Living the Renaissance: My trip to Italy | GARY COSBY JR.

I have just returned from Italy and an absolute dream vacation where my wife and I went to Florence, then on to Bolzano in the Italian Alps. It was amazing and other superlatives that I don’t have the space to lay out for you.

In Florence, one finds endless art. The Ufizzi Gallery has works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafael and Botticelli to name just a few. In fact, art was everywhere; outdoors, indoors and particularly on the ceilings. The Renaissance Italians must have banged into a lot of things because they were looking up at the amazing ceilings.

More: Russia-Ukraine war is changing the battlefield | GARY COSBY JR.

When you stand in front of one of these amazing paintings or sculptures, you feel the power of the artist resonating across the hundreds of years. It is a special thing to understand the impact their work still has today. We are living in the house whose foundation was laid by these Renaissance icons.

And I haven’t even mentioned Galileo and the sciences or the Reformation that so completely transformed Christianity or the revolutions in government that began moving power more into the hands of the people. In short, the Renaissance revolutionized the world and its effects are still rippling through our lives today.

Gary Cosby Jr.
Gary Cosby Jr.

I am reminded of a preacher I heard speaking about 10 or 15 years ago who said, “Live as if you will die tomorrow but plan as if you will live a thousand years.” What a powerful statement. I wonder how many of us are doing that?

Certainly, we see this going on all around us, if we are paying any attention. You might well be reading this on the internet and there is no doubt that particular technology has altered our lives irrevocably and it is too soon to tell if it is for the ultimate good or not.

The Catholic Church, the true ruling power of pre-Renaissance Europe, faced this very problem when Copernicus proposed that the Earth was not the center of all creation and it was confirmed when Galileo made observations with his newly invented telescope.

Many people misunderstand what happened to Galileo when he was placed under the Inquisition. He wasn’t tortured or put to death, but for a man of his talents and learning, the edict forbidding him to ever publish again was likely as bad. Nevertheless, innovation in all areas of life marched on despite those who wished to have stasis in life.

May 11 2024; Florence, Italy; Patrons at Ufizzi Gallery study an unfinished painting by Leonardo da Vinci depicting Mary with the baby Jesus. The painting was commissioned as an altar piece by a church in Florence.
May 11 2024; Florence, Italy; Patrons at Ufizzi Gallery study an unfinished painting by Leonardo da Vinci depicting Mary with the baby Jesus. The painting was commissioned as an altar piece by a church in Florence.

The problem is, stasis is never good. Living organisms and living systems must change in order to thrive. Perhaps the hallmark of the era we know today as the Dark Ages was that it was a time of stasis, a time without very much innovation in any area of life. Stasis is death for an organism be it a living body or a living system.

I had a pastor once who said something like this — I can never remember the exact quote — living things grow and growing things change. It is an essence of life and one without which life stagnates and eventually fails.

Stop and think for a moment. Only 121 years ago, the Wright Brothers managed the first powered flight. Since then, we have moved right along. My flight from Atlanta to Rome was just a bit under 10 hours. Had we left from an East Coast seaport steaming at 25 knots, it would have taken us seven days and change.

In the age of sail, the same trip would have taken much longer. Depending on the weather and the winds, it could have taken months. Sometimes we take for granted that we can jump into our car and make a trip in a day that would have taken our ancestors in a covered wagon weeks to do, if they attempted it at all.

Those who attempt to maintain an unchanging world completely miss the point. An unchanging world is a dead world. We must change in order to live. Just as our lives resonate with the power those greats in the Renaissance brought to us, our lives will also send waves throughout the future generations. This makes what we do with our limited time on this Earth critically important.

As I have aged, this singular fact has taken on a new meaning and often dominates my thought processes. What am I doing to build for that thousand-year future? What am I doing that will resonate in the lives of my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren? What legacy will I pass on to them? What am I doing that will build positive things in the lives of future generations? Critically, what am I doing that I need to stop so that I do not send negative things to my descendants?

We have a term in today’s world: Renaissance Man. It simply means that one is versed in multiple disciplines. Indirectly, I suppose it means that a person is bringing light to the world in diverse ways. Time is the one gift we have that can change not only our life but those of generations to come.

For good or bad, we are building a thousand-year future right now in every endeavor we undertake.

Gary Cosby Jr. can be reached at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Living the Renaissance: My trip to Italy | GARY COSBY JR.