How to think like Shakespeare
Rachel Botsman
Leading expert on trust in the modern world. Author of WHAT’S MINE IS YOURS, WHO CAN YOU TRUST? And HOW TO TRUST & BE TRUSTED, writer and curator of the popular newsletter RETHINK.
This is the summary version of the?Rethinking Negative Capability?newsletter edition.?I explain this idea in much more detail in the long-form version, which you can read by following this link.
John Keats, the great romantic poet, once wrote a letter that included a powerful concept: Something he called “negative capability,” meaning when someone “is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.”
The idea is about embracing the unknown and resisting explaining away things we don’t yet understand. It’s a 200-year-old idea that is remarkably relevant today.
In our culture of performance and immediate answers, there is a focus on “positive” capabilities. It leads to an almost unbearable pressure to be fast and decisive.
So how can we re-embrace the power of negative capability?
Subscribe on Substack to read the full version of this newsletter. Here, I will explain how William Shakespeare used negative capability in his work - and how you can use it in yours.
Driver
1 年1 month late
ESOL Tutor
1 年Though the the expression sounds like something negative, it's amuch needed positive term which has to be implemented in our words, thoughts and deeds for any kind of success. Thank you Rachel, for sharing this valuable Shakesperean thought.
Founder & Exclusive Buyers Agent | QPIA? (Qualified Property Investment Adviser) | Off Market Property Investment | Positively Geared Property Portfolio | Licensed Real Estate Agent
1 年It's amazing how a concept from 200 years ago can still be so relevant today. Negative capability reminds us to resist the urge to explain away the unknown and embrace the beauty of uncertainty. Thanks for sharing this inspiring idea, Rachel Botsman!
Change Fatigue & Resilience Keynote Speaker, #1 Best-Selling Author, Change Strategist & Founder.
1 年Rachel, thank you, this is incredibly well written and relevant ??
Spence Wilson Center for Interdisciplinary Humanities
1 年https://shakespearenewsletter.com/how-to-think-like-shakespeare/