Sir
Isaac Newton and his Diamond in the "Ruff" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- focus/concentration
-- love of pets
-- humility -- what you see is what you get
--
Three Things Sir Isaac Newton Shares in Common with Most Introverts
---- Sir
Isaac Newton's Diamond in the "Ruff"
art from clipart.com
SIR
ISAAC NEWTON'S DIAMOND IN THE "RUFF"
I've been looking forward to writing this article because Sir Isaac Newton
personifies some of the outstanding introvert characteristics that you
can learn to prize in yourself, your introverted child or your introverted
lover. If you're an employer, you can also learn to identify two of these
qualities in job interviews to your advantage. Introverts make terrific
employees. These are the qualities. Sir Isaac Newton could concentrate
like a Concentratin' Fool. He loved his dog Diamond. And he was a modest
man. He had these three things in common with most introverts.
Sir Isaac Newton was born in 1642 in England. He is considered by some to be the most brilliant man that ever lived. Other contenders are Mozart and Goethe. Newton is credited with developing calculus and discovering the Laws of Gravitation and the Laws of Motion (more correctly, the "Three Laws of Motion underlying Classical Mechanics"). You probably learned in school at about the same age as he discovered these laws that an apple fell on his head which got him thinking. As the story goes, he wondered why the apple fell and the Moon didn't. His 23rd year was a phenomenon, an Annus Mirabilis. Later he also wrote Principia Mathematica in 1868-87 and Optics in 1704.
TRUTH
IS HIS BEST FRIEND ... or was it Diamond?
Young Newton was a real seeker. As a young person he wrote in his notebook,
"Amicus Plato; amicus Aristoteles; magis amica veritas"
which means "Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but the
truth is my best friend." Latin was the language in which the educated
class in Europe communicated with one another.
Some of Newton's personal handwritten notebooks were deposited at the Pierpont Morgan Museum and are now online, well worth a look.
NEWTON
DOG EARS THE BIBLE
Newton was recently in the news because of his Bibles. Like most introverts,
Newton read a lot and one of the books he read a lot was the Bible. He
had at least thirty of them. I've been running a book survey on my website
for introverts. One of the questions I ask is whether people dog ear and
write in their books. From the results of my survey, most people wouldn't
dream of it but Newton's answer would be "yes". [Take the book
survey HERE.]
In a recent interview with Patricia L. Paddey of Bible Network News , Dr. Stephen Snobelen, assistant professor of the history of science and technology at University of King's College in Halifax, said, "We actually have 30 of [Newton's] personal Bibles at Trinity College, Cambridge that can be examined…. His personal Bible that he used for looking up references is a very small, hand-held Bible. That is a remarkable artefact [sic] to handle physically, because you can actually see the dog-eared pages. You can see the soiling. You can see this physical testimony of a lifetime." Dr. Snobelen is one of only a handful of academics worldwide who now study [Newton's Bibles and other non scientific manuscripts] for insights into his theology. These papers were willed to Cambridge University by the economist John Maynard Keynes in 1946.
Newton was an intense reader. "While it is possible that some dog-earing was the work of subsequent owners," Snobelen continues, "it is evident from the fact that most instances of it point quite precisely to passages of demonstrable importance to Newton that the vast majority is his own. He used dog-ears not merely to mark pages but to align the page corners with specific passages of interest (hence the fact that pages may have their corners turned down, up, or both). "
According to the London Daily Telegraph, Newton was consumed by apocalyptic research and reluctantly predicted that the world would end in 2060. "Thousands of Newton's papers, which had lain in a trunk in the house of the Earl of Portsmouth for 250 years, were sold by Sotheby's in the late 1930s. John Maynard Keynes ... bought many of the texts on alchemy and theology. But much of the material went to an eccentric collector, Abraham Yahuda, and was stored in the Hebrew National Library. It was among these documents that the date was found."
SIR
ISAAC NEWTON WAS A MASTERMIND
Sir Isaac Newton was an INTJ introvert. There are eight different types
of introverts, according to Keirsey Personality Theory and Myers-Briggs
Temperament Inventory, both based on the Jungian approach to personality
interpretation. Newton was an INTJ Introvert, called the Mastermind. This
is a rare one per cent of the population according to estimates by the
Keirsey Temperament
Theory. According to Keirsey, "Masterminds approach reality as
they would a giant chess board, always seeking strategies that have a
high payoff, and always devising contingency plans in case of error or
adversity. To the Mastermind, organizational structure and operational
procedures are never arbitrary, never set in concrete, but are quite malleable
and can be changed, improved, streamlined. In their drive for efficient
action, Masterminds are the most open-minded of all the types. No idea
is too far-fetched to be entertained-if it is useful." Other famous
INTJ introverts are Niels Bohr and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Not all introverts are brilliant scientists and metaphysicians, but there are three things most have in common. Focus/concentration, love of pets and modesty are typical of most introverts.
FOCUS/CONCENTRATION
Newton's ability to concentrate was just amazing … just like your
favorite introvert; however, most of us have more social awareness than
the British genius. Here are a couple of anecdotes, the first taken from
T. Moore's Memoirs, Journals, and Correspondence.
DINNER
"Newton invited a friend to dinner but then forgot the engagement.
When the friend arrived, he found the scientist deep in meditation, so
he sat down quietly and waited. In due course one dinner was brought up.
Newton had forgotten to tell his servant a guest was expected. Newton
continued to be abstracted. The friend drew up a chair and, without disturbing
the host, consumed the dinner. After he had finished, Newton came out
of his reverie, looked with some bewilderment at the empty dishes, and
said, 'If it weren't for the proof before my eyes, I could have sworn
that I have not yet dined.'"
Not only can your favorite introvert concentrate like this, s/he needs to concentrate like this. If there's one thing designed to stress your introverted pal to the max, it's interruptions. That's why we don't like and I mean h a t e telephones and especially cells.
HORSE
TALE
Here's another amusing example of Newton's ability to concentrate. On
his way home from town one day, Newton dismounted and walked his horse
by its bridle so it could rest. The anecdoter
continues, "As always his mind wandered. Perhaps he was thinking
about the four wheel carriage he'd just built or the system of shorthand
he'd created or maybe he was just watching the sunlight on the grass and
wondering what made the grass green … miles and hours later he arrived
at home not even aware that the horse had long ago slipped out of its
bridle and he had walked the whole way back, alone."
Do you know anyone like this? If you try to change them, you'll destroy one of their greatest gifts, the gift to concentrate, and give them nothing in return. Please let introverts be more consciously introverted and don't make them try to be extroverted to have your respect. Liza's father was a brilliant introvert. They bought him umbrellas by the dozen because he left them on the Chicago "L" going to and from work in the rain. He always left them. Always.
LOVE
OF PETS
Another common characteristic of introverts is their love of pets. Sometimes
a pet is the introvert's best companion. N*O
S*M*A*L*L
T*A*L*K.
Sir Isaac Newton had a dog named Diamond who has become famous right along with him. I guess he was pretty smart. Newton once bragged to his friend Wallis about his little dog Diamond. 'My dog Diamond knows some mathematics. Today he proved two theorems before lunch.'. 'Your dog must be a genius,' said Wallis. 'Oh I wouldn't go that far,' replied Newton. 'The first theorem had an error and the second had a pathological exception.'"
You had to be there.
DIAMOND
IN THE RUFF
An even better story concerned the night Diamond knocked over the candle
on Newton's desk, starting a fire that destroyed records of many years'
research (!). Legend has it that Newton, viewing the destruction, said
only, "O Diamond, Diamond, thou little knowest the damage thou hast
done." (R. Hendrickson's The Literary Life and other sources
… this is a very popular tail, I mean tale!)
MODESTY
Last but not least, Newton was a modest man considering his accomplishments
and intelligence. Asked one day how he had come to make his remarkable
discoveries, he replied, "By always thinking about them."
If you're
hiring someone for a job, it would be good to know this characteristic
of introverts lest you underestimate their capabilities based on their
modest but accurate representation of themselves and hire a showy extrovert
with half the talent instead (!) Introverts lack the ability to dress
their own windows, a quality you will come to appreciate if you hire one.
Instead of window dressing, they will focus, concentrate and work a full
day instead.
LEARN
MORE
Some books you can read to learn more about Newton's non scientific religious
and alchemical studies are Isaac
Newton: Inventor, Scientist, and Teacher by John Hudson Tiner
and The
Foundations of Newton's Alchemy : Or,'The Hunting of the Greene Lyon'
by Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs.
An interesting online essay connecting Newton, the Theosophical Society and the author's PhD research into the deep ecology movement and its links with the ancient wisdom tradition was presented by Dara Tatray at Australian National University in September 2002. Go HERE.
To see a list of Newton's alchemical works with precise evidence of the dog earing and notations, go HERE.
To learn more about the Newton Project, go HERE.
To learn more about introverts, browse the site some more.
COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE: "Delightful Newton article - especially enjoyed the story about his dog. And feel much better after reading the article about being an introvert and enjoying the companionship of pets and plants." -- ON
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Newton
famously contemplating the apple. 
Newton discovering
the light spectrum
Newton
learns by blowing soap bubbles. 
Gravity
takes its toll on Newton's fabulous good looks. Also he became rather
corpulent later in life. Personally, as a woman, Newton has always taken
my breath away.
Nancy
R. Fenn is an INFP Healer Type Introvert
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Healers have a profound sense of idealism derived from a strong personal
morality, and they conceive of the world as an ethical, honorable place.
Indeed, to understand Healers, we must understand their idealism as almost
boundless and selfless, Browse Nancy's website for introverts and discover
some great resources and support. Learn to succeed in career and relationship
by being a more conscious introvert. Don't try to be something you are
not (an extrovert).
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comment on this article
What others have said about this article:
2.08.2005 I thought that this was a very interesting piece. Your ideas were highly focused
and the material was presented in a cogent way. However, I must say that on your
point that Newton was modest - I don't believe this to be the case. He was a
very vain man, and could be very much so in public. There are a great man
examples of him needlessly displaying his erudition in very arrogant way
condecsending ways.
Thank you for informing on Newton's introverted ways.
Ethan Backus