September 8

1504, Michelangelo's sculpture David was unveiled in Florence. Among his famous works are Pieta (below) and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo along with Leonardo da Vinci are among the most crucial torch-bearers of the Renaissance... Rejecting the tenets of the Medieval Ages (Dark Ages), they postulated that earthly life and dignity of the human being take priority over the heavenly life and God. Pico della Mirandola has expressed it well in his "Oration on the Dignity of Man,"

"We have placed you at the world's center so that you may survey everything else in the world. We have made you neither of heavenly nor of earthly stuff, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with free choice and dignity, you may fashion yourself into whatever form you choose. To you is granted the power of degrading yourself into the lower forms of life, the beasts, and to you is granted the power, contained in your intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine."

here

Some of Michelangelo's quotes deserve to be placed here:

I am a poor man and of little worth, who is laboring in that art that God has given me in order to extend my life as long as possible.

I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.

There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.

Genius is eternal patience.


Reading Michelangelo's biography is very instructive, especially with regard to what gigantic, almost inhuman efforts he put into painting the Sistine Chapel. That is not just hard work. It is a level of physical and mental exertion that is reached only through unimaginable passion and sacrifice...

Click here for Vivaldi 'Four Seasons'

On May 31

1594, a great Italian Renaissance painter Tintoretto died. As an apprentice to Titian (see on this blog), Tintoretto had a similar style of portraying women as robust, with 'meat' and a bit overweight by today's standards... Rubens (1577-1640) also had the same style... It is very interesting how over time the image of women has changed. Now the goal is to be skinny, athletic, muscular, with no excess fat... But do we need to become slaves to such (mis)conceptions?.. Women especially become so insecure and completely enslaved by such misperceptions? Does beauty need to be confined to one singular image? I really hope not...

Above is 'Susanna and Elders' by Tintoretto.
Below is Rubens' 'Three Graces'.

1961, South Africa became an independent republic.

Who are the fittest?

On November 24, this day, in 1859 Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published his famous book, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life." His theory of evolution was also known as the 'survival of the fittest.' In this book he wrote:

As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form.

Thus, a human being is constantly evolving, developing. In this struggle or evolutionary process, only the so-called 'fittest' will survive. This theory, in my opinion, was the precursor of Nietzsche's philosophy on the 'Übermensch' (the Superhero). It was also an outspring of the Renaissance/Enlightenment theory about the human being and the vast human potential.

However, the 'survival of the fittest' is also a dangerous theory. At a given time in a society we have those who are at a disadvantage in this struggle. Racial minorities are the first group. Does that mean that they are rendered to extinction and the white race is destined to survive? Who are the 'favored races' in this evolutionary process-- those who are in power or those who are the most intelligent? All I am saying is that while it is true that this struggle and the inner ability of the human being to survive in this struggle will determine the future of humankind, it is also true that this theory leaves those disadvantaged groups at the mercy of the 'fittest.' Therefore, I think the Darwinian theory, while unfortunately, realistic, is also cruel and unacceptable in a humane society.

I would hope that those who are able to survive would also have the inner morality and compassion to embrace those who were weaker and share their fortunes with them!