The Wealth of Passions

I’ve never considered myself a math person, but through my passions, I’ve found a roundabout way to appreciating it. I think that’s one of the greatest gifts of passion — it pushes us to develop in ways we never would have expected. I’ve always loved interdisciplinary study, and I believe it’s the key to deep knowledge. It’s not about abandoning what you know to enter a completely different field but about taking what already excites you and applying it in new ways.

We live in a unique age for this kind of cross-disciplinary learning. If you love movies and focus only on film, there has never been an easier time to understand the physics of light and how it enhances your craft. Passion, when combined with self-development, isn’t just fulfilling — it makes us more capable of operating in the world, creating impact, influencing others, and, at the very least, living more meaningfully.

I recently heard that the word education comes from the Latin educere, meaning “to draw out of.” A great education, then, isn’t just about acquiring knowledge — it’s about learning to find interest in anything, even subjects that don’t immediately spark curiosity. When I think of math, I don’t think of numbers; I think of the golden ratio, Fibonacci sequences, and fractals — patterns that exist at both the simplest and most profound levels of science. And, of course, there’s the undeniable practicality of business math, which shapes so much of daily life.

I know that as we age, neuroplasticity declines. But I often reflect on one of Leonardo da Vinci’s final quotes: “I am still learning.” He said this in the later stages of his life, perhaps in his 80s or 90s. If a mind as brilliant as his could remain devoted to learning, it makes me think of the intellectuals in Auschwitz — people facing imminent death who still gathered to share their most cutting-edge ideas. On one hand, they did this to pass on knowledge, but on a deeper level, they did it to affirm life itself.

There’s something paradoxical about this — the pursuit of knowledge is, in many ways, the essence of life. It’s about preservation, expansion, and the desire to create meaning. Jesus in the desert, staring into his cup, and Socrates refusing to flee Athens both reached the same conclusion: to live without this essence would strip life of its meaning.