“Natural selection, also, leads to divergence of character; for more living beings can be supported on the same area the more they diverge in structure, habits, and constitution of which we see proof by looking at the inhabitants of any small spot or at naturlised productions.”
In these snowy times, I retreat inside with the great “Great Ideas” series, and this week with Darwin who gave us that in 1859.
If one is to grow, whether by retreating or by diverging, one must diverge at critical and unexpected places. Seneca has said:
We should also withdraw a lot into ourselves; for associating with people unlike ourselves upsets a calm disposition, stirs up passions again, and aggravates an mental weakness which has not been completely cured. However, the two things must be mingled and varied, solitude and joining a crowd: the one will make us long for people and the other for ourselves, and each will be a remedy for the other; solitude will cure our distaste for a crowd, and a crowd will cure our boredom with solitude.
One must get uncomfortable. If you venture a little, you will evolve a little. If you venture a lot, you may evolve a lot.
