Renaissance Never Ended

          The Renaissance may be over, but renaissance is not. It happens all the time, in fact, over and over again, in the lives of ordinary men and women every day. What am I talking about, you may ask? Well, what does renaissance even mean?

          Renaissance is rebirth. The famed Italian Renaissance was, in large part, a rediscovery of the excellence of the human being. It was a redeclaration of our excellence in form, in intelligence, in capability, and in potential. (There’s a reason why, even today, we use the phrase “renaissance man” to describe one who has achieved a certain level of being well-refined.) Perhaps the most famous bit of text from the Renaissance to summarize this humanistic endeavor comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet:

           “What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties…”

           The Renaissance was a period of rebirth for society. Birth is a short period however, and after a brief infancy is rapidly replaced by adolescence. Such was the case with society after the Renaissance, a beautiful rebirth quickly subsiding to the Baroque era of society’s adolescence and development. And yet, the principles of rebirth are alive within each of us.

           When, in his Oration on the Dignity of Man, Pico della Mirandola said:

“But upon man, at the moment of his creation, God bestowed seeds pregnant with all possibilities…”

            he boldly and bravely declared that all men can be whatever, whomever, they choose. There is no limit to what man can make of himself. It was, as was customary for the era, part of a rediscovery of the grandeur of human life. This rediscovery happens every day. It happens when a hopeful young idol turns to music and, through diligence and desperation, discovers a newfound talent. It happens when an injured veteran refuses to stay down and learns to walk again. It happens when a middle aged housewife goes back to school and gets the degree she always dreamed of. The Renaissance may be over, but renaissance lives on. 

            We often speak of learning from the past. We can learn from those who have already discovered rediscovery. Renaissance may no longer be a societal change, but it can be a personal change. And though the phrase nowadays often comes with a negative connotation, always take comfort in remembering that man is a real “piece of work”.