ‘parts’ results in something greater than just their sum. Charles F. Brannan stated “if you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.’ The crucial word here is ‘each’. Each person may end up with two ideas, but four ideas total have been created; the ideas ‘multiply’ each other. Thus we see that the key idea here is interrelation, between ideas and between people. For intellect to be valuable and enriching there must be some process of connection.
Analysing the word ‘intense’ is more simple. It can be taken at its normal meaning of high force, which nicely correlates to the energetic language of ‘effort’. However, we should briefly consider the root of this word, as well. ‘Intense’ comes from ‘intendere’, meaning ‘to stretch out’. Once again, we are reminded of the expansive nature of intellectual effort. The joy and enrichment of problem solving increases the conceptual size of the thinker and pushes out into the world. This is what we call the force of change. Toni Morrison, when she says the goal is ‘not just to participate in the narrative, but specifically to help write it’, shows that creativity, involvement and power are all related. This idea that engagement with the collective ‘effort’ has expansive benefits is further suggested by Jesse Schell. He argues that problem solving is so powerful we may consider it an ‘evolved survival mechanism’, saying ‘people who enjoy solving problems are going to solve more problems, and probably get better at solving problems, and be more likely to survive.’ Here we see Schell making explicit the idea that the betterment that comes from problem solving is fundamentally a biological and innate process; not just one that is beneficial for the individual, but for the species as a whole.
From this we can start to see what Wendell is talking about when he describes a ‘fuller and richer life’. That there is something innately rewarding about ‘intellectual effort’, made all the more powerful because it facilitates connection and change. I think it best to leave discussion of the specifics of this phrase, ‘fuller and richer’, at this. To try to define a strict definition would just be an attempt to put a fence around something that is inherently expansive. Rather, we should seek to recognize this as a deeply personal and experiential state, one that cannot be entirely predicted or controlled, but certainly leads to something more, whatever that might be.
Consider the words of Margaret Mead, who said, ‘never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.’ She is certainly correct, but here I encourage you to go further. Remember that these ‘small groups’ are not distant abstractions, they are instructions. The potential to ‘change the world’ is always present within you, it just requires you to work at being the ‘thoughtful and committed’ person and to share this power with others.
Finally, let us end by returning to Morrison who, like always, has something profound and beautiful to say on effort and the ‘good life’: Toni Morrison on Trauma, Survival, and Finding Meaning.
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