The John Donnes of the Modern Era

John Donne was a fantastically witty poet and author. What is interesting about the life he lived is that his life took a dramatic turn and this can be seen the content of his writings. While he was young, he was wildly successful at writing love poems that attracted a younger, wilder crowd. It bought him popularity, validation, and wealth. However, John Donne chose to marry a young girl without the approval of his parents. This is where his life took a turn for the worst.

At this point, he lost nearly everything. He loses his diplomatic influence, his wealthy parents ostracize him and he is left to fend for his growing family. His tone begins to change in his writings as life is no longer as perfect as it once was. This is something that I feel most people can relate to. there are times in life where it seems like nothing could go wrong. Some enjoy this hiatus from problems longer than others. I find that many of the upper-class people in modern society experience this life growing up. This rarely lasts forever, as depicted by John's life. He was humbled and changes his writings from witty love poems to zealous pleas to God. Despite not always understanding why God sent him these trials, we do notice that he writes with deeper, more sincere intent than his earlier texts.

 A modern example I have noticed is Lamar Odom. He was a former professional basketball player who won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. Unfortunately, he got into drugs and like John, fell from fame. This story lives on today as he fought his addictions and is currently working to join the Chinese basketball league. The Lamar we knew is not the Lamar we see today. He is grateful for every day, realizing how close his life came to being lost. No matter who we are or what we have accomplished, nobody is invincible. In dropping to the lowest point, either our best or worst self is able to emerge.

Image credit: Love, Creative Commons Love, John Hain, licensed under CC by Pixabay

Humility or Repression?

      In a historical sense, the Renaissance seems to be widely interpreted as a "freeing" of the mind from the shackles of religious self-deprecation. In the Middle Ages, the holy role of king was to...motivate...his subjects to embody Christlike attributes such as humility, submissiveness, and meekness. 

      While this sounds like a noble endeavor, it usually resulted in oppression, and, more importantly, a significant repression of thoughts and creativity. When one tried to create beauty that wasn't directed completely towards God, it was self-gratifying and vain. Thus, the Renaissance was seen as beauty's hero, send to free the minds of men from the cage of forced humility. 

      The natural effects of hardened dogmatism have not changed since then, though the times have certainly been generous to artistic freedom. In some parts of the world, certain communities remain rather attached to some of the more medieval aspects of Christianity. In such communities, when a youth is ambitious or aggressive in his or her journey to make it in the world, those ambitions are put down in short order and the youth is told "don't get ahead of yourself, you're not that important."

      Never having been an overly patriotic sort of person, it makes me consider what makes Americans feel freer to follow their dreams and passions? Maybe it's because humanism doesn't develop pride and selfishness, but simply encourages people to live up to their potential. Does pursuing humility mean giving less effort to living a full and engaged life? 

      In my estimation, humility is not inverse to achievement. In fact, how can one be humble without any achievements? Is humility the war against pride, or simply the absence of anything to be proud of? Such was the dilemma of the Renaissance.

      As Friedrich Nietzsche once put it, "Of all evil I deem you capable: Therefore I want good from you. Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws.” (Thus Spoke Zarathustra)

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