Revival of Romanticism

Gentlemen,

The topic of romanticism was brought to me in the depths of my current (and nearly autistic) rabbit-hole of learning about Theodore Roosevelt. I was listening to a podcast about a book titled “TR: The Last Romantic” during which the host and author discuss what made Roosevelt a romantic, how this world-view and self-image influenced his life, and why the spirit so evidently alive in TR, is a treasure with everincreasing rarity today.

Questions and ideas immediately arose in my mind:

What does it mean to be romantic? Not the roses and candle-lit dinner type of romanticism, the type of romanticism that pervades all of life. The type the author finds in Roosevelt.

How is a romantic life lived? Is it something we should strive for? Am I living a romantic life? If not, can I begin to?

I believe so.

Before we go any further, let’s define some things:

• Romanticism is a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual.

• There two definitions of Romantic that are relevant: the first being “impractical in conception or plan: visionary”: the second being “marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized.”

Belief in Self

The prominent characteristic of romantics like TR is their self-belief: their unwavering belief that they, as individuals, can achieve great things that benefit others. It’s the belief that one man can change the world for the better. With this belief comes a tsunami of emotional momentum because for folks like these, duty is not relegated to them alone, but rather mankind at large. It’s no longer solely about them, but about thousands, millions, and sometimes billions of people. It’s not hard to imagine how much more powerful the emotional charge is for those individuals who believe their actions impact that many people.

While this emotional charge certainly propels romantics to the light, it’s volatile and often drags it’s possesors into darkness as well. The depression and meloncholy experienced throughout the lives of Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, John D. Rockefeller, Winston Churchill, and many other romantic heroes shows this dichotomy clearly. It is the fire that lights the path and burns the holder’s hand. It’s the price of admission to profound positive influence. What sets these romantic men apart is their willingness to pay that price. You cannot have one without the other.

Impractical

The second characteristic of romantics is their visionary disposition. They simply do not abide by the laws of the masses. They are, almost without fail, contrarian, independent, and “impractical” in their hopes and dreams.

A shining example of this in Roosevelt’s life is the Panama Canal. The 50 mile man-made laceration across the mountainous jungles of Central America was a pipe dream. Think about it: they moved 240,000,000 cubic yards of earth… The completion of such a monumental project was inconceivable, impossible, and impractical to most… but not to Roosevelt.

He wanted it to be a reality, believed it could be a reality, and foresaw the global benefit of undertaking and completing the project. TLDR: He got it done and the world is better of for it. Thankfully, he was not practical in this decision.

What dream or vision are you depriving the world of because of practicality or being “realistic”?

Newsflash: SpaceX just launched a 400 foot tall rocket into space and caught it on a tower as it came back down to earth like an outfielder catches a fly ball… Be less practical and more unrealistic.

Call of the Wild

Another notable characteristic of romantics is their magnet like pull to adventure. Risk, uncertainty, and the wilderness call them. They cannot help themselves but embark on daring and insanely risky endeavors. Whether it’s Roosevelt’s charge up San Juan Hill against a larger, better armed, and fortified enemy position in the Spanish-American War, Winston Churchill’s daring escape as a prisoner of war in Africa, or Steve Jobs creating an Iphone: these people thrive in the chaos of the wild.

It’s often a romantic’s impractical vision combined with his inordinate belief that he can achieve it that propels him into the wild and once he enters the wilderness there is no going back.

They were the frontiersmen who settled the West, the vikings who sailed to unknown oceans, the visionary entrepreneurs who created the impossible, the politicians who stood for what they believed in, in the face of certain death, they were the ones who dared greatly and entered the arena, they were who we hope to be.

Where Did Romanticism Go?

Our society, at large, detests romantics; they are too hard to control. The powers that be want you and I to uphold the status quo, to do what everyone else is doing, and to believe in ourselves only enough to excel IN the machine, not enough to create our own.

Indoctrination through schools, corporations, political propaganda, and social media have pervaded our society and engrained anti-romantic principles into the minds of several generations. The gravity of such a force is strong because the attempted suppression of self-belief is not a new phenomenon; it’s always been this way.

That same gravitational pull down to earth is what gives the romantic his purpose. It’s the current he swims against. It’s necessary for the romantic hero to make his mark. If there is no dragon to slay, what is the knight saving the princess from? If there is no unknown territory, for what reason does the explorer embark? If there is no enemy to fight, what honor is there to be gained in battle?

Where did romanticism go? It’s lost in the rat-race, humdrum, sterile, mundial, numbing, and meaninglessness nature of the status-quo. The machine does not want romantics, they want cogs.

Modern Romantic

To me, the answer is clear, a romantic life is worth striving for. It’s a mountain worth summiting.

The gravitational pull of the status quo is stronger than ever due to our hyper-connectivity. We know what everyone is doing, when they’re doing it, and where their doing it, all the time. Many people are so caught up in what everyone else is doing that they don’t have the slightest clue what they’re doing or what they even want to do.

This is terrifying. What a horrifically unoriginal, inauthentic, and mundane life is it to live exactly as everyone else is living for the sake of living exactly as everyone else is living. There is no adventure, impact, triumph, glory or honor to be found in such a life.

If you’re aim is to live such a life, have at it. For those who believe there is more to life than that, I will leave you with this excerpt from a Theodore Roosevelt speech:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Romantics enter the arena and dare greatly because they believe God put them on this earth to do so.

Believe, Act, Keep Going. Cultivate the romantic spirit within you.

Onward & Upward,

Nolan

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