I met the word of my dreams. It wasn’t a particularly handsome or edgy word. It didn’t sound smooth or delicious. It didn’t even conjure up some sizzling memory. But the encounter was a lightning strike. At the Whitney Museum in NYC, I rounded a corner at the Buckminster Fuller show and there it was: comprehensivist. Upon first glance, I started to spin, “That’s me, thank god, goddess and all above, I am finally definable.” In a cultural climate where we are encouraged (either by parents, peers, economic reality or ourselves) to slot our talents into one career, I have felt like a loner.
Just about the time most of my friends were immersed in year one of graduate school or year five of a healthy focused career, I switched jobs another time. To outsiders, I am a dilettante. To me, there is always a thread and each experience builds laterally upon the next. But it can get lonely when everyone else in your community is thrusting most of their energy into one pulsing passion. If I had been raised around true dilettantes, would I feel less of an odd bird? Perhaps. In Buckminster–the man of geodesic domes, sustainability, environmentalism, architecture, social responsibility and many other things–I found a comrade, albeit someone dead many years. In his words:
“I refuse to treat diverse subjects as specialized areas of investigation, because it inhibits my ability to think intuitively, independently, and comprehensively.”
There is no right or wrong, but I adore his thinking process. Boundaries may breed crystals, but can a holistic approach reach further? In my personal experience, it has–so far. What about your experience?
Crucial Minutiae - The Archives 
Man I love this word as well and I want to steal her from you unless she has a sister. But I feel where your comming from. I put it like this…people tend to be microscopes or telescopes…a tendency to be analytical or wholistic or some balance of the two. The problem is that this society only seems to ask- what kind of microscope are you? Both are needed for harmony and yet only one seems to be supported in this country. The price is lack of foresight…lack of intuition…and ignorance of self. But dispite these advantages it is not encouraged- I’m a comprehensiveist in a specialist world.
Molly,
You are not alone! There are many comprehensivists. And as our economy systematically replaces specialists with machinery or inexpensive foreign laborers, it is only a matter of time before we are all “forced” to become comprehensivists too. For now, the comprehensivist has the advantage of having so little competition that it is a blue ocean of opportunity.
One group that is building on Buckminster Fuller’s comprehensive thinking is the Synergetics Collaborative (http://www.synergeticists.org). Bucky’s Synergetics (http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/synergetics.html) is the science of comprehensive thinking. And, hence, is the “field” of thought which can free us from the dangers of over-specialization.
CJ Fearnley
Executive Director
Synergetics Collaborative
Mike, you phrase it beautifully. It’s true. The questions today is always, “What kind of microscope are you?” I have a hard time with that.
CJ, Thanks for the support. A blue ocean of opportunity sounds mighty nice.
I’ll check out the Synergetics Collaborative. A field of thought… hmmmm.
To further characterize ways of looking at the world, in the sciences (usually specialized) , particularly in the realm of geochemistry, with which I am most acquainted (talk about specialized!), there seem to be two camps: the lumpers and the splitters. Both tend to make fun or the other (when drinking beer) or dismiss the other’s work (when competing for grant money). The lumpers use data to generalize and theorize about a big picture while the splitters try to pick apart small stories within the whole. Splitters tend to think lumpers are ham-handed storytellers, while the lumpers make fun of the splitting tendency to obsess over small details while never actually making any real progress. None of this really matters, of course, as breakthroughs in our understanding of the world and ourselves are possible in both manners of operation, but it is perhaps a good question to ask oneself: am I lumper or a splitter?
Jack… this is a good analogy… i think if your aware of both you probably are alittle bit of both but tend to be a lumper. Most splitters are not even aware of this pattern at all.
I love this post Molly. I felt a bit that way when I heard the word “portfolio career,” though I feel like kind of a dweeb every saying it. I understand why you feel alone, but you’re most certainly not (check out Daniel Pink’s work). In any case, what unifies all of your many interests is the ways in which you process them, your lens, your unique combination of talents and brain patterns. That’s who you are, not what you look at/process/work on/develop. Hope that makes sense…
Miss Molly May, I think that, in some sense, all of us are trying to be good comprehensivists in our own ways. For me, it’s balancing this thing called life. I love my job/career, but I also love my family and friends, my soccer teams, my dance classes, my time in the park and at the beach, my time for ME, etc etc…. I want it all to fulfill me, and I want time for it all. You’re not alone lady, not at all.
coming this a little late but its a beautiful post molly … do check out the Buckminster Fuller Challenge at http://challenge.bfi.org/home and see how the comprehensivists of the world are responding to Bucky’s call all for a design science revolution to make the world work for all.