As Byrne points out, and some notable examples testify, some people manage to:
“Go to the monastery” to explore ideas as a hardcore believer.
After a while, “return to the world”, and successfully thread the needle between innovation, moderation, and crazy town.
This is not an easy path. Many get stuck in the monastery, failing gracefully (i.e. harmlessly wasting their lives). Some return to the world, and achieve little. Others return to the world, accumulate great power, and then cause serious harm.
As Byrne points out, and some notable examples testify, some people manage to:
“Go to the monastery” to explore ideas as a hardcore believer.
After a while, “return to the world”, and successfully thread the needle between innovation, moderation, and crazy town.
This is not an easy path. Many get stuck in the monastery, failing gracefully (i.e. harmlessly wasting their lives). Some return to the world, and achieve little. Others return to the world, accumulate great power, and then cause serious harm.
Concern about this sort of thing, presumably, is a major motivation for the esotericism of figures like Tyler Cowen, Peter Thiel, Plato, and most of the other Straussian thinkers.