Will the Stars Control Your Destiny?

It was so great discussing the various Renaissance themes with everyone in our "salon" yesterday.  In our second group, Susan quoted Shakespeare, who said, "The stars do not control our destiny, we do." It made me question what I am proactively doing with what I am learning/have learned here at BYU. All of our knowledge depends on what we do with it. What propelled humans forward in the Renaissance was their ability to connect [and implement] everything they had learned. They didn't let the stars control their destiny. 

Take Da Vinci and Machiavelli, for example. Their ability to follow Ad Fontes gave them greater humanistic understanding. They went back (quite literally) to the sources when they explored and studied cadavers to better understand the human body. Their Ad Fontes allowed them to see "what a piece of work" man was. Martin Luther also used Ad Fontes in his persuasive appeals to his audiences. He turned to the faithful examples of the Apostles to give his followers the strength and hope they'd need in the face of such horrific opposition.

The Gutenberg press also allowed for people to implement their knowledge because the Bible was available to everyone. This giant distribution armed the masses with knowledge, or as Thomas Carlyle said, it "was disbanding hired armies, and cashiering most kings and senates, and creating a whole new democratic world."  

I suppose you could say they just allowed the reformers to decide their religion for them; were it not for reformers' sprettzatura and their ability to preach with so much emotion, people may have never converted. Did all those "normal folk" just learn to read and instantly comprehend the Bible enough to understand it and question the Catholic church on their own? I'd like to think that followers took charge of their own destiny, but it'd be hard for an impressionable follower to resist Calvin's boldness or Luther's bravery. Much harder in fact to resist Erasmus' logic.

Shakespeare did say that we control our destiny, but in whose "stars" was it to control the black plague? Maybe the stars do play some role without our permission. If it hadn't been for that deathly disease, it's quite possible the royals wouldn't have devoided the royals of their power. And if it weren't for that change in demographic, the Renaissance and Reformation wouldn't have come when they did. 

I think there are some aspects of our destiny that are out of our control, but it is true that it is up to us--not the stars--to decide what we do with what we are given. Da Vinci and Michelangelo discovered artistic techniques and scientific theories; the masses took what they had studied and decided for themselves what their religion would be. And I, I have so much knowledge yet to obtain, and I understand more clearly that it will be up to me what I do with it. 

An Artist and an Anatomist

When I think of the word Renaissance, one of the first names that comes to my mind is Michelangelo, a name that nowadays is practically "synonymous with the word, 'masterpiece.'"

To me, what makes Michelangelo's work so striking is his beauty and exactness in replicating the human body. The brawny shoulders, legs, and buttocks of David are smooth and flawless. Michelangelo paid such close attention to detail that even the veins on David's hands are anatomically accurate. Raw human emotion emanates from the mother Mary's facial expressions as she holds her crucified son in the Pieta. Only Michelangelo could make marble seem that alive.

How could human hands create art work that was so exact in resembling the body. Unbeknownst to most, Michelangelo was not only an artist, but also an anatomist. He began studying anatomy in the Garden of San Marco. After years of this, he resulted to studying actual corpses (which was forbidden by the Church, mind you.) Michelangelo used pure science to influence his artwork. By studying anatomy and the human body, this master sculptor and painter idealized what the Renaissance was truly all about. This time period pushed the bounds of science and art. Michelangelo was relating the two and recognized that science within itself is an art form. By studying anatomy, he recognized the importance and the beauty and the value that was now being place on the human body and human life. Through science, Michelangelo was better able to portray the new ideal of the "Renaissance Man" in his artwork.

In my own life, I have been able to see personally how science influences art. I am not a science person by any sense of the word, but when I joined the Dance major program here at BYU, I found myself being required to take science classes such as Human Anatomy and Kinesiology. At first I grumbled and complained. Anatomy was just too hard. But I soon started to see the value this knowledge gave me as a dancer. I was able to use the study of bone and muscle structure to better visualize the way my body moved in dance. I learned that this muscle connected to that muscle, so by stretching this muscle, I would indirectly be strengthening the other. These connections were what made me realize the value of science in my own art form. I too, was able to become artist, and anatomist.

At the Foot of David

This past summer, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Italy. As a Dance major, I was training with the finest teachers the country had to offer, and performing in piazzas of the Italian streets.

As the heart of the Renaissance, there was much to learn about history, art, and science while in Italy. In Rome, chills crawled over my skin as I walked the cobblestone roads leading to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. These were the ultimate symbols of what made this empire so great. To think of the history that occurred where I stood was humbling and amazing.

In Florence, we toured the Uffizzi and L'Accademia art galleries. In L'Accademia, in stone-cold marble, stands Michelangelo's famous David statue. It was here, peering up at this 14-foot tall piece of art, that I truly gained more appreciation for what the Renaissance was all about.

When I rounded the corner in the gallery and first saw the David, I gasped as I took in the magnificence of this piece. The flawless, smoothed, chiseled body of young David was a testament to me that one mortal man could not have done this on his own. I believe Michelangelo was truly divinely inspired as he worked on what was to become one of the world's finest masterpieces.

The Renaissance showed the genius of man, but I believe even more pointed to a God who was at the helm of these innovative ideas, inventions, and discoveries of that day. These ideas and discoveries have shaped our way of life today. We have great value for personal identity and human life. The human mind is capable of amazing thoughts and ideas. In our schools we are able to study from the most scholarly academics in this world, all whom stemmed from the Renaissance.

As I stood looking at the David, I realized and grew to appreciate more the Renaissance for how it has influenced my life today, hundreds of years later.

Who knew that a block of solid marble could have taught me so much.