Stop Being VESUVIAN, Aspire To Be VITRUVIAN
The American Renaissance Is Upon Us
In 1492, Leonardo Da Vinci sketched the Vitruvian Man. The diagram merged the proportions of the ideal man with the centuries-old unsolved geometric formula for “squaring the circle.” This mathematical problem, though deemed impossible to solve in the 1800’s, represented Da Vinci’s struggle to reconcile the two different facets of the human condition: the emotional and the rational. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that if the problem could be solved, then man could finally unify his earthly desires with his heavenly aspirations.
At the time that Da Vinci created the masterpiece, Christopher Columbus was just arriving in the New World and the West was in the midst of the Renaissance. Thus, Da Vinci’s artistic and mathematical masterpiece marks a paradigm shift in human development: a time when mankind began to realize the indelible connection between our physical being and our God-given consciousness.
Today, our civilization is in the midst of another tectonic shift. Western nations are experiencing a populist revolution the likes of which have not been seen since The Gilded Age. As the comforts of modernity are increasingly benefiting a minuscule global elite, the push for a unified world order originating with the progressive, humanist values of the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras are being called into question. In America, the competing ideologies are currently represented by the Republican embrace of populist nationalism and the continued Democratic support for a globalist approach.
In the modern era, America has never been as polarized as it is today. As legacy media continually panders to one of the two sides of this power struggle, the question arises: Can anyone in our discourse avoid picking a team?
Perhaps not. Perhaps it is, in fact, impossible to “square the circle” in America in 2022. Perhaps the Republican and Democratic perspectives will only grow further apart; each side more suspicious of the other with each passing day.
Thanks to technology, the opportunity for free and open dialogue is boundless and unprecedented. What will we do with this moment? Will we only grow more hateful of our fellow countrymen because we perceive them as being with the “other” party? Will the divisiveness and dualism of our two party system, fueled by the hate-mongering news corporations, cause a societal collapse? Or, will members of our media step out of these trenches and present the American public with a new path forward?
As the Americans begin to trust individual personalities over oligarchic multinational news outlets, I propose that regular dialogue and debate between the two sides is the solution to our political predicament. Armed with the internet and a multitude of new audio and video platforms upon which a truly independent discourse can flourish, it’s time for the people to take America back from the corporations!
Rather than continue on the downward spiral towards an eruption that is bound to be Vesuvian, let’s rise up and aspire to be more Vitruvian!
Interesting, though we must not forget that like 50% of people do not vote, probably out of disappointment. So I think people in general want more than this polarized discourse, in fact I am sure that a great deal of people are open to discussions and ideas, the problem is that the channels for these discussions just do not exist, or are bound to be exploited by corporate marketing, who view everything as an opportunity for sales, consumerism, etc. Youtube and Twitch eventually turned into clickbait-oriented model platforms, and I feel that eventually every forum or platform will succumb to this.
Squaring the circle, striving to understand the other, listening rather than asserting. Well, I am grateful for the Harvest Moon this weekend- perfect pondering.