On the second level, what I call reception, an extended period of engagement with the subject matter is required. This involves some measure of specialization: there are some pieces for the piano that would take ten years to learn how to play, if one is starting from no familiarity with music. This probably corresponds to a B.A.,M.A./M.S., or even Ph.D. in say, literature. This would mean that you would have to read less about other things during this period if you wanted to succeed. The human life is usually between seven to nine decades long, and so on this level there are only so many possibilities. If I learn how to play the piano at a relatively high level; learn to sculpt; learn to read Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, German, and Italian; become adept at painting; and spend some serious time with philosophy, theology, history, literature, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and so forth—that might eat up my whole life or more likely, even several lifetimes.

But we are still not done. One of the most cultured people that I have ever come across is a history teacher I had at ‘SC. He was near retirement, and had spent his entire life studying and teaching history, translating important documents, and visiting historical places—mostly in Eastern and Central Europe. This is a lifetime’s work—and it results in great blessing for others and develops one’s understanding in a way that nothing else can. It is also the level at which one finds the most happiness in a discipline. And the reason for this is simple: the mind and will experience the greatest contact with reality when they are intently focused on one particular thing, and full intensity requires many years of seeking. Einstein, for example, could not have done what he did if he had engaged in every discipline equally. His special insights into mathematics and physics required substantial time and interest.

There have been great men and women in history that have gone deeply into several disciplines, and even made a significant contribution to more than one. Blaise Pascal comes first to mind, but there are many others. No human being, however, is capable of going very deeply in everything, and this has to do with the shortness of life, the limited availability of knowledge, and the fact that we cannot think about more than two or three things at once. Beyond that there are also other factors, even the limited capacities of our bodies. Can the body really learn to play five instruments while speaking and reading seven languages and so forth? Accordingly, while it is good to know something about everything, there is also an important place for knowing a lot about something in particular.

This is not a bad thing; it is part of what makes distinct personality possible. When one spends time with one thing and is shaped by it, one develops into a special kind of person, with his or her own take on the world. I also should mention that I think there is culture in heaven, and that we will have the opportunity to go as deeply as we want into as many different disciplines as we want. But this will take a lot of time; and the order in which we study things, the kinds of talents we have as individuals, and the creativity and freedom our wills possess will cause us each to be very different from each other, in knowledge and many other ways. And presumably in the next life there will be exciting things other than what we now call “culture,” or that have much to do with culture at all, as we currently understand it.

I hope that helps. Let me know if I didn’t answer your question.