The Learn'd Astronomer

When I heard the learn'd astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,

How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

--- Walt Whitman (1819–1892).  Leaves of Grass.  1900.

The landscape of learning is multidimensional.  We may advance in wisdom through emotional experience, rational thought, or spiritual connection.  Each can advance our understanding; but just as a one or two dimensional view of our surroundings is limited, so too is a view of our world that does not consider all three of these learning dimensions.