Friday Library #3
Hilarion & Hidden Genius
Although these were places full of bloodthirsty brigands and his neighbors and friends warned him of the risks involved, he despised death so as to escape death.
-Jerome on the Life of Hilarion
Embrace Abundance
This week after completing Jerome’s Life of Hilarion, I continued to work through Lew Wallace’s Ben Hur, then dropped everything to devour
’s new book, Hidden Genius. (Don’t worry I’m still trudging through Prescott’s complete works too.)If I were to distill these three disparate volumes into one sentence it would be this:
Genius is the embrace of abundance.
When Hilarion, who lived during the height of the Roman Empire, receives his inheritance from his parents, he distributes the proceeds from their estate to his siblings and the poor saying:
No one spends his money better than the person who keeps nothing for himself.
Returning to Ben Hur, I then noticed how Judah’s magnanimity in his maritime prison is the special ingredient to surviving his sentence on the seas. Without hesitation, Judah casts the signet ring of the wealthy Roman Tribune into the Aegean knowing he can’t sacrifice who he is for what he wants.
Scarcity always seems to have a way to seduce us into believing if we sacrifice ourselves we’ll conquer our desires. Yet in the end, scarcity steals from us all we ever wanted and all we ever had. Judah’s embrace of the infinite in Ben Hur is what makes his story one of the greatest of all time. His genius is his embodiment of abundance.
Which leads me to Paulina’s Hidden Genius. The defining line after ten masterfully researched chapters:
…the universal hidden genius across many of the exceptional people I had studied was this:
Success is personal.
-Polina Marinova Pompliano
Genius is the embrace of abundance. To embrace someone or something you have to hug it. In Spanish we say Abrazo to mean hug but we literally mean embrace. We probably hug longer than most English speakers would permit, but this is because an embrace is personal. You can’t half heartedly hug the ones you love.
Get your arms around abundance, make it feel close, make it feel like a lover that will never leave you. Then you will know your own enough and uncover your own hidden genius.
The Bindings
Hidden Genius by Polina Marinova Pompliano. If there was one book I could give my early twenties self it would be Hidden Genius. “This book is about learning, not idolizing.” I could have used that fifteen years ago, but better now then never. Thank you Polina.
Augustus by Adrian Goldsworthy. This audiobook has quickly become one I’m returning to for those timeless insights. Octavian was regarded as a boy with only a famous name when his adoptive father Julius Caesar was murdered. His rise both in political acumen along with military prowess is elegantly painted onto the page revealing a wealth of lessons for all men and all time.
Proverbs of Solomon. Easily enough there are 31 chapters in Proverbs and no more than 31 days in any month. So every morning I read my son Proverbs from the chapter corresponding to the date. This has become an enjoyable addition to my reading rituals. A good name is more desirable than riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
The Letterings
Transparent Tuesdays by Charlie Bleecker. Of Course,
had to be here. Her latest installment of Transparent Tuesdays reminded me to be less impressed, and more involved (from Matthew McConaughey’s book Green Lights). This sentiment paired with Polina’s learning, not idolizing was the soul food mental meal I needed this week and was missing from many weeks passed.What Happened When I Saw My Book at a Bookstore for the First Time by Polina Marinova Pompliano. If I was not already filled with gratitude for all that Polina has shared, this post hit me right in the feels. As I finish my drafts for my own book, visualizing that feeling of the finish line through Polina’s eyes, rendered me with greater invigoration. The crescendo is coming for the final stretch of my work.
It’s not Me, It’s You by Silvio Castelletti. This essay from my Milanese friend was a dispatch from an oasis. With every paragraph I found myself deeper in meditation and contemplation. I hope one day to hold these musings in some way physically. Silvio, when is the book coming?
Until next week,
-Steven
Thank you SO much, Steven!! I really appreciate your kind words, and it fills my soul knowing you enjoyed the book!
Totally in support of the praise for Polina's work, though I must say I am waiting for your own genius to see the light of day in the form of whatever book you publish. "Scarcity always seems to have a way to seduce us into believing if we sacrifice ourselves we’ll conquer our desires." Lines like this just keep showing up in your essays that so uniquely capture a mood or a thread worth stopping on the spot to explore.