Brave New Heights

Francesco Petrarch (often called the "Father of the European Renaissance") exemplified the humanists' enthusiasm for antiquity. The old Roman or Greek literature shaped the way he saw the world. In one instance, he read from Livy about someone who said by climbing a certain mountain you could see two separate seas. So, Petrarch took his brother and went mountain climbing in France (Mt. Ventoux).

from my climb up Mt. Timpanogos, 2012

His account of the experience explains what is common: he'd often wanted to climb that mountain, but hadn't gotten around to it. And it wasn't until he actually did the feat that he gained the perspective (both literal and figurative) that he would. That experience echoes my own in finally getting to climb the local Mt. Timpanogos (11,700 feet), which took many hours and much effort. As those who climb mountains know, the view that one earns from taking the climb is more exhilarating than any picture or story by which one vicariously gets that view.

The humanists were seekers - not just after old books from the ancient cultures they admired, but for the renewal that those books promised, and for a new perspective on human nature and society that could accommodate true renewal. By climbing the mountain of finding, editing, reading works by Cicero or Quintilian, they would achieve an energized perspective about human possibility. 

In his account of climbing Mt. Ventoux, Petrarch quotes Vergil (a Roman author) who said, "Ruthless striving overcomes everything." Sometimes that striving is very physical, as when explorers like Drake or Columbus crossed oceans and found brave new worlds. Sometimes, though, that striving is academic, like learning Latin, or mastering educational principles taught by a Roman educator like Quintilian. It certainly means moving out of one's comfort zone. A renaissance doesn't come without real work.

I'm doing some "ruthless striving" by sticking with something very difficult for myself, something for which I was never trained and have little native ability: drawing. It is a brave new height I am climbing, part of my own personal renewal, my own renaissance. And like Renaissance period artists, I've gone back to ancient models, paintings and statues. Imitating the old is key to renewal in the future. 

a sketch of mine from a statue at
London's Victoria & Albert Museum