Romanticism Makes a Comeback
Enjoy this moment!
Romanticism is making a ferocious comeback. In just the past week we’ve seen:
The largest IPO ever, funding a mission to explore the stars (and minting over 4,000 millionaires…)
Father-son duos winning NBA championships after 50+ year droughts; and
The beginning of the World Cup, an event that has historically brought the world together and created moments many citizens cherish forever.
For the romantics, it’s hard to experience these events and not feel something. Feeling something (inspiration, opportunity, potential) is what motivates people to take big risks. And people taking big risks is what creates the potential for change.
Contrast this romantic worldview with the more data-driven and measured view, the “classical.” In “Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, author Robert Pirsig explains the distinction well:
“To a romantic, classic mode often appears dull, awkward, and ugly, like mechanical maintenance itself. Everything is in terms of pieces and parts and components and relationships. Nothing is figured out until it’s run through the computer a dozen times. Everything’s got to be measured and proved. Oppressive. Heavy. Endlessly grey. The death force.”
Both views, romantic and classic, have a role to play in effecting change. But I’m excited that it feels like we’re entering a world where people are beginning to believe ambitious things are possible again.
As unapologetic romantics, we’re always looking for the reasons something might just work, not just the 10,000 reasons it won’t. It’s also a way more fun way to live!