Paul Goodman was a hero of mine in the Seventies, a taste I see that was shared even more strongly by Susan Sontag. Stumbling around on the net after reading her memorial on learning of his death, I found this quote, which resonates with me:
“It is by losing ourselves in inquiry, creation & craft that we become something. Civilization is a continual gift of spirit: inventions, discoveries, insight, art. We are citizens, as Socrates would have said, & we have it available as our own.””