Possessing pure potentiality can satisfy more deeply than any realization

Evidence

I once met a man who, though no longer young and a well-to-do family man, spent all his time learning every skill he could—languages, which he never employed, superb dancing, which he never pursued; accomplishments of every sort, which he never made use of and did not even want to use. This characteristic is precisely that of the miser: satisfaction in the complete possession of a potentiality with no thought whatsoever about its realization. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 450

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s theoretical framework: the blasé attitude as detached potentiality rather than engagement; ties to civil inattention as a form of holding potentiality without investing in actual relation. — connects to: Deep wisdom may lie in maintaining wonder rather than accumulating answers — , A Year of World Stories, 10898; The ultimate possibility is the unitary synthesis of all actual possibles, not death.; Potentiality in νς lets substance contain its own future interpretations
• SEED: Essay angle: the flâneur/Julius figure as a ‘miser of potentiality’ — collecting skills, encounters, observations never cashed out into relationship or action.

Related

• Potentiality in νς lets substance contain its own future interpretations (similarity 0.90)

Broader Connections

• Deep wisdom may lie in maintaining wonder rather than accumulating answers #qualifies (0.60) — , A Year of World Stories, 10898